Managers Report AGM 2025
Welcome to all our attendees.
This year has been a challenging year due to a lower roll than previous years and more 2 year olds joining the setting. More and more of our parents are choosing to send their children once they are in receipt of the free funding entitlement – whether this is as a working parent or indeed the universal entitlement awarded to all 3 and 4 year olds. This funding is set at a level of £7.84 per hour for working parents of 2 year olds and £5.64 for all our 3 and 4 year olds regardless of whether it is a universal entitlement or working parent entitlement. This means that for all our older children, preschool run at a loss per hour set against the cost of our fees. Both these amounts take into consideration the fact that we employ a qualified teacher in the setting and this results in a nominal addition to the set level of funding. We continue to offer a maximum of 22 hours per week of the available 30 hours of the working parents entitlement. It is anticipated that in September the Working parents entitlement for 2 year olds will increase in line with the 3 and 4 year old entitlement to 30 hours per week. We have not applied to accommodate 9mth old children. We have had 2 children begin the year as FF2 children.
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, the smaller pods offer a less overwhelming outlook on the setting for our less confident or anxious children. All the children have the opportunity to spend significant time in the outside areas throughout the academic year and activities can be fashioned to take full advantage of the outdoors. 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, and also to ease them into the expectations of extended group play as will be accepted practise in schools, and they are able to mix freely between pods for a period over
the lunch sessions and playground time. Staff take responsibility for resourcing their areas during the course of a session ensuring that every child gets full access to the 7 areas of learning throughout their time at preschool. Play and resources also allow for in the moment planning and every child’s interests can be catered for.
We had two members of staff leave our employment over the year, choosing to follow alternative career paths and we have had 2 new members join us. So an official welcome to Amy and Steph. Employing a new staff member always results in considerable outlay for the setting, with expenditure on DBS checks, uniform, First Aid and Safeguarding training. We are always extremely appreciative of staff members stepping up to cover shortfalls in ratios when other staff are off. Some of our staff had to renew their First aid training over the course of the year and new staff members have completed the necessary safeguarding training which is a statutory requirement. Zoe continues to retain responsibility for our SEN co-ordination and Jane is our designated Safeguarding Leader.
Our fundraising over the course of the year was so successful it allowed for some Capital expenditure purchases to further support the children’s opportunity for learning. We purchased numerous second hand furniture for the setting, along with second hand play kitchen equipment, a new pop up gazebo and a huge new investment of our recently installed outside canopy in the garden. This new canopy is an addition to 2 existing canopies in the garden and ensure shade in the summer months and protection from the autumn and winter weather. As always much of our fundraising is used to provide the extra throughout the year such as birthday gifts, easter eggs, our Xmas party and our ever popular Fun Day entirely financed by the fundraising efforts over the year.
The fundraising over the year is predominantly reported by our Chair Sam and will be covered in detail by her in her report and to a lesser extent by me in my financial report which will follow. But all those who organised and arranged our fundraising events are to be applauded for their support and efforts in raising additional income for the setting over the course of the year. Additionally, of course, we thank all our families for their continued support with these fundraising events.
We form strong relationships with all our children and their families and when it comes to moving onto big school the transition can provide its own set of challenges for the staff and families alike. We pride ourselves on the strong links formed with our feeder schools and the entire transition process is made so much easier by these links. It is a statutory requirement that we support our children in their transition onto school and along with visits to the schools our children are afforded the opportunity to join us when the reception teachers visit the setting to see the children at work and play. We encourage the children to form closer interactions with their peers once we are given their class information. 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.
This annual report is always an ideal opportunity for me to acknowledge the expertise and dedication of our staff members who work tirelessly throughout the year to ensure that your children are afforded every opportunity to make excellent progress along the Foundation stage of their education and support all of them to form strong relationships with their peers
Managers Financial Report July 25
Our intake over the year has remained steady but quieter than in previous years. The basic principle is clearly that children on roll equates to our main form of income and a lower roll means less income over the year, whilst our staffing levels and overheads remain consistent. With this in mind it was anticipated when setting the budget that we would probably have a deficit year compared to last years surplus. We faced yet another increase in NMW and these increases alongside the NI threshold increases have had a huge impact on our outgoings. I have always endeavoured to ensure that cutting staff hours is the very last resort and indeed to do so would majorly impact on our ability to operate the pod system. However should the Government have more NMW increases up their sleeve we may have no choice in the future. Additionally more staff members have joined the pension scheme which has increased the preschool’s contributions – all of these
increases impact considerably on our wage bill over the course of the year and the budget for the coming year has had to reflect this. We are anticipating an increase in hall hire fees from September not least because of the increase in cost of living. With these larger outlays anticipated I recommend we increase our 3 hour session fee to £22 a session and increase in the extended lunch session to £10.00 for a two hour extended session.
Our fundraising was outstanding given the continued uncertainties and we raised £2303 over the year, once the fundraising costs were taken into consideration.. As mentioned previously this amount contributes to all the extras the preschool is able to offer our children.
As always, our accounts for the last year have been independently examined and found to be in excellent order yet again.
And now as ever onto plans for the coming year.
Our predicted intake for the coming year is positive, with more children joining us in the next academic year and fewer children leaving us this summer than last year. 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 minimum staff to child ratios – this inspite of the changes to the government recommended ratios which allow for fewer staff for our two year olds. We will continue to apply our own restrictions to the number of 2 year olds in the setting at any one time in accordance with our Admission Policy. 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. However, with some fresh faces on the committee and potentially some new fundraising ideas, it may well be that you easily exceed this amount, which would be marvellous!
