Annual Report 2023/2024 From the Management Committee
Together we care, play, learn, grow, succeed.
Attenborough Church Pre-School Report by the Management Committee – 17[th] June 2024
For the period April 2023 to March 2024
INTRODUCTION
The following report will be presented to parents/carers at the Pre-School’s Annual General Meeting held on the 17[th] June 2024 in the Douglas Taylor Room, at 8 p.m. All parents/carers have been invited to attend the meeting.
This report provides parents/carers with:
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an overview of the Pre-School and Committee’s activities during the year,
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a summary of changes to staffing and routines, and
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an opportunity to make recommendations for 2023/2024.
Any comments or suggestions arising from the report can be made directly to Sarah England-Amoo, Chairperson, by email to chair@attenboroughchurchpreschool.com or to Debby Stevens, Pre-School Manager during session times.
ABOUT US
A charitable organisation providing early years education and care
Attenborough Church Pre-School is a registered charity and as such we must abide by the Charity Commission’s rules and requirements. Our constitution determines what our aims are, how we are run, and outlines the rules we must follow. We have chosen to adopt the Early Years Alliance model constitution and we do this annually at each AGM.
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 managed by a voluntary management committee who are the trustees of the charity and have responsibility for ensuring that the setting is run in accordance with our constitution, all relevant legislation, guidance and best practice. In 2023-24 the parent-led voluntary committee has continued to welcome its two staff members whose contribution is very helpful.
As a provider of early years education we must follow the rules set by the government in the E arly Y ears F oundation S tage (EYFS) statutory framework and ensure that our charity objects are in line with this framework. The EYFS prescribes the learning and development requirements, and the safeguarding and welfare requirements, of children from birth to 5 in the care of childcare providers. Ofsted measures us against the EYFS statutory framework to determine how well we are meeting its requirements. We were visited by Ofsted in February 2023 for a routine inspection, where we were graded as ‘good’ in all areas.
To help us to ensure that our provision is the best it can be, and to ensure that we follow best-practice, we are members of the Early Years Alliance. During the academic year, we have
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continued to be supported by an Early Years Support Teacher from the Nottinghamshire Early Years team.
Our Vision
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 features 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.
How we are typically run on a day-to-day basis
We provide an enjoyable Pre-School education for 2-4 year olds and 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 12:15pm and 12:15pm to 3:15pm Monday to Friday, during term-time. Children can attend for the full 6 hour day, 9:15am to 3:15pm by taking a morning and afternoon session together. We also offer extended hours with a daily Breakfast Club from 8:00am to 9:15am, and an After-School Club which runs Monday to Thursday from 3:15pm to 4:30pm. Another session we provide is a Lunch Club which runs from 12:15 to 1:00pm, popular with our younger children who may not yet be ready for a full 6-hour day. We use the Douglas Taylor Room and the Main Hall for large and small group work and spend lots of time in our large garden. We are registered to have up to 50 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.
Children start Pre-School 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. The families that we serve are predominantly Attenborough, Chilwell, Toton and Long Eaton based, although 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 up to 15 or 30 hours per week depending on the family’s funding entitlement. We allow funding to be used in all sessions that we offer. We also accept ad-hoc bookings if we have space on the day. Our parents value the flexibility that our breakfast club, after pre-school club and ad-hoc sessions allow them.
