**Annual Report 2020/2021** From the Management Committee
Together we care, play, learn, grow, succeed.
## **Attenborough Church Pre-School – Report by the Management Committee April 2021 For the period April 2020 to March 2021**
## **INTRODUCTION**
The following report will be presented to parents/carers at the Pre-School’s Annual General Meeting held on the 9[th] June 2021 in the Douglas Taylor Room or via Zoom, at 8 p.m. All parents have been invited to attend the meeting.
This report provides parents/carers with:
- an overview of the Pre-School and Committee’s activities during the year, including managing the effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic
- a summary of changes to staffing and routines, and
- an opportunity to make recommendations for 2021/2022.
Any comments or suggestions arising from the report can be made directly to Nicola Bethel, Chairperson, by email to chair@attenboroughchurchpreschool.com or to Joan Kolomyjec,
Administration Manager on 07714 577 171 or to Debby Stevens, Pre-School Manager during session times.
## **SAFEGUARDING - Maintaining a culture of vigilance and a climate of support**
As you will know, safeguarding our children is our number one priority at Pre-School. Nothing is more important to us than this. Safeguarding is all about keeping all of our community safe, free from harm or potential harm and ensuring our children are able to healthily grow and develop in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
A commitment to safeguarding is everywhere within our setting and each member of our Pre-School community has a role to play in keeping each other safe, be they a Committee member, a member of Staff, a parent, a carer or one of our children. It is important that we use our voices to share any safeguarding concerns that we may have, however big or small. If there is something that is niggling, that you are worried about or something you are not sure about, please pass it on to Debby, PreSchool named Safeguarding Lead.
Please see our website for further details.
2
## **MANAGING THE EFFECTS OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC**
At the beginning of the financial year 2020/2021 the country had recently entered the first national lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic. The effects of the pandemic have been felt strongly across all areas of our organisation throughout the 12-month period ending 31[st] March 2021, and continue to affect everybody’s lives. Our Annual Report reflects this unprecedented situation. Our day-to-day operations have changed frequently throughout this time as a result of the ever-changing backdrop of the pandemic, and our excellent Staff Team have risen to the challenges presented by Coronavirus. The committee has prioritised the safety of our Staff and children at all times as we work our way through this difficult time.
## **Day-to-day running during the pandemic**
We are very proud that our Staff Team were able to continue to provide sessions for 10 children of keyworker parents and/or vulnerable children during the first national lockdown, which took place during our Summer Term 2020. The vast majority of our children stayed at home during this time, as did the majority of our Staff Team who were not required in session due to the low numbers of children attending.
Government guidance changed during the final half-term of the academic year, allowing us to reopen from the 8[th] June 2020 for those parents that wanted to return, although there were recommended limits on the number of children within a bubble. We provided parents with various options and the bubble system allowed us to limit the number of children and staff mixing together. During the final few weeks of the Summer Term the majority of our children and staff had returned to Pre-School, although we delayed 9 new starters until September 2020. Our provision was greatly valued by those families who accessed it during the first national lockdown and built confidence amongst practitioners and parents that we could operate in a Covid-secure and child-friendly way.
We began the new academic year in September 2020 by opening fully to all families and welcoming our new starters. The management team agreed to create two separate bubbles of children and staff, (Bees and Butterflies) in order to limit the potential spread of a Coronavirus outbreak within the setting. Young children cannot practice social distancing between their peers and the staff, and it is vital to their development that their interactions with others remained as normal as possible. The bubble system is therefore one way to contain an outbreak. We decided to review this arrangement at each holiday to ensure it was still the most appropriate way of working. Each bubble had a mixture of age groups of children and a balanced mixture of the Staff Team. Due to the availability of the rooms that we use within the Village Hall and the varied hours worked by each member of staff, only one bubble was able to provide 30 hours childcare and access to the Breakfast Club. We did manage to ensure that all families who wanted 30 hours provision could access it. We maximised the use of our outdoor space as Coronavirus is harder to spread outdoors.
After the Christmas Break, pre-schools and nurseries were allowed to remain open despite the third national lockdown requiring all other educational settings to close except for the children of keyworker parents and/or vulnerable children. For a number of practical and educational reasons the management team decided to combine the two separate bubbles at the beginning of the Spring Term and operate as one bubble.
This provided all the children with opportunities to get to know each other properly. This is especially important for our older children who only have Spring and Summer terms left with us, so that they can build deeper bonds of friendship with other children who will go on to the same schools as them. It also allows greater flexibility of staffing and use of our resources and equipment, and means that all children can access the Breakfast Club or 30 hours childcare. We are
3
using all of the rooms and garden space for free-flow sessions, enabling the children to have more choice of which resources to use. Levels of engagement are usually high when children have selected an activity themselves, resulting in more opportunities for depth of learning.
We unfortunately had to close in February 2021 for 7 days due to 1 positive case just before February half term.
