Sensations Nest Annual Trustee’s Report 2022
Name of charity: Sensations – NEST Limited
NI charity no: NIC107615
Company registration no: NI666632
Address: 1 Clontonacally Road, BT8 8AG
Names of Trustee’s: Dr Clare Caughey
Mr. Nicholas McKee
The trustee’s listed above are the trustee’s that have approved the contents of this report and all the individual’s that have served as trustee’s during the year. The stated trustees can appoint new trustees to the governing body when both parties are in agreement over the proposed trustee.
Constitution details:
Sensations Nest constitution is detailed in our Articles of Association, which was written and co-opted in December of 2019. This acts as our governing document and supports the trustees in the operation of the charity.
The charity’s purposes/objects are laid out in Section 1 of the Articles of Association for Sensations Nest Limited. The articles also outline the powers, benefits and conflicts, roles and powers of the trustees, as well as information pertaining to liabilities, membership and reporting/accounting practices.
The objects of Sensations Nest Ltd are:
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1.1 Advance the education of children and young people with learning disabilities in Northern Ireland.
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1.2 Relieve the need of children and young people with learning disabilities and mental health problems and their families in Northern Ireland
The public benefit of the objects are to young people with learning disabilities living in Northern Ireland. We have a wide catchment area with pupils coming from Belfast, Newry and Armagh. We provide education to young people with learning disabilities including Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Downs Syndrome and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. We provide support to their families through updates on progress in school, therapies (including relaxation, Speech & Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy) and parent training sessions on a wide range of strategies including behaviour management, sensory processing, communication and play skills. The pupils enrolled at the Nest and their families are the charities beneficiaries.
Parents pay a monthly fee and these funds are used to further the objects of the charity namely the advancement of education for children with learning disabilities.
Financial Report December 2020-21
Our accounts for the stated year have been completed by DTNC Accounting by Michelle Staerke. The accounts were filled on 02/09/22 and are now available on Companies House. This section will include more accurate accounting figures when the report has been completed.
The formation of a dedicated bank account for Sensations NEST was completed in November 2020. The reason for this delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic that caused application problems with the bank. However, due to limitations and not great banking features with Tide, Sensations NEST has applied to open a dedicated charity bank account with HSBC. The application is currently being processed with the support of Maeve Bridget Stewart, business specialist HSBC.
During this financial year Sensations NEST received a total income of £12,350 (2020: £500.00). This money was used for a range of products and services that ensured the day-today activities of the charity for the benefit of our stakeholders and the public. For example, monies were used to purchase printer ink to enable teaching staff to print documents and make resources for children. We also used monies for essential maintenance to our operational headquarters at 1 Clontonacally Road. This included approx. £3000 on joinery repairs and fixing a leaking roof outside the classrooms.
Summary of the Charities Activities & purposes
The main activities of the charity are education of children and young people with learning disabilities. The purpose of this education is to improve the lives of young people with learning disabilities and their families.
We aim to provide an outstanding standard of education using a variety of educational practices that benefit young people with learning disabilities. In our team at Sensations Nest we have number of professionals to provide a multi-disciplinary approach. We have a Psychology lead team which includes specialist teachers, classroom assistants, behaviour therapists, and speech & language therapists. With a range of professionals working collaboratively we aim to provide a holistic and nurturing education to all our young people that will enable them to learn, grow and thrive in school, at home, and in the community.
Our main activities include those activities that could be found in an Education Authority controlled special school including learning activities such as learning through play, communication sessions, for example, circle time, functional literacy & numeracy, outdoor & physical education, animal therapies & care, and personal development & mutual understanding. We used an adapted version of the NI Primary Curriculum.
We use a range of teaching & learning strategies/programs. Our pupils engage in several different activities including:
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Attention Autism. This program is designed to build pupils concentration and attention skills, so they can learn to focus on less preferred tasks or follow a schedule that is more adult led.
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Animal care. We have a companion Horse named Billy and our pupils often visit him and learn to groom and care for him.
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Circle time. The purpose of circle time is primarily a communication and personal development task. They engage in different tasks and activities that incorporate cross curricular skills.
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Outdoor education. We are fortunate to have a large outdoor space for our pupils to explore and engage in. Outside we have a jungle gym, swing set, trampoline and sand and water play areas. We also use this space for physical development by incorporating nature and with specific movement programs such as balancability.
