||**Colden Common Pre-school AGM**
Tuesday 3rdNovember 2021. 8pm. Via Zoom| |---|---| |**In attendance**|**Committee members**
Kate Boniface - Chairperson
Helen Brown – Secretary
Victoria Streltsova - Treasurer
Damon Draisey – Ordinary member
Nikki Huggett – Ordinary member
Richard Izard - Ordinary member
**Staff**
Lara Webster – Preschool Manager
Charlotte White
**Parents**
Danielle Jones
William White
Laura Sharland
**Other**
Alex Loughran
Richard Saunders – Chair of Colden Common Community Centre
Amanda Pinney (recently retired employee but still as bank staff)
Keith Pinney| |**Welcome and**
**apologies**|Kate Boniface welcomed all to the AGM
Apologies from Amanda Draisey, Hannah Clark, Wendy Williams (book keeper), Sharon Stevens, Kirstie
Wilson (staff member).| |**Sign off**
**minutes of last**
**AGM**|Minutes from previous AGM were agreed| |**Chairpersons**
**Report –**_Kate_
_Boniface_|Colden Common Pre-School has charitable status that annually vote in a voluntary committee
who are responsible for the overall governance of the pre-school. We work in partnership with
the staff offering support and help to direct the on-going future of the pre-school. Up to three
additional committee members can be co-opted during the year.
The committee has been represented by 6 members throughout the past year. Richard Izard
started the year as chair but stood down to become an ordinary member in April, resulting in a
shift in roles amongst the committee members. I took on the role as chair, with Helen Brown
taking over as secretary and Victoria Streltsova holding position as treasurer. Hannah Clarke,
Nikki Huggett, a shared position between Damon and Amanda Draisey and latterly, Richard Izard
have stood as our ordinary members. This year has been a challenge to us all and I wish to
extend my deepest thanks for the commitment shown by each individual member of the
committee. Richard, Hannah and Nikki are stepping down and I would like to extend my thanks
to them all for the time and expertise they have offered the pre-school over the past couple of
years.
There have been several changes to the pre-school staffing team throughout the year. At the
end of September, we said a fond farewell to Jacqui Hadley. Her 20 years are reflective of the
commitment she has shown to the pre-school and to the many children whose lives she has
touched. We wish her a veryhappyand successful future as she embarks on her new ventures.| We also wished Amanda Pinney a happy retirement (although she does still make the occasional appearance at the pre-school as bank staff)! In October, we welcomed Lara Webster into the role of manager at the pre-school. Lara has a deep understanding of Early Years pedagogy; the committee are excited to be working alongside her. At Colden Common Pre-School. we are incredibly fortunate to have a passionate team of individuals who are dedicated to giving our children the very best early experiences they can offer. My thanks are hardly enough to relay the gratitude we owe to our wonderful staffing team who have demonstrated such resilience over the past year. At our last AGM several objectives were set. I will now reflect on these individually: - **Having Forest School qualified members of staff** - **Regularly running allotment school programmes for all the children in pre-school** Allotment school has been a huge success and has been a popular activity among the pre-school children, giving them the opportunity to experience activities such as toasting crumpets over a fire, a beekeeper visit and bark peeling, to name just a few. The value of these sessions to children’s development are a key element of what Colden Common Pre-school has to offer children in our local community. We are delighted that they are already up and running this academic year. Lara Webster is forest school qualified and runs the sessions with support of other members of staff. Sharon Stevens, is currently training for her Level 2 forest school qualification. - **To be compliant with current legislation** As expected, this is an on-going objective. Our staff, and committee where necessary, are constantly updating their training. We are registered for updates with the Department of Education and Government. Our policies and procedures are reviewed and are made available on Tapestry. Over the year, we have been mindful of maintaining the best practice regarding Covid restrictions. We have endeavoured to protect the staff and children within the setting and are thankful to parents for their compliance with the guidelines we have set. - **To secure sponsorship and match funding** We owe our thanks to Freshwater Building Services Ltd who named the Pre-School as their nominated charity. They generously sponsored us £1000 across the year. Although not under the umbrella of this heading I would like to touch on our fundraising efforts. Understandably, this has been a difficult year for fundraising due to the varying Covid restrictions. We had a very successful virtual Easter balloon race which raised £749.80. We are thankful to Find a Race and Charters for sponsorship for our balloon race. We also raised some money through two Lucky Square hamper games. We are hopeful that we will be able to re-establish our community fundraising events in the coming year. Events such as our Easter Egg Hunt, which has historically been a good source of additional funds for the pre-school and a valuable means of ‘showing our face’ in the local community. We will also investigate the idea of ‘match funding’ with business in the local area. - **Research and apply for more grants** The treasurers report will touch on this in greater depth but we were fortunate to receive a number of grants throughout the year from varying sources, including the Winchester Discretionary Grant Fund, The Parish Hall Trust and The Parish Council. I would like to extend my thanks to Charlotte White, our pre-school administrator, for her continued commitment and hard work in this area. