Barkham Preschool AGM 2024/2025 Chair’s Report Meeting Date: 13th November 2025 Time: 9 ~~.~~ 15am
Hello Everyone,
Thanks so much for coming along today, we all really appreciate you joining us to find out more about what's been happening at Pre ~~-~~ School over the past year and what role the committee plays in the running of our lovely setting ~~.~~
As the Committee we have jointly been performing in the role of Chair during the academic year 24/25 and again in 25/26 ~~.~~
We shall start with an overview of the previous academic year and then move onto an update on what has been happening so far this year ~~.~~
AcademicYear 2024/25
Helen was successfully promoted to Supervisor and Louise stepped up into the Deputy role at the start of academic year 24/25 ~~.~~ They have, along with Lindsay, all performed exemplary in their roles and continue to work hard to ensure the children are nurtured and inspired daily ~~.~~ The committee would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all the support they have also given us over the past couple of years, without their knowledge and valuable contributions in meetings we would have been lost ~~.~~
We had successful fundraising events with the Christmas Fayre, Christmas Cookies, Easter Book ~~-~~ Hunt and end of year photographs. Special thanks to Debby who was the driving force behind fundraising activity and thanks again to Anna for giving her time to take the end of year photographs ~~.~~ Thank you to parents and families for supporting us in our fundraising activities, we really couldn't do it without you.
In regard to business, it was a steady year with funding increasing from WBC due to the increase in 2 ~~-~~ year ~~-~~ olds and we were the lucky recipients of a Tesco Stronger Starts grant of £600 which was put towards much need play provisions. We did however see a drop in donations (this was due to a very generous one ~~-o~~ ff donation from a closing pre ~~-~~ school at the end of academic year 23/24). We also saw a rise in the wage's expenditure due to a minimum wage i ~~n-~~ crease, promotions and employment of staff.
With the support of the committee Helen has used the donation money to invest in new equipment for the children, a new fence for the outdoor area to make the space more secure and a shed to store the outdoor resources ~~.~~ Helen will talk in more detail about how the donation money has been spent ~~.~~
Moving onto this year ~~-~~ Academic year 2025/26
It has been a tough start to this academic year with a sharp decline in the number of children enrolled down from 25 at the end of the previous year to just 8 currently, this is mainly due to the government funding for 2 ~~-~~ year ~~-~~ olds increasing from 15hrs to 30hrs ~~.~~ Unfortunately, Barkham Preschool cannot benefit from this due to our restricted opening hours ~~.~~ This has meant that we have lost current and prospective families to other settings that offer the full hours. Helen and The Committee endeavoured to request an increase in our hours with the Village Hall Committee however they voted against our
request ~~.~~ We have 3 new starters in Jan and 1 April which will take our numbers to 12 however this may not be enough to ensure Pre ~~-~~ School can remain financially viable past Easter 2026. For us to remain open for as long as possible we have voted to put the remaining money that was donated from the closure of Swallowfield Pre ~~-~~ School towards staff wages and essential provisions ~~.~~
As a collective of staff and committee we are doing all we can to advertise the Pre ~~-~~ School on social media platforms and locally across the borough. We also ask for your support as parents to help with recommending the pre ~~-~~ school across your network and community.
If numbers do not increase quickly then we will have no choice but to give notice of closure ~~.~~ We are doing all we can to avoid this, but it is an imminent threat. In the event of closure, as much notice as possible will be given to ensure all families have the time to find alternative care for their children and staff will be given their full statutory notice period and redundancy pay ~~.~~
We also need to address in the meeting today the current situation with The Committee ~~.~~ Our committee is crucial for the running of Pre ~~-~~ School, essentially, as we’re an unincorporated charity we can’t be open without one! The named Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, collectively known as “the Officers”, are all looking to step down as their children left the Pre ~~-~~ School in July 2024 ~~.~~ These roles, although preferably to be held by parents, can be held by anyone in the community provided they have been voted in by the committee. If you or anyone you know may be interested in offering a few hours a month to help keep our setting stay open it is greatly appreciated, you can speak with the committee directly to find out more about what the roles entail.
For our committee to remain constitutional at least 60% must be family members (a ~~.~~ k ~~.~~ a. parents) ~~.~~ As we currently only have one parent, we are not meeting our constitution and that puts us at risk, so we desperately need your support ~~.~~ As parents of a charitable Pre ~~-~~ School, you are automatically “Family Members” however this does not count in our committee numbers so if you can step up to become a named member, please get in touch as soon as possible ~~.~~ Even if you can only attend the occasional meeting, or help with fundraising events, the more parents input we get the more we can improve and grow ~~.~~
We would like to welcome Sophie to the committee for this year, she has hit the ground running by coming to the table with lots of ideas for marketing and fundraising, her support is very much appreciated ~~.~~
This term see’s Pre ~~-~~ School facing a turning point moment ~~.~~ There has been a playgroup in one form or another for more than 50years at Barkham Village Hall so it would be such a great shame to lose this wonderful asset to the community.
