Penge Community Pre-School
ANNUAL REPORT 2023/2024
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Staff List
Name Position
Chloe Edgington Leader Sue Charlesworth Deputy leader Dawn McConochie SENCO
Sarah Edgington Assistant
Danielle Edgington Practitioner Lisa Searle SIP Support Worker
Administrative Support
Deborah Fletcher Secretary
Trustees
Name Position
Sandra Hynes Chairperson David Hynes Treasurer Chloe Edgington Pre-School Leader Emma Clark Trustee Karen Clark Trustee Lisa Mead Trustee
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Activities and Developments 2023 - 2024
Overview of the Year
As we continue to say year after year it has continued to be an extremely busy year at Penge Community Pre-school.
In July 2023, we had our overdue Ofsted inspection and was pleased to say we have maintained our ‘GOOD’ grading and quoting some of the comments from the Ofsted inspector ‘Children across the setting are very focused when learning and demonstrate good concentration skills’, ‘Children develop into confident and independent individuals at this well-run setting,’ ‘All staff are very experienced and generally know how young children learn best’, to read our full Ofsted report visit ofsted.gov.uk.
September 2023 intake was very successful after sadly saying goodbye to our children heading off to Primary. We were able to register the equivalent amount of children to begin their journey at pre-school in September and ending the year we currently have 45 children on roll and a healthy waiting list of children that we are unfortunately unable to accommodate till September 2024.
Due to no fault of ours we came into work on Monday 29[th] January 2024 to find water flooding through the building which was coming from a mains water pipe outside Sivyer’s in Minden Road that had burst during the night and a lot of water had already gained access to our building and Thames Water took a further 2 and half hours to stop the stream of water. Damage was done mainly to flooring, skirting boards and wooden furniture that was standing on the floor. The drying out started and unfortunately we had to shut down the building and close Pre-school for a week while the flood team and ourselves worked around the clock to minimize the damage and the time we had to shut and to make sure it was 100% safe for the children to return.
A positive that came from the flood was that we now have new flooring throughout, The Hall has been freshly painted, and all damaged goods have been replaced and we have resumed as normal.
We must appreciate this year how much Rotary Beckenham has continued to support Penge Community Pre-school and enhanced our children’s learning and development, some of the things that Rotary have done just in this year for our preschool that you may not be aware of:
October 2023: Rotary donated £600 to set up a growing garden for the children to grow their very own fruit and vegetables, this is such an amazing experience for the children be involved in and lets just hope we are successful in our growing and children will eat what they grow.
March 2024: Rotary again donated £1000 to set up a sensory space for all the children to enjoy which will include a giant ball pit that will support sensory needs, fine/gross motor skills, physical and social development.
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Sandra Hynes has been active and supportive as our Chairperson and David Hynes continues as our Treasurer. We have appointed two new Parent/Carer Trustees to our Management Committee but the requirement by Ofsted for all trustees to be DBS checked has led to some potential trustees choosing not to offer to join the Committee so please if you are interested and willing to be part of our committee please speak to a member of staff.
We continue to ensure that our staff maintain and improve their skills and receive ongoing training.
We promote fundamental British values; these are as follows:
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Democracy
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The rule of law
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Individual liberty
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Mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
We promote these in an age appropriate way, through ensuring that children learn right from wrong, mix and share with each other and value others’ views, know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and to challenge negative attitudes and stereotypes.
We have a different Learning and Play theme each term and for this year they were:-
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Stories
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Life cycles
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Senses
We held our two parents days this year one in the summer and one at Christmas, this gives you the opportunity to have a one to one meeting with your child’s keyworker and look through your child’s learning journal.
Preschool staff are also always available any time throughout the year to discuss any concerns that parents may have with their child.
We held two Disco Parties for the children, one in the summer and the other at Christmas. At the summer party the children leaving for Junior School were presented with their progress records and observations and were given a leaving present.
In June we had ‘graduation’ photographs taken of the children that were leaving for primary school; this was very successful and will be repeated next year
New equipment
During the year the Pre-School has purchased various items of equipment, these include: puzzles, large wooden playhouse, giant floor games, books as well as continually re-stocking the paint and consumables for craft and play activities. We would also like to thank parents who have donated toys to us over the year for the children to use: doll house, dolls, dressing up, books and more.