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Community Centre for their monetary support during these difficult times. ## • **Focus on securing numbers for September 2021** We have been really encouraged by the numbers on roll in September. Currently we have 29 children on roll with a further 5 children due to start by January 2022. This is above previous years, aided by the introduction of 2-year-olds in the setting. Over the coming year the Committee’s aims are as follows: - To develop a close working partnership with the new manager and to stabilise the staffing team. - To establish roles for Committee Members to support specific aspects of Pre-School e.g. SENCo, Staff Wellbeing, Policies and Procedures. - To streamline our financial procedures and practices and improve budgetary compliance. - To raise the profile of the Pre-School through community and fundraising events, marketing and building relationships with key people and organisations in the village. - To introduce a parent fundraising group Before handing over to Lara, I wanted to round up my report by highlighting the situation many pre-schools across the country are finding themselves in - not specifically relating to Colden Common Pre-School, but a reflection of a national picture. Underfunded, and with staff undervalued and underpaid, particularly during Covid times, Pre-Schools are operating in increasingly difficult times. There is a general feeling within the Early Years sector of fighting an uphill battle. The ‘funding crisis’, as it has been termed elsewhere, has led to the committee having to make difficult decisions across the year, including a review and increase in our rates for fee paying parents as well as not being able to offer pay increases for our staff. We are truly grateful for the level of understanding our stakeholders have had for these decisions. While the recent Government budget gives a glimmer of hope, with a £510m for Early Years funding over the next 3 years, the detail is not yet clear. With the increase in the minimum wage applying more pressure to an already struggling sector, we are ever hopeful that changes are afoot, and focus can return to providing the best possible outcomes for children in early education. |**Manager’s**|This is my managers’ report covering the period April 2020 to September 2021 of which I was| |---|---| |**report** **–**_Lara_|not the Manager of Colden Common Preschool but was the deputy and had a firm| |_Webster_|understanding of the day-to-day running’s of the setting.| ||I know if Jacqui was here, she would have started her report by thanking the staffing team| ||including Charlotte our administrator and Wendy the bookkeeper for all their hard work and| ||support over a very difficult period under COVID changes and restrictions. I know she would| ||have also thanked all our wonderful committee members devoting their precious time without| ||whichpre-school would not be able to run.| We’ve had quite a few staffing changes over this period with Amanda Pinney retiring, Veronika Drobnokova going on maternity leave in January, and sadly Sharon Stevens, Keyleigh Taylor and Marija O’Brien leaving too. Jacqui Hadley also resigned to pursue other adventures in September 2021. We did welcome Natasha Carter, Kirstie Wilson in in this period and Sharon Stevens has retuned this month as our Deputy and SENco, which is hugely beneficial to the setting. We also have a new member of team joining later this month, Natasha Nolan. And of course, I took over from Jacqui as Manager in October 2021.We are pleased we are returning to full team strength, but I am thankful to all the staff, our volunteer and bank staff for their pulling together during October which was a challenging month. We’ve managed a whole year of allotment school, which I believe both the parents and children have found hugely beneficial. We have offered this opportunity to our older children in six-week blocks, alternating the day to capture as many of our 3- and 4-year-olds as possible. The allotment plot has developed over the past year significantly with planting, the addition of a tunnel for physical development, the introduction of new wildlife to our plot including frogs and slow worms. The allotment plot gives itself to the seven areas of learning with ease and the children love the new experiences on offer to them such as tool work and fire lightening. The allotment school continues to be USP for the preschool, being the only allotment school nationally. COVID restrictions have hampered plans over the last 18 month with us unable to have visitors or planned trips, but we did have the local beekeepers visit us outside in June which was exciting for the children. Now COVID restrictions have been lessened we have started inviting visitors, organisations and currently are having weekly yoga sessions. We have been fortunate to buy some equipment in this time frame, funded by grants and fundraising such as a replacement water tray, outdoor easel, large chalk board and folding tables. We also got new tummy surfers, children’s communication mobile phones, click clack cars and embroidered high viz vests for our out and abouts. As a team we attended a group Makaton training session paid for by disability money given for one of our children. This will be beneficial for our SEN children with speech and communication difficulties. We have a staff member interested in developing this skill further and obtaining a qualification. I qualified as a full forest school leader in January this year and Sharon Stevens is currently studying for her level 2 in Forest school leadership which will give more opportunity to visit our allotment plot. Both Natasha and Kirstie started their level 3 Early years educator course this year and attend college one day a week. As a team we have all completed our food hygiene course, attended safeguarding refresher training and variety of other training which will be listed in the AGM minutes. The team continue to undertake continuous professional development with regards to safeguarding training, first aid courses, food hygiene and these are on a rolling programme of renewal within the setting. ## **Plans for this year** - Continue to develop Allotment school so that we visit more regularly. - Increase the children’s exposure to different activities and opportunities through visitors, trips and external organisations. - Ensure