Little Ashes Pre-School Charity) Registered charity NO. 1020026) report fiscal year 2024 – 2025.
Address: The parish hall, Great Brickhill, Horsepond, Rotten Row, Milton Keynes, MK17 9BA
Tel: 07852 392 780
Charity commissions financial report April 2024 – 2025
The Committee of Little Ashes Pre-School is pleased to present its annual financial report to the Charity Commission.
Little Ashes Pre-School provides high-quality, child-centred early years education for children aged 2 to 5 years. The setting operates for 38 weeks of the year, from 9:00am to 3:00pm.
Our operational practices are aligned with the standards and requirements set out by Ofsted and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with robust safeguarding procedures embedded throughout the setting to ensure the safety, wellbeing, and development of all children in our care.
The Pre-School is overseen by a committee of six volunteers who contribute their time, skills, and experience to support the effective leadership and management of the setting. Three of the six committee members are parents of children who attend Little Ashes Pre-School. This provides valuable insight from parents and helps ensure that the needs and experiences of children and their families remain central to the committee's decision-making.
The setting continues to be led by a small, dedicated, and professional team of seven staff members. The majority of the team have longstanding employment with Little Ashes PreSchool, providing continuity, stability and consistency for the children and families we support. The strength and commitment of the staff team supports the setting’s long-term vision and contributes positively to children’s educational outcomes and overall development.
Occupancy remained strong throughout the financial year, with demand for places continuing to exceed the available capacity. As a result, the setting maintained a waiting list, with children being carried forward into the 2024-2025 cohort.
During the year, Little Ashes had 35 children on roll and provided early years education and childcare for up to 26 children each day. The continued demand for places demonstrates the positive reputation of the setting within the local community. The setting has also seen children travelling from outside the immediate local area to attend Little Ashes, reflecting the value that families place on the quality of education, care and provision offered.
Of this occupancy, there were a small proportion of 5 children who attended the setting a minimum of 15 hours per week fully funded by early years pupil premium. These funded places supported an inclusive early years environment for children who are recognised as having vulnerable characteristics.
Little Ashes Pre-School continues to offer a combination of government-funded early years provision and privately funded places. Through careful financial management, sustainability processes, prudent oversight, and a clear focus on directing funds towards the areas that have the greatest impact on children and the quality of provision, the setting achieved a financial surplus during the 2024–2025 year. Private rate fees were competitive with other early years local providers and reflective to the community needs and demands.
This positive financial position strengthens the long-term sustainability of Little Ashes PreSchool and provides greater security for the continued delivery of high-quality early years education. It also supports the setting’s ability to plan for the future and maintain educational stability for both children currently attending and those on the waiting list.
The financial security achieved by Little Ashes Pre-School during the financial year was achieved against a backdrop of increasing financial pressures and rising operational costs. In particular, changes to National Insurance contributions and increases to the National Minimum Wage placed additional pressure on the setting’s staffing expenditure and operational overheads. As a childcare and education-based provision, staffing represents one of the setting’s most significant ongoing costs.
Maintaining financial resilience remains an important priority for the committee. This will enable the setting to respond to future increases in operating costs while protecting the quality of provision, supporting its dedicated staff team and ensuring continuity of education and care for the children and families who rely on Little Ashes Pre-School.
The year 2025, introduced a broader curriculum that challenged children to reach their full educational potential. This was achieved with a child-centred approach and significant attuning to individual children’s interests. Our curriculum was further enhanced with weekly extra-curricular activities. These specialist services introduced the children to music and movement and embedded the foundations for a love of the arts. In addition, the setting has continued to access education with outdoor learning opportunities at Forest School.
In light of the financial challenges the setting faced, an additional fee infrastructure was introduced to support the ongoing costs but not limited to consumables and extra- curricular interests
The setting further built upon their parent partnerships and relations with the local community through their fundraising efforts. These events provided small amounts of financial donations to the setting, of which these monies have been fed back into the setting with monies spent on materials and resources that support the children’s educational needs and interests.
Continued professional development has been at the core of the financial year with monies reinvested back into staffing to enhance their professional development and up-skilling. This further enables staffing to ensure they are continually professionally competent, reflective to children’s needs, and following local and national guidelines.
Profit and Loss
Little Ashes Pre School
For the year ended 31 August 2025
| Profit and Loss Little Ashes Pre School For the year ended 31 August 2025 |
|
|---|---|
| 2025 | |
| Turnover | |
| Breakfast Club Fees | 80.00 |
| Consumables | 2,516.00 |
| Fundraising | 655.00 |
| Government grants | 139,472.75 |
| Interest Income | 380.46 |
| Lunch Club Fees | 335.00 |
| Other Donation | 4,247.94 |
| Registration Fees | 970.00 |
| Sales | 213.00 |
| Session Fees - Payable | 41,757.50 |
| Snack | (0.50) |
| Total Turnover | 190,627.15 |
| Cost of Sales | |
| Uniform Orders | 1,336.50 |
| Total Cost of Sales | 1,336.50 |
| Gross Profit | 189,290.65 |
| Administrative Costs | |
| Advertising & Marketing | 1,200.00 |
| Audit & Accountancy fees | 1,152.00 |
| Depreciation Expense | 930.39 |
| Entertainment-100% business | 423.85 |
| General Expenses | 35.00 |
| Insurance | 1,069.30 |
| IT Software and Consumables | 4,524.20 |
| Parish Hall Rent | 154.75 |
| PAYE & NI | 3,890.92 |
| Pensions Costs | 2,646.07 |
| Postage, Freight & Courier | 12.85 |
| Pre School Materials | 9,637.39 |
| Pre-School Extra Curricular | 3,400.00 |
| Rent | 13,300.00 |
| Salaries | 132,104.86 |
| Snack Purchase | 2.60 |
| Staff Training | 1,320.10 |
| Subscriptions | 50.00 |
| Telephone & Internet | 624.26 |
| Travel - National | 57.00 |
| Total Administrative Costs | 176,535.54 |
Profit and Loss Little Ashes Pre School
8 Jul 2026 Page 1 of 2
Profit and Loss
2025
| Operating Profit | 12,755.11 |
|---|---|
| Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation | 12,755.11 |
| Profit after Taxation | 12,755.11 |
Profit and Loss Little Ashes Pre School
8 Jul 2026 Page 2 of 2
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF LITTLE ASHES PRE-SCHOOL
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Little Ashes Pre-School
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Little Ashes Pre-School (the Trust) for the year ended 31 August 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees of the Trust 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 Trust’s accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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 material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do 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.
Sophie Jones FCCA
Price Jones Partnership Limited Chartered Certified Accountants Alders Farm, Ivy Lane Great Brickhill Buckinghamshire MK17 9AH
Date: 8[th] July 2026