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2025-03-31-accounts

Annual Report 2024/2025 From the Management Committee

Together we care, play, learn, grow, succeed.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. About Us

2.1. Our Charitable Structure and Aims

2.2. Our Vision and Values

2.3. Daily Operation and Provision

3. Governance and Management

4. Staffing

5. Safeguarding

6. Curriculum and Provision

6.2. Rising 4’s

7. Admissions and Leavers

8. Funded Places and Fees

9. Extended Services

10. Accommodation and Premises

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11. Health and Safety

12. Communication and Software

12.1. Website and Social Media 12.2.Famly Nursery Management 12.3. Xero Accounting

13. Fundraising and Events

14. Financial Statement and Reserves Policy

15. Aims for the Future

16. Formal Thank Yous

16.1. To the Children and Parents

16.2. To the Staff Team

16.3. To the Committee Members

16.4. To the Village Hall Committee

17. Chairperson’s Closing Message

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Attenborough Church Pre-School Report by the Management Committee – 16[th] June 2025 For the period April 2024 to March 2025

1. INTRODUCTION

It has been a pleasure to oversee another year of incredible progress and care at Attenborough Church Pre-School. I am proud to present this report on behalf of the Management Committee, and I warmly thank all those who contributed to this year’s success.

The following report will be presented to parents/carers at the Pre-School’s Annual General Meeting held on the 16[th] June 2025 in the Douglas Taylor Room, at 8pm. All parents/carers have been invited to attend the meeting.

This report provides parents/carers with:

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.

2. ABOUT US

2.1 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 2024-25 the parent-led voluntary committee has continued to welcome a staff member 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

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requirements. We were visited by Ofsted in February 2023 for a routine inspection, where we were graded as ‘good’ in all areas.

We were also visited by Ofsted in February 2025 following a complaint regarding our policies and procedures in relation to the use of electronic devices in the setting. The Ofsted inspector noted that our policy had not been updated to reflect the change in our procedures and issued two actions to be completed. The management team updated all policies relating to the use of electronic devices, including the safeguarding policy, strengthened the wording of our parental permissions for Pre-school events and shows, updated our Privacy Notice, and took the decision to close down our Instagram and Tik Tok accounts as part of this review. All staff were trained in the new policies, and the Ofsted Inspector acknowledged that our response exceeded expectations.

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.

2.2 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.

2.3 How we are typically run on a day-to-day basis

We provide an enjoyable early years 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 can start Pre-School anytime after their second birthday, with the majority of our children starting at the beginning of a term. 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

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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.

3. GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

3.1 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.

3.1 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.

3.1 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 and read industry publications and articles. 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.

We also participate in training sessions and make use of training resources provided by the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Stronger Practice Hub, which is funded by the government’s Covid Recovery Programme, to help upskill staff working in early years education.

3.2 Pre-School Management Committee

We have been extremely fortunate to have had a strong Committee in 2024-25 who bring a variety of invaluable strengths to the team.

2024/25Main Officers: 2024/25Other Committee Members:
Sarah-England Amoo – Chairperson Laura Pounder – Fundraising Officer from June
2022

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Sarah Gourdet – Treasurer Joan Kolomyjec – Trustee member Catherine Shepherd – Secretary from May 2023 until Sept 2024. Toshimi Sato – Staff Trustee Claire Heysmond - Secretary from Sept 2024

Joan Kolomyjec – Trustee member

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 and human resources processes during the past 12 months.

Claire Heysmond took over the role of secretary in September 2024, once her joining paperwork was finalised.

Sarah Gourdet joined the Committee in September 2023 and took on the Treasurer role upon joining.

Thank you to Laura Pounder and Joan Kolomyjec in the Committee for helping with the Pre-school fundraising events, they have been very successful.

We also have some committee member applications (Kate Wilson, Tamima England, Shelly Edwards) in progress and those members have also been very helpful with events this year.