## **Infection control procedures**
We have closely followed government guidance regarding infection control procedures in order to stay open for our families whilst reducing the risk of the spread of infections. This includes enhanced cleaning of toys and equipment, removal or quarantine of certain resources that are hard to clean (e.g. soft toys), ensuring all rooms are ventilated with open windows and/or doors, greater frequency of handwashing for children and staff, staff maintaining a safe social distance between each other, staff wearing PPE for close personal care such as nappy changes or dealing with a sick child, ensuring that children entering the setting are not unwell, and restricting access to our building by only allowing visitors (including parents) entry in exceptional circumstances. We have also stopped our self-service snack and instead we place the snack items onto each child’s plate. Part-way through the Autumn Term we introduced face coverings for staff on the door and parents at drop-off and pick-up. Towards the end of the spring term, when they became available, all staff began taking lateral flow tests twice-weekly.
## **Children**
Our children have been remarkably resilient during this past year. Ordinarily we allow parents into the building every morning but we had to change our drop-off and pick-up procedures to ensure that the children enter the building independently each morning. This process has been very successful and has not only helped the children to learn to take more responsibility for their belongings, but has also helped children separate from their carer and settle into Pre-School quickly and confidently.
We were particularly sad that we were unable to have a leavers’ graduation ceremony (as well as a Summer Show) in Summer 2020 for the 28 children that left us to go to school. Our best wishes went to all leavers and their Learning Journals were made available.
## **Staffing**
The strength and flexibility of the management team and the management committee has been invaluable during the shifting restrictions and government guidance over the past year. The first lockdown had wide-ranging effects on the Staff Team. At various points in time we had members of the team shielding, isolating, being on furlough, changing their working hours to reflect their own families’ changing needs, getting to grips with staff meetings over zoom, working from home, or working in session with the 10 keyworker and/or vulnerable children who continued to access our provision. The Staff Team have all shown great support for each other during this year and a determination to continue to provide an excellent experience for our Pre-School children. It is a credit to our Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens, and our Administration Manager, Joan Kolomyjec, that the team continues to have high morale and high expectations of our curriculum offer for the children.
Government guidance states that Early Years practitioners should not wear Personal Protective Equipment during sessions, except for close personal care or where a child is displaying symptoms of Coronavirus, and should not practice social distancing from children. As a Staff Team, we strongly agreed that young children need to interact with us as they would normally do, and we continue to give children cuddles when they are upset and maintain the close contact that is so important for
4
children to feel happy, safe and secure. However, this inevitably leaves our staff exposed to greater levels of risk. The Staff Team greatly appreciate the support and understanding of parents who have kept their children at home when they have been unwell.
## **Parent Partnership**
It has been a very challenging year in terms of maintaining and developing strong partnerships with parents and carers, as we have had very little face-to-face contact. During the first national lockdown, Amanda Scard, Deputy Pre-School Manager, kept in touch with families via telephone calls and Louise Day, Early Years Teacher, posted activity ideas on Tapestry for the children at home.
As Pre-School opened up to all children again, parents have been very supportive of changes to our routines and policies as we navigate our way through the pandemic. We communicate children’s achievements and Pre-School experiences with parents and carers through our online learning journey, Tapestry, and this has proved especially valuable this year. Parents are encouraged to comment on the staff posts on Tapestry and share information about their child’s interests and achievements at home.
Debby began a weekly blog on Tapestry this year to keep parents informed as a response to the reduction in our face-to-face interactions. We send all parents a half-termly newsletter and also use our Facebook page and website to keep all parents up-to-date with events and news. We have added a selection of our policies for parents to access on our website as these are usually displayed in the setting for all parents to read. We have not been able to hold our termly open morning for parents, coffee mornings or face-to-face fundraising activities this year, and we have missed these social interactions with our families. We value highly our parent/carer partnership at all levels and can’t wait to get back to a time when we can welcome parents into our setting again. We hope to resume these as soon as possible, with the health and safety of everyone remaining our priority. Our **Parent and Toddler Group** for 0-5 year olds has not operated at all throughout the financial year 2020-2021. It is ordinarily run by two staff members, is popular with local families, and is another opportunity for parents and children to get to know us. Please do tell your friends about us, ready for when we are able to re-open, hopefully from September 2021 with a new time slot of Friday afternoons, 1:15pm – 2:45pm.
## **Planning the curriculum and assessment**
Louise Day and Laura Dunn, our Early Years Teachers, are responsible for planning and assessment. They have had to be very flexible this year as our day-to-day organisation has changed from term to term, with partial closure in the Summer Term, a two-bubble mixed age group structure in the Autumn Term, and a one bubble free-flow structure in the Spring Term. In addition, the wider effects of school closures and restricted social interactions for our young children have all required adaptations to our planning practices. Louise and Laura meet weekly to reflect on our provision and assess how it is meeting the current requirements of all of our children.
In 2020-2021 we have revised our expectations of our Rising 4’s cohort as children’s development has inevitably been impacted by prolonged social restrictions. We have carefully thought about how to progress our children as sensitively and as playfully as possible. A larger portion of time has been given to settling children back into Pre-School routines and for the children to simply re-learn how to play with others, share resources, understand their own and others’ emotions, get to know each other and build their own independence. We tailored some of our teacher-led literacy and numeracy activities to make them more active to reflect the fact that the Rising 4’s were not ready to sit still and focus during the Autumn and Spring terms. This approach has enabled the children to continue to access these areas of learning in a way that was more suited to their needs. As the academic year has progressed, the children have been increasingly able to follow the instructions of
5
a teacher-led game and gradually have extended the amount of time that they are able to listen, attend and fully engage with the learning activity.
