THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TRUST

Registered charity 295175 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as LEWESTON SCHOOL TRUST, ST ANTONY'S - LEWESTON SCHOOL TRUST

THE CHARITABLE OBJECT IS TO PROVIDE AN INDEPENDENT ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL FOR THE EDUCATION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHILDREN AND THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS OR NONE. ALSO TO PROVIDE CHARITABLE WORKS WHICH ADVANCE THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION.

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

Latest income

£9.8m

Latest spending

£10.6m

Registered

1986

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Trust recorded an operating deficit of £770,970 for the year ended 31 July 2025, driven largely by exceptional advisory fees related to the sale of the school. Per the trustees' report, the Trust had net current liabilities of £2,719,256 at the balance sheet date, but this was mitigated by post-year-end renegotiation of long-term borrowings and a lease agreement with the new school operator.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: unrestricted reserves should not be accumulated from year to year, unless for a specific capital project (held: £159k)

“The School's policy is that unrestricted reserves should not be accumulated from year to year, unless for a specific capital project; any surplus generated is invested in developing the buildings and resources of the Trust.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: Leweston Enterprises Limited

“Leweston Enterprises Limited (company no. 07212188) was incorporated in England and Wales on 6 April 2010 as a wholly owned trading subsidiary of Leweston School Trust.” — page 30

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Albert Goodman LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 02041443
Trading subsidiary: LEWESTON ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 07212188

LEWESTON ENTERPRISES LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts

On 16 December 2025, the trade of Leweston Enterprises Limited's parent entity, Leweston School Trust, was transferred to Leweston Enterprises Limited. On the same date, the shares in Leweston Enterprises Limited were acquired by Leweston School (Sherborne) Limited

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Mr John Paget-Tomlinson — Headmaster (source)
Mr Richard Thompson — Head of Prep (source)
Mr Stuart Whittle — Deputy Head (Academic) (source)
Mr Oliver McManus — Deputy Head (Pastoral) (source)
Miss Claire Worsley — Director of Business Strategy and Operations (source)
Mrs Beth Simkins-Smith — Director of Boarding (source)
Mrs Anna Dencher — Director of Teaching and Learning (source)
Mrs Elisabeth Carr — Head of Operations (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.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

DICKINSON, Harry Anthony Hayama — director, appointed 16/12/2025on trustee list
DICKINSON, Hugh Anthony Hayama — director, appointed 16/12/2025on trustee list
HALL, James William — director, appointed 16/12/2025on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income

£9.8m

Total spending

£10.6m

Cost of raising funds

£97k

Reserves (reported)

£1.7m

Employees

214

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 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 (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: 1.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Hugh Anthony Hayama Dickinsonchair
Harry Anthony Hayama Dickinson · trustee of 3 other charities
James William Hall

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

Operates in: Dorset

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£9.8m	£10.6m
31/07/2024	£9.9m	£10.4m
31/07/2023	£9.0m	£9.0m
31/07/2022	£7.5m	£7.5m
31/07/2021	£6.3m	£7.0m

Common questions

Is THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the Trust recorded an operating deficit of £770,970 for the year ended 31 July 2025, driven largely by exceptional advisory fees related to the sale of the school. Per the trustees' report, the Trust had net current liabilities of £2,719,256 at the balance sheet date, but this was mitigated by post-year-end renegotiation of long-term borrowings and a lease agreement with the new school operator. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Albert Goodman LLP.

Who funds THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TRUST as a grant recipient include SISTERS OF CHARITY OF ST PAUL THE APOSTLE, THE ROTHERMERE FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
SISTERS OF CHARITY OF ST PAUL THE APOSTLE	FY2023	£330k	Donated fixed assets (South African properties/schools)
THE ROTHERMERE FOUNDATION	FY2023	£25k	Educational/Children's charities
THE ROTHERMERE FOUNDATION	FY2022	£10k	Educational/Children's charities

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 STONYHURST FOUNDATION	1	£4.4m
VISCOUNT AMORY'S CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£92k
THE JOHN SLATER FOUNDATION	1	£26k
SIR HAROLD HOOD'S CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£21k
THE OUSELEY CHURCH MUSIC TRUST	1	£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with EXETER CATHEDRAL SCHOOL.

EXETER CATHEDRAL SCHOOL income £2.7m
ST MARY'S COLLEGE CROSBY TRUST LIMITED income £11.5m
STONYHURST income £25.5m
THE PETERBOROUGH SCHOOL LIMITED income £8.2m
THE CHURCH SCHOOLS OF CAMBRIDGE (THE OLD SCHOOLS) income £378k
RATCLIFFE COLLEGE income £17.4m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS TRUST	£9.8m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
EXETER CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FY2024	£2.7m	—	—	unclear	—	noted
ST MARY'S COLLEGE CROSBY TRUST LIMITED FY2025	£11.5m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
STONYHURST FY2025	£25.5m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
THE PETERBOROUGH SCHOOL LIMITED FY2025	£8.2m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
THE CHURCH SCHOOLS OF CAMBRIDGE (THE OLD SCHOOLS) FY2025	£378k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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