2024-08-31-accounts - Penhill Playgroup

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PENHILL PLAYGROUP STEERING COMMITTEE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON

Wednesday 25[th] September 2024

AT PENHILL PLAYGROUP, PENHILL ROAD, LANCING

PRESENT

Katie Ayling, Clair Newbery, Kate Atkinson/Angel, Leena Tucker, Michelle Venn

Meeting commenced at approximately 7.35pm

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received after the event from Rachael Ticehurst.

2. WELCOME BY THE ACTING CHAIRPERSON

Everyone was welcomed to the meeting and thanked for coming.

3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting, held on Wednesday 27[th] September 2023 were agreed as correct, proposed by Katie Ayling and seconded by Leena Tucker.

4. MATTERS ARISING

No matters arising.

5. ACTING CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

No report.

6. MANAGER’S REPORT

We started the academic year with 21 children registered with us and this had increased to 28 children by the end of July, despite a number of children moving away during the year. 15 children moved on to school and two children moved on to being home educated at the end of the academic year.

During the year, we referred two children for speech and language therapy, supported another three already receiving therapy and offered support around an Autism diagnosis for two families who were already in contact with the Child Development Centre. We have also been involved in two Child Protection cases, attending regular in person and online meetings and have worked with Early Help to support several families, as well as providing a very supported transition for a child moving to another setting.

We had two children in receipt of Inclusion funding during the year which meant we were able to purchase some specialist resources, had time to create some new, specific resources, attend meetings and training and pay staff for additional time to complete Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) paperwork and referrals.

The number of children in receipt of Early Years Pupil Premium increased and we were able to provide a toothbrush and toothpaste for every child at the setting, as well as a Duplo toy for Easter (instead of a chocolate egg), which meant that the children who are not able to eat chocolate were not left out or made to feel different. We were also able to use some of the money to pay for our outing costs and for hall hire and staffing costs for our parent/carer

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and craft sessions.

Again, we have tried to use the children’s interests as a starting point for our planning, introducing new themes and topics we have felt it is important for the children to learn about, such as Chinese New Year, dental health and caring for the environment. We had a visit from Sompting Wildlife Rescue who brought in some hedgehogs to show the children, which was a lovely experience.

We offered one outing on a Friday morning at the beginning of December, when we took all the children to the letterbox to post their Christmas cards and then went on to St Michael’s Church to look round the Christmas Tree Festival. We made decorations for our own tree and three of the older children who were unable to attend on the Friday, helped to decorate the tree on the Thursday morning instead. I am pleased to say our tree was voted third best out of the 25 trees on display.

We held our Christmas party for all children registered with us on the last day of term and have discovered it is a good idea to offer some physical and creative activities, alongside party games, singing and food, in order for all the children attending to feel comfortable and involved. We were fortunate that Father Christmas found time to visit us and hand out present to all the children.

From January, we provided our usual outing sessions, which were offered to all our older children. We visited a number of parks and did several short town walks as well as train and bus trips to Worthing, Brighton and Shoreham, which the children really enjoyed. We also completed a beach litter pick with Keep Lancing Lovely and were invited to Seaside Primary school three times, which meant the children got lots of experience going into school and being in the Reception environment, which we hope prepared them well and made them excited about starting school. We were fortunate to have our volunteer Angie supporting our outings as well as Sammy-Jo, one of our parents and committee members helping out, when necessary.

The Government introduced a change to Early Years funding in April, meaning that more families are now eligible to claim 15 hours funded entitlement. Due to changes in the way the funding can be claimed, we agreed to lower our entry age by a couple of months from September 2024. The funding rates have improved, but still do not completely cover our costs, which continue to rise. We also increased our fees from April 2024, although there are fewer parents paying fees now.

In October, we invited parents into an end of the morning music session, where the children performed some songs for their parents/carers, including playing instruments they had made themselves and we encouraged parents and carers to join in too. They were also welcomed to stay after the session ended to look through and contribute to their child’s Learning Journal. We had 19 children attending the session with 13 adults and 5 siblings joining us for the music and 17 adults and children stayed to look at Learning Journals. Our parent /carer afternoon in November was not so well attended, with 10 parents/carers and 9 children. We invited parents and carers to join us on Friday 15[th] December at the end of our Christmas Party, to join in singing some Christmas songs, which was a lovely way to end the term.

