St Matthew’s PTA Charity Number: 288436
Trustees' Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024
11[th] October 2024
Executive Summary
St Matthew’s PTA is the Parent-Teacher Association for St. Matthew’s Primary School in Cambridge.
During the 2023-24 period the PTA ran events to raise money for the school and build the school community. The largest events were the Winter and Summer Fairs, which together raised £6,065. Cake sales raised £4,820. Other fund-raising activities brought the PTA’s general fundraising income to £16,405.
The PTA also facilitated a £10,000 grant from Nominet to replace the interactive whiteboards. Thank you to the parents involved for making these possible. This brought total donations up to £14,831.
From these the core fund granted £21,956 in total. This was spent on various projects including the interactive whiteboards, library improvements, phonics books, sports equipment and classroom supplies.
The Fund St Matthew’s campaign received £38,448 in total donations and granted £39,736 to the school. This went to help stave off cuts in the face of the funding crisis including music, counselling, IT and Pupil Premium support.
This period also saw the completion of the £10,000 Fund St Matthew’s match funding campaign which met its goal. Thank you to the donor who made this campaign possible.
The PTA’s finances are healthy, with assets totalling £20,102 at the end of the reporting period. Of this, £15,099 is core PTA funds and the remainder are Fund St Matthew’s donations.
Reference & Administration Details
Name: St Matthew’s PTA Charity Number: 288436 Address: St Matthew’s Primary School 19 Norfolk Street, Cambridge, CB1 2LD
Names of the Charity Trustees who manage the Charity between 1[st] September 2023 and the date this report was produced:
Name Office Appointed Resigned Sebastian Wills Treasurer 12/10/2021 Laura Franks Events Officer 10/10/2022 19/07/2024 Jeshika Moonsamy Chair 29/11/2022 31/04/2024 Andrew Tomlinson Assistant Treasurer 16/10/2023 Kim Nguyen Secretary 14/11/2023 Marysol Bell Committee 14/11/2023 16/02/2024 Jeshika Moonsamy Committee 31/04/2024*
- co-opted
** change of role agreed by committee
Structure, Governance & Management
Type of Governing Document: Constitution
How the Charity is Constituted:
Association
Trustee Selection Methods
Nominated, seconded, and voted for at AGM and between AGM co-opted by committee members at committee meetings.
Additional governance issues
St Matthew’s PTA works closely with the school headmaster and senior staff, as well as with our teacher representative on the committee, Barry Evans.
The charity is a member of Parentkind (NCPTA).
Objectives
To contribute to school resources to enhance the experience and wellbeing of the staff and children. To run events which increase the involvement of the parent community in the social life of the school and awareness of the role of the PTA. To provide funds/facilities/items for the school outside statutory funds in consultation with the headmaster and/or senior school staff.
Statutory Declaration on Public Benefit
The trustees declare that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers or duties.
Activities, Achievements & Performance
Events
The PTA ran events throughout the year with the dual aims of raising funds and providing enrichment for the school community. The main events and activities were:
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Free Magic show for Reception & Nursery
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A magic show to jointly fund raise for Children In Need raised £334 in total (shared with CIN)
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Spooky & Comicon Discos, raising £1,921
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Festive and Summer Fairs, attended by pupils and their families. Together these raised £6,065.
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Festive greetings cards designed by the pupils and sold to parents/carers, raising £1,306
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• Unwanted clothing collections (two collections) raising £331
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Two swim nights at Parkside Pools, raising £1,105
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A cake sale hosted by each year group, spread over the year, raising a total of £4,820.
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Year 6 leavers’ hoodies. These were bought by parents, but the PTA covered the cost of hoodies for Pupil Premium families (covered by ‘pay it forward’ donations).
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A world food sale with dishes prepared by parents coupled with a School Magazine written by pupils raised £377
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A science show raised £206
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A drinks tent at Strawberry Fair which raised £500
In total, events and our on-line shopping affiliate schemes raised £16,405 after costs and we received £12,199 in direct donations and referral payments.
School projects supported
Money raised is spent fulfilling funding requests from teachers as well as school-wide projects.
In total, grants for school activities and equipment requested by staff totalled £19,324. This included £10,000 funded by a grant from Nominet arranged by a parent and facilitated by the PTA.
Some of the larger grants were:
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£10,000 for interactive whiteboards (funded by Nominet grant)
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£2,858 from Cake Sales was spent by class teachers on various supplies
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£1,918 on helping Pupil Premium children access trips and activities
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£1,967 on sports equipment
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£976 on shelving for the library
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£940 on monster phonics take home books
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£330 on Nessy software
Fund St Matthew’s
Fund St Matthew’s was started in March 2019 by a group of parents with the support of the PTA committee, and is now operated fully by the PTA. It continues to attract generous donations, mainly from parents, carers and other relations of pupils at the school. Its goal is to raise money to support the education of pupils at the school. Most of the money raised for this campaign comes from donations made to the PTA. Donations are ring-fenced for the Fund St Matthew’s fund, and are granted to the school to spend as required, or spent directly on equipment or projects agreed with the school management.
Donations to Fund St Matthew’s totalled £38,448 in the period covered by this report. Money in the PTA’s bank account assigned to Fund St Matthew’s at the end of the period was £5,002.10.
We benefited from the £10,000 donation matching campaign funded by a generous parent. This target was met in April 2024. We would again like to thank the donor for helping us raise additional funds.
