Barkham Preschool Chair’s Report 2021 Quora achieved - 8 current parents attended (minimum 5 required)
Good morning Everyone
Firstly, Thanks for coming today - both myself, the committee and the staff really appreciate parents getting involved with Pre-School.
I’d like to give you an overview of last year, and our plans for this year.
The academic year 21/22 was a strange one for all of us, recovering from the pandemic of previous years and finally able to start getting back to normal.
I truly appreciate the hard work of all our staff - Sarah, Helen, Louise, Nicole, Hannah and Shelley in making sure that our continuing and new families were supported last year.
I would like to thank all our Committee members for their dedication and support. We had a big change in committee members at the start of last year - and it was my first year as Chair, so a lot to learn for all of us.
Fundraising last year was a great success, the Christmas fair and raffle was by far the most successful event, with nearly £750 raised for pre-School - and we got a visit from Santa! Our total fundraising for the year was £2,800 - and the rest was made up of bags to school donations, cake and book sales, Easter and summer raffles, photos and the Barkham Summer Fete.
A huge thankyou to parents and families for supporting us in our fundraising activities, we really couldn’t do it without you.
Last year's fundraising, plus fundraising from previous years, also has allowed us to completely transform our dedicated Pre-School garden in the summer of this year, turning it into a safe fun-filled all-weather area, which I’m told that the children are loving to explore.
Business wise, all staff contracts were updated this year, plus a maternity policy created. A pay increase was reviewed and implemented for staff in April 2022.
Now for this year!
Regarding staffing - we have a big change as our supervisor Sarah welcomed her little boy, Lennie, at the start of September. Helen has taken over the role while Sarah is on maternity leave, with Louise supporting her as deputy and Lindsey joining the team too.
Our Committee is also changing - Amy stepped down as Treasurer in January, and Mel, Sara and Ellie will all be standing down.
Georgie will be joining us as Treasurer once her paperwork is completed after taking over payroll from Amy in January.
Iona will be joining us as a new committee member this year, and Helen will also be joining us as a representative of the staff on the committee while Sarah is on maternity leave. Kristin will be continuing in her role as Secretary. No objections raised during the AGM.
With the new additions, this takes our committee member number to 5, which is our minimum requirement.
I’d just like to highlight how crucial our committee is for the running of Pre-School - essentially as we’re an unincorporated charity we can’t be open without one! Myself & Kristin no longer have children at Pre-School, so although we can plan activities and look at the business side of things, from my experience it’s current parents and guardians who have the best input into improvements and fundraising, and what would work with the current families. We are running very close to minimum numbers in our committee, so really need your help .
Every member is valued, even if they can only attend the occasional meeting, or occasionally help out, as the more parents input we get the more we can improve and grow. We’re looking at key decisions this upcoming year, such as reviewing our provision, a fees review and more - so if you’d like a chance to have your say, please join us! Please speak to me or Helen, if you’re interested. We’d really appreciate it.
We will be looking at moving from an unincorporated charity to an incorporated charity this coming year, this will not impact on the children but will simplify the management of the business side of Pre-School.
Filling spaces is a current focus for us - we currently have between 3 and 7 spaces per day across the week. We’ve had a number of families from last year no longer able to continue with us due to needing hours above and beyond what we currently offer. Advertising will be stepped up - and word of mouth is always a fantastic tool so please tell your friends about us!
Fundraising for this year - is in the planning! We will be having a pumpkin party after half term, and will be organising a raffle and/or fair for Christmas.
We’d love to have parents into setting on a more regular basis, so together with Helen and the staff are looking at stay n plays, a pumpkin party, and more this year.
We’re hoping to get more involved in community events - have a stall at the Wokingham May fair and support the Barkham village association with their summer fete plans.
If anyone has any ideas for fundraising, or anything you’d like to see us do to improve Pre-School this academic year, please have a chat with us!
Thankyou
Sarah Sowerby September 2022
Income
We had a total income of approximately £83,000, a £7k reduction from the previous year.
This was made up of circa £64,000 of government funding, £14,000 of fees, £2,800 of fundraising and £2000 of donations.
We had a full contingent of children for the summer term, which boosted our income via funded hours and fees. Our proportion of fee-paying children vs funded hours was higher than previous years, which is why we saw a 10% reduction in funding vs 20/21 but a 136% increase vs the same year in income from fees.