We ceased to ask the children to change into PE clothes during the Autumn and Spring terms as this requires a lot of close contact during the initial stages of children learning to dress and undress themselves. Instead, we continued to offer PE sessions and encouraged independence in this area by supporting children to take off their socks and shoes. We also encourage children to change from shoes to wellies by themselves, and to try to change their clothes with a little support from staff if they are wet from messy play or a toileting accident.
Our Rising 4’s used to have a monthly visit to The Grange Nursing Home on Elm Avenue in Attenborough, where the children would sing for the residents and sometimes join in craft activities, supervised by Pre-School Staff. Unfortunately, the visits had to stop because of the pandemic, and the nursing home has now closed. These activities were enjoyed by all and Pre-School will miss this intergenerational opportunity. We will look into alternative opportunities as circumstances allow.
## **Financial Matters**
The pandemic has placed a great strain on our finances due to reduced income from having fewer children and increased costs such as providing PPE for staff. Fortunately, Nottinghamshire Early Years continued to provide funding for all funded children whilst we were closed to most children during Summer Term 2020, and based the level of funding for Autumn 2020 on Autumn 2019 figures. This was a huge help to Pre-School and mitigated some of our lost revenue. Five members of our staff were also placed on furlough (Job Retention Scheme) during the first national lockdown. Both of these financial supports were essential to keeping all of our staff employed and Pre-School open. The Village Hall supported Pre-School during the pandemic by only charging us for Main Hall usage during the Summer Term 2020, instigating an enhanced cleaning routine per government guidance, and allowing us to stay open when the Hall was closed to all other user groups.
6
## **ABOUT US**
## **A Charity and a childcare provider**
Pre-School is a registered charity which means that we must follow rules set out by the Charity Commission. As a charity, we must have a constitution that determines what our aims are and how we are run. We have chosen to adopt the Early Years Alliance (EYA/PSLA) model constitution and we do this annually at each AGM. It outlines the rules we must follow.
Our aims are known as our ‘charity objects’. These are set out in our constitution and are “To enhance the development and education of children primarily under statutory school age by….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”.
We are a Committee-led charity. The Committee Members are the trustees of the charity and have responsibility for ensuring that the setting is run as it should be. In 2020-21 the parent-led voluntary committee has also continued to welcome its two staff members. Their input has continued to be invaluable.
As a Pre-School we must ensure that in meeting our charity objects we also follow the rules set by the government in the **E** arly **Y** ears **F** oundation **S** tage (EYFS) statutory framework. This tells all childcare providers for children from birth to 5 what they must do to ensure they meet the welfare and development requirements of the children in their care. Ofsted measures us against the EYFS statutory framework to determine how well we are meeting its requirements. At our last inspection in March 2017 we were graded as a ‘good’ provider. As a result of the developments we have made since this inspection, we are aiming to secure and maintain an outstanding provision for our children which we hope will be graded as such when Ofsted next visit us during the next cycle of inspections starting from September 2019. Because of the Covid 19 Pandemic, Ofsted Inspections have been halted. They are due to re-start from May 2021.
To help us to ensure that our provision is the best it can be, and to ensure that we follow bestpractice, we are members of the Early Years Alliance. During the academic year we have continued to be supported by an Early Years Support Teacher from the Nottinghamshire Early Years team.
## **How we are typically run on a day-to-day basis**
At Attenborough Church Pre-School we believe that “together we care, play, learn, grow and succeed”. We provide an enjoyable Pre-School education for 2-4 year olds and ordinarily a Parent and Toddler Group for 0-5 year olds. We run 10 x 3 hour sessions per week in Attenborough Village Hall, from 9:15am to 3:15pm Monday to Friday, during term-time, and, in September 2020, introduced a Breakfast Club from 8:00am to 9:15am. We use the Douglas Taylor Room and the Main Hall for large and small group work. We are registered to have up to 48 children in session when using the two rooms, or up to 26 children in the Douglas Taylor room. We are registered for Full Day Care.
The families that we serve are predominantly Attenborough, Chilwell and Toton based, though we also serve families from slightly further afield. Our children are the centre of our organisation and we continuously strive to meet their needs and serve their interests so that they may learn and develop and make excellent progress. We are an inclusive setting that welcomes all children and aims to provide learning experiences that are entirely free to those who are eligible for funding or that are affordable and represent excellent value for fee payers. Children start Pre-School life from
7
as early as 2 years 3 months or in the term after they turn 2 if they are eligible for 2 year funding. Children may also start at the beginning of any half term after this age.
## **Operational Plan**
We have an Operational Plan designed to meet Ofsted inspection criteria and to ensure that our day-to-day provision of education and care is consistently excellent. Our policies are informed by the requirements of the EYFS and are developed in conjunction with the Early Years Alliance. We update or introduce our policies throughout the year as necessary, and all new policies and changes are formally adopted at the AGM. It is from these policies that our practices and routines are developed, all of which are designed to provide the best possible experience that we can for our children.