We held a games afternoon in early February where parent/carers had the opportunity to try out and play a range of board and physical games with their children. Only 5 families supported this session.

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Our Mum’s afternoon in March (for Mothering Sunday) was attended by 12 adults and 12 children, including Grandparents. The Mum’s got to look through and contribute to their child’s Learning Journal if they wanted to, as well as being able to play and engage with their child using the Playgroup’s resources. Our annual Dad’s Day on a Saturday in June was attended by 9 dad’s and 10 children, which was an improvement on last year.

Parents were offered the Transition sessions we provided last year, but only one parent expressed an interest, so it was not cost effective to hold them, although the interested parent was given the information and handouts from the sessions.

Two days before the end of the summer term, we were inspected by Ofsted and have maintained our “good” rating. It was a very positive experience for us all and the Inspector listened to what staff said and took on board the feedback from parents and carers. In her feedback to the Manager, the Inspector said we were a very strong good and that the families we serve are lucky to have us, which was a really positive thing to hear – just a shame that comment didn’t make it into the report!

Training

Katie completed her Level Three SENCO Training in January, which has meant that she has been able to take over the SENCO role from Sabrina, who has now left. Staff have continued to update their mandatory training in food hygiene and safeguarding and three staff are booked in to update their First Aid over the next 6 months.

Fundraising

We held a fairly well supported Table Sale on 18[th] November, serving bacon rolls again, the ingredients for which had been donated by Bake Out and Mick McGuinness. Not as many people wanted a table this time, so we did not raise as much money as in previous years. A Christmas Craft Afternoon was held during the first week of the Christmas holidays, for which we made a nominal charge of £2 per family. We provided crisps, drinks and biscuits left over from the Table Sale and it was lovely to see whole families attend, with older siblings enjoying the crafts as much as the younger ones. We had 13 adults and 29 children/siblings in attendance and were pleased to welcome some non-Playgroup families too.

An Easter/Spring craft afternoon was held at the end of march, attended by 12 adults and 15 children. We also used this as an opportunity to hold a cake sale and Easter raffle which raised a bit of money, but received very few donations to the raffle, limiting its appeal. We also held Christmas and Summer Raffles, although neither made as much money as in previous years.

Our summer Table Sale had to be cancelled due to lack of people wanting a table. Maybe this event is better in the run up to Christmas rather than in the summer and we need to rethink our summer fundraising ideas for next year.

Staffing

We were fortunate to be supported by two willing and experienced volunteers this year, which really made a difference as we had some very challenging behaviour and children who required quite a lot of additional support, which we were able to provide as for at least two days a week, when we had a higher staff ratio than was required.

Sadly, Sabrina and Sarah both decided to leave at the end of the summer term, meaning we needed to find two replacements, one of whom needed to be qualified in order to meet our ratio requirements. In losing these two members of staff, we also lost one of our Designated

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Safeguarding Officers, the SENCO and both Deputies. Fortunately, Nicky and Hannah both agreed to step up to the Deputy role as a job share and Katie continues in her role as Designated Safeguarding Officer and will take on the SENCO role for the time being, for which her recent qualification has prepared her.

Katie announced in May that she would be leaving at the end of the summer term 2025, giving the committee a year to find a replacement Manager, however, after concerns were raised about potentially closing the Playgroup, she had a change of heart and is no longer planning to leave.

Stay and Play

This group has continued to just run on a Tuesday afternoon, although there have been requests for the Friday session to re-start. It has a fairly stable group of regulars who attend, which includes children who attend the Playgroup, alongside their younger siblings, as well as childminders, grandparents looking after their grandchildren and other local families who have found the group to be a warm and welcoming space. The average attendance is 12 families per week, with up to 18 children in attendance, but over the course of the year, 112 families have benefitted from the group being open.

We have continued to offer toast and drinks for both the children and adults and cake or biscuits on special occasions. The group this year has been funded by a grant from Adur Council, for which we are very grateful. It meant we were able to subsidise places for families who couldn’t afford to pay to attend and to open for some additional sessions at the end of the summer term, over Christmas and at the beginning of September, all of which were well supported, showing that there is still a need for this type of group to continue to run.