4. STAFFING

We have been fortunate to have a very strong, highly qualified and dedicated Staff Team throughout 2024-25:

4.1 April 2024-March 2025 Staffing:

NAME: POSITION: QUALIFICATION:
Debby Stevens Pre-School Manager NPQ Early Years Leadership
NVQLevel 3 In Childcare
Laura Dunn Pre-School Finance Manager/ Early Years
Teacher		 Early Years Teacher Level 6
Amanda Scard DeputyPre-School Manager NVQLevel 3 In Childcare
Louise Day EarlyYears Teacher/Relief DeputyManager EarlyYears Teacher Level 6
Joelle Bartram Pre-School Practitioner and Language Lead NVQLevel 3 in Childcare
Toshimi Sato Pre-School Practitioner NVQLevel 3 In Childcare
Molly Joynes Pre-School Practitioner (returned from
maternityleave in January2025)		 NVQ Level 3 in Childcare
Stephanie Kerry Pre-School Practitioner NVQLevel 3 in Childcare
Jeanette Beadling Pre-School Practitioner(left June 2024) NVQLevel 3 in Childcare
Sophie Poole Pre-School Practitioner(left September 2024) NVQLevel 3 in Childcare
Kyra Canning Apprentice Pre-School Practitioner (left
January2025)		 Trainee Apprentice in NVQ
Level 2 Childcare
Leigh-Anne Smart Pre-School Practitioner NVQLevel 3 in Childcare

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Maisie Sampson-
Giles		 Pre-School Practitioner NVQ Level 3 in Childcare
Laura Pounder Pre-School Practitioner NVQLevel 3 in Childcare
Sophia Kyriakou Pre-School Practitioner (joined in June 2024,
left in March 2025)		 NVQ Level 3 in Childcare
Rachael O’Toole Pre-School Practitioner (joined in January
2025)		 NVQ Level 3 in Childcare
Ishani Withanage Pre-School Practitioner (joined in January
2025)		 NVQ Level 3 in Childcare

Our Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens, continues to provide excellent leadership for the in-session team of staff, with administrative support 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 completed a National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership in April 2024. This is a government funded course recognised as a Level 5 qualification in Early Years. We are really proud of Debby for taking on this additional challenge.

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 2024. Amanda also continues to be responsible for updating our website and Facebook page, and liaising with the committee regarding marketing initiatives.

Louise Day, Early Years Teacher, continues to be responsible for curriculum planning and assessment, and has also completed Designated Safeguarding training to enable her to act as a Relief Deputy Manager.

Laura Dunn is the Finance Manager and performs all administrative duties relating to the financial aspects of running the setting, such as managing the funding and invoicing processes, payroll, budgeting, paying for services etc. Laura is also a qualified Early Years Teacher and helps out in sessions if needed, but her main role is an administrative one.

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.

4.2 Staff changes

We have experienced several staff changes during the 12 months of this Annual Report. We sadly said goodbye to Jeanette Beadling in June 2024 as she moved onto a management role within a wrap-around childcare provider. Jeanette was a strong member of our team who loved planning our physical curriculum and contributing lots of ideas for educational activities for the children.

Sophie Poole undertook her Level 2 and Level 3 NVQ childcare training as an apprentice with us and passed with Distinction, but sadly she left in September 2024 to work closer to home. We’re confident she will continue to excel in her new position.

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Sophia Kyriakou joined the team in June 2024, coming from a Day Nursery background, but left in March 2025 to pursue a more senior position elsewhere. Sophia had lots of energy and ideas to enhance the daily routines and took over the role of planning extra physical activities for the children after Jeanette’s departure.

We also sadly said farewell to another staff member in January 2025 when Kyra Canning, our Level 2 Apprentice, left the setting due to a change in circumstances. We wish her well in whatever she chooses to pursue.

We wish all of our leavers all the best for the future.

During the year we also took on several new staff members. Laura Pounder was initially employed in March 2024 under a fixed term contract to provide extra staffing during our busiest term of the year (Summer), but we were very happy to make Laura a permanent member of staff in September 2025, albeit that Laura can only work one day a week at the moment. Leigh-Anne Smart, who initially joined in March 2024 on a temporary contract to provide maternity cover, was taken on as a permanent member of staff in December 2024. We are really pleased that we were able to keep Leigh-Anne after her temporary contract came to an end.

Molly Joynes returned from her maternity leave in January 2025 and we are thrilled to have Molly back at Pre-School.