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Music, the arts & relaxation. As our pupils follow an adapted version of the NI curriculum, we plan artistic activities throughout our week including art and music. Often our pupils need time to destress so that they are ready to learn, so throughout the week we use relaxation therapies to encourage calm. These include use of sensory oils, massage and aromatherapy and yoga.
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Sensory integration. Often our pupils can be under or over sensitive to different stimuli so we use our sensory room to engage the senses and as a means to calm, awaken or energise our pupils for their day.
In conjunction with our specialist Speech Therapist, Katie Pears, we have been trying to boost the communication skills of our learners. Over the past year we have started to solidify and improve the use of two communication strategies, HANEN and the use of AAC devices namely Core Boards.
Throughout the year we provide free training sessions to families of our young people and hope to open this up to the wider community at some point in the future or expand the range of topics we deliver to include the Statementing Process, Behaviour management and sensory integration.
The purpose of the charity is to improve and enrich the lives of young people with learning disabilities and help them enjoy school by providing them with a safe, secure learning environment and give them access to materials and resources to enable them to learn, thrive and grow.
Achievements & Areas for Improvement
This section outlines the main achievements of the charity since call forward by the NI Charities Commission until publication of this report in September 2021.
Some of our achievements this year include the following:
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Call forward by the Charities Commission. After a substantial delay due to the Covid19 Pandemic we were called forward for registration in January 2021.
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We received a successful inspection by the Education & Training Inspectorate that deemed us to be providing Outstanding education & outcomes for our pupils.
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During the year, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we ran online training sessions for parents on a number of topics including behaviour basics, sensory processing & communication. We hope to expand the range of topics this year and offer them to other professionals and the wider community.
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We have recently agreed to have a place for one of our pupils funded by the Education Authority. The pupil has a split placement with another local mainstream primary school and attends the Nest three days per week. We hope that this access to a funded placement with us will grow in the future.
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At the end of the 2021-22 school year we supported the transition of five pupils to other educational establishments in collaboration with parents, the Education Authority and Educational Psychology.
Areas for development include:
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Continuing to improve the practice of special education for the benefit of our pupils and their families. Specifically, extending communication strategies with support from SLT.
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Developing a comprehensive staff development program to enable staff to become the best practitioners they can be.
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The development of grant applications to expand on the number of programs we can offer to our pupils and the wider community. Mr McKee will explore the possibility of taking part in a course to develop knowledge related to successful grant applications.
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Discuss with either architects or town planners about the Nest’s potential for expansion through creating new classrooms.
Statement regarding to the Commission’s Public benefit requirement
This section is written following guidance issued by the Commission under section 4(b)’ of the Charities Act (the public benefit requirement statutory guidance). This report has referred to our purposes/objects, beneficiaries, the activities we engage in, our achievements.
We currently have no private beneficiaries benefitting from our purposes or activities, nor are we aware of any harm stemming from our purposes.
As our families are fee paying, we understand that this will restrict some families from accessing our services. However, these fees enable us to cover some of the costs involved and are necessary for our operation. Additionally, there are other educational facilities that are funded by the Education Authority.
– Financial Position September 2022
In September 2022 the Nest’s main source of income comes from parents paying fees Currently full-time fees are charged at £700 per month and part-time are charged at £550.00 per month, we currently have one full-time placement and one part-time placement. We are also receiving funding from the Education Authority for two pupils with approval being sought from the EA statementing team for funding for another pupil of nursery age. This would be our first pre-school aged pupil to receive funding from the EA. We will explore the possibility of securing funding from the EA for more pupils this school year if the opportunity
arises and it may happen because of high numbers of pupils that have not received a placement in a suitable school as of September 2022.
Any funds that the Nest generates are used for the running of the school. This includes payment of utility bills including internet connection, resources to improve teaching and learning outcomes, maintenance and upkeep of the school grounds and buildings.
The charity has no fund that is materially in deficit and is currently developing a reserves policy that will stipulate how funds held over are used. In the future the Nest hopes to create it’s own payroll and pay the staff members that work daily at the school on the Clontonacally Road. This maybe possible at some point in the 2022-23 school year depending on the final number of pupils we have.
Report Author: Nicholas McKee
Signature: Nicholas McKee