We completed the funding of last year’s ‘deficit project’ in November 2023 with a transfer of £6,403.
However, this year again the school approached us with news that the funding crisis was still affecting the school. Rising costs and lack of government support has left the school looking again for more cuts.
They requested help funding a list of important provisions that were under threat of being cut, totalling £33,333. This included:
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Renewing the lease on most of the school’s Chromebooks
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Delivery of music lessons to all children by a specialist music teacher
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Sustaining the school’s counselling service
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Raising funds to support families facing difficult circumstances to pay for school trips and activities
At this stage it seems that Fund St Matthews’ support will be needed to protect from cuts for the foreseeable future.
We alerted the parent body to the continued crisis and called for any parent who could donate monthly to do so. This resulted in additional monthly donations of over £400 and a number of one off donations.
Donors are kept informed via a dedicated Fund St Matthew’s website, fundstmatthews.com.
Financial Review
Statement of the Charity's Policy on Reserves
St Matthew’s PTA seeks to support St Matthew’s Primary School by providing financial and other assistance to those projects agreed by the Trustees (and in consultation with the Headmaster and senior staff) as good causes, whilst maintaining at all times a positive level of reserves. Thus, the amount of reserves remaining at the end of any given financial year will be determined solely by the Trustees. Our reserves can be spent when agreed by the PTA committee and in line with the objectives of the PTA. We aim to keep a minimum of £4,000 in reserve under normal circumstances. This can be temporarily reduced to £1,000 in the period leading up to an event.
There are no current uncertainties regarding the PTA’s ability to continue as a going concern.
The available funds as at 31st August 2024 were £15,099 (previous period: £6,041) as shown in the accounts. This does not include funds reserved for the Fund St Matthew’s (£5,002.10) since these are not available for general PTA activities. This more than covers our reserve requirements.
We recognise and are very grateful for contributions from the school parents for their continued help so that we can carry on supporting the school.
All fundraising is carried out on a voluntary basis by our wonderful parent community. There are no paid fundraisers or committee members in our charity.
Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit
The Trustees declare that the charity had no funds which were materially in deficit at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.
Particulars of Any Outstanding Guarantee Given by the Charity
The Trustees declare that the charity has given no guarantee where potential liability is outstanding at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.
Particulars of Any Outstanding Debt
The Trustees declare that the charity has no outstanding debts which are secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the charity at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.
Declaration
The Trustees declare that they have approved the above report and authorised that it be signed on their behalf.
Signed on behalf of the PTA trustees
Sebastian Wills
Trustee
11[th] October 2024
ST MATTHEW'S PTA
Registered charity no. 288436
Receipts & Payments Accounts for the period 1st September 2023 to 31st August 2024
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RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS 2023-24 2022-23
Receipts Payments Net Receipts Net Receipts
Trading Activities
Fairs 7,545 1,480 6,065 4,573
Discos 2,276 354 1,921 919
Cake sales 4,851 31 4,820 4,288
Other Events 2,749 759 1,990 472
Other Sales 1,637 28 1,609 1,546
Sub-total 19,057 2,652 16,405 11,798
Donations
Bag2School 331 - 331 452
Referral schemes 1,647 - 1,647 283
GiftAid - - - 38
Other Donations 10,221 - 10,221 91
Sub-total 12,199 - 12,199 864
School Projects Funded
Staff Events 218 492 -274 -344
Pay It Forward 1,918 1,918 - -
Excursions/Activities - 2,046 -2,046 -875
Facilities/Equipment - 17,036 -17,036 -8,346
Leavers hoodies 496 423 73 -403
Other Grants - 42 -42 -11,000
Sub-total 2,632 21,956 -19,324 -20,969
Other
Operating expenses 10 329 -319 -312
Bank Interest 97 - 97 0
- -
Sub-total 107 329 -222 -312
Total excluding Fund St Matthew’s 33,996 24,937 9,059 -8,619
Fund St Matthew’s campaign (restricted fund)
Grants made to school - 39,736 -39,736 -33,632
Donations received 38,448 - 38,448 38,746
Sub-total 38,448 39,736 -1,288 5,114
Income and expenses from this account sheet but relating to prior year - - - -
TOTAL 72,444 64,673 7,771 -3,505
ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS OF 31 [st] AUGUST 2023-24 2022-23
Cash Assets
NatWest Current Balance 7,134 12,141
NatWest Savings Balance 12,697 -
Cheques written not yet cashed - -
Cash in hand (float) 120 40
Sub-total 19,952 12,181
Debtors (long-term)
FilmBank deposit 150 150
Sub-total 150 150
Liabilities
Sub-total - -
Total assets @31st Aug 20,102 12,331
Breakdown by fund
Funding Shortfall campaign (restricted fund) 5,002 6,290
General fund 15,099 6,041
Check: movement in cash assets against net income Cash assets (end of period) 19,952
Cash assets (start of period) 12,181
Movement in cash assets 7,771
Net income 7,771
Difference (should be zero) 0
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Independent examiner's report to the trustses of St Matthews PTA. I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of St Matthew's PTA (the Trust) for the year ended 31 Bt August 2024. Responsibilities and basi8 of report As the charity trustees of the Trust you a responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act,). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. l ojnfim that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act. or 2. the accounts do not accord with those COrdS. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to vthich attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed.. Name: Kevin Woor Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): FCCA Address.. 17 Ainsworth Place, Cambridge CB12PG Date: 10 March 2025