During the year, we offered information about dental health and provided free toothbrushes for all our families, if they wanted them and invited Families in Mind to come into the group to talk to parents and carers about mental health and promote their groups which support the mental health and wellbeing of parents and carers with young children. We also invited in staff from the local Family Hub, to promote the services and support they can offer but they have yet to arrange a convenient date. We held a Christmas session where all the children received a gift from Father Christmas.

We also held several toy/book and clothing exchanges, where families were welcome to bring in good quality items they no longer used and to take away other items in return. This helped to show our commitment to recycling and reducing waste and to supporting families on low income to obtain items they might otherwise not have been able to afford.

Current Situation

We currently have 16 children registered with us. Three children who were due to start in September changed their minds, so we have lost about 45 hours a week in funding due to this. We have 4 children due to start after Christmas, which will help our numbers. Currently, all children are funded.

We continue to benefit from the support of our two volunteers, Angie and Julie and we also have a student, Millie, one morning a week on a long term work placement and she seems very capable and is eager to learn and help.

We still need more committee members, but are pleased to welcome Rachael Ticehurst, a local childminder who has already been approved by Ofsted and Michelle Venn our new book keeper, who has agreed to take over the Treasurer role from Leena who is standing

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down at this meeting.

Thank you to the staff and volunteers who work so hard to keep the Playgroup going, despite some very challenging circumstances. Although two staff decided to leave in July, we are fortunate to have been able to successfully recruit two replacements, Lisa Ansell and Rebekah Hicks, to enable us to continue providing a good educational start, as well as a caring and supportive environment for those children and their parents and carers who have become a part of the Penhill family.

7. TREASURER’S REPORT

The accounts have been audited and approved and show a profit of £12,689.79 which is really positive.

Leena went through each category, explaining what it included.

It was noted that the Warm Spaces Grant was actually an Adur Community Grant. Under the new way of claiming milk reimbursement money, we are unable to claim the full amount spent and unfortunately, are unable to claim for non-dairy milk.

The training amount seemed low and it was for a new Government Guidance document that was purchased, but did not include some of the training that was paid for, which has been accounted for in a different category.

Training this current financial year would be greater as it will include three staff members undertaking First Aid Training at a cost of £89 each, plus some staff members needed to complete mandatory safeguarding and child protection training.

8. APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR

Katie Wastell had agreed to be auditory again and was proposed by Leena Tucker and seconded by Katie Ayling.

9. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

Members staying on:

Nicola Kirk, Katie Ayling as Manager, Clair Newbery (who had been co-opted in May), Kate Angel Atkinson (who was co-opted onto the committee in November)

Resignations:

Leena Tucker (Treasurer) Zoe Brown was officially removed from the committee in July. Sammy-Jo Jessey has moved away.

New members:

Rachael Ticehurst Michelle Venn (proposed by Katie Ayling and seconded by Leena Tucker)

Officers:

Chairperson Clair Newbery Vice Chair Nicola Kirk (same as last year, if happy to carry on) Secretary Katie Ayling Treasurer Michelle Venn

10. MEETING OPEN TO THE FLOOR

The possibility of re-starting Stay and Play on a Friday afternoon was discussed. It was agreed to put a poll on our Facebook page and to gauge interest from regular attenders. It was suggested initially running it over the winter (possibly October Half term until February Half term) to see if the demand is there. It was agreed that committee members attending would help Katie, so that we are not having to incur extra staff costs.

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Christmas Table Sale – Katie will find out if staff are able to help and what dates might be suitable in November, then we can put out feelers for anyone interested in having a table.

BT- since BT installed Broadband in August, we have been without a telephone line and are relying on the Playgroup mobile. Calls go through the the old voicemail, but we are unable to access them. Katie has raised a complaint and has a case manage who is looking into the problem, but despite being given dates when the problem will be fixed, it has yet to be resolved and we may be missing out on important messages being left.

Playgroup Constitution - this needs updating given the change in using online banking, so any changes will need to be agreed at the next Committee meeting. Katie will email out copies in advance for committee members to read through.

Leena was thanked for all her hard work as Treasurer over the last 9 years and was given a thank you gift and card.

11. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

Next meeting: Wednesday 13[th] November 2024, 7.30pm at 13 Penhill Road

MEETING CLOSED AT APPROXIMATELY 8.20pm.