worn out equipment is replaced and new essential equipment to support our children in the seven areas of learning are purchased via grants or fundraising. - • Increase the profile of the preschool through marketing initiatives. • Implement the revised EYFS September 2021 with a reduction of observations and more focus on ‘knowing the child’ and having a firm understanding of their developmental stages, interests and next steps. - • Create a workplace that is supportive and ensure that the team feel valued. • Ensuring child's safety, development and enjoyment is at the forefront of practitioner’s minds at all times when creating a stimulating environment. - Ensure our SEN children are well catered for, giving them the best opportunities to progress by ensuring suitable resources, staff allocation and stimulating activities. - Making sure communication with parents is paramount to aid positive outcomes for children. - To support the team members in passing their level 3 early years educator and forest school qualifications. - Ensuring I'm running an effective and proactive team, whilst being always mindful of the cost implications. - Making our back office/admin procedures clear and precise. - Updating policies and procedures to be reflective of changes in the new revised EYFS and change of management. - Analysis the impact, changes will make on the children, environment and team at all times. - Make work practices and the environment as safe as possible for staff and children following health and safety procedures, guidelines and regulations. - Implement a half termly team meeting whereby the individual children's needs and developmental stages are discussed in detail to create a more consistent approach from the team. This is just to name a few I would forward to implementing the changes in the coming year. Training courses undertaken by staff Implementing the GDPR Level 2 online course EduCare Attended two workshops Mathematics and English learning from Early Years to KS2. Speech, Language and Communication Level 2 EduCare Understanding and Addressing Behaviour in the Early Years EduCare Wilder Schools – supporting outdoor learning. Coronavirus podcast: what children and young people have been telling childcare. Angry outburst workshop with Lorraine Lee (Zoom Workshop) Effective safeguarding Practice (Revised 2019) – Educare Being a key person in an Early years setting Level 2 - Educare Dedicated safeguarding training – Level 3 Emotion’s workshop MASH Workshop (virtual) HCC Understanding stress and anxiety within dyslexic children and building resilience Webinar – BDA. Anna Ephgrave’s Planning in the moment Zoom (ITMP) FSA Hampshire AGM and mental Health Workshop (Zoom) Behaviour Management - Shane Jones (Ofsted Early years Inspector, consultant and Trainer) EYFS Reform webinar with Kym Scott Makaton Training Ofsted answer your questions about the revised EYFS 2021 Webinar Prepare for Inspection and Quality of Education Food Hygiene Cert Level 2 Safeguarding Refresher **Treasurers** The Treasurer’s report for this AGM covers the period of 17 months between 1 April 2020 and 31 August **Report** 2021. This is because the financial accounting period of 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 that previously _- Victoria_ applied was automatically extended by five months to enable transition to our new financial year that Streltsova now runs between 1 September and 31 August. The decision to switch from the standard financial year to the one that corresponds to the standard academic year was taken by the Committee to facilitate Preschool’s financial planning and financial control as of course our activity revolves almost entirely around terms of the academic year. To enable comparison of this extended 17 months accounting period with the previous financial year, the costs such as staff wages have been averaged over a 17 month and 12 month period respectively, and income from fees and vouchers averaged over a 15 month and 11 month period respectively (the Pre-school incurs costs over a longer period than it generates income due to the August holiday period). The previous Treasurer’s report has highlighted the need of a financial review to deal with the issue of annual deficit and diminishing reserves. In response, the Committee has carried out a comprehensive review of the pre-school’s financial performance and practices. The review has not identified any obvious mishandling by the trustees or the management in dealing with the Pre-school’s finances, however, it picked up on various areas where the charity can improve its operations and in time see better financial results. A number of improvements have already been made and others are being implemented. The Covid-19 effect on the Pre-school’s financial performance during this period has been manifold, making this a financial year that cannot be directly compared to any other year. Having said that, we have made a thorough assessment of the affected areas and have been able to adjust our planning projections for the new financial year accordingly. The Pre-school accounts for this year (1 April 2020 – 31 August 2021) have been prepared by our bookkeeper Charlotte Tomlinson-White and have been submitted for independent verification and auditing. We thank John Boniface for carrying out this independent examination and audit. It is also worth noting that in July 2020 our contracted bookkeeper Lindsey Diaper gave up her role, and from September 2020 onwards Charlotte Tomlinson-White has been permanently employed as the Pre-School bookkeeper instead. The Pre-school’s total income for this period was £159,656 and total expenditure £153,186, leaving a surplus of £6,470. Our closing balance at the end of the year was £25,341, comprising £1,272 in restricted funds and £24,069 in reserves (and increase of £5,198 from £18,871 in 2019/2020). The amount in reserves is sufficient to cover between 3 and 4 months of running costs, which is within 3 to 6 months recommended by the Charity Commission. The Committee will be reviewing and updating its own policy of aiming to keep 6 months’ worth of reserves as it is unlikely the Pre-school will be able to bring