eyB Stowey Bears AGM January 29th 2026 e_scho
Agenda
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Welcome
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Highlights of year 2024-2025
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HR
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Fundraising and committee
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Financial Report
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Appointment of committee members
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Looking forward
Highlights 2024/25
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Provided a nurturing learning environment for a full preschool – 42 children on roll
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14 children supported to move up to Nether Stowey Primary or other local primary schools
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Being granted £4250 from Nether Stowey Parish Council to help us open the Cubs Room, £2000 central council & £3300 of our own profits
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Opening our Cubs (under 2’s) room at the preschool and was also supported by the council, they took on all the building works and costs
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Our apprentice joined the team and has almost completed her apprenticeship.
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Working towards making SB a centre of excellence, taking on additional trainees.
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Creating jobs in our community
HR
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We have taken on additional students and work experience , who have all done brilliantly.
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One of our students, Abi, has done many hours with us and is due to complete her hours in the new year
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We have looked at ways to make our salary and working hours structure more competitive in a tricky market.
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We have made 3 new full time roles by opening the baby room, supporting working mums from our own community.
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Rachel has changed her role significantly, no longer being counted in ratioed numbers and managing a much larger team.
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We have a couple members of staff who are completing level 3 qualifications alongside working. (you couldn’t start the course without a job!)
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All staff, including our apprentice, student , 1-2-1 and bank staff completed paediatric first aid on the September inset, which is not required for all but we feel its best practice
Fundraising and Committee
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2024-2025 fundraising highlights
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End of year party at Over Stowey Village Hall
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Halloween party, again at OSVH
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Stall at the FONSS Christmas and Summer Fairs
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Amazing Christmas Hamper Raffle
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Strong committee who have been meeting at least every half term and aiming to fundraise every half term as well. Meeting on zoom working well.
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Dedicated committee members who have generously stayed on despite no longer having children at the setting
Financial Summary
Bank Opening balance 1/9/2024 - £74,937.55 Bank closing balance 31/8/2025 - £93,189.73 Profit for the year was £15,596.05
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This year was very good financially., funding stared at £5.23 for 3 yr olds and £7.16 for 2 yr olds then rose to £5.43 and £7.40 respectively in April.
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Minimum wage grew again at a massive 6.7%, it was agreed that all tiers of staff/responsibility go up by this as its affordable.
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We are taking on the maintenance lease from the council, this means we will not pay rent for the building but will be in charge of its upkeep, so it is in our interests to review our contingency policy and to keep the bank account on the high side in case of large costs
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Before we opened the Cubs room we decided to review the fees, so the current fees are £7.50 for 0-2yr, £6.50 2-3 yrs and £5.50 for 3-4 yr olds, and we upped the consumable fee to £1 a day the child attends and the snack fee to £1 and the lunch half hour to a flat fee for all at £2.50 per day. Funding for 0-2 years old is currently £10.03 ph . Of the 9 children that started in June for the soft opening 5 were accessing funding with 4 of them accessing the full 15 hours. We are expecting more funded children to do more hours in September when the hours are increased to 30 hours, the baby room already has quite a few booked in for september
...continued
As we were in good profit we were able to add £3.3k to the funding received to complete the cub room