## **Improvement Plan**
The Pre-School Improvement Plan is a working document that includes contributions from the Committee and the Staff Team, as well as recommendations from Ofsted and feedback from parents. The Improvement Plan is reviewed regularly and ensures we continue to strive to be excellent and innovative in all that we do. We want to be outstanding for our children and we are committed to continuous improvement following thorough self-evaluation.
## **Keeping up-to-date**
In addition to being members of the Early Years Alliance we also regularly access a range of local network meetings, mostly run by Nottinghamshire County Council Early Years Team, to ensure that we are keeping up-to-date with issues that concern the Early Years sector. All staff attend regular training courses to ensure we are meeting all welfare requirements of the EYFS and will be judged as doing so by Ofsted. We also encourage staff and committee members to undertake relevant online modular courses. Where one member of staff has attended an external course or network briefing, we cascade that training to the rest of the Staff Team at our regular Staff Training Meetings.
## **Staffing**
We have been fortunate to have a very strong, highly qualified and dedicated Staff Team of 15 throughout 2020-21:
**March 2021 Staffing:**
|**March 2021 Staffing:**|||
|---|---|---|
|**NAME:**|**POSITION:**|**QUALIFICATION:**|
|**Debby Stevens**|**Pre-School Manager**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Joan Kolomyjec**|**Pre-School Administration Manager**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Amanda Scard**|**Deputy Pre-School Manager**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Claire Vardy**|**Deputy Pre-School Manager**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Laura Dunn**|**Early Years Teacher/Admin Assistant**|**Early Years Teacher Level 6**|
|**Louise Day**|**Early Years Teacher/Admin Assistant**|**Early Years Teacher Level 6**|
|**Julie Streets**|**Pre-School Practitioner(Language Lead)**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Toshimi Sato**|**Pre-School Practitioner**|**NVQ Level 3 In Childcare**|
|**Georgia Cockayne**|**Pre-School Practitioner(left Oct 2020)**|**NVQ Level 2 In Childcare**|
|**Molly Joynes**|**Pre-School Practitioner**|**Level 3 in Childcare (qualified in**
**July 2020)**|
|**Stephanie Kerry**|**Pre-School Practitioner**|**Level 3 in Childcare**|
|**Joelle Bartram**|**Pre-School Practitioner**|**Level 3 in Childcare**|
|**Jess Hodges**|**Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner**|**Trainee Level 3 in Childcare**|
|**Ellie Cox**|**Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner**|**Trainee Level 2 in Childcare**|
|**Sophie Poole**|**Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner**|**Trainee Level 2 in Childcare**|
8
Our Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens, continues to provide excellent leadership for the in-session team of staff, with support from our highly experienced Administration Manager, Joan Kolomyjec. We value a team approach to shaping and improving our provision, made possible through regular Staff Team meetings or Inset Day training. Each member of staff is supported and guided by the PreSchool Manager to develop their knowledge, focus on reflective practice and they are updated on any relevant changes. We use the Early Years Teacher Standards in our improved Appraisal and Supervision processes.
Molly Joynes successfully completed her NVQ Level 3 in Childcare in July 2020. Well done Molly, you are an asset to the team.
We sadly said goodbye to Georgia Cockayne in October 2020.
Jess Hodges, who began as a Level 2 apprentice with us just before the first national lockdown in 2020, has successfully completed her Level 2 qualification and is now working towards her Level 3 Childcare qualification. Well done Jess.
We recruited two more level 2 apprentices this year: Ellie Cox who joined us in October 2020 and Sophie Poole who joined the team from January 2021.
We also recruited two more experienced Level 3 practitioners who joined us in the Spring Term 2021, Stephanie Kerry and Joelle Bartram.
Amanda Scard, Deputy Pre-School Manager, took a lead in liaising with local schools to provide as smooth a transition to school as possible for all of our leavers in Summer 2020. Claire Vardy, Deputy Pre-School Manager, has responsibility for mentoring apprentices and supporting the wider Staff Team. Louise Day and Laura Dunn, our Early Years Teachers, are responsible for planning and assessment.
The new members of staff have all settled well into the team. We have an excellent Staff Team and the whole team work _extremely_ hard to do the best for our children, by caring for them, offering them opportunities for play, learning and wonder, teaching them, and preparing them for school.
## **Pre-School Management Committee**
## **2020/21 Main Officers:**
## **Committee Members:**
Nicola Bethel – Chairperson (from Oct 2020 Joanne Brookes – Fundraising Officer previously Vice Chair/Fundraising) Victoria Hallam Emily Brown (Chairperson to Oct 2020) Julie Streets - Staff Trustee Kate Ball – Treasurer Toshimi Sato – Staff Trustee Francesca Rumbelow – Secretary
We have been extremely fortunate to have had a strong Committee in 2020-21 who bring a variety of invaluable strengths to the team. Fundraising has taken a different route this year due to the pandemic, a lot was done via Tapestry and purchasing a license to sell raffle tickets to parents. The Fundraising role was a separate role from the other functions that the Chairperson has, but this last year the whole Committee worked together to continue fundraising and we are enormously grateful to them for raising an amazing amount of money despite everything. Particular thanks to Nicola Bethel, Kate Ball and Joanne Brooks who have worked closely with the Staff team. Our two Staff Trustees continue to be valuable members of the Committee.
