- - Stonebroom Pre School Trustees Annual Report 2019 2020
Stonebroom Pre-School Stonebroom Village Hall Off Cleveland Road Stonebroom Derbyshire DE55 6JF
07971 804936
Correspondence Address:
Stonebroom Pre-School 23 Bunyan Crescent Stonebroom Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 6JH
Ofsted Registration No. EY311549 Early Years Alliance Membership No. 25838 Registered Charity No. 1026865
Trustees
Anisha Eccleshare – Chairperson Helena Latham – Secretary Lorraine Crowhurst - Treasurer
Introduction
Stonebroom Pre-School has been running for 47 years providing an invaluable resource for the local community and wider area. The pre-school is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity that serves Stonebroom and its surrounding villages by delivering high quality, local and cost effective educational childcare to 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
The pre-school has adopted the Early Years Alliance Model Constitution. The employed staff are supported by a voluntary management committee comprised of parents and other interested parties.
We currently offer pre-school care in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage, with funded and non-funded places available to 2 – 4 year olds. We offer three hour sessions in the morning and afternoon, Monday to Friday in term-time.
Achievements and Performance
There is no avoiding the fact that this pre-school year has been dominated by one thing: the Covid-19 pandemic. In March, in accordance with government guidance, we closed the pre-school for all children with the exception of certain categories, including key worker children. We remained open throughout lockdown for these children, providing an important service for their parents, in particular an NHS worker, who was able to continue to work throughout as a consequence.
In June and July, once again in compliance with government guidance, we facilitated a limited re-opening of the setting to the small number of children who wished to attend, ensuring all guidelines to secure the safety of both children and staff were followed.
During the summer holiday period, we endeavoured to make the building as Covid secure as possible, by erecting new external signage to enforce social distancing, installing additional hand sanitising facilities, and devising new rules and systems of operating.
We re-opened a full service to all children in September, with parental social distancing, staggered drop off and pick up times, increased dedicated daily cleaning rotas, increased ventilation, increased outdoor play, increased hand sanitising, daily temperature checks, adapted procedures and strict illness protocols. This has, we believe, been very successful and contributed to us being able to stay open since.
I would like to personally thank the staff for their selflessness throughout this entire period. They have remained committed and dedicated to the children, and put themselves at risk during the heights of the pandemic to ensure that children were cared for.
Despite the pandemic, we continued to improve our setting, switching our focus from the external developments of the previous year to internal ones. In February we installed new flooring throughout the main room and hall area of the building, and we are very pleased with the result, which provides a significant visual upgrade and also makes the setting more functional for wet and messy play.
In addition, we completed the conversion of one of the walk-in cupboards into an office with the installation of electrics, lighting and broadband. This in turn allowed us to free up floor space in the main room for the benefit of the children, and also afforded the staff the opportunity to completely reconfigure the layout of the room to better meet the demands of the new Ofsted framework.
Essential fire safety upgrades were also made to the building, including a secondary sounder circuit, upgraded detection and replacement emergency lighting, and new heater guards were fitted to our upgraded heating system.
Prior to the pandemic, we had a very successful fundraising year with our Halloween event and Christmas play proving as popular as ever for the children, parents and wider community. In addition, our Christmas Fair returned for a second edition, raising nearly £1000. Unfortunately, due to the subsequent lockdown, our annual Easter Bonnet parade and Sports Day were not able to take place, although we did manage to offer a small outdoor graduation ceremony in July for those departing for school.
Financially the pre-school was not affected to the same degree as some other settings during the spring, as childcare funding from the local authority was guaranteed, but we did miss out on several thousand pounds in fees. However, we were awarded a government Covid-19 grant which covered these losses, and as a consequence we managed a profit of £21,162.
It is important to remember though that much of the additional financial impact we anticipate as a result of the pandemic is yet to be realised, in the form of increased staffing fees to cover for potential illness and selfisolation, increased cleaning fees, increased equipment fees, increased cost of various processes to mitigate potential infection, potentially lower child numbers for some time to come, and even potential short-term closure. For this reason we believe that all of the remaining grant money received will be used during the coming year for the purposes which it was intended, and indeed it would be unsurprising if this was reflected in the form of a loss at the end of the subsequent financial year.
Nevertheless, the surplus generated by this profit means we have achieved the objective of our Financial Reserves Policy agreed last year, and safeguarded the financial stability of the pre-school for years to come. It will also help to ensure that we are able to survive whatever difficulties we are yet to encounter as a result of Covid-19.
It has also allowed us to freeze our fees during the past year in order to remain as affordable as possible for the local families we serve, and reward our hard-working staff appropriately with modest pay rises. We continue to be one of the very lowest cost providers in the local area, at significantly lower cost than many local commercial operators.
In conclusion, the trustees feel that despite the unexpected obstacles presented for us to overcome this year, the pre-school once again exceeded its aims and objectives and continues to be a wonderful asset to the local community. To continue the pre-school’s future success it is vital that efforts are made to involve new parents, in order that they can assume committee roles as and when existing parents move on with their children.
Aims and Objectives
We aim to continue delivering a comprehensive, high quality early years education to all of our children, offering a choice of activities appropriate to their ages and stages of development. We will maintain our focus on individuality, progression, and care. We aim to encourage parental involvement from the outset, for the benefit of the children and pre-school alike.
Wider priorities for the year 2020-2021 include ensuring safety and workability during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, continuing to upgrade our setting’s environment and resources, and securing long term stability with regard to our voluntary committee.
Thank you to all involved for your hard work over the past year.
Anisha Eccleshare Chairperson Stonebroom Pre-School
Stonebroom Pre-School
Accounts for Year End 31/07/2020
Opening Balance 01/08/2019
£ 35,261.33
(All Accounts)
Income
| Fees | £ | 7,899.50 |
|---|---|---|
| Funding | £ | 61,558.36 |
| Uniform Payments | £ | 134.00 |
| Milk Rebate | £ | 128.83 |
| Grants | £ | 17,061.05 |
| Fundraising | £ | 4,372.77 |
| Donations | £ | - |
| Other Income | £ | 56.87 |
Total £ 91,211.38
Expenditure
| Wages | £ | 55,361.17 |
|---|---|---|
| Consumables | £ | 853.01 |
| Food | £ | 474.95 |
| Administration | £ | 875.24 |
| Equipment | £ | 8,000.00 |
| Services | £ | 2,888.41 |
| Insurance | £ | 906.33 |
| Training | £ | 85.00 |
| Other | £ | 604.65 |
Total
£ 70,048.76
| Income | £ | 91,211.38 |
|---|---|---|
| Expenditure | £ | 70,048.76 |
| Profit | £ | 21,162.62 |
| Opening Balance + Profit | £ | 56,423.95 |
| Actual Closing Balance | £ | 56,423.95 |
| Difference | £ | 0.00 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of 5-oNJ£Coffj Tra &.HcoL On accounts for the year ended 31 JLLY 2a0 Charity no (If any) Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("Ihe Tmsl.) for the year ended31 (T7 2CLfl Responsibilities and As th8 charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of r&port of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111"the Act"). I 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, I have followed the applicable Direthons given by th8 Charity Commission under section 145(5){b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come lo my attention {olher than that disclosed below") in Connection with the examination which gives me causfj to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records w8re not kept in accordance with s8Ction 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper underslanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Date: Independent examiner's statement Signed.. Sl mAyx2J Namp: Relevant professional quaiificatlon{s) or body (if any): Address: 6 OAKLAdD seg ALFQIO LISio£J 7C,T IER October 2018