Thank ~~-~~ youfor joining us at this year's AGM, your support is vital to our survival. If you would like to become a committee member, have 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
The Committee Barkham Pre ~~-~~ School 13" November 2025
~~Treasurers Report 2024/25~~
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|‘Treasurer's|Report 2024-2025|
|| Parenibicarer|fees|S035)|118s|1,262.98|3025|
|||Fuiciieng|SQ84702|W628008|23,1848|Taoa2|
||Weuchers|a|@|a)|Q|
|||Fundraising|g615|2a|75)|430;|Bos|
||Registralinns:|a|a|o|oO|
|||Diomastigers|207|23|258.48|a|446|
|[Bank|Interest|24.4|7|42-56|146|
|Lotter|115|15|AGRE|702:|
|; Tika|AOE|ATITG|24|BOR|a2|A534|
|Expercditure|Summer|juhenn|= ering|Expenditure|
|1 Win pers|Ee20244|23,993.95)|2aaeeE!|race?|
|j|Pert|i|i148|1,400.40|2014|
|[Bark|Charges|15|20|25|||ao|
|(recite|rece|66|ik)|AeA|aS|||G25.|
|UCeesumaethes|tra|4a|fis. 7|420-76|Bo|
|{Equipment|||f109|12996|24204|||1014|
|LBuchitin|144|26289|64.46|BT|
|||Subscrinfians|14a|Bi37|212495|bers|[|]|
|| Meso|Lestires|o|fa}|:|o|o|
|||Training|5d|270.99)|| 2.20709)|2534|
|||Marketa|a|iy|a|||a|
|!|Fond|ising|||a)|0|oO:|{|oO:|
|Trips!|Events|||4B,|i|167.95|||bts|
|||Cigar|PRI2|dq|40778:|400|
|| Petty:|Cart|a|a|a|O.|
|Asses!|investment|S94|4 7OT52-|Qo|||4874)|
|||Fetal|27,388,139|Da0874e°|35,304.20|BATTS.|
|||Summer|jwhemn|=~|Spring|
|j Adee|Profil|tLe)|13,561.52|29080"|-70,455.08|5.2486|
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General overview of accounts 2024 ~~-~~ 2025
Income was down by £5208 ~~.~~ 00 on year 2023 ~~-~~ 2024
Even though funding was up this year, parent fees were down considerably, also we had received a large donation, and a HMRC refund in the year 23 ~~-~~ 24 (see details below)
Expenditure was up by £11,046 on year 2023 ~~-~~ 2024
| This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | This was mainly due to Increase in salaries, | staff training & new |
staff training & new |
staff training & new |
equipment (see | equipment (see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| below) | |||||||||||||||
| ‘Income | ‘225 | [23-28 | Income | ||||||||||||
| Parenticarerfees | 4,025. | 6761 | Parentcarer fees. | ||||||||||||
| Funding | 78.082 | a5o00 | Funding | ||||||||||||
| oudhers | o | 0 | Vouchers. | ||||||||||||
| \Fundraising | 206. | 651 | Fundraising | ||||||||||||
| Registrations. | Oi | "] | Registrations | ||||||||||||
| Donations | 446 | 10487 | Donations | ||||||||||||
| {Bank Interest ‘Other |
445 4,020 |
i34 aT13 |
Bankinterest Oder |
||||||||||||
| Wages | THOG2 | T1048 | Wages: | ||||||||||||
| Rent ‘BankCharges |
2.014 a |
2055 a0 |
Rent BankCharges |
||||||||||||
| linsuranse | O25 | a | Insurance | ||||||||||||
| ‘Consumables | S04 | {o24 | ‘Consumables | ||||||||||||
| (Equipment | 1,074 | 504 | Equipment | ||||||||||||
| ‘Admin |
Subscriptions | 634 1824 |
212 1540 |
Admin ‘Subsenptons |
|||||||||||
| iMusia Lessons | oF | o | Music Lessons | ||||||||||||
| ‘Training | 2,5o4 | 211 | “Fisietiney | ||||||||||||
| Marketing | 3) | a | Marketing | ||||||||||||
| 'Fundraising | 4 | 0 | Fundraising | ||||||||||||
| Trips! Events | ets | 405 | Trips!Events | ||||||||||||
| Hother ‘PettyGash |
490 oO: |
584 Q |
Other PettyCash |
||||||||||||
| (Asset!investment | 1,071 | i] | Asset! investment | ||||||||||||
& new equipment (see details
Supervisor’s Report
Thank you to all of you for coming today.