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
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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
We stay up-to-date with current developments and issues in the early years sector through our membership of the Early Years Alliance and regular attendance at a range of local network meetings, mostly run by Nottinghamshire County Council Early Years Team. All staff attend regular training courses to ensure we are meeting all welfare requirements of the EYFS. 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 throughout 2023-24:
April 2023-March 2024 Staffing:
| NAME: | POSITION: | QUALIFICATION: |
|---|---|---|
| Debby Stevens | Pre-School Manager | NVQLevel 3 In Childcare |
| Amanda Scard | Deputy Pre-School Manager | NVQ Level 3 In Childcare |
| Claire Vardy | Deputy Pre-School Manager (left in July 2023) |
NVQ Level 3 In Childcare |
| LauraDunn | EarlyYearsTeacher/Admin Assistant | EarlyYearsTeacher Level6 |
| Louise Day | Early Years Teacher/Admin Assistant | Early Years Teacher Level 6 |
| Toshimi Sato | Pre-School Practitioner | NVQ Level 3 In Childcare |
| Molly Joynes | Pre-School Practitioner (on maternity leave from January2024) |
NVQ Level 3 in Childcare |
| Stephanie Kerry | Pre-School Practitioner (career break, returned in September 2023) |
NVQ Level 3 in Childcare |
| Joelle Bartram | Pre-School Practitioner and Language Lead | NVQLevel 3 in Childcare |
| Jeanette Beadling | Pre-School Practitioner | NVQLevel 3 in Childcare |
| Sophie Poole | Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner /fully qualified Pre-School Practitioner since January 2024 |
NVQ Level 3 in Childcare (successfully completed NVQ Level 3 in Childcare in December 2023) |
| Kyra Canning | Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner (from January2024) |
Trainee in NVQ Level 2 Childcare |
| Leigh-Anne Smart | Pre-School Practitioner (from March 2024) | NVQ Level 3 in Childcare |
| Maisie Sampson-Giles |
Pre-School Practitioner (from March 2024) | NVQ Level 3 in Childcare |
| Laura Pounder | Pre-School Practitioner(from March 2024) | NVQLevel 3 in Childcare |
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Our Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens, continues to provide excellent leadership for the in-session team of staff, with administrative support during this year from Laura Dunn and other members of the staff management team. We value a team approach to shaping and improving our provision, made possible through regular Staff Team meetings and Inset Day training. Each member of staff is supported and guided by the Pre-School 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 Appraisal and Supervision processes.
Debby started a National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership in October 2022 and submitted her final assignment in April 2024. This is a government funded course that will give Debby a Level 6 qualification in Early Years and enhance her leadership skills and sector knowledge, and we are really proud of Debby for taking on this additional challenge.
We sadly said goodbye to Claire Vardy, Deputy Manager, at the end of the Summer Term 2023. Claire joined Pre-School in March 2013, progressing to Deputy Manager in 2019. Claire has been an extremely valued member of the Staff Team over the last 10 years, taking on a mentoring role to new staff members and apprentices, and we will miss her. Claire always worked at Tesco alongside her Pre-School hours and decided to apply for the full-time role of Tesco Community Champion when the position became available in 2023. Claire was successful in her application, and she continues to liaise with Pre-School through her new role and helps us with donations from Tesco wherever she can. We wish her all the best for the future.
Laura Dunn continues to perform all tasks relating to the financial administration of the setting and has taken a step back from curriculum planning.
Louise Day, Early Years Teacher, continues to be responsible for curriculum planning and assessment, as well as updating our policies and procedures and preparing the newsletter. Molly Joynes and Stephanie Kerry also assist Debby with various administrative tasks as the need arises.
Amanda Scard, Deputy Pre-School Manager and SEND Co-ordinator, took the lead in liaising with local schools to provide as smooth a transition to school as possible for all of our leavers in Summer 2023. Amanda also continues to be responsible for updating our website and Facebook page, and liaising with the committee regarding marketing initiatives.
Joelle Bartram has been fully trained as the Language Lead for the setting. She leads small group work focussing on communication and language, liaises with outside professionals and feeds back relevant information and support strategies to the rest of the Staff Team.
Stephanie Kerry took a short Career Break following her maternity leave, and returned to work in September 2023.
We are extremely proud of Sophie Poole for successfully completing her NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and gaining a Distinction grade. Congratulations Sophie! We are pleased to offer Sophie a permanent contract as a fully qualified Level 3 Pre-School Practitioner from January 2024.
We took on a new apprentice in January 2024 – Kyra Canning, who is working towards her NVQ Level 2 in Childcare. Welcome to Kyra.