A fee increase was last implemented in March 2020 and fees have been held stable since then to ensure that Pre-School remains competitive and accessible to all. We also saw the continuation of the donation scheme, where funded hours children are asked for a voluntary donation towards the running of Pre-School. The take-up on this was reduced from the previous year by approximately 50%.
Expenditure
We had an expenditure of approximately £72,000. This is in line with the previous
year.
Our largest expenditure is on wages, at approx £63,000. The next significant contributors are rent for the hall at circa £2,000, Consumables and Equipment at £3,000 combined and Training at £1,200.
All staff wages were increased in line with the increase in the minimum wage at the beginning of April ‘22. As our financial year accounts up to the end of May ‘22 the impact of this can’t yet be seen, however the wage increase will increase our expenditure in the future by £500/month or £6000/year.
Staff numbers were kept in line with required ratios, with Shelley joining the team in January 2020 to cover lunch and as bank staff.
Rent for the hall also increased in April ‘22, the bigger impact of this will be seen next year.
Overview and pointers for year 22/23
Pre-School had a positive differential of £11,000 this year - this is excellent for the longevity of the Pre-School and also has allowed us to improve the Pre-School garden - the expenditure for this will be in next year's report as the work was completed over the summer.
There are currently spaces at Pre-School which means that funding and fees income will be reduced, unless these spaces are filled.
The Hall rent is a financial risk for us - we currently pay only a small percentage of the normal fee for rent of the hall due to the fact that Pre-School has been part of the hall for so long.
Our positive differential both this year and last year are predicted to allow us to be financially stable, in spite of the expected/planned increases in expenditure and decreases in income in the coming year.
Supervisor’s Report
Thank you to all of you for coming today, and for the continued support you have shown us in the last year. We have seen the lifting of many covid restrictions, and it has been wonderful to be able to welcome parents into Preschool again for parent meetings, stay and play sessions and special events such as the Pumpkin party, Christmas Fayre, trip to Wellington Country Park and Leaver’s picnic. It is good to be able to say with more certainty that we can continue with these in the upcoming year! Last September, 2021 saw the introduction of the new Early Years Foundation Stage Framework which has a greater emphasis on spending time with the children than on formal recorded observations. With this in mind, we have used Tapestry to provide parents with a snap shot of what their child has been doing each week, alongside our communication board which is placed outside each day as well as being uploaded onto Tapestry. We ask parents to fill in an “I can” form when children start, which helps give us a starting point for our child / interest led curriculum. We use the children’s interests to plan adult lead group and individual activities as well as child led play throughout the session.
We have continued with “Tapestry Tuesdays” (though done on any day) which has been fantastic in giving us an insight into what the children have been doing at home and with family. They have allowed the children to talk about home life and gain confidence in speak in front of others. It also gives us as key workers for the children, a great starting point for conversations and helps us to get to know the children and their families. A great addition this year has been the completion of our secure Preschool garden with the all-weather AstroTurf being laid over the summer holidays. This has made a huge difference in allowing us to free flow into a safe and secure space that can be used all year round. We are continuing to develop this space further with some more natural resources and planting, but so far this term the children have enjoyed using the space and we are able to get out more often whatever the weather!
This year we have had a temporary change in staffing as Sarah H is on her maternity leave. I would like to thank Sarah S and all the staff team for all their support and continued hard work as I take over as Acting Supervisor. Louise continues to do a wonderful job as SENCO for Barkham Preschool and is a great support in her new role as Deputy supervisor as well. We have also welcomed Lindsey to Barkham Preschool, as an experienced Preschool practitioner in a similar pack away setting she has quickly settled in and is a valuable member of the team.
We are thrilled to have already held one Stay and Play this morning and plans for the Pumpkin Party are also underway. The Christmas Fayre is planned for Saturday 26th November and we also aim to invite parents in for a Christmas sing along as well. Hopefully we will be able to visit the Church near to Christmas time and continue to make use of our surrounding area by going on local walks near the church and Rooks Nest Wood. Following the success of our summer trip to Wellington Country Park, we would like to do something similar this year.
Thank you to the Committee and all our families for their continued support at Barkham
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