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2021-05-31-accounts

– – Annual Trustees Report May 2020 May 2021

Administration Details

Name : Weavering Pre-School

Registration Number : 1017421

Address : Weavering Pre-School, Weavering Hall, Weavering Street, Maidstone, ME14 5JP

Names of Trustees :

Jemma Lucas (Chair), Claire Whittall (Treasurer), Liz Munro (Secretary), Melanie Cope (Vice Chair), Lisa Cope, Andrea Kershaw

Names of Friends of Weavering :

Zoe Monteath, Jane Stokey, Steph Cope, Dawn Taylor, Elizabeth Noble, Jennifer Webster, Laura Barratt, Sharon Rivett, Crystal Jheeta, Chantelle Gazzard, Sian McCurrach, Helen Pomorski, Lizzie Cook, Elaine Bygrave, Emma Harris, Sally Jones

Names of Ex Trustees / Friends of Weavering :

Tara O’Connell

Structure, governance and management :

Objectives and activities :

Achievements and performance :

In spite of the challenges thrown at us by the Covid pandemic, our setting remains sustainable and has had a successful year. Our numbers fluctuated throughout the year in accordance with the restrictions placed on us all due to the pandemic – we had terms with lower expected attendance than budgeted for because, understandably parents either chose to keep their children at home in light of the guidance at that time, or because the fear factor impacted on decisions made. However, we end the year with a healthy 67 children on role – 40 of them due to move onto school this summer. We have successfully added to our hire agreement to include a Monday afternoon to the existing lunch sessions. This means that we are now able

Registered Charity – 1017421

Weavering Pre-School , Weavering Village Hall , Weavering Street , Maidstone, ME14 5JP

to offer parents a total of 23 of their possible 30 hour extended entitlement. We finished the summer claim period of funding entitlement with 55 of our 67 children eligible for 15 hours universal funding or 30 hours extended funding.

The pandemic enforced an extreme review of services offered in order to comply with robust control measures. Much of this review of course focussed on the safeguarding of the children, however it also gave us the opportunity to review how we could maintain a safe environment and ensure that excellent progress continued to be made by all children in the setting. During the extreme measures of restricted access to education we continued to send out activity packs each week to all of our families to allow a continuation of care and education remotely for our families. We revised our free flow play policy to limit the numbers of children mixing in a session – in line with government advice – and introduced 3 pods on a daily basis. The children were divided into three groups consisting of 2 or 3 keyworker groups in each pod. They circulate the entire setting during the course of a day spending time in each of the three pod areas in turn. The pods are cleaned between use and it has resulted in some extremely positive outcomes for all the children. Many of the younger or indeed less confident children are not so overwhelmed by the smaller environments they enter and they have settled far quicker than used to be the case with what could have been perceived as an extremely large, busy, noisy environment. They all have opportunity to play outside for at least an hour during a session and indeed staff take full advantage of the additional outside areas available to us. The staff have recorded that their relationships with their keyworker children are incredibly enhanced because of the concentrated time they spend with them in the smaller pods. The children themselves, have formed extremely strong bonds with their peers and their social skills have elevated. We recognised the importance of introducing all the children to larger group sessions once restrictions allowed, and also to ease them into the expectations of extended group play as will be accepted practise in schools, and now they mix freely between pods for a period over the lunch sessions and playground time. These pods have proved so successful in improving the outcomes for all our children over the last 18 months that we intend to continue to operate in a similar vein moving forward. Staff have autonomy over the areas of learning and activities are planned for in each pod during the course of every session. Play and resources also allow for in the moment planning and every child’s interests can be catered for.

As was reported last year we had a high turn over of staff for a variety of reasons, but I am happy to report that our new team have bonded well over the last year and the enthusiasm for their roles has resulted in an encouraging and stimulating environment for all our children to play and learn. We welcomed a number of new staff into the setting – Sarah and Sally joined us to work alongside Sian in yellow pod, Kim took on her first keyworker group working alongside Jane and Claire HJ in blue pod and Emma has been through a period of induction alongside Claire Lala and Zoe in red pod. We intend to have a little shuffle around of pod members for September to allow a more equal level of working hours across all the pods and parents will be informed in due course of any changes. We shall continue to use our three entrance and exit points which I think everyone will agree results in a far more streamlined drop off and collection of all the children. Sian will very soon have completed her Level 3 qualification and Kim, Sarah and Sally begun their Level 2 training some months ago and are making excellent progress. Staff have attended a variety of online courses and workshops over the course of the last year.

