Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre (Registered charity, number 1019457) Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2020
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| 2 - 7 | Trustees’ annual report |
| 8 | Independent examiner’s report |
| 9 | Receipts & payments account |
| 10 | Statement of assets & liabilities |
| 11 - 12 | Notes to the accounts |
Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 August 2020
Full name Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
Registered charity number 1019457
Principal address
Derwent Crescent, Arnold, Nottingham, NG5 6TA
Trustees
Emma Quero, Chair Clare Chung, until 01/09/19 Claire de Motte, Vice Chair, from 22/02/21 Tina Francis, until 22/01/21 Nampreet Kandola, Treasurer, from 26/03/21 Hayley Marshall, until 11/03/21 Hannah Parrish, Secretary, from 11/03/21 Marlene Cook, until 11/03/21 Robert Parrish, from 11/03/21
Independent examiner
John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL
Governance and management
The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted on 29[th] October 2014 and most recently amended 17[th] November 2020.
New trustees are appointed at the Annual General Meeting. Up to three members can be co-opted by the committee in between AGMs, or more by agreement with the Early Years Alliance.
Objectives and activities
The principal objects of the charity are:
To enhance the development and education of children primarily under statutory school age by encouraging parents to understand and provide for the needs of their children through community groups and by:
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(a) Offering appropriate play, education and care facilities, family learning and extended hours groups, together with the right of parents to take responsibility for and to become involved in the activities of such groups, ensuring that such groups offer opportunities for all children whatever their race, culture, religion, means or ability;
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(b) Encouraging the study of the needs of such children and their families and promoting public interest in and recognition of such needs in the local areas;
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(c) Instigating and adhering to and furthering the aims and objects of the PreSchool Learning Alliance.
Public benefit statement
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
Weaverthorpe Pre-School provides term-time sessional day care for children aged 2 - 5 years from 9am - 3.30pm Monday to Friday. It is a well-respected pre-school with a waiting list of children that would like a place at the setting in the future. Weaverthorpe provides high quality childcare for the local community and constantly strives to excel in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage of the curriculum. The setting achieved a 'Good' Ofsted rating in July 2013 and has retained this rating in an inspection in December 2016.
Weaverthorpe Pre-School is committed to making the setting inclusive and accessible to all children and to ensuring that children are able to reach their full potential. All children have the right to the Early Years Foundation Stage and all staff have a duty to meet the needs of all the children attending the setting. With this ethos in mind, Weaverthorpe Pre-School continues to support those children with special educational needs by providing additional support and resources as required.
We offer free Government funded hours to eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds. We sometimes receive additional payments for eligible children - such as Inclusion Funding and EHCP (both special needs) and also Child Protection Plan funding - but these have not been applicable this school year. For parents paying for sessions, we offer flexible payment arrangements. Our fee rates are set to cover our running expenses and to ensure an adequate reserve within the parameters of our reserves policy.
Weaverthorpe Pre-School provides education for children from 2 – 5 years old and adheres to Nottinghamshire County Council’s guidelines and Ofsted’s development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
It is the setting’s intention to make Weaverthorpe genuinely accessible to children and families from all sections of the local/wider community. Through policies and practices, it is clear that Weaverthorpe welcomes fathers, mothers, other relations and other carers, including child minders, and people from all cultural, ethnic, religious and social groups with or without disabilities. We make our equal opportunities policy widely known.
Summary of the main achievements during the period
The pre-school continues to be well supported by parents and the local community. We have good links with the local Infant and Junior Schools which helps the children with their transition to those schools.
During the period we provided education and care to between 51 and 57 different children on roll at any one time for a total of over 32,000 hours over the year. It was a successful year in terms of numbers of children on roll and we were fortunate to be full, or close to full, in nearly all sessions throughout the period. Our staffing levels remained broadly the same as in the previous period with no leavers and just one new member successfully recruited. We continue to offer a high staff to pupil ratio within the setting.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
The pre-school has a strong partnership with parents and between September 2019 and March 2020 (prior to Covid):
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parents ran a successful baking club with the children and joined us on outdoor learning experiences at Weaver Woods;
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parents helped with craft activities at our annual Christmas workshops for children;
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Weaverthorpe has an open door policy. Parents are encouraged to come in and speak with their key person to discuss their child's learning and development;
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we encourage Play and Stay sessions for all new starters. Parents stay to meet staff and interact with our programme of learning;
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we held parent forums to help parents with Tapestry online journeys and offer support with challenging behaviour;
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during the Covid pandemic, we kept in regular contact with our parents through emails, phone calls and Tapestry (online learning portal).