9
## **Our curriculum – The Early Years Foundation Stage**
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework to develop a child’s self-esteem and nurture their personal and social skills, alongside developing communication, literacy, numeracy, physical and expressive arts skills through both child-led and adult-led play activities and encouraging all children to be curious and explore. We tailor our planning to meet the needs of our children and as such it varies from year to year. We plan small group work to target personal, social and emotional skills, and language and communication skills. Our planning process ensures that short-term, medium-term and long-term planning begins with a review of our children’s next steps and interests, and activities are planned specifically around these factors. We have a broad theme for the half-term which allows more scope for exploring a topic through a variety of playful and creative interactions and enables us to be more flexible and follow the children’s interests. Mediumterm planning ensures that all areas of the EYFS curriculum are covered not only through our continuous provision and skilful interactions with children, but also through the daily structured activities that we offer. We provide a safe, secure and stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environment with a wide range of resources to inspire our children’s curiosity and support them to make outstanding progress. Our practitioners are highly skilled, role model our values, provide excellent care and education, and collectively strive for continuous improvement.
Our intent is captured in our Vision Statement and Curriculum Offer, which was developed through collective input from the Management Committee and all of the Staff Team. Our Vision states that
“our aim is to nurture kind, happy, healthy, imaginative, reflective individuals with high self-esteem and a love of learning who are ready to make a positive contribution, form good relationships, make healthy choices and continue to flourish so that they may enjoy a well-balanced and successful future life as they fulfil their dreams”.
We have distilled our vision into a motto that now features more prominently within our day to day practice and encapsulates all that we do:
“Together we care, play, learn, grow, succeed.”
We work in partnership with parents, carers and the wider community, understanding that working together achieves more for our children.
## **Rising 4’s**
Once the children reach their last full academic school year in Pre-School they take part in Rising 4’s activities, which are planned to progress our children with educationally fun activities that spark curiosity and wonder and a love of learning. We support our children to be confident, independent, resilient and prepared for their next step of education by the end of their Summer Term.
In 2020-21 we have trialled mixed age group sessions rather than having certain sessions only available to the Rising 4’s cohorts as in previous years. Having mixed age groups benefits the children in many ways, such as the older children helping the younger children which is fantastic for their personal, social and emotional development as well as their language and communication skills. The younger children also greatly benefit from having more time interacting with the older cohort. However, we still feel it is necessary to provide the Rising 4’s cohort with some time together as a group so that we can target certain activities towards their developing needs. We separate the Rising 3’s and Rising 4’s cohorts for a short period during the morning before snack time. The Rising 4’s sit on the mat for register time, a short topic discussion or show and tell, and a story, whilst the Rising 3’s have a welcome song and story.
10
We also separate the Rising 4’s and Rising 3’s cohorts for certain afternoon activities. This allows the Rising 4’s to use resources that are specifically aimed at our older children to improve fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving skills, turn-taking, literacy and numeracy skills. PE sessions for the Rising 4’s are not only fun and help develop physical skills, but also encourage children to follow instructions. Children will begin changing into PE clothes to practice dressing and undressing skills from the Summer Term 2021. We plan phonics activities that are introduced playfully throughout the day and reinforced in a structured small group activity in the afternoon. Our phonics programme focuses upon listening and attention skills, following Phase One of the Letters and Sounds programme. Over recent years we have consulted regularly with local feeder schools and have determined that playful Phase One phonics instruction provides children with the best foundation for future phonic learning in formal education.
## **Outdoor learning**
Our fantastic garden area is a huge asset to our Pre-School, and we have been able to improve it further with sensory planting, a superb new mud kitchen area, additional soil for our digging area, a raised play space for messy outdoor play, an outdoor sink, outdoor mats and picnic blankets and two wonderful new teepees, thanks to the funding we received from a Co-Op grant and Tesco Bags of Help grant. We ensure that this invaluable learning environment is used by each child, every day, whatever the weather. Our planning, use of resources and our practitioner input ensures that we maximise the learning potential of our outdoor space.
## **Language Lead**
We have a Language Lead role, which is fulfilled by Julie Streets. Communication and language skills are key to each child’s development. Early intervention in speech and language delays is vital to provide a child with the best possible outcomes for their communication skills. We use a sign of the week and we encourage the children to use signs during the session, i.e. at snack time and singing. We also try to incorporate signing into our fundraising shows. Each member of our Staff Team has a role to play in the language development of our children and our Language Lead helps to guide this, helping to develop new resources and ensuring everyone implements a variety of strategies to support all of our children. Our Language Lead has successfully led small group work to support language acquisition, as well as small group work to support children with their confidence in talking to others. She continues to liaise with outside agencies to ensure we are offering the right targeted support to individual children, where relevant.
## **Key-Person**
Children start Pre-School life from as early as 2 years 3 months or in the term after they turn 2 if they are eligible for 2-year funding. They may also start at the beginning of any half term after this age. Whatever their age when they start and however long they might be with us, our aim is to quickly settle them into the routine of the session. All children have a Key-Person who works with their family and keeps development records and a Learning Journey for each child through the Tapestry electronic system. The Pre-School Manager is not only a Key-Person herself, but also oversees all staff in their Key-Person duties. Although each child’s Key-Person is the main point of contact at PreSchool for the child and their family, every member of the Staff Team is involved in helping every child to learn, develop and be cared for. The requirement to create bubbles of children and staff earlier in the pandemic resulted in some Key-Person changes to ensure that the Key-Person was in the same bubble as their Key Children.