We took on two further members of staff in January 2025, Ishani Withanage and Rachael O’Toole, both of whom are qualified and experienced early years educators who have each worked in a variety of settings. We welcome them both to the team and value the knowledge and experience that they bring with them.

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 Pre-school 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.

On a personal note, I would like to thank each member of the Staff Team for their dedication, creativity, and care. The joyful, nurturing environment they create is evident every time I visit, and it is clear that the children thrive as a result of their work.

5. 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,

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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.

6. CURRICULUM AND PROVISION

6.1 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 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.

6.2 Rising 4’s

Our Rising 4’s cohort includes all children who are in their last full academic school year in PreSchool. 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

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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.

6.3 Outdoor learning

Our fantastic garden area is a huge asset to our Pre-School. This year we have replaced our Wendy House, purchased a large easel and triangular den. 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.

6.4 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. 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.

6.5 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 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.

7. ADMISSIONS AND LEAVERS

We admit new starters throughout the year 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 2024 we had a total of 47 children attending Pre-School. Over the year, a total of 38 children were admitted, 29 children moved on to school or nursery in July 2024 and a further 7 children left at other times during the financial year, due to changes of circumstances. At the end of March 2025, we had 49 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 2024, we had 26 children leaving to go to 10 different schools and 3 children going to nurseries. 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 2025, we will have 15 children going to 7 different schools, 2 children

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moving onto a school nursery place, and 1 child moving to a day nursery for the longer hours available.

8. FUNDED PLACES AND FEES

We continue to be committed to offering funded provision which allows children to access it with no hidden or additional charges. We allow parents to use their funding for all of the hours that we are open in a day, including breakfast club and afterschool clubs. If parents require more hours than their funding entitlement, then we will charge for the additional hours once all of the funding hours have been used up in the week. We do ask parents for a voluntary snack fee which is capped at a maximum of £10 per half-term, ranging from £2 to £10 per half-term depending on how many days a week the child attends the setting. This is voluntary and parents can opt-out if they choose to.

As part of a drive to get more parents back to work, the Government expanded Early Years Funding (‘Free Entitlement’) to children aged between 9 months and two years old, beginning with eligible children of working parents receiving 15 hours of funding per week from 1[st] April 2024.

8.1 Overview of Funding Streams

There are currently 5 different types of funding available in Early Years Education, each with different eligibility criteria, and often with different rates of funding payable:

8.2 Impact of Funding Expansion

The expansion of the Early Years Funding entitlements has had a significant impact on our setting. At the end of the Spring Term 2024 before the new changes took effect, we had just two children on two year old funding. By the Summer Term 2024 we had 19 children receiving two year old funding. This is a dramatic increase in the number of two year olds attending our setting, and is why we have recruited several new members of staff this year in order to meet the ratio requirements for two year olds. In addition, the lowering of the age of entitlement to 9 months has also resulted in two year olds having funding in place on their second birthday and not having to wait until the term after their second birthday. This means that we will have some children starting with us as soon as they turn two years old, using the 9 month old plus entitlement during their first term.

There will be a further change in September 2025 when the working parents entitlement will give 30 hours of funding to all children whose parents meet the eligibility criteria and who are aged over 9

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months old. We have 3 children on our register whose parents have expressed their intention to take up the 30 hours of funding for two year olds from September, and a further 3 children who will take between 18 and 24 hours using some of the new increased funding entitlement for two year olds. We are planning our staffing to meet the additional hours wanted by two year olds from September 2025.

During this financial year we had the following number of children on funding:

8.3 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 more than half of all children who are eligible for 30 hours funding are accessing all of their entitlement with us or sharing it with another setting, which is an increase compared to last year. Some children are attending for more than 30 hours, taking advantage of our breakfast and after-school clubs.

8.4 Ad-hoc sessions

Ad-hoc sessions have continued to be a useful way of allowing children to trial sessions before booking them on a more permanent basis.

9. EXTENDED SERVICES

9.1 Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club runs from 8.00am - 9.15am. Children arrive between 8.00am and 8.30am, 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. Breakfast sessions are proving to still be popular with both regular children and those using it on an ad-hoc basis.