This year we have supported one existing member of staff working towards a Language Lead accreditation in the setting. All staff attended or undertook a wide variety of training courses including:
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Effective safeguarding practice;
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EpiPen training for all staff;
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Manager’s briefings;
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Network meetings for schools and PVI settings;
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Preparing for your Ofsted inspection;
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Safeguarding for the designated person;
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Improving children’s learning through play;
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Talking matters;
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SENCO training;
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SENCO networks;
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Speech, language and communication level 2;
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Language Lead networks;
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Provider network;
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Mark making;
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Phonics;
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Transition meetings;
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All childcare staff completed two days paediatric first aid training;
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Business and finance webinars;
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Continual professional development for all staff is ongoing throughout the school
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year.
During the lockdown (March 2020 - June 2020), staff completed a wide range of courses on the Educare training platform.
As a setting we continue to be supported by a number of outside agencies including the Early Years Alliance and Early Years Specialist Teachers from Nottinghamshire County Council, and including SALT (for speech and language), and health visitors.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
This is our 14th year of operating from our current premises. A new lease was signed in 2016 which guarantees our use of the premises until 2024.
Up until March 2020, children attended weekly PE sessions at the Infant School and are invited to special assemblies. Children also visited Weaver Woods for outdoor learning (usually twice a half term). We have an ongoing book service from Glaisdale School library and we promote our own book library and phonic sounds. Prior to lockdown, we offered Spanish lessons every week, had visits from St. Mark's Church and continued with regular Show and Tells.
Under normal circumstances, our mascot bears (Murray and Mabel), travel with the children on holidays and share their experiences.
Financial review
This year’s surplus appears high but there is some explanation for this figure. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nottinghamshire County Council made an early funding payment on 24/08/2020 for Autumn Term 2020. Normally this payment would have been made in September and have fallen into the following year’s accounts. As a result, the 2019/20 profits seem high due to receiving a payment of around £41,500 one month early. Had this funding been paid using the normal timing, Weaverthorpe would have had an end year deficit of approx. £10,600.
There was substantial outlay this school year replacing the children’s toilets which cost around £10k.
In March 2020, England was under national lockdown. As a result, the numbers of children in attendance dropped dramatically. Staff costs stayed the same as the business had to stay open for key worker children. Low numbers of children in the setting continued for the rest of the school year. Weaverthorpe chose not to make any charges for fee paying children who were kept safe at home due to the pandemic. This was an ethical decision to help support families during a difficult time.
Besides reduced income from fee payers, the pre-school had increased costs for extra cleaning and PPE supplies. Fundraising income was also down as restrictions prevented staff from holding a sponsored event and the annual summer fair. These are usually the pre-school's most profitable fundraising activities.
To help early years settings through the pandemic, Nottinghamshire County Council applied a few measures of support. Funding continued as normal, even if children were kept at home by parents to stay safe. There was a business rates holiday and Autumn Term 2020 funding was paid early and at an enhanced rate - based on the occupancy of Autumn Term 2019. Also, the Secretary of State gave approval for Nottinghamshire County Council to make uplift payments to early years providers. This provided an additional 10p per hour on the early years funding base rate for 3 and 4 year olds for the financial year 2019-2020.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
Despite the difficult year, the pre-school would have broken even without the bathroom refurbishment (and early Autumn Term 2020 payment). Considering the challenges faced with ongoing staff costs and the loss of revenue from fee payers, this is not a bad end result.
We are pleased to report that the pre-school continues to hold sufficient funds at the end of the reporting period. These funds will be enough to cover a small staff pay rise during the next financial year (2020/21).
The redundancy reserves fund is still considered adequate.
The charity’s policy on reserves
The pre-school has a redundancy provision and it has reserves that would cover the running of the pre-school for 3 months if necessary.
The committee adopted its reserves policy in November 2016 and it is reviewed annually.
The Reserves Policy states the requirement for reserves for the following purposes: a) to ensure the continuation of provision to the children attending the pre-school, including 3 months working costs - estimated required reserve £30,000; b) to cover redundancy payments to staff - estimated required reserve £28,200; c) to ensure sufficient funds are available for the maintenance/replacement of the building - estimated required reserve - £15,000;
d) to cover unforeseen additional expenses - estimated required reserve £5,000; e) to enable the pre-school to meet matched funding requirements for some grants - estimated required reserve £10,000.
Reserves are to be built up from the unrestricted (earned) income. The level of reserves is to be calculated and monitored every 12 months. The Reserves Policy is to be reviewed yearly and whenever there are significant changes in staff hours or numbers.
At the end of the period the balance of accounts met the requirements of the Reserves Policy.
Funding
Our main source of funding received is from Nottinghamshire County Council in respect of Government funding. This includes: 15 hours funding for 3 and 4 year olds (universal entitlement), 15 hours funding for eligible 2 year olds (means tested/linked to qualifying benefits), 30 hours funding for 3 and 4 year olds (extended hours for qualifying working families), Pupil Premium monies and inclusion funding (for special needs).