We also saw Molly go off on maternity leave at the beginning of January 2024. Congratulations to Molly on the birth of her daughter. We recruited Leigh-Anne Smart, a fully qualified Level 3
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practitioner, on a fixed term contract to the end of December 2024 as maternity cover for Molly. Welcome to Leigh-Anne.
The sudden influx of enquiries during the Spring Term from local parents wishing to take up the new funding entitlement (of 15 hours per week for working parents of two year old children in April 2024) led us to recruit two further staff members. We welcome Laura Pounder on a fixed term contract to the end of the Summer Term 2024, and Maisie Sampson-Giles has been taken on as a permanent member of staff. Leigh-Anne, Laura and Maisie all started in March 2024.
We have an excellent Staff Team and the whole team works 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. The staff team have again demonstrated great flexibility and commitment to preschool by taking on additional responsibilities this year, as well as changing their working hours as necessary. All staff are active contributors to our Staff Team Meetings.
Pre-School Management Committee
2023/24 Main Officers:
Committee Members:
Sarah-England Amoo – Chairperson Laura Pounder – Fundraising Officer from June 2022
Kate Ball – Treasurer (stepped down in October 2023)
Gill Moore - Trustee member from August 2021, stepped down in December 2023
Sarah Gourdet – Treasurer (from October 2023) Joan Kolomyjec – Trustee member from Feb 2023
Kirsty Rigby – Secretary (stepped down from committee in May 2023)
Toshimi Sato – Staff Trustee
Catherine Shepherd – Secretary from May 2023.
Claire Heysmond will be replacing Catherine as Secretary, once her committee joining documents are finalised.
We have been extremely fortunate to have had a strong Committee in 2023-24 who bring a variety of invaluable strengths to the team.
Sarah England-Amoo continued in her role as the Chairperson. Thank you to Sarah for all of her support and commitment to Pre-School, especially assisting with the recruitment process during the Spring Term 2024.
Catherine Shepherd took on the Secretary role in May 2023. She will be formally stepping down from the committee when Claire Heysmond’s committee joining paperwork is finalised. Claire Heysmond will then take-over the role of secretary.
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We say goodbye to Kate Ball who has been the Treasurer of the Management Committee for several years. Thank you Kate for all your support over the years, the staff team and the committee really appreciate all that you have done for Pre-School. Sarah Gourdet joined the committee in September 2023 and has taken on the Treasurer role.
We also said goodbye to Gill Moore in December 2023.
Thank you to Laura Pounder and all of the committee for helping to organise these events, they have been very successful.
We welcome Sarah Gourdet to the Committee.
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 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, Pre-School named Safeguarding Lead. Please see our website for further details.
Our curriculum – The Early Years Foundation Stage
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and adopted the revised EYFS framework from September 2021. The revised framework requires practitioners to have a strong knowledge of child development, to know their children well through quality interactions with them, and to use their judgement in assessing a child’s progress rather than relying on a restrictive list of developmental statements as per the previous Development Matters document. As a Staff Team, we welcome the revisions to the EYFS as our observations of children are more holistic and broad than the previous developmental statements.
We encourage all children to be curious and explore, through both child-led and adult-led play activities. We seek to develop a child’s self-esteem, independence and self-regulation skills through sensitive interactions, encouragement, role-modelling and promoting the importance of being kind to each other, and being heard. All areas of the curriculum are covered every day through our continuous provision and the daily structured activities that we provide. This encompasses Personal, Social and Emotional Skills, Communication and Language Skills, Physical Development, Literacy, Maths, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.
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 for each curriculum area specifically around these factors. We plan small group work to target specific areas of need, such as listening and attention, speech, understanding and expressing emotions etc. 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. We provide a safe, secure and stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environment with a wide range of
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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.
Rising 4’s
Our Rising 4’s cohort includes all children who are in their last full academic school year in Pre-School. We plan to progress our Rising 4’s children with educationally fun activities and additional resources 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.