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAIES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Se¢tlon A Independent Exomlner'g Raport Report to tlio trusteosl members ol ÈN141L L PLn-IlrgC)U On accounts for tlie year ended 31 08 Jo, Cliarliy no lif any) l(iOI xII- Set out on pages I repoFI lo the Iruslees on my exarrmnalion of Ihe accounls ol the above chafily {-Ihe Trust-} lor the year endgd £1 OÉ 2 02 24 As the chari1$ Iruslees, you are responsible for Ihe preparalion of Ihe accounls in aCce wilh ihe requiremenls of the Charities Act 2011 1.the Act-). Responsibililles and basis of report I report in sPeCt of my examinalion of Tnjsl's accounts carried out under section 145 d the 2011 Aci in carrying oul rny examination. I have loliowed all the apNicable Direciions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5Mb) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement URdertthtrthffExarrri beinr&qvalifie&ffl8mbeLDIJiD5ert name of applicabltr1isie&bcY1]oL8pp1lcabl I have completed my examirk2tion. I confi.rrn Ihat no malerial matters have corne to my attention in conneclion with the examination <e1h8kI- discloseleVhich gives me cause to believe Ihat in, any material respect.. the accounting records We noi kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charilies Act". or the accounts did not accord Wbth the accounting records. or th8 accounts did not comply with Ihe applicable requiremenls conceming the form arxl contenl of accounts sei out tn Ihe Chaiities (Accounls and Reports) Regulations 2008 olher than any requirement thal the accounls give a 'liue and fair. view which is not a matter conSided as part of an irKlependent examination. I have no concems and have come across no other ma£lers in connection with the exarnination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned.. Date= 441 Name: Relevant professional iualiflcation(s) or body éVCCtr Oct 2018

(If any): E. Address= pJco 1- 2 I-ifvoq4{ F-/Oilg£ Secllon B Dlsclosure Only complete il the examiner needs lo highlighl material mallers of concein (see CC32. Irmdependenl examinalicMI of charily accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Glve here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. Oct 2018

Profit and Loss Penhill Playgroup For the year ended 31 August 2024 2024 Turnover Clothing Sales Donations 40.00 44.73 Funtlraising from RafNes General Funflrdising Milk Reimbursement 273.00 21S.40 89.70 Other Revenue 150.99 Othersettings RelundstFransfers Parent Pald Fees 1871.951 3,03S*O 1,034.35 Stayand Play Fees Warm Spaces Grants West Sussex County Council Funding TotslTurnoveY 4,500.00 73,620.46 82,132.48 Gross Proflt 82.132.48 Administrative Costs Advertising& Ma¥keting Audlt& Ac¢oLtntancyfees Bank Fees 30.00 400.00 111.14 Cleaning Ernployers Nationèl Insurance Entertainment-school Trips equlpment General Svppllés Gffts 14.64 2.089.50 63.75 1,119.02 298.12 59.54 Insurance 476.50 IT Software and Consumables 226x2 Memberships and Subscriptions Milk 296.99 99.70 Music License 6622 Pensions Costs 740.94 Postage, Freight & Cotsrier Prlnting Rent 61.21 39.00 7,484.00 5.58 Repairs& Maintenance Salarie5 57,182.82 8.50 staff Training Stationery Telephone & Irrtemet TotalAdministraliveCosts 164.34 493.76 71,532.19

t aftd Lots 202 Operating Profit 10.600.29 Other Income Employers Nl Recetvable Totalijther Income 2,089.5Q 2,089.50 Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation Profit after Taxation 12.689.79 12,689.79

Balance Sheet Penhill Playgroup As at 31 August 2024 31AUG 2Q24 Current Assets Cash at bank and In hand Penhill Playgmup Petty CashAc¢ount Total Cash Jt bank and in hand 95,252.45 149.50 95.401.95 TotslCurrentAssets 95AOI.95 Credltor5: amounts fallin Pensions Payable Totsl Creditors: amounts falling due withln oneyear due within one ear 247.25 247.25 Net Current Assets {Liabilitiesl 95,154.70 Total Assets less Current Liabilities 95.154.70 Net A55ets 95,154.70 ital and Reserves Currentvear Earnin85 Retained Eamings TotJl Capltal Reserbv 12,689.79 82,464.91 95,IX70