Newcastle Diocesan Education Board
Annual Report & Financial Statements
Year ended 31 December 2022
Company number - 00480293
Registered charity number - 528076
A large print version is available on request from
Mrs E Bell
Joint Education Team
Church House
St John's Terrace
Percy Main
North Shields
Or email: Eileen.bell@drmnewcanglican.org

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE NUMBER
Wision Statement
Dirertors Annual Report
Administrative details
13
Independent Auditors Report
15
ststement of Financial ActNities incorporating Income and Expenditure Account
19
Balance Sheet
20
ststement of Cash Flows
21
Notes to the Financial Statements
22

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
Vision Statement
The Diocese of Newcastle workstogether in education with the Durham DI0￿$e and is committed to the flourishing
of all children and young people and the part that education plays in achieving this.
We wish to offer the highest quality of education across the North East to ensure each and every child achieves
their full potential across all areas of the curriculum whi15t having a lively engagement with the Christian faith within
the setting of a Christian community.
We wish to ensure clergy are fully equipped to serve their l¢xal Schools. that the church appoints skilled governors
who are able to ensure the schwl does the very best it can and that all stsff flourish and develop to their fullest
potential.

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
DIREcfoRS ANNUAL REPORT
The dirertors. who are also trustses under charity law. present their annual report. together with the audited
financial statements. for the year ended 31 December 2022.
This combined report satisfies the legal requirements for.
Directors Report of a charitable company.
a Trustees Annual Report under the Charitie5 Att 2011
LEGAL OBJEcrs
Newcastle Diocesan Education Board {NDEBI aims to promote, facilitate and assist the work and purFioses of the
Church of England in education across the Oiocese of Newcastle and elsewhere. NDEB'S principal objects, set out in
the Diocesan Boards of Education Measure. are=
The promotion of education in the Diocese. consistent wtth the faith and practice of the Church of England.
The promotion of religious education and religious worship in lalll schools.
The promotion of Church schools in the Diocese and provision of advice to their Governors.
The promotion of co-operation between the Board and bodies concerned in any respect with education in
the Diocese.
Whist this falls outside of the reporting year, the NDEB Articles were updated by special resolution of the Members
in December 2021 leffective from 4 March 2022 following Charity Commission consent) to reflect the Diocesan
Boards of Education Measure 2021 and additional objects to those atove set out in the new Articles are:_
To promote or assist in the promotion of children and youth work in the Diocese that 15 consistent with the
faith and prartice of the Church.
To promote co-operation between itself arKI other persons concerned with children and youth work in the
Diocese, and
To carry out the functions assigned to the Charity by the Measure.
As far as schools are concerned NDE8 is mainly concemed with matters to do with Church of England schools. but
as part of the established Church, and its duty to promote education and co-operation between bodies involved in
education it also seeks to contribute where it can to the development of all schools especially, but not only, in
matters of religious education and collertive worship.
The company was formed to provide support for the 49 Church of England schools across the Diocese.
The strategic priorities of the company are established by NDEB in communication with Diocesan Synod. Deanery
Synod, and the Bishop of Newcastle. To this end. significant time and effort is committed to communication between
and with these bodies. as well a5 the National Church of England Education Office.
NDEB'S strategy for achieving its objectives is to develop financial strurtures to enable it to provide enough staff
and resources to support the Church of England schools in the Diocese. To assist with this NDE8 offers a Partnering
Agreement IPA) to Church of England schools in the Diocese.

