St. Paul's Community Development Trust - St. Paul's Community Trust

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Trustee Induction and Training New Trustees are given an induction pack which includes Trustee responsibilities together with a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, structure of the Trust and departments, staff hand book, latest business plan and copies of previous annual reports. Organisation The Board of Trustees, which can have up to 20 members, administers the Charity. The Board meets at least 4 times a year and is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the Charity. A Chief Executive is appointed by the Trustees to manage the day to day operations of the Charity and also attends the Board meetings. To facilitate effective operations, the Chief Executive has delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the Trustees, for operational matters. Related Parties The Charity has no significant related parties. Purpose and Aims Our Charity’s purpose as set out in the objects contained in the Company’s memorandum of association are to benefit the public by providing educational and leisure activities to all those in Balsall Heath and surrounding areas but especially for children and young adults. The aims of our Charity are to improve the quality of life for all those in Balsall Heath and surrounding areas by promoting physical, mental and spiritual well being. The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Trust’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities. Ensuring We Achieve our Aims Each year we monitor our aims and objectives for each area of the Trust by evaluating the outcomes of our services provided to see if we are benefiting those who use them or have access to them. Achievements and Performance The Trust had major successes during the financial year as follows: · the REALISE Social Enterprise cluster led by St. Paul’s earned over £1,000,000. This supported twenty agencies working on a European Regional Development Fund programme managed overall by Birmingham and Solihull Chamber of Commerce. It enabled the Trust to develop its own capacity to provide other organisations with services, as well as bringing funding to them over the eighteen-month life of the project, for their own development · the Children’s Centre and Extended Provision have been combined under the leadership of our Head of Children’s Services. This has been acknowledged as a positive step towards integrated services both locally and City-wide. The Integrated Quality Award resulted from this, for the extended schools’ cluster · following an Ofsted inspection in which the School was graded ‘outstanding’ in several respects, further advances have been made – introducing new subjects and qualifications for pupils to aim at. Continuous improvement is fundamental to sustaining and growing our services. This means that a host of achievements contribute to the good performance of the organisation. Among these, our Early Years crèche and our Nursery won Quality Awards. The Early Years Foundation stage was introduced throughout our own settings, and our Teacher supported the work on this new curriculum in other neighbourhood nurseries. A new partnership with Al Hira School has been forged by our School and Youth Service, who have helped them to develop their curriculum. New youth clubs have been initiated and holiday schemes for young people increased. Youth Staff have made new opportunities for accreditation available to many young people who were not in education, employment or training. A grant from the Children’s Workforce Development Council provided additional resources to bring into being a formal and ongoing training programme for our own staff, and some from other agencies. This is OCN (Open College Network) accredited and offers essential basic knowledge across areas such as Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity, Safeguarding, and so on. Linked with this, our annual staff conference – held at a new local venue – updated all staff on the latest government and Local Authority policies and 14 St. Paul’s Community Development Trust
practice. The Trust’s website was re-developed and relaunched in the spring, as an aspect of a general upgrade in communications through ICT and other means. Some physical refurbishment took place. The principal change was the remodelling of the Farm site, thanks to a City grant. Youth staff helped by young people transformed the Youth Base, and an ICT suite was created in the School. The increased range and even higher quality of activities throughout the Trust has resulted in high demand for and growth of services – sometimes unexpectedly. The Children’s Centre proved adaptable and efficient, for example, in taking on support for Al Hira Nursery for a period when its own premises and management became unavailable. School, Nursery, and various settings have operated at, or near to, full capacity, with more requests for places than can be accommodated. Way Ahead Youth Service completed its two year ‘contract’ (funded by the National Lottery) with a good final evaluation from the funder, and then redesigned its provision, for new groups. Demand is very high for subsidised holiday play provision, but parents struggle to afford after school and holiday play care. The Venture has had great success in raising funds from charities – including this year, Children in Need – but it is not possible to support vulnerable children properly on this basis alone. The Volunteer Co-ordinator has recruited and placed many volunteers in a variety of agencies, supporting them in obtaining access to training and jobs. Services require committed and highly qualified staff if they are to be maintained and improved to reach the best standards. The Trust is proud of its Investors in People record, and the determination of its staff to pursue personal development, despite the limited resources to help with this. A number are studying for degrees (the government’s objectives within Children’s Workforce development support this). Many others have moved up various levels and across a range of NVQ’s. One of the achievements of the year has been the completion of the restructuring programme within our organisation. This has reduced our six previous departments to three, so that joint working and effective management is enhanced. This process has taken over a year, but has been accomplished relatively smoothly – a further testimony to the professionalism and resilience of staff. Plans for the Future The Trust’s most important ambition for the coming years is to restore the School to state maintained and recognised status. Linked with this is the aspiration to gain a viable lease or title to the former Clifton Junior School building, so that provision for 14-18 year olds can be given fitting accommodation, along with Social Enterprise support and development, and co-located services for children, young people and their families. Work with and for other agencies is increasingly important. Among other areas, St. Paul’s plans to amplify its basic vocational training for employed staff, volunteers and trainees. It will also continue to develop specialist training for those working with children and young people, as with its work in piloting the Common Assessment Framework. All this can be offered to other agencies. In a parallel development to the Trust’s own website, a new site for social enterprises and third sector agencies will promote collaborative initiatives, shared information and open opportunities. The Trust also aims to extend its support other agencies with quality assurance help, through specialist staff experienced in, for example, human resources, finance, health and safety, organisational development and safeguarding. As far as operational improvements are concerned, the strategic aim is to make further progress with partnership working. This entails better collaboration with local and City-wide partners from all sectors, over a wider range of activities. It must be based in very sound integrated working within St. Paul’s itself. This inter-departmental and interagency co-operation will be the foundation for service growth and development. It will yield specific benefits in terms of curriculum, programme content, information and communication systems, activities for all age groups, events, staff knowledge and skills, and governance. The Trust’s detailed Development Plan (2009-13) is available on the website at www.stpaulstrust.org.uk. Financial Review The principal funding sources are detailed in note 3 to the Financial Statements. The current year has seen a deficit of £276,669 which includes a deficit on the school of £119,118 and Central and Community Services of £231,902. The deficit on the school is due to continued reduced funding from the Local Education Authority to run the school. The deficit on Central and Community Services is due to continued spending on developing the Trust and other Social Enterprises. The funding for this development has been carried forward from the previous two years. The remainder of the Trust ended the year with a surplus of £74,351 which will be added to St. Paul’s Community Development Trust 15
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