Rising 4’s build up their listening and attention skills by sitting on the mat for short periods of wholegroup time such as register time, a short topic discussion, show and tell, listening to a story and singing time. In free play and in adult-led activities we include 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. The Rising 4’s also take part in weekly PE sessions, which are not only fun and help develop physical skills, but also encourage children to follow instructions and provide lots of opportunities to practise dressing and undressing. We plan phonics activities that focus on listening and attention skills following regular consultation with local feeder schools who agree that this provides a strong foundation for future phonic learning in formal education. We introduce a topic playfully throughout the week and reinforce it in a structured small group activity.
Outdoor learning
Our fantastic garden area is a huge asset to our Pre-School. This year we have refreshed our Forest Schools area with a woodland walkway, more tree stumps and bug hotel. We also added an outdoor instrument area. We ensure our outdoor learning environment is used by each child, every day, whatever the weather and encourage all children to bring waterproofs and welly boots each day. Our planning, use of resources and our practitioner input ensures that we maximise the learning potential of our outdoor space.
Language Lead
Joelle Bartram is our Language Lead, championing the importance of Communication and Language skills in our setting, including training and guiding other staff; every practitioner has a role to play in developing language skills and these skills are a key part of every child’s development. The Language Lead helps to develop new resources and strategies to support all of our children. The Language Lead plans and delivers small group or one-to-one sessions to support language acquisition, as well as supporting children with their confidence in talking to others. We use signs throughout the session, i.e. at snack time and singing, and incorporate signing into our fundraising shows. Early intervention with speech and language delays is necessary to provide a child with the best possible outcomes for their communication skills. The Language Lead continues to liaise with outside agencies to ensure we are offering the right targeted support to individual children, where relevant.
Key-Person
All children have a Key-Person who works with their family and keeps electronic development records and a Learning Journey for each child. Whatever the age of the child when they start and however long they might be with us, our aim is to quickly settle the child into the routine of the session. The Pre-School Manager oversees all staff in their Key-Person duties. Although each child’s
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Key-Person is the main point of contact at Pre-School 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.
Admissions and leavers
We admit new starters throughout the year at the beginning of each half-term, but our school leavers all leave together at the end of the Summer Term. Therefore the number of children on register fluctuates throughout the year and we inevitably experience a drop in numbers each year between the Summer and Autumn Terms. At the end of March 2023 we had a total of 45 children attending Pre-School. Over the year, a total of 33 children were admitted, 24 children moved on to school or nursery in July 2023 and a further 7 children left at other times during the financial year, due to changes of circumstances. At the end of March 2024, we had 47 children on our register.
When the children’s Pre-School time has come to an end, they move on to several local schools, with the majority going to The Lanes Primary School, Chetwynd Spencer 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 2023, we had 20 children leaving to go to 7 different schools. We liaised with the schools, welcomed several reception teachers into our setting to visit the children and sent staff members along with our children for their transition visits to both The Lanes Primary School and Chetwynd Spencer Academy. In Summer 2024, we will have 26 children going to 10 different schools and 1 child is moving onto a school nursery place.
Funded places
Government Early Years Funding (‘Free Entitlement’) is currently undergoing a radical overhaul and expanding the number of funded hours offered to parents of two-year-olds. Up to 31 March 2024, two-year olds were only eligible for 15 hours funding if their families met certain eligibility criteria. By the end of March 2024 we had just two children receiving two-year old funding. The government childcare expansion to allow working parents to access 15 hours of funding for two-year-olds has resulted in an additional 17 children receiving two-year funding from 1[st] April 2024. This is a substantial increase for our setting, and the new funding entitlement has significantly changed the number of two-year olds attending early years education settings across the county. This stream of funding is going to increase again in September 2025, allowing working parents of two-year-olds to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare per week.
All children can access what is known as the ‘universal funding’ from the term after they are three years old, which provides them with 15 hours free provision per week. Working parents who meet certain criteria are able to access another 15 hours funding per week, giving a total of 30 hours funding for eligible families of 3 and 4 year olds.
Parents are eligible for the new two-year funding or 30 hours funding if they earn the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage or more to qualify and in a 2-parent household, both must be earning.