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
The directors are aware of the Charty Commi55ion's guidance on public benefit in The Advoncement of Religionfor
the Public Benefit and have had regard to it in their administration of NDEB. The directors believe that, by
promoting the work of the Church of England in the Diocese of Newcastle. NDEB helps to promote the whole
mission of the Church (pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenicall more effectively. both in the Diocese as a whole
and in its individual parishes and schools, and that in doing so it provides a benefit to the public by-
Providing facilities for public worship. pastoral care and spiritual. moral and intellectual development. both
for its members and for anyone who wishes to benefit frorn what the Church offer5: and
Promoting Christian values, and service by members of the Church in and to their communities, to the
benefit of individuals arKI s(Kiety as a whole- and
Providing a seryice to the whole community. not just the Christian constituency. All children are welcome
in the Church of England schools in the diocese. including chiklren of all faiths and none. and
Providing schools that are places of education. proselytism. offering opportunities for young people to
make the most of their inherent potential, and so make a contribution to the society of which they are a
part. Comparisons with national cifsted ratings show that in aggregate the C of E schools in Newcastle
Diocese are performing well above national averages.
AcfiviTIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE YEAR
Natlonal educalion landsope and ifflplications
As we move from what some commentators would suggest has been pandemic to endemic we are starting to see
the green shoots of starting a 'new nomialiW. As an education funrtion we have seen a shift back to school visits
and on site support to our schools and school leaders. Nationally the government is encouraging us to consider the
Education White Paper"Opportunity for All" and as a result we used some of the time leading up to the publication
of this paper during the pandemic to plan the possible landscape as more Sch￿1$ move towards Academy Status.
However, frorn a staffing, recruitment and retention perspective in schoo15 we are Still Seeing an immense challenge
to which we are providing ongoing support.
The Diocesan Director of Education has worked with the team to ensure schools have had continuous access to
support during the last two years and the overwhelming feedback from leaders has been positive. From weekly
contart to all of our schools to ensuring the many iterations of the guidance from DfE were appropriately
interpreted and shared in a useful executive summary to school Leaders. Our approach to embracing the digital
age hos led to an increase in contart with EoverThJrs-ourtermlyonline meetings for Chairs and Ex-officio governors
have been incredibly well attended averaging over 70 participants.
The Director has now published a Diocesan Academy Strategy Paper as we believe, from the White Paper, that we
are working towards full academisation although there is no timescale and no ultimate back-stop as yet. The
numbers of Academies continue to rise albett slowly in the Diocese of Newcastle. The Board has also taken seriously
its responsibility to support 'tiny and rural school< as they consider their next Steps. To that end we continue to
work with Ofsted to create an Annex to the CIF Icommon Inspection Framework) which will support the inspection
of 'tiny and rural, schools.
Towards the end of this year OFsted have started to undertake rnore Trust Reviews which we believe will morph
into MAT Ofsted Inspections. The Board will need to note this artivity and start to prepare a model that supports
Trusts to ensure the value they add to the schools in those Trusts is value for money and appropriate support and
challenge.
The position of the Board this year has remained that changes to school structures must be looked at on a case by
case basis in line with government policy where relevant but most importantly in the interests of the children and
families that we serve. We continue to work in partnership with our Mixed and Church MATS to support our church
schi)ols looking at Trust options.

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
As we were concerned last year 50 our con￿rn5 increase this year at the levels of funding maintsinin8 our schools.
With the rising costs of utilities and uncertainty over future funding every school is now facing significant funding
issues and this is leading to further exploration of shared services across our schools and Trusts.
Operations and stsffing
The team has continued to evolve in the last twelve months with r￿re consultants joining as we aim to meet the
growing demand for khool Improvement. Recruitment has proven to be a thallenge at lower grade5 however. we
are working creatively to find solutions with other tearn5 at Church House.
We now employ only one RE Advisor 35 one has now retired - we continue to work with the Hild Bede Fund to
support this post. We have secured again a further grant for the next twelve months. This will be used to further
enhance RE provision in all of ourschools- support Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education"SACRE" across
L4's and promote our curriculum / syllabu5 offer.
99% of schools across both Newcastle and Durham Dioceses have bought back into the PA which is a tremendou5
boost having had to raise the cost by IO%. The Diocesan Trust work continues to bring a more substantial income
to the Joint Education Team {JETI which ha5 allowed a le55er dependency on reserves throughout the financial year.
In the coming year the Dirertor IDDEI will be leaving his post to join Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust
IDNDLTI. He will be replaced by an interim appointment whi15t the new Bishop of Newcastle is given time to
consider the work of the Jtr.
Challenges and Achievements
We almost have a full contigent of staff with one vacancy in our administrative department which has only been
partially filled. With guidance from the Dirertor of Education. trustees are considering how the team could be
expended to cope with increasing demands.
Challenge and Support work now foms a significant part of our work stream for our standards and effectiveness
team5 - there ha5 been a significant increase in demand for school improvement work - the challenge is now
recruiting staff to service that demand should we wish to increase capacity.
Communication with School leaders including Governors has continued to be more effective than ever. Governor
updates and training have been well attended and by virtue of thern being onlirbe we have been able to hold them
more regularly. We have also delivered a comprehensive training schedule with a mix of online and in person
sessions covering various areas including curriculum sessions. RE training, new governor training and HR updates.
2022 saw our annual conference return Yo Infinty and Beyond" which was attended by over some 150 school
leaders. Our Key Note speaker. Rev Richard Coles. was inspirational and highlighted the good work that schools
have done and continue to do.
Schools in many of our communwties are now actively interested in leaming more about MAT'S and the joint
Academy strategry vision paper from the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Education Boards has set out the means
by which this will be achieved. Tiny and rural continues to be a challenge, however. Trusts are working with the
Director to support these schools.
The team continues to manage the plannin& trainin& delivery and staffing of Ststutory Inspection of Anglitan and
Methodist Schools ISIAMSI. A new approach to SIAMS is now in place which mean5 inspectors are allocated by the
National Church and QA takes place across Di0￿Se$. The team is preparing for the new SIAMS framework with a
conference and training sessions scheduled for the summer term outside of the reporting period.
Working with communities
We continue to focus on working with communities and look to develop links and partnerships to assist our schools.
Examples of this work include the following:_

NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN EDUCATION BOARD
We continue to work with schools who are now within our MATS. or wish to join MATS
community schools.
We work with school cluster groups to support networking and discussion between Church Head Teachers.
We have now delivered Understanding Christianity to all church schools and several community schools.
Our team have worked in several community schools to support standards and achievements.
We are regularly asked by schools to broker service5 for them which are fit for purpose and cost effective.
We are working in several locatbons With regards to 'shared leadership. which involves bring communities
closer together.
We deliver training at events for a115chools including Education Mutual conference and Schools North East
Governor conference.
We are seen as a partner to our 3 Local Authorities in the Newcastle. North Tyneside and Northumberland
area.
including
Other related partie5 indude
The Newcastle DI0￿San Board of Finance INDBFI works closely with NDEB aFKI the two charities are
tompanies within the Newtsstle DI￿e$an framework. They share the same registered office and some
directors serve on both boards.
The Durham Diocesan Board of Finance IDDBF) is a neighbour to the south of Newcastle. NDEB and the
DDBF have continued to work closely together and they now jointly ernploy 9 members of staff. A common
pool of SIAMS inspectors has been established and joint training for them continues as does in-service
training Ilnsetl on religious education and school worship for staff and training for clergy on ways to work
with schools.
The Church of England Pensions Board. to which NDEB pays retirement benefit contributions for
employees.
Transactions with the main categories of related parties are identified in appropriate places throughout the
financial statements. Where materiality of the transactions merits more detailed disclosure this is given in note 18
to the financial statements.
FUTURE PLANS
The future of the three tier system in Northumberland continues to be a focus in 2022 as Berwick and the Coquet
Partnership continue to be consulted upon and debated by NCC Cabinet. NDEB is working with the schools closelv
as part of these processes and how they would manage a change to two tier bearing in mind the lessons learned
from Alnwick. The Director continues to be heavily inVo￿ed in all of these consultations and will keep the Board
appraised.
The work with structures will be ongoing- in particular the impact of a falling birth rate in Northumberland. This
will require further consideration with small and rural schools and how they continue to serve the local communitv.
Governance will now require further work with regards to joining Trusts- we will also need to consider Ex Officio
appointments as the numbers of parishe5 in vacancy rises throughout the Diocese.
A continued piece of work will be the school improvement work undertaken by the tearn and how we continue to
grow the offer and expand the work of the team into community schools and trusts. This will link to the growth of
the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust that is now an option for schools in the Newcastle Diocese. As
the DDE moves on next year the Board in conjunction with the Durham Board will have to consider how to continue
the effective work of the team with a view to ensuring schools are on a journey to joining effective. strong Trusts.