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. It is hoped that we will have new parents join our committee and bring along their own ideas for fundraising! A huge thank you to our chair Sam, who has agreed to stay on for one more year who has been a huge support to me and has lead the committee team from the front. as always a huge vote of thanks to those committee members and parents/grandparents who have supported Weavering Preschool over the last year and will continue to do so over the coming year.
Chair Report
AGM 2024/25 Wednesday 9[th] July 2025
Members present: Samantha King, Lisa Cope, Claire Whittall, Jane Stokey, Chloe Leach, Hannah Blackmore, Taigh Moseley, Kirsty Marcus, Cristina Pascal, Sarah Cleisham, Sarah Chittenden
We have had another great year fundraising for the Pre-school. Despite numbers being down on last year’s (particularly at Christmas time which is traditionally our most lucrative period) we still managed to exceed our £2000 target and after deductions, raised a wonderful £2303.40. A huge thanks goes out to all the families that supported us, the preschool staff and of course our committee members who have generously given up their time to attend meetings throughout the year.
Back in Term 6 of last academic year, our fundraising efforts financed our Family Fun Day. Although we experienced a torrential downpour on the day, a wonderful time was had by all with the carousel, donkey rides and children’s entertainer. Fundraising efforts also supported our Sports Day and Graduation event, along with leavers gifts for the children.
In October, we put on our first Halloween Party. We aimed to sell 40 tickets at £5 each and when this sold out in the first week, a few extra spaces were created! There were additional stalls on the night which provided extra income including a tuck shop and spooky fete style stalls. All together we raised £274 and this is something we hope to repeat next year – making it even better now we’ve had our first trial run! Thank you to Hannah at Pumpkin Patch parties and her husband Dean for the balloons and disco.
December was a busy period for us with the raffle and Christmas party. Zoe helped the children to create beautiful baubles using their finger prints and staff assisted the children in making Snow Globe calendars which were later sold at the Christmas concert. Children also visited our Grotto and bought presents for the special grownups in their lives. All together we raised almost £800 over this period with only 42 children on roll. Children enjoyed a wonderful Christmas party on the last day of term which was paid for with our fundraising efforts.
As the year progressed we held another sponsored challenge “Magical Me” which was very well supported, raising almost £350. We held a Toy Sale, continued to sell uniform and celebrated World Book Day with a dress up week and a fabulous Bake Sale. There were also gift shops for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day- thank you to Lisa for letting us take over your office for the week! Left-Field Toys also continued to support us this year by donating toys and gifts for various events.
During The Easter holidays, we held our second fundraising party- our Easter Eggstravaganza, again selling over 40 tickets at £5 each. A big thank you goes to Taigh and Jane for providing the farm animals and beautiful baked goods for the event. We raised almost £400. A special thank you also goes to Lisa and her team, without them, it wouldn’t have been possible to hold either the Halloween or Easter party and we rely on them giving up their time for free to make these events happen and turn a profit.
Now that we have come to the end of another year, we are looking for another parent to join our committee as a trustee. Taigh Moseley has put herself forward to join the committee and we will follow up with her over the next few days.
Finally, I would like to personally thank everyone for their time and support this past year. It doesn’t go unnoticed by the Preschool community and makes a huge difference to the little ones time with us.
WEAVERING PRE-SCHOOL
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED 31 MAY 2025
| 2025/2026 | 2024/2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| INCOME | ||
| FEES RECEIVABLE/EXTRA LUNCHES/SESSIONS | £11,362.58 | |
| FUNDRAISING | £3,883.55 | |
| OTHER/GRANTS/DONATIONS | £31.01 | |
| SENIF/DAF | £3,127.97 | |
| FF2 INCOME/WORKING PARENT ENTITLEMENT | £20,702.49 | |
| EARLY YEARS FUNDING | £94,801.67 | |
| REFUNDS FOR COURSES TAKEN | £133.04 | |
| ADJUSTMENT INCOME FROM KCC/EYPP | £664.77 | |
| TOTAL INCOME | £134,707.08 | |
| EXPENDITURE | ||
| EYPP | £0.00 | |
| STAFF WAGES | £119,471.72 | |
| HIRE OF HALL | £6,637.00 | |
| MANAGEMENT/ADMIN | £1,864.25 | |
| SENIF/EYPP | £427.91 | |
| OTHER/GIFTS | £199.90 | |
| REFRESHMENTS & CLEANING | £1,393.73 | |
| TREATS/FUNDRAISING ALLOCATION | £1,445.86 | |
| COURSES/TRAINING | £1,130.34 | |
| FUNDRAISING COSTS | £1,191.23 | |
| FEES & SUBSCRIPTIONS/INSURANCE | £2,008.87 | |
| SUNDRY EXPENDITURE | £0.00 |
| GUINEA PIGS | £207.26 |
|---|---|
| STAFF ENTERTAINMENT AND MEETINGS | £457.51 |
| CAPITAL EXPENDITURE | £1,075.19 |
| STATIONERY, SUPPLIES & POSTAGE | £1,292.18 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £138,802.95 |
| SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR PERIOD | -£4,095.87 |
| CARRY OVER FROM LAST YEAR | £65,309.75 |
| ADJUSTMENT FOR YEAR | |
| NET BALANCE | £61,213.88 |
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:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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to follow the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act, and
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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,:
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the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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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: | 2/07/2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisa Parish | |||
| ACCA | |||
| 4 Parkside, School Lane, Maidstone, Kent , ME158BF |
2
IER