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DOWNSIDE SCHOOL

Registered charity 1184700 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Secondary education

Causes: Education/training · Religious Activities · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£9.6m
Latest spending
£10.1m
Registered
2019
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £542,869 for the year ended 31 August 2025, resulting in net liabilities of £728,051. The trustees acknowledge a material uncertainty regarding the school's ability to continue as a going concern due to challenges such as VAT on fees and increased operating costs, though they maintain the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £100,001 - £110,000 — in the top quarter for charities its size (median £70k)
“£100,001 - £110,000 per annum 1” — page 37
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy
“The School has no free reserves.” — page 12
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: material uncertainty disclosed
“Governors acknowledge that, as a result of all the factors mentioned above, a material uncertainty exists that may cast doubt on the School's ability to continue as a going concern.” — page 13
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Payments to Downside Abbey General Trust (DAGT) where a trustee is a controller
“transactions totalling £675,457 (2024 - £528,483) were paid to Downside Abbey General Trust (DAGT) where Right Rev. Dom Nicholas P Wetz is a Trustee and controller of the Trust. The charges relate to services provided to the School and were charged at market value.”
“During the year, the School received £425,000 (2024 - £2,934,074) in donations from DAGT in relation to the rent payable on the School site.” — page 44
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donations received from DAGT
“transactions totalling £675,457 (2024 - £528,483) were paid to Downside Abbey General Trust (DAGT) where Right Rev. Dom Nicholas P Wetz is a Trustee and controller of the Trust. The charges relate to services provided to the School and were charged at market value.”
“During the year, the School received £425,000 (2024 - £2,934,074) in donations from DAGT in relation to the rent payable on the School site.” — page 44
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Downside School (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

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)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 · instagram

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

Total income
£9.6m
Total spending
£10.1m
Cost of raising funds
£158k
Reserves (reported)
£0
Employees
185

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (86% 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: 1.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Somerset

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/08/2025£9.6m£10.1m
31/08/2024£13.4m£11.2m
31/08/2023£11.5m£11.5m
31/08/2022£10.1m£10.7m
31/08/2021£4.4m£5.6m

Common questions

Is DOWNSIDE SCHOOL financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £542,869 for the year ended 31 August 2025, resulting in net liabilities of £728,051. The trustees acknowledge a material uncertainty regarding the school's ability to continue as a going concern due to challenges such as VAT on fees and increased operating costs, though they maintain the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Crowe U.K. LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of DOWNSIDE SCHOOL earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £100,001 - £110,000 band.

Who funds DOWNSIDE SCHOOL?

Funders whose own accounts filings name DOWNSIDE SCHOOL as a grant recipient include DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUST, The Brindle Foundation, SIR HAROLD HOOD'S CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUSTFY2022£3.6mGrants to institutions
DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUSTFY2025£1.2mGrant and rent waiver contribution
DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUSTFY2024£425kGrant for School year 1st September 2024- 31st August 2025 (equivalent of one year's rent)
DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUSTFY2023£263k
The Brindle FoundationFY2022£100k
The Brindle FoundationFY2025£100k
SIR HAROLD HOOD'S CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£40k
The Brindle FoundationFY2023£34k
SIR HAROLD HOOD'S CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2025£25k
SIR HAROLD HOOD'S CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£3k

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
MISS W E LAWRENCE 1973 CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT1£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE DOWNS SCHOOL TRUST.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
DOWNSIDE SCHOOL£9.6m£100,001 - £110,000—below—material uncertainty
THE DOWNS SCHOOL TRUST FY2026£106k—0unclear—no doubt
DARUL ULOOM DAWATUL IMAAN FY2025£975k—0below—noted
PK PRE-SCHOOL FY2025£111k—0unclear—noted
DOWNE HOUSE SCHOOL FY2025£29.6m——above—no doubt
ST RONAN'S SCHOOL (HAWKHURST) FY2025£8.0m——unclear—noted

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