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NEWARK PREPARATORY SCHOOL COMPANY LIMITED

Registered charity 528261 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as 'HIGHFIELDS' HIGHFIELDS SCHOOL

Provide high quality nursery, infant and primary education.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£1.2m
Latest spending
£1.3m
Registered
1963
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure outflow of £146,952 for the year, resulting in negative unrestricted reserves of £145,944. The trustees attribute this deficit to exceptional circumstances not expected to be repeated and note that the negative balance is substantially represented by the school's property assets. While the trustees remain confident in the going concern basis, they acknowledge that the market for independent schools has become more challenging due to economic downturns and the introduction of VAT.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £-146k; policy: a small surplus of income over resources expended to provide funds for capital expenditure improvements and working capital)
“The deficit this year was due to a number of exceptional circumstances which are not expected to be repeated in the current academic year; control of costs and striving for increased income remain a priority.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Expenses for electrical work paid to South Electrical Limited, a company where trustee R South is a director.
“The company incurred expenses on commercial terms for electrical work amounting to £840 (2024: £216) during the year with South Electrical Limited. Mr R South is a director of South Electrical Limited and a trustee of The Newark Preparatory School Company Limited.” — page 23
“The company incurred expenses on commercial terms for payroll services amounting to £3,788 (2024: £3,654) during the year with TC Group. Mr J Dennis is a partner of TC Group and a trustee of The Newark Preparatory School Company Limited until 1 March 2025.” — page 23
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Expenses for payroll services paid to TC Group, where trustee J Dennis (until March 2025) is a partner.
“The company incurred expenses on commercial terms for electrical work amounting to £840 (2024: £216) during the year with South Electrical Limited. Mr R South is a director of South Electrical Limited and a trustee of The Newark Preparatory School Company Limited.” — page 23
“The company incurred expenses on commercial terms for payroll services amounting to £3,788 (2024: £3,654) during the year with TC Group. Mr J Dennis is a partner of TC Group and a trustee of The Newark Preparatory School Company Limited until 1 March 2025.” — page 23
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Governance: The original financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2025 failed to comply with the requirements of in the respects identified by the trustees in note 1 to the revised financial statements.
“In our opinion, the original financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2025 failed to comply with the requirements of in the respects identified by the trustees in note 1 to the revised financial statements.” — page 10
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Wright Vigar Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

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

Corporate structure

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.

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.

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Total income
£1.2m
Total spending
£1.3m
Reserves (reported)
£0
Employees
37

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 (97% 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: 0.0% 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: Leicestershire · Lincolnshire · Nottinghamshire

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/08/2025£1.2m£1.3m
31/08/2024£1.2m£1.3m
31/08/2023£1.2m£1.2m
31/08/2022£1.1m£1.1m
31/08/2021£1.0m£1.1m

Common questions

Is NEWARK PREPARATORY SCHOOL COMPANY LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure outflow of £146,952 for the year, resulting in negative unrestricted reserves of £145,944. The trustees attribute this deficit to exceptional circumstances not expected to be repeated and note that the negative balance is substantially represented by the school's property assets. While the trustees remain confident in the going concern basis, they acknowledge that the market for independent schools has become more challenging due to economic downturns and the introduction of VAT. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Wright Vigar Limited.

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 TUDWICK FOUNDATION1£3k

Charities like this

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

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
NEWARK PREPARATORY SCHOOL COMPANY LIMITED£1.2m——below—no doubt
PARKSIDE SCHOOL TRUST FY2025£4.5m——unclear—no doubt
VITA ET PAX SCHOOL (COCKFOSTERS) LIMITED FY2025£972k—0below—no doubt
THE NEWCASTLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL TRUST LIMITED FY2025£3.5m——unclear—no doubt
NOTRE DAME PREPARATORY SCHOOL (NORWICH) LIMITED FY2025£1.2m£60,001 - £70,0002below—no doubt
CHARNOCK RICHARD PRE-SCHOOL FY2025£165k—0below—no doubt

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