its reserves to that level in the next year. ## Income ## 1. Hampshire County Council (“HCC”) Vouchers Our income from HCC childcare voucher scheme has been £95,789. Comparing this proportionately to the previous financial year, an increase of about £287/month. This is mainly due to increased numbers of children over the age of 3 compared to the previous year and is despite the reduction of the rate at which the Pre-school is paid by HCC by 28p per hour as of April 2021. The reduced rate will continue to be applied at least until April 2022 and, very likely, also thereafter, with estimated cost to the Pre-school of around £4,000 annually. The rate of the government free childcare funding remains woefully low. The Early Years Alliance calculates the difference between the funding rate at the base level and the actual cost of providing the service to be £1.87 per each hour, which is close to what we also calculate for our setting. It is unlikely that the increase in the early years funding announced by the government will be sufficient to offset the discrepancy. ## 2. Fees Income from session fees has come to £28,257, which proportionately is only £39 per month higher than in the previous year, however, this is also the area of income most affected by Covid-19 related closures and restrictions. The Pre-school has seen an increase in attendance by privately funded children, due primarily to its decision to start admitting 2-year-olds from summer 2020 (effective from September 2020). As the Pre-school has increased its rates from September 2021 to £5.50 for 3 and 4-year-olds and £5.80 for 2-year-olds – a 10% and 16% increase respectively), and absent any further closures, we expect the income from fees will grow next year. As before, the Committee will conduct an annual review of fees to decide whether any further increases should be made or the current level should be maintained. ## 3. Fundraising and grants Total income from grants, donations, fundraising and sponsorships was £21,966, and we are hugely grateful to all parties involved for receiving this during this difficult period. Even on proportionate comparison, this is substantially more than in any of the previous years and in large part constitutes pandemic related relief. In particular, we have received £13,500 of Covid-19 related support from Winchester Council Discretionary Grant Scheme. There is still £1,272 of the Parish Council grant to spend on equipment once affordable options become available in the sales. Meanwhile, it has been put into restricted funds to ensure it is spent correctly within the current year. We are not relying in our financial planning on receiving this level of funding this year. To make sure we keep boosting our income from sources other than vouchers and fees, the Committee has proposed to create a volunteer fundraising group that will focus specifically on this area. In the meantime, the Committee and the management team continues to dedicate considerable attention to fundraising and sponsorship and grant applications. ## Expenditure ## 1. Staff costs Our cost of staff wages came to £116,359, a proportionate increase of around £45 per month from the previous year. However, as this includes £1053 of maternity pay still to be recovered, in real terms we’ve seen a decrease of £27 a month. This is despite the increase in the minimum wage from April 2021. As our staff costs remain high relative to our income, the Committee continues to look for ways to reduce them while maintaining quality of our provision. One way in which we were able to do so was by reducing use of overtime, which we have achieved by changing the way we deploy staff during normal hours, but also by implementing practice changes that follow from the new EYFS guidance. Having said that, we expect the gains from these changes to be offset by the increase in the minimum wage coming into effect from April 2022. The increases in minimum wage have been a major factor in us seeing a trajectory of increase in the staffing costs over the recent years, which has contributed to us incurring increasing levels of financial deficit over these years. Since the financial year of 2017/2018, we have seen about a 20% increase in the minimum wage and once the new minimum wage of £9.50 comes into effect on 1 April 2022, the increase will go up to nearly 27% in four years. Meanwhile, the rate of the government free childcare funding on which we rely for the main bulk of our income has not seen nearly the same trajectory and remains woefully low. The Early Years Alliance calculates the difference between the funding rate at the base level and the actual cost of providing the service to be £1.87 per each hour, which is close to what we also calculate for our setting. ## 2. Rent Our rent remains our second biggest item of expenditure after staff wages. At £15,432.59 for the 17 months of the reporting period, it is significantly below that of previous years (e.g. £16,710 in 2019/2020) due to cooperation of our landlord CCCA during the difficult period of lockdown. We are very grateful to the CCCA for their understanding and help during this time. A reduced rate is still being paid, and this will be reviewed when the period expires, and may result in an increase in next year’s figures. ## 3. Other running costs Over the 17 months, the Pre-school spent £9,865 on other running costs. This includes £3,903 on educational resources and equipment, £1,100 spent on staff training, £2,554– bookkeeping and payroll services (considerably less than before - £3,163 in 2019/2020 – this is due in part to the bookkeeping becoming under the umbrella of paid staff from Sept 2020, and also switching payroll services to a cheaper provider in April 2020. The Committee tightly controls all spending on general running costs and it is unlikely that we will see any further reduction in this area in the next financial year, particularly as we currently see an escalation in the general day to day costs of most goods. ||Next steps
As discussed above, the current financial year will most likely show an increase in costs with a reduction in
income due to the following:
•
Increase in minimum wage from April 2022.