During this financial year we had the following number of children on funding: 38 in the Summer Term 2023, 24 in the Autumn Term 2023 and 29 in the Spring Term 2024. The increase in funding entitlement has resulted in 51 children claiming funded hours at the beginning of
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30 hours provision
Our opening hours are 41.25 hours per week, meaning we can provide 30 hours of free childcare for all those who are eligible. We don’t operate an After-School Club on Fridays as we haven’t had sufficient demand. We typically have 15-20 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. During the year, the uptake of 30 hours for children who are either fully funded or funded and fee paying, is high and continues to be very successful for us. In this financial year approximately half of all children who are eligible for 30 hours funding are accessing all of their entitlement, compared to less than a third of eligible children in the previous year, and some children are attending for more than 30 hours, taking advantage of our breakfast and after-school clubs.
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 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. 10 children have accessed this session on a regular basis during the year and regular ad-hoc sessions are taken and if numbers allow.
Lunch Club
Lunch club takes place from 12.15pm – 1.00pm and is open to any of our children. All children who attend an afternoon session automatically attend Lunch Club, whilst those attending a morning session can choose to stay until 1:00pm. Children bring their own packed lunch and eat at tables together, supported by preschool practitioners as needed. It is a sociable time where children chat with each other and staff whilst eating their lunch.
After Pre-School Club
We opened our After Pre-School Club provision from June 2022, running from 3:15pm to 4:30pm from Mondays through to Thursdays. There is currently no After Pre-School Club on Fridays, due to a lack of sufficient demand. Whilst the After Pre-School Club is usually lower in attendance, many parents book ad-hoc sessions for their children as needed and value the flexibility this offers.
Accommodation and Premises
We pay rent to the Attenborough Village Hall Management Committee for the use of the premises for 10 sessions per week plus Breakfast Club and After Pre-School Club. We use both the Douglas Taylor Room and the Main Hall for the majority of sessions, and the Eric Mason Room for Staff Meetings. Joan Kolomyjec, one of our Trustees, is the Chairperson of the Village Hall Committee, and we have frequent dialogue regarding possible improvements to the premises that are beneficial to Preschool as well as other user groups. There was no rent increase during this financial year, but there is a rent increase of 5% commencing on 1[st] April 2024. The toilets for the Main Hall were refurbished this year.
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Health and Safety
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 Social Media
We use our website and Facebook page to communicate our vision and our curriculum offer and as a means for prospective parents to learn more about us. 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 useful for advertising purposes. Please feel free to share the fantastic things that we do with your friends on Facebook (without including photographs of the children). We have also now set up an Instagram account as well to reach a wider audience.
Famly Nursery Management Software
We use Famly as a nursery management tool and the primary means of communication between parents and staff. We introduced Famly in February 2022. We use Famly to keep registration records of our children, learning and development observations and assessments, registers and attendance, invoicing purposes, and to share messages and photos with our families.
Xero Accounting Software
After a successful trial with Xero, the accounting software went live in March 2022 and is continuing to prove a useful addition to the administration of Pre-School finances.
Fundraising and Social Occasions
Fundraising is very important for Pre-School as inevitably our costs continue to rise during the year. We also value our fundraising events as opportunities to bring our community together, to showcase a little of what we do and to celebrate our wonderful children.
In the summer, the children put on a performance of nursery rhymes on the stage, with a summer fayre afterwards. It was well supported by parents/carers and extended families. The committee and staff organised a raffle and games, tombola, bouncy castle, face painting, cake sale and other refreshments.
During the School Summer Holidays, the staff organised some ‘Stay and Play’ sessions for families to get together over the holidays. These were extremely popular.
In November the Committtee organised a children’s disco, with another one in March 2024. Musical entertainment and face painting was provided free of charge by the Daly family. These are fun social events, which also raised funds for Pre-School through ticket sales, refreshment sales, lucky dip stand and face painting. Thank you to all of the committee and the Daly family who helped make these events such a success.
At Christmas, we staged a Nativity performance in front of families, with a Christmas fayre afterwards. This was also a fantastic event, greatly enjoyed by all and thanks to the fundraising
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efforts of the committee and staff. It also raised some much needed funds for Pre-School which we intend to use on a new Wendy House in the garden.