As some of our children move onto school it can be an emotional time for them and their parents and please be assured that it can be for us too – you have entrusted the care of your little ones into our hands and we fully appreciate that this can never be a “given”. We form strong relationships with all our children and their families. It is a statutory requirement that we support our children in their transition onto school and under normal circumstances, this is carried out in a variety of ways – both by inviting school staff into

Registered Charity – 1017421

Weavering Pre-School , Weavering Village Hall , Weavering Street , Maidstone, ME14 5JP

the setting and also by offering children opportunities to dress up in sample school uniforms, handle book bags and encourage discussions about the school day and environment. This year once again the pandemic made these transitions all the harder, but we overcame all challenges and were able to share with all the recipient schools just how the children were able to progress along the curriculum during their time with us. We are confident that all our children will continue to flourish in their new environments and rise to the challenges the comings months will bring to them and their families and look forward to hearing how they are doing in the future. But at the end of the academic year, it is an opportunity for us to thank you for allowing us to nurture your children, support their development and help educate them along the way.

We are confident that we rose to meet every challenge that the pandemic threw our way and that in spite of all the restrictions and anxieties we all experienced, our children have come through it all with the support of their families and the preschool. They have proved their resilience at every turn, they have formed extremely strong bonds with the staff and their peers, they are all fully equipped with the tools needed to move onto the next stage in their education. It has been probably the most challenging time in all of our lives, and some have felt the impact of Covid more than others. The staff have had their wobbles along the way, and that is both understandable and to be expected, but we are proud of the team we have here and recognise that we could not have had the success through it all without their support and determination.

This year we have finished with an unexpected surplus of around £16000. This figure has been because of a range of unexpected income. Our Early Years income was higher than expected budget figure not least because it is always hard to predict the hours each family may wish to pick up during the course of a year, and this year in spite of the restrictions placed on us we have had claims for more funded hours than expected. KCC also increased the funding amount to £4.44 per hour. There were periods of anxiety when it was unsure if KCC would pay the funding on expected numbers as opposed to actuals, but fortunately that was resolved and payment was made for expected attendance during the periods of time when advice was to “stay home”. KCC also issued an additional one-off payment to all settings whose actual numbers of funded children’s attendance were lower than the previous year’s figure. Funding for 2-year-old funding is not an area we can successfully budget for as we never know until children commence with us whether they fulfil the criteria for this funding. However, this year we were fortunate to receive income in this area in the amount of £1670. We also benefited from a government subsidy for supporting staff members through their apprenticeship schemes of £2000. Our expenditure was less than budgeted for – primarily due to careful management. Weavering Village Hall management committee very generously agreed to a couple of months of free hall hire over the year, so our expenditure for hall hire was less than budgeted for.

Our expenditure was less than budgeted for although in order to comply with Government increase in national minimum wage a pay increase was implemented to ensure we conformed with this legislation. Staff were awarded an interim bonus to recognise their extreme commitment and dedication over the course of the pandemic.

Our fundraising this year has been incredible. The efforts of all concerned in this area are to be applauded and we closed the year with a profit of in excess of £2600. This money has been raised through a variety of events including dress up weeks, half term sponsored challenges (linked to te terms learning), Christmas cards and baubles featuring the childrens artwork. We had reservations about the Christmas raffle and had to change it to a ‘virtual’ raffle due to the effects of Covid but it was our most successful yet, raising over £500. A new addition to the fundraising this year was the very successful Mother’s day gift shop set up by Claire. The money raised from our fundraising goes straight back into the preschool to benefit the children. The money funds the little extras for the children such as Christmas gifts, party and Easter eggs. It also funds our popular summer funday. After not being able to hold one last year due to covid, we were

Registered Charity – 1017421

Weavering Pre-School , Weavering Village Hall , Weavering Street , Maidstone, ME14 5JP

determined not to miss it again this year. Restrictions meant that parents couldn’t attend but we threw a great funday for all of the children. Also, this year some of the fundraising money has been spent on other items which are not learning aids but do benefit the children and are needed for the day to day running of the preschool, such as a pop up gazebo, heaters, laptop and laminator. Also, the hall has had a lovely new kitchen installed, although the kitchen itself was funded by the hall, preschool purchased the dishwasher as this greatly helps the day to day running of the preschool.