9.2 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 a qualified preschool practitioner at each table. It is a sociable time where children chat with each other and staff whilst eating their lunch.

9.3 After Pre-School Club

The After Pre-School Club runs 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 than the breakfast club, many parents book ad-hoc sessions for their children as needed and value the flexibility this offers.

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10. ACCOMMODATION AND PREMISESs

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 a rent increase of 5% commencing on 1[st] April 2024. The toilets and reception area for the Main Hall were refurbished this year.

11. 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.

12. COMMUNICATION AND SOFTWARE

12.1 Website and Social Media

We use our website, Facebook page and Notts Help Yourself listing to communicate our vision and our curriculum offer and as a means for prospective parents to learn more about us. One of our new parents commented on how much useful information is on our website compared to some other settings they had looked at.

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 set up an Instagram account and Tik Tok account in 2024 but have decided to close them down as we felt they were more of a distraction than a useful tool, and very hard to manage due to all of the policies and procedures we adopt as a setting.

12.2 Famly Nursery Management Software

We use Famly as a nursery management tool and the primary means of communication between parents and staff. 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. Famly also produce regular articles and blogs about early years topics which are both informative and interesting, and we share some of these articles with our staff as part of our reflective practice and continuous professional development programme.

12.3 Xero Accounting Software

We use Xero accounting software to manage the Pre-School finances.

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13. FUNDRAISING AND SOCIAL EVENTS

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 Going on a Bear Hunt on the stage, with a summer fayre afterwards. It was well supported by parents/carers and extended families. The Committee and Staff Team organised a raffle and games, tombola, bouncy castle, face painting, cake sale and other refreshments. It was lovely to see some of our previous children and their families returning to join in the summer fayre. The funds raised through this event were used to purchase the new Wendy House.

We also held our annual Sports Day during the summer term, inviting families to come and watch.

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.

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 efforts of the committee and staff. The funds raised through this event were used to purchase a new 5-piece wooden kitchen and play food for our role play area.

In January the Committee organised a children’s disco, with musical entertainment and face painting provided free of charge by the Daly family, whose children used to come to our Pre-School several years ago. The disco is a fun social event, which also raises 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 this event such a success.

We invited parents and carers into pre-school for a Mother’s Day celebration this year, and are planning a similar event for Father’s Day.

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)

Monies raised through fundraising activities have been used to purchase new equipment, including new floor mats, new ‘layabout snuggle mats’ to make a cosy reading area, new small world animals and some new dolls.

The Treasurer report will provide more detail on all of the fundraising activities undertaken this year.

14. FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND RESERVES POLICY

The Pre-School accounts have been independently examined by Ian Newlove on 11th June 2025, concluding that no concerns came to light during this examination.

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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 currently higher than necessary, but having large reserves enabled us to continue operating during a difficult financial year two years ago, at a time when a number of settings in the area closed down due to financial pressures. The reserves tend to increase year on year as staff increase their length of service and the wage rates also increase. The reserves figure for the end of March 2025 is £57,994. We have adequate amounts held in reserves to cover this cost.

15. AIMS FOR THE FUTURE

We achieved our aim for the previous financial year of staying financially viable, and we have built on this by having another successful year financially.

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 intend to have more staff in session each day than the minimum specified by the EYFS Statutory Requirements, as we believe that we can provide a better quality of care and education for every child if we have more staff in the room. Being a not-for-profit organisation allows us to plan to use more of our funding and fee income for additional staff in this way.

We aim to maintain our excellent Staff Team through providing strong support, training, and a great place to work. We also reviewed our pay structure this year to ensure that all of our qualified staff are paid above the National Minimum Wage and at a comparable rate to other providers, to reflect their expertise, experience and responsibilities of their role. 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.

16. FORMAL THANK YOUS

16.1 Children and Parents

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.

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 deeply value our partnerships with parents and we thank you for your part in this.

16.2 Reflection from the Pre-School Manager, Debby Stevens

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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.

16.3 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 adapt to the influx of two year olds arising from the new government funding entitlements, and to the changes in the staff team this year.

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 enjoy their time at Pre-School whilst they start their formal educational journey. You are always welcome to new ideas, growth and improvement.