## **Admissions and leavers**
The number of children on register varies throughout the year because we admit new starters throughout the year but our school leavers all leave together at the end of the Summer Term, so we
11
inevitably experience a drop in numbers each year between the Summer and Autumn Terms. In April 2020 a total of 64 children should have been attending Pre-School if the national lockdown had not occurred. Over the year a total of 31 children were admitted, 34 children moved on to school or nursery in July 2020 and a further 5 children left at other times during the financial year due to house moves or not returning because of pandemic concerns. At April 2021 we had 56 children on our register.
When the children’s Pre-School time has come to an end, they move on to several local schools. The main primary schools that we feed into are The Lanes Primary School, Chetwynd Primary Academy and Banks Road Infant School. We have been involved with all schools along with the Reception Coordinators in order to provide a smooth transition for our children. In Summer 2020 we had 28 children leaving to go to 8 different schools. We liaised virtually with the schools as we were unable to visit in person. In Summer 2021 we will have 22 children going to 6 different schools and 1 child is leaving due to moving out of the area.
## **Funded places**
Government Early Years Funding (‘Free Entitlement’) has continued into the current financial year, which means children can have up to 15 hours from the term after they are three years old. We are also eligible to receive two-year-old funding for those families that meet certain criteria, providing 15 hours funding per week from the term after the child is two years old. 30 hours funding is also available for families who meet the criteria.
During this financial year we had the following number of children on full funding: 43 in the Summer Term 2020, 21 Numbers of funded children are lower when compared to the previous year due to the Coronavirus pandemic and a drop in the local birth rate.
## **30 hours provision**
We are open to children for 36.25 hours each week and so can offer 30 hours provision. In 2019-20 our Monday and Tuesday afternoons were exclusive sessions for the Rising 4’s cohort only, meaning that our younger children could only access a maximum of 24 hours per week. The Staff Management Team and the Committee evaluated this position and agreed to move to mixed age sessions throughout the week for the financial year ending March 2021. During the year, the uptake of 30 hours for eligible children, who are either fully funded or funded and fee paying, is high and continues to be very successful for us. Many who are eligible for 30 hours funding are accessing all of their quota. Parents are now able to register for 30 hours funding if they are eligible, parents need to be earning the equivalent of 16 hours at NMW or more to qualify and in a 2-parent household, both must be earning. We typically have 10-15 parents registered who will take a range of funded sessions up to 30 hours, this includes an option to share the 30 hours funding with one other setting.
Ad-hoc sessions have continued to be a useful way of allowing children to trial sessions before booking them on a more permanent basis. We continue to be committed to offering 30 hours funding provision which allows children to access it with no hidden or additional charges.
## **Breakfast Club**
We opened Breakfast Club in September 2020 to extend session availability from 8.00am, with the club running from 8.00am - 9.15am. Children arrive between 8.00am and 8.15am, have a period of quiet play followed by breakfast of cereal, toast and a drink at 8.30am. From 9.00am the children move into the routine for the usual morning or full day sessions. 11 children have accessed this session on a regular basis since September and we also offer an ad-hoc basis if numbers allow.
12
## **Lunch Club**
All children who attend an afternoon session automatically attend Lunch Club. They supply their own packed lunch and eat at tables with the help of the Staff Team. In addition, any child attending any of our morning sessions are able to access Lunch Club from 12.15pm – 1.00pm. Lunch Club continues to be well attended, and is a sociable time where children chat with each other and staff whilst eating their lunch.
## **Accommodation and Premises**
We continue to pay rent to the Attenborough Village Hall Management Committee for the use of the premises for 10 sessions per week plus Breakfast Club. We use both the Douglas Taylor Room and the Main Hall for the majority of sessions, and the Eric Mason Room for Breakfast Club. We are very fortunate to have the use of these fantastic spaces as well as the wonderful garden. Joan Kolomyjec regularly attends the monthly Village Hall Committee meetings. There was no rent increase during this Financial Year and no planned increase known as yet. We continually liaise with the Village Hall Management Committee regarding improvements needed for our use. Planning permission was granted for the canopy project, but is on hold currently due to the uncertain times presented by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
## **Health and Safety**
We are inspected alongside the Village Hall by Broxtowe Borough Council’s ‘Food and Occupational Health Department’, for a ‘Health and Hygiene Inspection’ and under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme we were graded 5 (the highest grade awarded) for our procedures. In addition to this portable appliance checks are undertaken. Staff have attended or updated first aid and food hygiene training during the year. The Village Hall is responsible for annual fire checks but we have our own procedures and regular building evacuation drills are held at varying times in the week throughout the year. We undertake regular risk assessments, carry out health and safety checks on a daily basis and continually monitor our provision.