Parents’ fees and monies from a program of fundraising events make up the remainder of our regular income. The pre-school applies for and receives grants on an ad hoc basis from local or national funders to meet specific needs such as the replacement of equipment or enhancement of the setting.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre
Risks
During the school year 2019/2020, parents have been much more hesitant to take up places due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a huge slow down with parent show-rounds (not allowed due to restrictions), no taster sessions allowed and far fewer new enquiries for the waiting list.
Numbers on the roll for the start of the new academic year 2020/2021 are exactly half that of the previous year.
The level of Government funding for the childcare sector continues to be a big concern. Organisations such as the Early Years Alliance continue to campaign for better funding for early years providers.
Staff costs continue to rise in line with National Minimum Wage increases. Each annual hike is usually quite significant - in April 2019 NMW for over 25's rose 4.9%. The preschool tries to give a fair percentage increase across all employees. However, each year it becomes harder to maintain the differentials between the staff pay bands.
We increased our hourly fee rate by 10p this year in order to maintain fair and competitive pricing for local families. So far we have not had to cross-subsidise (charge parents for snacks, materials etc.) but we continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the funding we receive is sufficient to meet our running costs.
Numbers on the roll and waiting list are much lower so will have to be quickly built up in the new school year.
There is uncertainty over how the pandemic will affect the setting over the longer term. Many Pre-Schools are closing, or laying off staff, due to the drop in income and insufficient reserves. Weaverthorpe is fortunate that it currently has sufficient reserves built up over the years.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed ______ Date _ Emma Quero, Trustee
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre for the year ended 31 August 2020
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre (the charity) for the year ended 31 August 2020.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
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.
Signed ____ Date _______ John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 August 2020
| 2019 £ Note Receipts 131043 Grants & donations 2 3960 Fundraising 21642 Fees 228 Bank interest 702 Activity contributions 157575 Total receipts Payments 1175 Activities, garden & trips 399 Bank charges 3905 Children's books & equipment 2380 Consumables 68 DBS checks 368 Equipment, repairs & renewals 818 Fundraising expenditure 193 Hospitality & food 636 Independent examination fee 1170 Insurance 32 Marketing 924 Payroll service 6841 Premises maintenance & cleaning 305 Professional fees 1187 Publications & subscriptions 1019 Rent & rates 971 Staff expenses & uniform 760 Staff training & travel 2557 Telephone, stationery & postage 2811 Utilities 130598 Wages, NI & pension 159117 Total payments (1542) Net receipts/(payments) 161152 Cash funds at start of this period 159610 Cash funds at end of this period |
2020 £ 189634 1336 9700 171 553 |
|---|---|
| 201394 | |
| 1127 317 808 2157 68 812 494 205 636 1186 140 874 12381 - 787 602 995 1212 2815 1096 141809 |
|
| 170521 | |
| 30873 159610 |
|
| 190483 |
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 August 2020
| 2019 £ Cash assets Note 159568 Bank accounts 42 Cash in hand 159610 Other monetary assets 70 Debtors - equipment refund owing 998 Prepayments 3 1068 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Pram shelter purchased June 2017, cost £2,753. Play blocks purchased Feb 2016, cost £732. General equipment. Liabilities (1502) Creditors 4 - Advance receipts - Notts County Council grant (1502) |
2020 £ 190432 51 |
|---|---|
| 190483 | |
| - 1016 |
|
| 1016 | |
| (2282) (41518) |
|
| (43800) |
These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:
Signed _____ Dated _____ Nampreet Kandola, Trustee
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 August 2020
1. Receipts & payments accounts
Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.
2. Grants & donations
| Nottinghamshire County Council Sundry grants & donations |
£ 189083 551 189634 |
|---|---|
3. Prepayments
| Prepayments | |
|---|---|
| Insurance Publications & subscriptions Utilities (City Hygiene) |
£ 692 214 110 |
| 1016 |
4. Creditors
| Creditors | |
|---|---|
| Independent examination fee Telephone & admin Utilities |
£ 648 27 1607 |
| 2282 |
5. Premises
There is a lease with Nottinghamshire County Council up until 2024 for the premises on a peppercorn rent. This lease was agreed in July 2016.
6. Trustees’ remuneration
Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period.
7. Related party transactions
No related party transactions occurred during this period.
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Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre Notes to the accounts (continued) for the year ended 31 August 2020
8. Glossary of terms
Advance receipts: These are amounts received by the charity in the accounting period, for use in a future period.
Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.
Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received in the accounting period.
Prepayments: These are services that the charity has paid for in advance, but not used during the accounting period.
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