Charity Accounts Intelreading the accounts so you don’t have to

PREP SCHOOLS TRUST

Registered charity 309639 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as ASHDOWN HOUSE, CHANDLINGS, COTHILL EDUCATIONAL TRUST, COTHILL HOUSE SCHOOL LIMITED, COTHILL TRUST, KITEBROOK HOUSE

Education

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£30.6m
Latest spending
£35.8m
Registered
1969
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity has ceased to trade following a merger with Radley College and the Trustees intend to wind up the charity, resulting in financial statements prepared on a basis other than going concern. The charity reported a loss of £5.21m for the year, which included a £4.62m impairment loss on Mowden Hall property, and held no free reserves.

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

What the accounts disclose

Employees paid over £60,000: 15
“Number of employees who received total employee benefits (excluding employer pensions costs but including termination costs) of more than £60,000 is as follows:” — page 22
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy
“the Trust had no free reserves nor was it anticipated that free reserves would be available in the near future.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: accounts NOT prepared on a going-concern basis (closing, merging or winding up)
“We draw attention to Note 24 to the financial statements which explains that following the merger with Radley College, the charity has ceased to trade and the Trustees intend to wind-up the charity. As such, they do not consider it to be appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.” — page 11
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Governance: Enforcement Notice received from Environment Agency for non-compliance with ESOS Phase 2
“In December, an Enforcement Notice was received from the Environment Agency advising that PST had not complied with the requirements of ESOS Phase 2 (Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme), a mandatory February 2025 was agreed.” — page 7
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Wenn Townsend. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

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

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram (710 followers)

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

Total income
£30.6m
Total spending
£35.8m
Cost of raising funds
£329k
Reserves (reported)
£1.3m
Employees
598

Reported reserves equal ~0.4 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (90% 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: 1.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Dorset · East Sussex · Gloucestershire · Northumberland · Oxfordshire · Warwickshire

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/08/2025£30.6m£35.8m
31/08/2024£27.4m£25.6m
31/08/2023£21.2m£21.2m
31/08/2022£20.5m£19.2m
31/08/2021£19.0m£18.2m

Common questions

Is PREP SCHOOLS TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity has ceased to trade following a merger with Radley College and the Trustees intend to wind up the charity, resulting in financial statements prepared on a basis other than going concern. The charity reported a loss of £5.21m for the year, which included a £4.62m impairment loss on Mowden Hall property, and held no free reserves. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Wenn Townsend.

Who funds PREP SCHOOLS TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name PREP SCHOOLS TRUST as a grant recipient include THE PUBLIC INTEREST FOUNDATION, SALTERS' CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, CHK Foundation.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE PUBLIC INTEREST FOUNDATIONFY2026£8kGrants, Education
SALTERS' CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONFY2025£5kBursaries and education
CHK FoundationFY2023£0

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
THE MEDLOCK CHARITABLE TRUST1£556k
THE MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION1£9k

Charities like this

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

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
PREP SCHOOLS TRUST£30.6m—15below—not going concern
LEICESTER GRAMMAR SCHOOL TRUST FY2025£235.7m£190,001 - £200,000—unclear—no doubt
PRIOR PARK EDUCATIONAL TRUST FY2025£21.7m£170,001 - £180,000—unclear—no doubt
THE NEWCASTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL TRUST LIMITED FY2025£3.5m——unclear—no doubt
THE OPEN SCHOOL TRUST FY2025£1.6m——below—no doubt
THE ST ANDREW'S SCHOOL TRUST FY2025£2.2m——above—no doubt

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