The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 29 August 2025.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).
The charity's objectives, as set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association, is to promote and provide for the advancement of education of children. In pursuance of these objects, the charity runs the undertaking known as Haberdashers’ Castle House School, Newport, Shropshire.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Haberdashers’ Castle House School seeks to benefit the public through the pursuit of its stated aims. Our fees are set at a level to ensure the financial viability of the school, at a level consistent with our aim of providing a first-class education to boys and girls, and at a level to enable access by a wide cross-section of the public as possible.
Our bursary policy and social provision for the community contribute to a widening of access to the education we offer and the facilities we enjoy.
Our school has a close relationship with St Nicholas’ Church in Newport, our services of Remembrance and Christmas are open to both school families and the wider community. We support the local Agricultural Society with their annual show through entry to competitions. We enter a float into the local Newport Carnival.
We work closely with Haberdashers’ Adams School through the outreach programme, welcoming their high school students to our school each week. This partnership helps the students develop valuable skills and experience, while we provide guidance and references to support them in their future education and career paths.
Through our annual harvest donations, we raise money and collect essential food items for the Newport Food Bank. This initiative helps support local families who may be experiencing hardship. Our pupils and families contribute generously each year, learning the importance of kindness, community spirit, and helping those in need.
In addition to our local community contributions, we have also supported a range of national charities, including Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, BBC Children in Need, and Macmillan Cancer Support through our coffee mornings. These events unite our school community and raise valuable funds for important causes across the country.
Our pupils participate in sponsored fun run at Chetwynd Deer Park, raising money for Birmingham Children’s hospital. Nursery hold Christmas jumper days to support Birmingham Children’s Hospital every year, due to having children and staff who are treated by the team at BCH. Nursery also holds events such as Reindeer Relay’s, sponsored walks around and along the canal to support Children in Need and Severn Hospice.
We have welcomed pupils from other schools for work experience and DofE placements. We are also keen to support local community, business and enterprise. We make extensive use of the Hub with our Nursery children. The hub is run and operated mainly by volunteers and those within the community that have learning difficulties or additional needs, the hub gives them a route into employment and work life that supports them with their needs. Our under 3’s departments participate in the story time sessions and stay and play sessions, giving children access to wider community experiences as well as strengthening their social knowledge and awareness development.
We organise visits and regular stay and play events for each age group using locations such as Tiny Town, Newport Scout Hut, Enginuity and Apley Maize maze. These enable our families to come together with their children and the staff team to build up relationships and support networks as well as giving opportunities to discuss children's interests and learning with their child’s Key worker, strengthening our parent partnerships and providing alternative informal environments for parents to seek any support they may need. By using local amenities we are also supporting our local community and offering experiences outside of the norm, which may be out of reach for some families.
We also participate in local authority organised sports events and allow our grounds to be used for CrossFit Competitions for participants from across the borough and beyond. Wherever possible we source materials, supplies, resources and services from our local community and are a key employer of local residents.
The trustees report a promising year, with a profit of £226,045 (2024: £74,502)
At the end of the year, the reserves stood at £700,386 (2024: £474,341).
All of the reserves held at the year end are represented by the general undesignated fund.
The robust strategic framework continues to develop the schools’ offer across both early years and preparatory education and is reflected in both pupil and nursery numbers.
Having considered all factors, the trustees believe that the school will be able to continue operating for the foreseeable future and the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.
The purpose of the school's reserves is to ensure its stability and ongoing operations. The school building itself services the assets of the charity and needs to be preserved to achieve the charity's objective.
As the school building is not available for distribution, it is the policy of the trustees to continue to build up reserves to a level which would allow the school to operate efficiently from its cash balances.
Castle House School Trust Limited was founded in September 1980, a company limited by guarantee, and not having share capital and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
The method of appointing new trustees consists of initial nominations made by present trustees, who are often people linked to the school. The nominations are then discussed, and a vote is taken.
The trustees undertake an initial induction process into the workings of the charity, including board policy and procedures, organised for them by the headmaster. The trustees are informed of the specific responsibilities of trustees by the use of the Charity Commissioner publications.
The trustees, who are also the directors of Castle House School Trust Limited for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Hammond McNulty be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The trustees report, including the strategic report, was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Castle House School Trust Limited (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 29 August 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Our audit approach included obtaining an understanding of the laws and regulations relevant to the charity’s activities, particularly those with a direct impact on the financial statements or a fundamental effect on operations. Key areas identified included charity law, education sector regulations, tax legislation, and employment requirements.
We made enquiries of management, reviewed correspondence with HMRC and the local authority, and examined legal expense records for indications of non-compliance. In addition, we assessed the controls implemented by management to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
We evaluated the design and implementation of controls intended to prevent and detect fraud and discussed with management any known or suspected instances of fraud during the reporting period.
The audit team considered the risk of fraud and non-compliance as part of our planning process and designed procedures to address these risks. Specific areas of potential fraud identified included related party transactions, revenue recognition (including fee income and council funding), cut-off, compliance with laws and regulations, and management override of controls.
We reviewed disclosures within the financial statements and tested supporting documentation to confirm compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements. We also enquired about any actual or potential litigation or claims.
Analytical procedures were performed at the planning stage to identify unusual or unexpected trends that might indicate a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations and cannot be expected to detect all fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Hammond McNulty is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Castle House School Trust Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Chetwynd End, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 7JE.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is not classified by activity but is allocated across all income streams. Costs comprise both direct and shared costs, including support costs.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
No depreciation is provided on freehold properties as it is the charity's practice to maintain these assets in a continual state of sound repair. Accordingly, the trustees consider that the lives of these assets are so long and residual values are so high that depreciation is insignificant.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
2 of the 3 long-term loans (1st loan and 2nd loan) are secured by fixed charges over the property.
Deferred income is included in the financial statements as follows:
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2024 - none).