2022-05-31-accounts

– – Annual Trustees Report May 2021 May 2022

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, Crystal Jheeta, Stephanie Cope, Emma Harris, Laura Barratt

Names of Friends of Weavering :

Zoe Monteath, Jane Stokey, Dawn Taylor, Laura Barratt, Sharon Rivett, Chantelle Gazzard, Sian McCurrach, Helen Pomorski, Lizzie Cook Emma Harris, Sally Jones

Names of Ex Trustees / Friends of Weavering :

Structure, governance and management :

• a) The preschool operates in accordance with the school Prospectus which sets out our procedures and policies for how the Parent Management Committee (main trustees) manages the preschool.

• b) The Prospectus lays out our process for appointing new committee members who are elected at our Annual General Meeting.

• c) The above is operated in conjunction with the Model Pre-school Constitution 2011 which was adopted in July 2015 and replaces the Model Pre-school Constitution 2008 which formed the previous governing document for the charity.

Objectives and activities :

• Provide high quality care and education for children primarily below statutory school age.

• Work in partnership with parents to help children learn and develop

• Add to the life and well being of its local community

• Offer children and their parents a service that promotes equality and values diversity

Achievements and performance :

We experienced a “near normal year” over the course of 21/22 with a steady number of children on roll. The intake grew over the course of the year and we were able to offer places to all our families who made application to join. However, intake was lower than budgeted for and this resulted in less income over the year. We continue to be able to offer parents a combination of up to 22 hours a week and all of our children become eligible for Universal funding of 15 hours from their 3[rd] birthday. Additionally, some of

Registered Charity – 1017421

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

the families are entitled to 30 hours of funding and are able to use 22 of those hours at our setting. We had 2 Free for 2 children over the course of the year with their entitlement being up to 15 hours a week.

We continue to operate a 3-pod system with children joining either Red/yellow or blue pods when they commence with us. These pods are managed by 3 staff a piece and children spend an hour in each pod alongside their peers and staff members before moving as a group onto the next pod area. We have found this is a most successful way of managing the volume of 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. 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.

Our team remains stable and I am happy to report that Sally, Kim and Sarah completed their Level 2 qualifications at the end of the summer and are to be congratulated on that achievement. Emma began her Level 2 training over the course of the last year and remains on target to complete it by Easter 24. Staff have attended a variety of online courses and workshops over the course of the year. Zoe continues to retain responsibility for our SEN co-ordination and Sian is our designated Safeguarding Leader.

We have had another great year of fundraising. The efforts from the staff, committee and parents raised a profit of £1890. Although this total is a little under our target of £2000, this partly because our quiz night, which is big fundraiser, was held later in the academic year so the profits go into next year’s total This money has been raised through a variety of events including dress up weeks, half term sponsored challenges (linked to the terms learning), Christmas cards and baubles featuring the children’s artwork. We once again held our Christmas raffle raising £468. We again held our Mother’s Day shop as well as a Father’s Day shop, these are very popular with our parents. The money raised from our fundraising goes straight back into the preschool to benefit the children. The money funds little extras for the children such as Christmas gifts, party and Easter eggs. It also funds our popular funday. This year has also seen big improvements to our outside areas. The Leigh Academies Trust kindly donated fencing which was erected around our yard area. A KCC grant which we received along with some of our fundraising money meant that the yard could be surfaced and new artificial grass laid in our garden. We have also had a shed donation from St Johns as well as a tree donation. We are greatful to a group of dads who have given up their free time on a number of days this year to help with these outside works, taking up the old grass, putting together sheds and more. This transformed outside area is extremely beneficial for our children and also sets our preschool above other local preschools. This year some of the fundraising money has also 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 garden vacuum, printer and some office equipment.

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

Registered Charity – 1017421

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

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 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 returned to some semblance of normality and we were able to invite teaching staff from many of our feeder schools into the setting to see the children at work and play. 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.

As we – like the public in general – learnt to live with Covid I am confident to say 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. However, I am 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.

As reported earlier our intake remained steady throughout the year, however numbers were down on the previous year – not least because of the extreme level of leavers Summer 21. Because of this our income was reduced over the year. However, with careful management we were able to finish the year with just a small deficit of just over £3000.

Our expenditure was greater than expected because of the increase in both National Minimum wage and NI payments. Hall hire has also increased as from this September which meant we had no choice but to increase fees. Our expenditure with regards to energy outlay is at present difficult to predict and it may be that we have no choice but to increase fees once more at a later date in the year.

Our fundraising was outstanding given the continued uncertainties and we raised an outstanding £1890 over the year. As mentioned previously this amount contributes to all the extras the preschool is able to offer our children.

The preschool had to complete a tax return for the previous year and we hired an independent accountant to complete the return for us and apply for exemption from corporation tax.

As always, our accounts for the last year have been independently examined and found to be in excellent order yet again.

Future Plans

AGM to be held to elect committee and officers.

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 still maintain our commitment to our staff and will retain our above

Registered Charity – 1017421

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

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 do not anticipate any additional funding such as grants from any sources so our maintenance programme within the group will not plan for any big expenditure, but rather focus on maintaining the resources and equipment currently on our inventory, enhancing and renewing where finance allows.

With regards to fundraising I think a realistic funding raising target is £2000 – this has, in the past, covered the additional extras for which it is intended.

We continue to have a superb team with our staff here, and our committee continues to develop and evolve, we are lucky to have such strong members who work hard to incorporate new ideas and make the most of old favourites.

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 MONTHS ENDED 31 MAY 2022

	2021/2022
INCOME
FEES RECEIVABLE	£19,943.00
FUNDRAISING	£3,725.58
OTHER/GRANTS/DONATIONS	£4,963.57
SENIF	£987.06
INCOME TO OFFSET PAYMENTS MADE O	£1,028.10
FF2 INCOME	£2,599.55
EARLY YEARS	£84,599.24
REFUNDS FOR COURSES TAKEN	£1,500.00
ADJUSTMENT INCOME FROM KCC	£515.22
TOTAL INCOME	£119,861.32
EXPENDITURE
STAFF WAGES	£98,544.74
HIRE OF HALL	£5,883.80
MANAGEMENT/ADMIN	£2,693.75
SENIF	£257.21
OTHER/USE OF GRANT MONIES	£1,781.45
REFRESHMENTS & CLEANING	£1,166.22
TRAVEL/TREATS/FUNDRAISING ALLOCAT	£1,231.88
COURSES	£1,143.27
FUNDRAISING COSTS/UNIFORM PURCHA	£1,829.56
FEES & SUBSCRIPTIONS/INSURANCE	£1,088.13
SUNDRY EXPENDITURE	£156.94
GUINEA PIGS	£117.45
MEETING COSTS	£2,240.72
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE/GRANT USE	£2,571.09
STATIONERY,SUPPLIES & POSTAGE	£2,251.94
TOTAL EXPENDITURE £122,958.15
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR PERIOD -£3,096.83
CARRY OVER FROM LAST YEAR £51,923.45 ADJUSTMENT FOR YEAR
NET BALANCE £48,826.62

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 2022 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:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,

• to follow the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act, and

• to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

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.

1

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,:

• the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or

• the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or

• the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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:	24/06/2022
		Lisa Parish
		ACCA
		4 Parkside, School Lane, Maidstone, Kent , ME158BF

2

IER