16.4 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.

17. CHAIRPERSON’S CLOSING MESSAGE

On behalf of the Management Committee, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our incredible Staff Team. Your warmth, dedication, flexibility and professionalism shine through in all that you do. You have navigated another year of change: from evolving government funding to welcoming an increasing number of two-year-olds, with skill and care. Our children are happy, nurtured and thriving because of your hard work. We are deeply grateful.

I would also like to thank each member of our Management Committee. You have voluntarily given your time and energy to ensure the successful running of Pre-School - overseeing finances, governance, staffing and strategy. Your commitment, often behind the scenes, is what allows us to offer the quality and stability our families rely on. I am grateful for the support, insight and teamwork you have brought to this role.

Thank you to those members who are continuing for the 2025–26 year, and a warm welcome to our new committee members. Together, I look forward to building on this year’s success and continuing to support our Pre-School to grow, flourish and serve our children and families in the very best way.

Sarah England-Amoo(on behalf of the Management Committee)

Chairperson, Attenborough Church Pre-School

June 2025

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Statement of Assets and Liabilities Attenborough Church Preschool As at 31 March 2025

Registered Charity No. 1024159

Account 31 Mar
2025		 31 Mar
2024
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets
Office Equipment 8,596 4,516
Less Accumulated Depreciation on
Office Equipment		 -4,376 -3,864
Total Fixed Assets 4,220 653
Current Assets
Cash at bank and in hand
Deposit Account 111,007 91,097
Current account 20,075 20,967
Petty Cash 141 59
Total Cash at bank and in hand 131,223 112,123
Accounts Receivable 1,233 1,045
Inventory 131 131
Less Provision for Doubtful Debts -434 0
Total Current Assets 132,152 113,298
Current Liabilities
Accruals 27,430 21,073
Income in Advance 2,546 0
Rounding -2 -1
Total Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year		 29,974 21,072
Net Current Assets 102,178 92,226
Total Assets less Current Liabilities 106,398 92,878
Net Assets 106,398 92,878
Capital and Reserves
Current Year Earnings 13,520 23,797
Retained Earnings 92,878 69,081
Total Capital and Reserves 106,398 92,878

Income and Expenditure Attenborough Church Preschool For the year ended 31 March 2025

Registered Charity No. 1024159

Account 31-Mar-25 31-Mar-24
Receipts
Bank interest received 1,910 1,341
Donations 150 50
Fee Income 35,198 39,312
Funding Income 165,121 114,873
Grant Income Apprentice 0 500
Toddler Group 858 648
Voluntary snack payment 0 42
203,237 156,766
Other Receipts
Commission All My Own Work 81 144
Commission Amazon Smile 0 44
Commission Easy Fundraising 138 87
Commission My Nametags 48 0
Commission Photographs 47 98
Fundraising Autumn Event 0 44
Fundraising Disco 636 498
Fundraising Easter Event 70 323
Fundraising Nativity 955 1,101
Fundraising Summer Event 1,042 1,519
Stay and Play 403 229
Total Other Receipts 3,420 4,087
Total Receipts 206,657 160,853
Payments
Advertising & Marketing 70 183
Bank Fees 74 77
Cleaning 135 107
Consumables 1,357 772
DBS Checks 0 248
Depreciation Expense 512 292
Equipment 4,751 637
Insurance 1,065 994
Ofsted Registration 50 50
Other Expenses 438 481
Payroll 922 861
Printing & Photocopying 974 216
Refreshments 782 749
Rent 21,197 18,358
Repairs & Maintenance 77 0
Staff salaries 156,484 109,735
Staff training 706 844
Subscriptions software 2,555 1,926
Telephone & Internet 144 160
Uniforms 461 0
Website 382 365
Total Payments 193,137 137,056
Net Receipts/Losses 13,520 23,797
Funds last year b/f 92,878 69,081
Funds this year c/f 106,398 92,878

lan Newlove 22 Larch Crescent Beeston Nottingham NG94DL Inde endent Examlner's re ort to the trustees of Attenborou h Church Preschool I have completed the examination. I 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: l. 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 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. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Name: lan Newlove Date Il" June 2025