Staff increased from 7 permanent contracted staff to 10 plus a cleaner which on average made a difference of £4.8k a month on outgoings, but to put this into perspective the baby room generated £8.2k in fees for the period it was open
We are always weary of electric, gas and insurance costs every year increasing, this year they increased slightly but nothing to make us worry
- 2024 2025 Financial Summary
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| Sep-24 | Oct-24 | Nov-24 | Dec-24 | Jan-25 | Feb-25 | Mar-25 | Apr-25 | May-25 | Jun-25 | Jul-25 | Aug-25 | TOTAL | |
| INCOME | |||||||||||||
| Fees | 2,358.60 | 1,743.95 | 2,123.50 | 1,403.60 | 847.40 | 637.00 | 2,334.15 | 985.50 | 1,474.40 | 3,756.25 | 3,534.47 | - | 21,198.82 |
| 0-2year funding | 4,486.42 | 9,918.34 | 14,404.76 | ||||||||||
| 2year old free entitlement | 4,336.42 | - | - | 481.82 | 3,334.66 | - | 1,165.91 | 8,531.46 | - | - | 947.94 | 410.24 | 19,208.45 |
| 3/4 year old free entitlement | 13,524.59 | 527.02 | - | 5,803.13 | 21,720.53 | 1,505.10 | 2,413.39 | 16,444.10 | 1,547.91 | 3,463.91 | 66,949.68 | ||
| Early Years Pupil Premium | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 179.82 | - | - | 498.49 | - | 678.31 |
| Fees for snack/lunch | 852.00 | - | 819.00 | - | 781.50 | 756.00 | 978.80 | - | 1,661.45 | - | - | 5,848.75 | |
| Fundraising | - | 145.84 | 145.00 | 390.91 | 14.47 | 62.88 | 152.50 | 123.97 | - | 33.10 | 652.98 | 117.00 | 1,838.65 |
| Bank interest | - | - | - | - | 500.00 | - | 1,265.67 | - | - | - | - | - | 1,765.67 |
| Other | - | 50.00 | 100.00 | - | 50.00 | - | - 50.00 | - | 823.00 | - | - | - | 973.00 |
| Total | 21,071.61 | 2,466.81 | 3,187.50 | 8,079.46 | 27,248.56 | 2,960.98 | 7,281.62 | 31,730.07 | 3,845.31 | 5,450.80 | 19,016.13 | 527.24 | 132,866.09 |
| EXPENDITURE | |||||||||||||
| Salaries Nettpay | 6,444.44 | 6,460.78 | 5,826.93 | 6,183.02 | 6,162.93 | 6,273.48 | 6,411.24 | 6,843.01 | 8,665.21 | 11,172.81 | 10,674.74 | 10,887.95 | 92,006.54 |
| Tax & NI | 60.79 | 188.30 | 155.37 | 32.21 | 90.71 | 140.50 | 184.59 | 160.15 | 273.50 | 404.31 | 396.32 | 640.32 | 2,727.07 |
| Nestpensions | 304.18 | 294.90 | 257.41 | 268.86 | 288.01 | 303.23 | 303.29 | 456.40 | 593.12 | 759.79 | 756.12 | 785.74 | 5,371.05 |
| Recruitment | - | 25.77 | 8.59 | - | - | - | - | - | 58.09 | - | - | 13.00 | 105.45 |
| Staff training | - | - | - | - | - | 337.00 | - | - | - | - | - | 664.00 | 1,001.00 |
Utlities |
- | 257.71 | 268.33 | 283.74 | - | 812.96 | 492.47 | 412.26 | 958.90 | 237.56 | 438.59 | 485.56 | 4,648.08 |
| Building Maintenance/cleaning | 287.28 | 72.00 | 36.00 | 36.00 | 183.46 | - | 36.00 | 36.00 | - | 72.00 | 155.50 | 36.00 | 950.24 |
Insurance/OFSTED |
92.41 | - | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.28 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 104.29 | 1,135.30 |
| Telephone/Internet | 36.78 | 36.83 | 36.85 | 36.80 | 36.78 | 36.83 | 36.78 | 39.59 | 39.54 | 39.49 | 39.59 | 39.59 | 455.45 |
| Food costs/snacks | 85.44 | 65.78 | 77.81 | 60.17 | 86.20 | - | 112.41 | 86.88 | 68.59 | 120.65 | 48.55 | - | 812.48 |
| Consumables | 17.61 | 435.78 | 79.62 | 24.02 | 90.09 | 82.73 | 15.31 | 550.16 | 727.97 | 60.97 | 9.59 | - | 2,093.85 |
| Equipment | 39.00 | - | 69.93 | 92.93 | - | 239.95 | 47.97 | - | 2,170.20 | 446.14 | 192.96 | 119.10 | 3,418.18 |
| Subscriptions/memberships | 251.80 | 43.20 | 118.08 | 43.20 | 43.20 | 102.95 | 43.20 | 43.20 | 78.20 | 43.20 | 49.20 | 49.20 | 908.63 |
| Marketing | 23.26 | 230.40 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 253.66 |
| Admin costs-postage etc | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Education & Enrichment |
- | - | - | 621.40 | - | - | - | - | - | 48.68 | 712.98 | - | 1,383.06 |
| Other | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 7,642.99 | 8,111.45 | 7,039.21 | 7,786.64 | 7,085.66 | 8,433.92 | 7,787.55 | 8,731.94 | 13,737.61 | 13,509.89 | 13,578.43 | 13,824.75 | 117,270.04 |
| Cash flow movement | 13,428.62 | - 5,644.64 | - 3,851.71 | 292.82 | 20,162.90 | - 5,472.94 | - 505.93 | 22,998.13 | - 9,892.30 | - 8,059.09 | 5,437.70 | - 13,297.51 | 15,596.05 |
| Opening Balance | - | 13,428.62 | 7,783.98 | 3,932.27 | 4,225.09 | 24,387.99 | 18,915.05 | 18,409.12 | 41,407.25 | 31,514.95 | 23,455.86 | 28,893.56 | |
| Closing Balance | 13,428.62 | 7,783.98 | 3,932.27 | 4,225.09 | 24,387.99 | 18,915.05 | 18,409.12 | 41,407.25 | 31,514.95 | 23,455.86 | 28,893.56 | 15,596.05 | 15,596.05 |
NB Full year accounts have not yet been audited but totals are correct
Appointment of Committee Members
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Chair - arrange and chair committee meetings every half term, support with HR, make sure committee is planning regular fundraising events
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Treasurer – be available for finance meetings with business manager
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Secretary – take minutes at committee meetings
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Committee Members – attend meetings and run fundraising events
Looking Forward - Positives
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Stowey Bears is in a strong position to expand to open a new baby room provision, with support from both Somerset Council and the Parish council. The expansion will tie in with extended universal funding rising to 30 hours in september for working parents for children from 9 months old.
