ROYAL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF DERBY

Registered charity 1062507 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as RSD SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF DERBY

The charity operates a non-maintained special school concerned with the education of deaf pupils of 3 to 19 years of age

Causes: Education/training · Disability · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£5.6m

Latest spending

£5.5m

Registered

1997

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £183,455 for the year ended 31 August 2025, with total unrestricted reserves of £8,739,244. The trustees confirm that reserves targets are met in full, with funds designated for campus enhancement and residential improvements.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: High needs funding and top-up fees from Local Authority placing partners (95% of income)

“High needs funding direct from the Education and Skills Funding Agency with top-up fees from Local Authority placing partners represent the largest part of incoming resources. In the year to 31 August 2025 these amounted to 95% of total incoming resources.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: £0.9 - £1.3m (held: £8.7m)

“The target £0.9 - £1.3m of readily realisable reserves is met.” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Going concern: noted by the trustees or auditor

“Late payment and occasional non-payment by some Local Authority partners for children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) places an unfair burden on the school finances which, in turn, places reliance on the charity to cover shortfalls in learner costs.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Bates Weston Audit Ltd. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2024) → going-concern doubt noted (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Inspection and regulatory ratings

Matched to this charity by name; verify provider identity on the regulator’s site.

Ofsted — Royal School for the Deaf Derby: NULL (NULL) · Ofsted

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Paul Burrows — Headteacher (source)
Rachael Irgi — Deputy Headteacher (source)
Amelia Heath — Deputy Headteacher (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (3 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Total income

£5.6m

Total spending

£5.5m

Cost of raising funds

£17k

Reserves (reported)

£8.9m

Employees

102

Reported reserves equal ~19.4 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (22/02/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (18/12/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (14/09/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (06/09/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Douglas Edward Bulgerchair
Craig Crowley
DAVID DU CELLIEE MULLER
James Alexander Bruce Ottewell
Mark Ian Tomalin

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Derby City

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/08/2025	£5.6m	£5.5m
31/08/2024	£5.0m	£4.9m
31/08/2023	£5.0m	£5.2m
31/08/2022	£11.5m	£4.7m
31/08/2021	£5.0m	£4.5m

Common questions

Is ROYAL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF DERBY financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £183,455 for the year ended 31 August 2025, with total unrestricted reserves of £8,739,244. The trustees confirm that reserves targets are met in full, with funds designated for campus enhancement and residential improvements. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Bates Weston Audit Ltd.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	20/01/2022	£10k	"Continuing our Heritage"
Sport England	24/07/2018	£26k	Multi use games area
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	15/03/2018	£7k	"Celebrating 125 years of Royal School for the Deaf Derby"
The National Lottery Community Fund	25/08/2011	£6k	Opportunities for Deaf YP to Explore Sounds & Communication Imaginatively
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	17/03/2011	£49k	"Oral Deaf Heritage as told by those making the history"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	26/08/2004	£1k	"A Project To Commemorate The Events Leading To The End Of Ww2 And The Contribution Made By The Deaf Community In Derby To The War Effort."
The National Lottery Community Fund	25/08/2004	£10k	Film production

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE OXFORD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE	1	£55k
THE GEOFF & FIONA SQUIRE FOUNDATION	1	£33k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£10k
THE CLARE MILNE TRUST	1	£10k
FRAZER TRUST	1	£8k
THE MASON BIBBY 1981 TRUST	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with Royal Deaf Education Trust.

Royal Deaf Education Trust income £9.0m
ST JOHN'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF income £4.4m
DERBY HIGH SCHOOL TRUST income £10.2m
THE ST ANDREW'S SCHOOL TRUST income £2.2m
DEESIDE HOUSE EDUCATIONAL TRUST LIMITED income £7.8m
THE ROYAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND CHARITY, LIVERPOOL income £6.3m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
ROYAL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF DERBY	£5.6m	—	—	above	—	noted
Royal Deaf Education Trust FY2025	£9.0m	—	3	below	—	no doubt
ST JOHN'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF FY2025	£4.4m	—	—	unclear	0.0%	no doubt
DERBY HIGH SCHOOL TRUST FY2025	£10.2m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ST ANDREW'S SCHOOL TRUST FY2025	£2.2m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
DEESIDE HOUSE EDUCATIONAL TRUST LIMITED FY2025	£7.8m	£100,001 - £200,000	—	above	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.