## **Website and Facebook**
We are now making better use of our website and Facebook to communicate our vision and our curriculum offer and as a means for prospective parents to learn more about us. Our website has also become more of a vehicle for getting information to our parents and carers by pushing brief messages out to them via text which signpost them to our website. As well as keeping our parents, carers and wider community updated on some of the activities that are happening at Pre-School, our Facebook page has also been a valuable tool for advertising for staff recruitment. Please feel free to share the fantastic things that we do with your friends on Facebook, without including photographs of the children.
## **Fundraising and Social Occasions**
Fundraising is, as ever, very important for Pre-School as inevitably our costs continue to rise during the year. We do, however, also view many of our fundraising events as opportunities to bring our community together, to showcase a little of what we do and to celebrate our wonderful children. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to invite families to our usual events this year, instead the Committee and Staff Team have continued to provide fundraising activities virtually.
At Christmas, instead of our usual nativity and bazaar we filmed the children singing Christmas songs whilst in nativity costume and posted this on Tapestry for parents to see. To accompany this we held a remote raffle and sold mystery bags (to replace the usual tombola). We were pleased to still be able to hold a Christmas party for the children. At Easter instead of our usual Easter Bonnet Parade we held a party for the children and again posted a recording of them singing Easter songs onto
13
Tapestry. We held a remote raffle and Guess the Name of the Rabbit. Thank you to all of the parents who supported these fundraising activities to support Pre-School.
We also raised some money through our Autumn bags, photo commission, Easyfundraising and Amazon Smile.
Monies raised through fundraising activities have enabled the purchase of new play and practical equipment to ensure our children continue to have an outstanding learning experience.
The Treasurer report will detail all of the fundraising activities undertaken.
## **Co-Op Local Community Fund**
Kate Ball, our Treasurer, who, along with Debby Stevens our Pre-School Manager, submitted a successful bid to the Co-Op making us eligible to receive the Co-Op Community Fund. We received a total of £3223. This fantastic total has now been put to excellent use and will have a hugely positive impact. There were tears of joy when the cheque was presented to us.
We have bought 6 Kindles and bumper cases to enable us to use Tapestry for example.
We have built a sensory garden, using the money to buy topsoil and lots of beautiful plants, herbs and rockery plants. We purchased lots of equipment for the mud kitchen, sensory equipment and wigwams.
## **Tesco Bags For Help Grant**
We were successful in our application to the Tesco Bags for Help scheme to improve our mud kitchen equipment in our garden. At the beginning of 2020 we were one of 3 charities who were receiving votes from the public in local Tesco stores. Thank you to those who supported us with their tokens. The in-store voting period was cut short by the Coronavirus Pandemic, so Tesco split the fund equally between the three groups, and we received £1166. We have built an area for a new mud kitchen, and the children are having a fantastic time using these new resources in the garden.
## **Questionnaire**
Pre-School did not send out a questionnaire during this financial year but will be sending one out during Summer 2021. We ask all parents to rate us and give comments about various aspects of our provision. Parents' views are important to us and feed into our Improvement Plan.
## **Financial Statement**
The Pre-School accounts are in the process of being finalised and independently examined by Tony D Jacques & Co Accountancy firm.
14
## **Aims for the Future**
In the financial year 2021-22 we will ensure that we are able to continue to respond to the Covid-19 situation effectively, safely and in a financially responsible way. Safeguarding the future of Attenborough Church Pre-School in a climate where other providers are closing is of primary importance. We will aim, in the next academic year, to provide an outstanding Pre-School for our children, in a safe, secure and engaging surrounding which adheres to the government guidance and our own risk assessment. We will use our self-evaluation processes and our Improvement Plan to guide us in making our already great provision even better, doing the best that we can within the constraints that the Covid 19 situation brings.
With the vaccine roll-out continuing at pace and numbers with COVID reducing we hope that 202122 will see much less disruption for the children than last year.
We will adopt the revised Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum from September 2021.
We aim to maintain our excellent Staff Team through providing strong support, training and a great place to work. We hope that this will help us to retain the talent that we have within our organisation and demonstrate to the Staff Team how greatly valued they are.
We will continue to offer Pre-School sessions for 36.25 hours per week for all children.
All of our endeavours will have maintaining or improving the quality of our provision at their heart so that our children are best able to learn and develop. We will continue to make decisions that take into account our long-term sustainability as well as any short-term needs.
## **Formal Thank Yous**
## **Children**
This pandemic has undoubtedly affected our children, with all of them being subject to disruption from their normal routines. It has affected some more than others, but we have tailored our provision to meet their individual needs and we never fail to be amazed by their resilience and enthusiasm. We would like to thank our children for being the most important part of our Pre-School and for being such a delight. The ways in which you learn are captivating; we are privileged to observe you learn, grow and succeed.
## **Parents**
We would like to thank our parents, firstly for choosing us and entrusting your precious children to our care, and secondly for supporting all of the new processes and procedures which have had to be introduced this year to keep everyone safe. We look forward to welcoming you back into the building and to events as soon as we possibly can. We value our parent partnerships and we thank you for your part in this.
## **Staff Team**
The Committee would like to formally thank the Staff Team for their continued professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication to Pre-School. This year has been particularly challenging for you, as well as the rest of the wider community. During this extremely difficult time you have continued to work extremely well together to support each other and our children.
