Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From 01/09/2024 To 31/08/2025
Charity name: Merry-go-round under 5’s
Charity registration number: 1010031
Objectives and Activities
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document |
Para 1.17 | To advance the education of children below compulsory school age by; (a) providing a safe and satisfying group play in which parents have the right to take part. (b) encouraging other charitable activities through which parents may help the children (c) furthering the aim of the pre-school playgroups association |
| Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts. |
Para 1.17 and 1.19 |
Merry-Go-Round Under Fives provides exciting preschool education and opportunities for children under five from Baldock and the surrounding area. We are situated in the extensive grounds of Hartsfield School. As well as two purpose- built classrooms, we' re lucky enough to have two enclosed outdoor play areas with a wide range of outdoor learning facilities and toys. ~ We are an independent, non-profit making charity. ~ We are Ofsted registered. ~ We have a high ratio of staff to children- we can focus on children's individual needs and development. ~ We believe that care and education are equally important. ~ We provide children with routines and activities to ensure they feel safe, valued and gain experience from socialising with other children |
Statement confirming Para 1.18 whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit
The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment Para 1.38 Contribution made by volunteers Other
Achievements and Performance
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole. |
Para 1.20 | Merry go round had a slight reduction in numbers on roll due to the low birth rate, but occupancy remained the same. Numbers on roll between September 2024 and July 2025 September 2024– 27 on register (12 in Nursery and 15 in pre-school) January 2025– 28 on register (13 in Nursery and 15 in pre-school) April 2025– 27 on register (13 in Nursery and 14 in pre-school) Staffing for Sept 2024 to July 2025 Staffing 7 in total – Kay, Carol, Sharon, Angie, Archana, Nikki, Abbe plus Debbie, who began volunteering once a week Staff Training Staff attend regular training courses throughout an academic year as well as in |
house training. Courses attended via online seminar during the past year: • Behaviour and co-regulation • First Aid for all staff • Safeguarding Training • Speech and language support • Open ended play • Enhancing your curriculum • Senco Clusters and • Half Termly Closing the Gap Workshops Training is cascaded to all staff at meetings and the information used to reflect on and enhance our practice. Early Years Consultant annual visit Each year the Early Years consultant for North Herts carries out an annual visit, to check how we deliver certain aspects of the EYFS within our setting. The focus was on how effectively we are delivering our curriculum. She rated us green, which is a GOOD outcome Ofsted Inspection – this took place on 27[th] February 2025 and we were delighted to receive a GOOD outcome. Although this year has been a little difficult financially with our numbers not quite being as high as previous years, it has nonetheless been a good year for Merry Go Round, with actual attendance high and the therefore our final financial statement for the year was not as low as first estimated. We have two new committee members last year, Phil and Hannah who have made a great start and assisted us within the year on various projects With the assistance of one of our former parents we have a new website in place.
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| Achievements against objectives set |
Para 1.41 | Events The children have had the opportunity to join in with many educational events over the year: • The nursery children took part in a scavenger hunt around the town and had to find all the shops on the sheet. • We introduce a yoga session on a fortnightly basis with Suzie from Happy Little Yogi. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| We also introduced termly Stay and Play sessions to enhance our partnership with parents We held a pyjama day in November and the children enjoyed toast and cereal for snack and had lots of bedtime stories. We held a mincemeat making morning in late November, which enabled all the children to take home a jar of mincemeat for festive baking. The nursery children all played a part in our nativity production and sang for their family members. • We made a change to our annual Christmas Party morning and welcomed Mel the Magician as well as the opportunity for all the children to visit Father Christmas and receive a gift from him. • Kevin from Russell Studios Photography came in to take photos of the children in March. • All the children took part in our main fundraising event – the Sponsored Easter Egg Hunt. • Our annual nursery trip on the train to Shepreth Wildlife Park, took place on a lovely day in May. • The children all had the opportunity to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. They were able to watch our caterpillars grow into butterflies and see them fly away. • Our sports day for the nursery class was held on a lovely sunny morning in June, on Hartsfield School’s running track, whilst the pre-school class practiced their physical skills with obstacle courses and ball games, in our garden area. • During the Summer term and prior to transition, the nursery children were given the opportunity to explore Hartsfield’s Early Years Play area twice a week, for half an hour. and • On our last day of term we held a party with games and party food for snack. All the children were presented with leavers certificates and a book and the nursery class sang some of their favourite action songs, to their parents |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set |
Para 1.41 | Fundraising for the last Academic Year Between October 2024 and January 2025, we were voted onto 2ndplace in the Tesco Blue Chip Scheme and received £1000. This went towards the cost of our 4K Whiteboard and stand. Hartsfield Winter Fair – £191.50 Christmas Hamper raffle – 165.15 Egg Hunt and Summer Hamper Raffle (donated by Tesco) – £379 – this generous amount enabled us to purchase some new |
| sand toys, a trampoline, some large construction for the garden and some hoops and balls. We would also like to thank two local businesses, PG Decorating and Jim ‘Tree Man’ Caddy for their donations of materials and time during the summer maintenance. |
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|---|---|---|
| Investment performance against objectives |
Para 1.41 | n/a |
| Other |
Financial Review
| Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period |
Para 1.21 | Financially the year was as ahead of expectation. We had forecast to breakeven for the year, but made a surplus of nearly £8k (in line with last year’s £8k surplus) The two main drivers behind the surplus were; 1) Electricity charges (£5.2k) were considerably compared to the previous year on which the budget was set. This was due to world events impacting wholesale energy prices. 2) Overall payroll costs were £3.6k below expectations, driven by holding staff vacancies open for longe than expected. This surplus has meant that our cash reserves are now at a healthy £95k As ever, we continue to watch our spending; capital items will only be acquired when budgeted for or obtained via grants or specific fundraising. |