In the last year, | have enjoyed taking on the role of supervisor having been Deputy since December 2020 and Acting Supervisor from September 2022 ~~-~~ May 2023 ~~.~~ Louise continues to do an excellent job as SENCO and Designated Safeguarding Lead and is a great support as Deputy Supervisor. Lindsey, who started in 2022 as a temporary member of staff continues in her permanent role as Early years practitioner and Key worker. The last year has seen some changes in staffing, but we are now in a position due to low numbers of children, where we don’t need to recruit any more staff.
Since taking over as supervisor in September 2024 | have aimed to reintroduce a focus on the areas of learning in the EYFS and used the children’s interests to plan adult led group and individual activities as well as child led play throughout the session. Instead of spending a lot of time on individual observations we use Tapestry to provide a snapshot of learning for all the children. We have had some successful learning opportunities based on the children’s interests and relevant themes, for example, Nursery Rhymes and stories and aim to continue with this ~~.~~ We have planning ideas for each term, but as this is based on the children’s interests and next steps, it is shared weekly with parents on our notice board on Tapestry ~~.~~ We encourage parents to get involved with show and tell related to our learning and sharing your own photos on Tapestry.
We were fortunate due to successful fundraising by the committee, including securing a Tesco stronger starts grant of £605 and a donation from Swallowfield Preschool which closed in 2024, to be able to make some significant improvements to our resources and provision ~~.~~ This has included replacing the fence around our outdoor area, which has proven to be more sturdy and secure than the previous one and remains in good condition making our outdoor area secure and safe to use all the time ~~.~~ We have also installed a new larger shed outside for storage of our bikes and other outdoor resources ~~.~~ This was partly funded by the Barkham Village Hall committee with the aim of preventing damage to our resources by other hall users ~~.~~ This has been a big improvement; however, some larger equipment must remain outside such as the mud kitchen and little tykes plastic cars ~~.~~ Over time, these have become damaged so we are looking for donations to replace these and a volunteer who may be able to build a new mud kitchen.
We were able to use the Tesco Stronger starts grant to buy a new role play kitchen for the home corner, an essential part of early years role play provision ~~.~~ This has been a real success and enjoyed by all the children ~~.~~
As well as the garden fence, shed and role play kitchen, we have made several other improvements including new cause and effect water channelling tunnels, new water trays for indoors and outdoors, tuff tray inserts, story sacks and sensory resources ~~.~~ Thanks to this, we are in a good position to provide an engaging and varied learning environment and play opportunities for the children both inside and outside ~~.~~
We have seen further changes to government funding for working families this year, with the 15 hours for two ~~-y~~ ear ~~-o~~ lds increasing to 30 hours from September 2025 ~~.~~ Unfortunately, at Barkham Preschool we have been unable to benefit from these extended hours as we are restricted by our opening hours and use of the village hall. In March this year, we met with the Barkham Village Hall committee about extending our hours to include a Monday and Tuesday afternoon, however this was not agreed to as the hall is in use at these times and our proposal to change this was voted against by hall committee and other regular users ~~.~~ We have sadly, seen a decrease in our numbers from 25 on roll in July to currently 8 children with 3 new starters due in January and 1 in April. As well as leaving for school, we have lost more children to other settings who provide more hours ~~.~~
This does unfortunately have an impact on our financial position, and we are making every effort we can to advertise Preschool on social media, displaying posters locally and would also like to appeal to parents to recommend and share Barkham Preschool to friends and on social media as word of mouth and personal recommendations from parents are very important and effective. We do have a Barkham Preschool Facebook and Instagram page, which you can also follow, like and share posts to help boost our presence.
As a charity run Preschool, we aim to provide affordable and high ~~-q~~ uality provision for all and as you know we don’t charge any extra fees outside of the funded hours. We occasionally ask for voluntary donations of consumable items and to cover extra activities that are not covered by government funding.
Fundraising is also crucial, and we ask parents to get involved as much as possible and share with the wider community outside of Preschool. We have had some success this term with our Christmas card/gift orders as well as the Happy School Bag collection. We have another collection coming up on 12th February ~~.~~
Many thanks to the parents and the committee for your support ~~.~~
Helen Pitcher Supervisor Barkham Pre ~~-~~ School
i Eom!1 CHARITYFOR ENGLAND COMMISSION AND WALES | Independent examiner'saccounts report on the
SectionA
Independent Examiner’s Report
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Report to the trustees/ Barkham Pre-school
members of
On accounts for the year | 31° May 2025 Charity no | 1026028
ended (if any)
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| report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/05/2023.
Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
| report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, | have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
-
Independent | have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have
-
examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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e the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
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e the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or e the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
| 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.
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Name: |AVUGELA MMCIOU GAC
Relevant professional ||1)
qualification(s) or body
(if any):
Address:!| 25 fAKK LoAL ALDERSHOT,
HAWAPSHIKE GU} SFO
IER 1 Oct 2018
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Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose.
IER
2
Oct 2018