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The building adjustments and modifications to accommodate our new Cubs room and additional staff members are almost complete. The council has been brilliant at assisting us with this; we are due to take on a full repairs lease in due course.
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We are working towards becoming a center of excellence in regards to training and service provision.
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Tina has been asked to work as a mentor in other settings by County, to assist other settings and teach them her financial acumen.
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Our staff remain our greatest asset. The team is not only dedicated to your children but also to each other, covering for each other in times of personal hardship and sickness.
Challenges
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Minimum wage and national insurance raises have hit us hard, however we are - due to Tinas diligence – set to be able to make it work.
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Staffing continues to be one of the hardest parts of the job, attracting new staff to a more remote setting with rising transport costs as well as finding bank staff to help us out in times of sickness (winter term was tough!).
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Once a full survey has been carried out on the building we will take on the repairing and maintenance lease and will therefore need a pot of money saved for building maintenance.
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Fundraising is essential to make sure we have enough to keep the setting an exciting and stimulating setting for our children. Government funding must be spent on keeping the lights on and the staff paid, this is audited. Thank you all for continuing to support our fundraising efforts!
AOB
This is an exciting time for Stowey Bears Preschool Thank you for being part of the journey
Stowey Bears Pre-School
Profit and Loss Report
01 September, 2024 - 31 August, 2025
| Sales | ||
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| Fees (4000) | 125,385.32 | |
| Fundraising (4900) | 2,322.09 | |
| Lunch (20000) | 4,024.50 | |
| Repayment (0123) | 950.92 | |
| Snack & Consumable Fee (10000) | 5,611.00 | |
| Uniform (0002) | 80.00 | |
| staff discount (3456) | -165.30 | |
| Total Sales | £138,208.53 | |
| Direct Expenses | ||
| Childrens/parent gifts (0300) | 140.97 | |
| Consumables (1111) | 1,025.04 | |
| DBS & Update (0012) | 92.45 | |
| Extra Curricular Activities (20002) | 500.00 | |
| Other Direct Expenses (5060) | 25.55 | |
| Petty Cash (20003) | 1,000.00 | |
| Property - Cost (0010) | 540.94 | |
| Room Resources/supplies (0100) | 8,037.23 | |
| Sensory room (5678) | 40.58 | |
| Staff Gifts (0001) | 1,041.15 | |
| fundraising costs (2222) | 225.52 | |
| leavers gifts (2001) | 136.99 | |
| room redecorating (3445) | 104.41 | |
| Total Direct Expenses | £12,910.83 | |
27 May 2026 09:41
Page 1 of 2
| GROSS PROFIT / LOSS | £125,297.70 |
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| Overheads | |
| Admin costs - Postage etc (7510) 12.33 |
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| Cleaning (7810) 165.63 |
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| Clothing Costs (8220) 438.91 |
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| Computer & Software (7550) 1,545.92 |
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| Employee Wages and Salaries (7000) 91,831.15 |
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| Equipment (7640) 234.94 |
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| Food cost/snacks (7460) 65.20 |
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| General Expenses (8200) 1,377.16 |
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| HMRC (20001) 2,727.01 |
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| Insurance/Ofsted (7630) 1,117.01 |
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| Nest Pension (7030) 4,585.31 |
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| Office Stationery (7520) 655.88 |
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| Other Deductions (7050) 29.94 |
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| Staff Training (8230) 1,001.00 |
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| Telephone/Internet (7530) 455.45 |
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| Utilities (7110) 4,377.77 |
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| Total Overheads | £110,620.61 |
| NET PROFIT / LOSS | £14,677.09 |
27 May 2026 09:41
Page 2 of 2
Mrs Donna Pinney 7 Harry Prowse Close Nether Stowey
Bridgwater Somerset TA5 1BF 05/06/2026
Mrs Tina Miller
Stowey Bears Pre-School
Nether Stowey
Dear Mrs Miller,
As requested, I have reviewed the accounts you prepared for Stowey Bears Pre-School, in conjunction with the supporting documentation you supplied.
After reviewing the paperwork submitted to me, I can confirm the following:
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All transactions have been accurately accounted for
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All bank accounts reconcile with statements provided
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All balances were found correct
On this basis, I can confirm that the accounts you have prepared are an accurate reflection of the financial transactions which took place during the financial year.
Regards
Donna Pinney.