To wrap up this year, our accounts for the last year have been independently examined and found to be in excellent order yet again. The auditor congratulated us on such a successful year taking into consideration the impact that Covid had on the majority of the country.

Future Plans

AGM to be held to elect committee and officers.

In spite of losing 40 children this summer, our predicted intake for the coming year is positive, however fewer children will be eligible for funding for the early months of the financial year, and historically parents tend to pick up fewer sessions until their child has their place funded. With this in mind, we plan on broadly maintaining our overall staffing levels as they are to begin the next academic year. We are not anticipating any increase in hall hire fees; however, the hall management committee have agreed to take on the cost of the bins which up to now have been covered by the preschool to the tune of approximately £650 a year. We intend to further develop the yard area of the preschool and are expecting new fencing and lockable gates to be installed over the summer holidays to ensure that this area meets safety standards. However, we would like to develop it further to allow the children to play safely there and there is no doubt that the current surface will need to be upgraded to allow this. We are in the process of seeking quotations for this and are in discussion with the hall committee how we can achieve this end game, whilst accepting it will still need to be accessible to all other hall users as a car park. I propose that we consider a financial contribution from the preschool to support this project.

We still maintain our commitment to our staff and will retain our above minimum staff to child ratios. The training and development of our team is a continuing foundation stone of the preschool and as such provision is in place within the budget to continue this progression.

We are not anticipating an increase in KCC funding rate this year. In the light of expected lower income from fewer numbers I suggest that we raise the fee by £1 to £17 a session and keep the lunch session at £8.50 This will assist with our overall budget.

Fundraising wise, we seem to have been able to exceed the £2,000 set for the last two years however the uncertainty of the future due to the pandemic may hinder all or some of our usual fundraising exercises so I will keep the budget at the same level for the coming year.

In previous years there has been mention of our obligations with respect of auto enrolment. We remain compliant.

Prepared by: J.Lucas and L.Cope

Registered Charity – 1017421

Weavering Pre-School , Weavering Village Hall , Weavering Street , Maidstone, ME14 5JP

WEAVERING PRE-SCHOOL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE 12 MO 31/05/2021
2020/2021
INCOME
FEES RECEIVABLE £13,776.99
FUNDRAISING £3,215.09
OTHER £2,385.94
SENIF £300.00
SUNDRY INCOME/ADDITIONAL LUNCHES £37.00
FF2 INCOME £1,674.04
EARLY YEARS £96,535.17
REFUNDS FOR COURSES TAKEN £2,000.00
ADJUSTMENT INCOME FROM KCC £971.60
TOTAL INCOME £120,895.83
EXPENDITURE
STAFF WAGES £86,973.02
HIRE OF HALL £3,604.00
MANAGEMENT/ADMIN £2,933.91
SENIF £233.00
OTHER £1,568.03
REFRESHMENTS & CLEANING £1,294.34
TRAVEL/TREATS/FUNDRAISING ALLOCATION £556.94
FIRST AID £300.00
COURSES £872.80
FUNDRAISING COSTS £597.01
FEES & SUBSCRIPTIONS/INSURANCE £1,293.89
SUNDRY EXPENDITURE £283.99
GUINEA PIGS £112.55
ENTERTAINMENT £832.54
STATIONERY,SUPPLIES & POSTAGE £2,703.06
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£104,159.08
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR PERIOD
£16,736.75
CARRY OVER
34672.91
ADJUSTMENT FOR YEAR
NET BALANCE
£51,409.66

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Weavering Pre-School members of

On accounts for the year 31 May 2021 Charity no 1017421 ended (if any) Set out on pages Pages attached

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Act and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

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IER

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect,:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Additional consideration has been given to the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the operations of Weavering Preschool significantly from April 2020. This has been documented in the working papers. However, there were no restrictions in the accessing information required, and therefore no additional verbal assurances sought in order to complete the examination.

Signed:
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body :
Address:		 Date: 2/07/2021
Lisa Parish
ACCA
4 Parkside, School Lane, Maidstone, Kent , ME158BF

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IER