You all continue to prioritise the children above all else and we greatly value how happy our PreSchool children are in your care, as well as how fantastically well they learn and develop. You have helped all of the children settle in / return remarkably well so that they can enjoy their time at Pre-
15
School whilst starting their formal educational journey. You have even managed to introduce new ideas, developed and further improved our provision and started a Breakfast Club over the course of the last year.
We appreciate all that you do and recognise the time that you invest voluntarily over and above your working hours. We can’t think of a better team to lead us to being formally recognised as being outstanding and we feel you are fully deserving of that accolade and hope it comes to fruition. Thank you.
Particular thanks to Debby and Joan for working together on the hours and hours of planning that it took to remain open throughout the year in the safest possible way.
Thank you to Laura Dunn for helping to prepare this report.
## **The Village Hall Committee**
We would like to thank the Village Hall Committee for continuing to let their premises to us, including when it has been shut to other users. We know how hard you have worked to respond during the Coronavirus Pandemic, to ensure all guidelines are being adhered to. Thank you.
## **Pre-School Management Committee**
As Pre-School Chairperson, on behalf of myself and the Staff Team I would like to thank each Committee Member and their families for your support and commitment over the last year. You have each voluntarily given up your time in order to maintain the successful running of Pre-School during the pandemic and to support the drive to help Pre-School to become recognised as outstanding. Pre-School needs to have a Management Committee in order to operate and we thank you for being the people who have stepped up to be the accountable Trustees of our charity.
Thank you to Catherine Shepherd who stepped down as a Committee Member during the last year. We appreciate the work that you have done since Jan 2017 in this role, including the time that you were our Secretary.
Thank you to Emily Brown, our previous Chairperson, who stepped down in October after 5 years on the Committee (3 years of which were as Chairperson). Emily brought with her a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the education sector and she gave so much of her time voluntarily to support Pre-School. She gave a huge amount of support to the Staff Team. In her time as Chairperson she has striven to allow the Pre-School to be recognised as being outstanding by Ofsted – an accolade we all believe it truly deserves.
Thank you to Francesca Rumbelow and Victoria Hallam who are stepping down today. The time and expertise you have given has been greatly appreciated and you will be missed. Fran thank you for your work as Secretary.
Thank you to the Committee Members who will be re-standing for 2020-21 and we look forward to welcoming new members to the Management Committee so that together the team can continue to support the Pre-School in the coming year and beyond.
Nicola Bethel on behalf of the Management Committee Pre-School Chairperson 2020-21 June 2021
16
## **Reflection from the Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens**
Wow what a year it's been!
We certainly have been kept on our toes, so many changes, so many adaptations and learning and reflecting we have all done and so many decisions that have had to be made. If ever we had to pull together as one big fantastic team - it was this year!
I can’t thank everyone enough for holding it together and supporting each other through the ups and the downs but we did stay open throughout the whole year. I am so proud that we did for our children. If anyone deserved normality through all of this it was Early Years and these foundation key learning years where social skills and communication with others is key and crucial. Children need children for their emotional wellbeing.
Thank you parents for trusting us to get it right for your little ones.
Our Staff Team and Committee have been absolutely fantastic and I’m not going to singly name them for their strengths because we needed it all from everyone, so just one massive thank you for keeping it together.
17
## **Attenborough Church Pre-School**
## **Registered Charity No. 1024159**
## **Statement of Assets and liabilities at 31st March 2021**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
£ £ £ £
31st March 21 31st March 20 Movement
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets 4,100 4,100
Accumulated Depreciation -3,706 -3,238
394 862 -468
Current Assets
Debtors & Prepayments 1,130 1,218 -88
Stock 131 207 -77
Bank
Current Bank Account/Cash 9,930 13,212 -3,282
Deposit Account 89,879 82,834 7,045
101,069 97,471 3,598
Assets 101,464 98,333 3,131
Current Liabilities
Accruals -23,831 -20,759 -3,072
Net Assets 77,634 77,574 59
Represented By:
B/fwd 77,574 61,189 16,385
Prior year reserves adjustment 0
Prior year adjusted reserves 77,574
Net Income over Expenditure 60 16,385 -16,325
77,634 77,574 60
Signed by following trustees on behalf of all trustees: 0
Name Signature
**----- End of picture text -----**
Tony D Jacques & Co
ACCOUNTANTS & BUSINESS ADVISERS
A Xeinadin Company
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Attenborough Church Preschool
We have completed our examination. We confimi that no material matters have come
to our attention in connection with the examination giving us cause to believe that in
any material respect-.
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records., or
3. 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.
We have no con¢erns and have come across no other matters in connection with the
examination to which attention should be drawn in this pOrt in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
Name: Dawn Collison (MAAT)
Date: 6 October 2021
CEkTIFIEQ
PARTNER
Kingfisher House, 140 Nocringh&m Road, Long Eaion, Nocringham NGI 0 2EN
Tel 0115 8714598 Fax 0115 946 4498 Email enquiries@tonyjacques.co.uk
vww.tonyiacques.co.uk
sage
T)n. D lacque: & Co 1CoUntrIntS I. a ti dino name ofToi
lacii SYDD Limited. Re£ tered In Engl.-nd Ixo I1404-, 89
Registered undfyr the ICAEW Practice A55urance scheme