|---|---|---|
| Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held |
Para 1.22 | Reserves are set aside to 1. Operating shortfalls, and 2. Investing in the setting |
| Amount of reserves held | Para 1.22 | £95k provision for any operating shortfall and investing in the setting. |
| Reasons for holding zero reserves |
Para 1.22 | n/a |
| Details of fund materially in deficit |
Para 1.24 | n/a |
| Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern |
Para 1.23 |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising) |
Para 1.47 | The principal source of funding is from Herts DC. This year it amounted to 87% of our fee income, up on previous years. |
|---|---|---|
| Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted |
Para 1.46 | n/a |
| A description of the principal risks facing the charity |
Para 1.46 | Falling child numbers. These have fluctuated widely in the past, and fell considerably this year. We remain protected in the short term by our large reserves. |
|---|---|---|
| Other |
Structure, Governance and Management
| Description of charity’s trusts: |
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|---|---|---|
| Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter) |
Para 1.25 | Constitution |
| How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO) |
Para 1.25 | Association |
| Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees |
Para 1.25 | Election |
Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
| Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees |
Para 1.51 | |
| The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works |
Para 1.51 | |
| Relationship with any related parties |
Para 1.51 | |
| Other |
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name | Merry-Go-Round Under 5’s |
|---|---|
| Other name the charity uses | |
| Registered charity number | 1010031 |
| Charity’s principal address | The Mobile, Hartsfield School Ground, Clothall Road, Baldock, SG7 6PN |
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr GaryCarey | Treasurer | |||
| Mrs Sheila Ely | ||||
– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved
Director name
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year
Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others
Description of the assets held in this capacity
Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
Additional information (optional)
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
| Type of | Name | Address |
|---|---|---|
| adviser |
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
Exemptions from disclosure
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
Other optional information
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature(s) | Signature(s) HR ~ |
WWwSaoonr*7 |
|---|---|---|
| Full name(s) | Full name(s)Gary Carey | Gary Carey |
| Position (eg Secretary, | Treasurer | |
| Chair, etc) | ||
| Date6 | 6thMay 2026 |
| Merry-Go-Round Under 5's 1010031 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts For the period from 01/09/2024 To 31/08/2025 a ~~1~~ |
|
|---|---|
| Section A Receipts and payments | |
| Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year |
|
| to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ |
|
| A1 Receipts Funding 114,964 - - 114,964 100,649 Fees 11,784 - - 11,784 20,954 Other Income 2,461 - - 2,461 1,879 Sub total(Gross income for AR)129,209 - - 129,209 123,481 A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table B1). Bank Interest 678 - - 678 799 - - - - - ~~Sub total~~678 - - 678 799 Total receipts 129,887 - - 129,887 124,280 ~~ee ee~~ ~~——————~~ |
799 |
| A3 Payments | |
| Wages,NI & Pensions 101,823 - - 101,823 96,158 PlaygroupActivities 2,883 - - 2,883 2,684 Building and premises (inc rent, maint & capital)) 6,673 - - 6,673 6,408 Utilities 4,511 - - 4,511 8,127 Supplies /HCS & office 3,356 - - 3,356 1,753 Training & Advertising (inc subs & members) 1,575 - - 1,575 160 Insurance 954 - - 954 883 Miscellaneous 180 - - 180 244 Sub total 121,955 - - 121,955 116,417 ~~—=====~~ |
|
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - ~~—————~~ |
|
| Total payments 121,955 - - 121,955 116,417 Net of receipts/(payments) 7,933 - - 7,933 7,863 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 87,230 - - 87,230 79,367 Cash funds this year end 95,163 - - 95,163 87,230 ~~=====~~ |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | funds | ||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||
| B1 Cash funds | 14,106 - - 81,057 - - 95,163 - - Treasurers Account Business Instant Account Total cash funds ~~——~~ |
|||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments | (agree balances with receipts and payments | |||||
| account(s)) | OK | OK | OK | |||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | ||||
| funds | funds | funds | ||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~—_—~~ |
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| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|||
| B3 Investment assets | - - - - - - - - - - ~~===~~ |
|||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~a~~ |
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| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities |
liability relates (optional) (optional) - - - - - Date of approval 06-May-26 Signature Print Name GaryCarey Details ~~oun~~ |
x CHARITY COMMISSION Independent examiner's FOR ENGLAND AND WALES report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner’s Report
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Report to the trustees/ | Charity Name
members of | Merry-Go-Round Under 5’s
On accounts for the year | 31%' August 2025 Charity no | 1010031
ended (if any)
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
| report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/08/2025.
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- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act’).
| report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, | have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
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Independent | have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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e accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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e the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
| have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
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Name: | PETER ILIAN
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Relevant professional | ACIB qualification(s) or body (if any):
Address: | 6 Rutland Green, Hilton
Huntingdon
Cambs, PE28 9NT
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
IER
1
October 2018
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose.
IER
2
October 2018