At the end of the Spring Term, we welcomed families into Pre-School to celebrate the children for our Easter Bonnet Parade. The committee also organised a coffee morning and cake sale social event before the show, which was very well attended, and a raffle. It was wonderful to see so many of our families enjoying the parade and the children’s performance of Easter songs.
We also raised money through commission from a variety of sources: Jane Stapleton photography, Easyfundraising, Amazon Smile, My Nametags and All My Own Work (Christmas cards). In addition, we had a small autumn fundraiser where children fill a bag with autumnal nature items and bring them in to Pre-School to show everyone what they have found.
Monies raised through fundraising activities have been used to purchase some new tables and to put towards the cost of a new Wendy House.
The Treasurer report will provide more detail on all of the fundraising activities undertaken this year.
Financial Statement
The Pre-School accounts have been independently examined by Ian Newlove on 14th June 2024, concluding that no concerns came to light during this examination.
Reserves Policy
We have a policy to hold enough funds in reserve in the event that we have to close, to cover the statutory redundancy payments of all qualifying staff and 3 months running costs including staff notice pay. Our reserves are higher than is necessary, but that has allowed us to keep operating in the previous year despite making a loss of £10,578. The high retention of staff means that the amount we need to hold in reserves increases year on year as staff increase their length of service and wage rates also increase. The reserves figure for the end of March 2024 is £46,501. We have adequate amounts held in reserves to cover this cost.
Aims for the Future
One of our key priorities this financial year was to recover the £10,568 loss that we made last year in order to safeguard the future of Pre-School. We kept a very close eye on all expenses, did not immediately replace Claire when she left in July, and waited to take on a new Apprentice, in order to keep the wages cost down. We have been successful in this aim, and have recovered all of the previous year loss as well as making further gains. We have not had to make anyone redundant during this difficult time, and indeed the turn around in demand for childcare places is such that we finish this financial year with three new staff members in order to meet this high level of demand.
The government has set aside a pot of money for one year as part of the Covid Recovery Programme, setting up regional ‘Stronger Practice’ hubs through which to best utilise this funding. Debby and Laura attended the launch of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Stronger Practice Hub and through this scheme we have signed up to a number of training resources for our Staff Team that we have access to for a 12-month period at no cost. We aim to get the most out of these resources, using
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them within our staff training meetings and inset days, to provide quality continuous professional development for all of the team.
We aim to continue 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 assessments.
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 41.25 hours per week for all children running Mondays to Thursdays from 8:00am to 4:30pm, and Friday 8:00am to 3:15pm.
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
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 our events this year. We value our parent partnerships and we thank you for your part in this.
Reflection from the Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens
I’d like to officially thank all of the committee members, staff, parents and children for a wonderful year at Pre-School and we look forward to future learning opportunities.
Staff Team
The Committee would like to formally thank the Staff Team for their continued professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication to Pre-School. It has been another challenging year for you as you demonstrated flexibility and commitment to ensure we did not incur another large loss, and had several staff changes this year due to retirement, moving on, maternity leave and four new staff joining the team.
You all continue to prioritise the children above all else and we greatly value how happy our Pre-School children are in your care, as well as how fantastically well they learn and develop. You have helped all of the children enjoy their time at Pre-School whilst they start their formal educational journey. You are always welcome to new ideas, growth and improvement, and have adapted to take on an unprecedented number of two year olds in the Summer Term 2024. Debby will complete the National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership during the Summer Term 2024, well done to Debby.
13
Thank you to Laura for preparing this report.
The Village Hall Committee
We would like to thank the Village Hall Committee for continuing to let their premises to us, and for allowing some flexibility with our bookings.
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. 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 the Committee Members who will be re-standing for 2023-24 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.