•
Predicted increase in cost of goods and services due to current financial climate.
•
28p reduction in hourly rate received from HCC as from April 2021, and potential further
decrease in April 2022.
•
Less income received from grants.
The Pre-school is planning to manage this by taking the following steps:
•
Implementing budget and financial reviews at regular intervals between committee and
management team.
•
Reviewing market conditions and considering further increases in fees.
•
Adding a consumables contribution of 50p/hr to all government funded sessions from Jan 2022.
•
Addressing and reducing number of staffing hours where at all possible and safe to do so.
•
Encouraging staff training which would result in increase in quality and potentially also in the
hourly rate received from HCC.
•
Creating volunteer fundraising group to focus on fundraising, grants and donations.
•
Maintaining good advertising and marketing to encourage high numbers of children.| |---|---| |**Stand down of**
**Present**
**Committee**|Committee stood down.| |**Election of**
**Officers**
• Ordinary
Committee
Members
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Chair
• Safeguarding|**Ordinary committee members:**
•
Keith Pinney – Proposed by Lara Webster / Seconded by Damon Draisey
•
Damon / Amanda Draisey – Proposed by Helen Brown / Seconded by Nikki Huggett
**Secretary**– Helen Brown – Proposed by Kate Boniface / Seconded by Nikki Huggett
**Treasurer**– Victoria Streltsova – Proposed by Kate Boniface / Second by Damon Draisey
**Chair**– Kate Boniface – Proposed by Damon Draisey / Seconded by Nikki Huggett
**Safeguarding Lead**– Kate Boniface – Proposed by Lara Webster /Seconded by Charlotte White| |**Adopt the**
**Constitution**|In principle the attendees agree to adopt the constitution| |**AOB**|No Other Business| |**Date of next**
**meeting**|TBC at next committee meeting – 16thNovember 2021| John Bonrface 19 Winslade Road Harestock Winchester Hampshire S022 6LN 8th December 2021 Flnandal Y￿r enthby 3111 Al￿￿ 2021 I have carried out an Independent examination of the accounts under sertion 145 of the 2011 Charfties Act and followed all the appllcable dlrections 8iven by the Charitles Commission under that section of the ACL I confirm the accountin8 records are kept to a hlgh standard and the accounts are consistent with the accounting record5 maintsined. There are no matters for concern. I recommend that the HMRC Gift Aid scheme is considered for donations made to the school by individual tax payers. John Bonlface SPQMJDA>M ¥E 7a E￿?4 ¢4LgJ PAYE WIEMPUThTICC W57A5 ÉllF John 19 w11￿1•d• Road H•r•stock H•rnp5hk• 5022 8lh 2021 I hw• carrled out w• IndependeTrt ex￿nIn￿￿)ft of the accounts wder sertlon 145 01 the 2011 thafltles kt and fdknved ￿1 the appkal• dtrertions by the Charltl•s under that sec¢k￿ of th• Act. I confrm the attowitlns r•cords are kepi to a hlth stand•rd •d th• wlth the xcountkni rectyds fflalntsthed. Thwe al• no mattffs for cortern, I th•¢ the HMRC Cdft Ald s¢h&n•15 conshIer￿ for donatknns mad• to th• 5dm>￿ by P￿1% Jokn 8oThit¥e