Sarah England-Amoo on behalf of the Management Committee Pre-School Chairperson 2023-24 June 2024
14
Income and Expenditure
For the year ended 31 March 2024
Attenborough Church Preschool
Registered Charity No. 1024159
| Account Receipts Bank interest received |
31-Mar-24 31-Mar-23 1,421 365 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Blue Bag | 0 5 |
|
| Donations | 100 91 |
|
| Fee Income | 39,312 27,164 |
|
| FundingIncome | 114,873 99,261 |
|
| Grant Income Apprentice | 500 500 |
|
| Toddler Group | 648 816 |
|
| Voluntarysnackpayment | 42 785 |
|
| Other Receipts Commission All MyOwn Work |
156,896 128,986 144 116 |
|
| Commission Amazon Smile | 44 64 |
|
| Commission EasyFundraising | 87 63 |
|
| Commission Photographs | 98 58 |
|
| FundraisingAutumn Event | 44 86 |
|
| FundraisingDisco | 498 484 |
|
| FundraisingEaster Event | 323 347 |
|
| FundraisingNativity | 1,101 909 |
|
| FundraisingSummer Event | 1,519 1,169 |
|
| Grant Income Veolia | 0 846 |
|
| Stayand Play | 229 178 |
|
| Total Other Receipts Total Receipts Payments |
4,087 4,318 |
|
| 160,983 133,305 |
||
| Advertising& Marketing | 183 0 |
|
| Bank Fees | 77 86 |
|
| Blue BagCost | 0 450 |
|
| Cleaning | 107 100 |
|
| Consumables | 777 1,155 |
|
| DBS Checks | 248 0 |
|
| Depreciation Expense | 292 197 |
|
| Equipment | 637 267 |
|
| Grant Spend Veolia | 0 846 |
|
| Insurance | 994 966 |
|
| Ofsted Registration | 50 50 |
|
| Other Expenses | 481 414 |
|
| Payroll | 861 861 |
|
| Printing& Photocopying | 216 358 |
|
| Refreshments | 749 824 |
|
| Rent | 18,358 17,832 |
|
| Repairs & Maintenance | 0 100 |
|
| Staff salaries | 109,735 116,945 |
|
| Staff training | 844 884 |
|
| Subscriptions software | 1,926 886 |
|
| Telephone & Internet | 160 220 |
|
| Uniforms | 0 135 |
| Website | 365 307 |
|---|---|
| Total Payments | 137,061 143,883 |
| Net Receipts/Losses | 23,921 -10,578 |
| Funds last year b/f Funds this year c/f |
69,087 79,665 93,008 69,087 |
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
As at 31 March 2024
Attenborough Church Preschool
Registered Charity No. 1024159
| Account | 31 Mar 2024 31 Mar 2023 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Assets | Tangible Assets | 4,516 3,950 -3,864 -3,572 |
||
| OfficeEquipment | ||||
| Less Accumulated Depreciation on Office Equipment Cash at bank and in hand |
||||
| Total Fixed Assets Current Assets |
653 378 |
|||
| Deposit Bank Account | 91,176 71,755 |
|||
| Current Bank Account/Cash | 21,076 14,176 |
|||
| Total Cash at bank and in hand | 112,252 85,932 |
|||
| Accounts Receivable | 1,045 0 |
|||
| Inventory Accruals Net Current Assets (Liabilities) Total Assets less Current Liabilities Net Assets Current Year Earnings |
131 131 |
|||
| Total Current Assets Current Liabilities |
113,427 86,062 |
|||
| 21,072 17,359 |
||||
| Total Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Capital and Reserves |
21,072 17,359 |
|||
| 92,355 68,703 |
||||
| 93,008 69,081 |
||||
| 93,008 69,081 |
||||
| 23,921 -10,578 |
||||
| Retained Earnings | 69,087 79,665 |
|||
| Total Capital and Reserves | 93,008 69,087 |
lan Newlove
22 Larch Crescent
Beeston
Nottingham
NG94DL
Independent Examiner’s report to the trustees of Attenborough Church Preschool
| have completed the examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to our 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 or 2. The accounts do not accord with those records; or
-
The accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) regulations 2002 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.
| 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:
Name: lan Newlove
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Lesson, i 7
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Date 14 June 2024