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Learning through play
Parent’s visiting the pre-school sometimes say, “The children just seem to be playing!” Young children learn very naturally through play. In their play, for example, they may find out about materials, use and develop language, act out situations, ask questions, look for information in books, make friends, see how their actions affect other people, try out ideas, learn rules and read stories. Young children learn through play and enjoy learning, and this prepares them well for school.
The staff help children to learn by observing them at play and deciding when to leave them alone and when to join in. Staff help children to expand their play by offering ideas, for example, materials or vocabulary, by asking questions, by setting challenges, and by helping, explaining, or showing how things can be done. Staff encourage playing and exploring, motivate children to become active learners, allowing children to become creative and helping them to think critically.
Prime areas
Communication and language
Children listen attentively in a range of situations, and they give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity. Staff support children to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
All activities help develop and build the children’s vocabulary, learning new words, communicating with others and respecting what others say, cherishing bilingual children’s languages
Physical development
To promote physical development, we have various pieces of equipment such as climbing frame with slide, bikes, scooters and a wide range of bats, balls, beanbags, skittles, mark making, threading, pegs and peg boards, tap a shape and sewing. All of which encourage hand eye co-ordination, and which require the use of large and small motor skills.
Staff help children to develop good self- care skills, becoming independent with feeding, toileting and hygiene practices.
Preschool helps promote good dental hygiene with the brush bus scheme, by supplying each child with a toothbrush and toothpaste to enable them to independently clean their teeth.
Personal, social & emotional development
There are many activities that encourage children to play together and build their social skills. For example, imaginative play improves their language and communication skills as well as helping to develop relationships with their peers. This builds their social, emotional and personal skills.
Confidence and self worth is important in child development. Learning to play with other children and making friends teaches children to care for other people and their surroundings.
Specific areas
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Literacy
New skills are developed during key worker small group activities, which help develop their pencil control and early writing. Books and story time teach children to respect and handle books carefully, reading from left to right. We encourage children to borrow books from our little library scheme, to share at home with the family. To help build literacy skills, we do phonic activities, which helps the children learn letter sounds.
Mathematics
We have different activities that help children to count, sort and measure. This helps to develop logical thinking, problem solving and recognition of numbers, shapes and also matching and sorting skills.
Other activities, which encourage math skills, are nursery rhymes, songs and games using dice and colours.
Knowledge & Understanding of the World
An important part of play is to promote the children’s understanding of the world they live in by using different materials and getting them to look and notice things in their environment. It also helps them to express their emotions and develop their 5 senses by experimenting with the different materials and mediums.
Children are encouraged to talk about their families, homes, cultures and beliefs, and we celebrate a few festivals, for example Chinese New Year, Holi Christmas and Easter.
We also have many other activities including singing, reading, story time, small and large apparatus play, water play, dressing up, kitchen corner etc. We look forward to having use of the garden again to add another knowledge dimension of growing flowers and vegetables.
ICT
The children regularly have the use of 2 new iPad’s to access the internet for child appropriate educational sites like Cbeebies. We also have 4 Innotabs with a variety of educational games that allow the children to choose, investigate and experiment different ways of completing programmes. In addition these programmes help the children with problem solving, colour, number and letter recognition as well as skills required on touch screen to complete tasks.
Each play session has an ever-changing range of activities set out to benefit all key development areas and to stimulate and encourage learning in a happy and safe environment.
Expressive arts and design
We have many activities, which encourage creative play including painting, drawing, gluing, cutting out and construction. Children also engage in a wide variety of role play and small world activities developing imaginative play.
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Children sing songs, make music and dance and they safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques.
Children get immense enjoyment out of these activities and are encouraged to take pride in their work.
Fundraising
Fundraising is very important as this money is used to replace old, damaged equipment and buy new, as you can see Pre-School has had a busy year fundraising, and listed below is how this has been achieved.
Christmas raffle/tombola £210.00
July end of term events £329.00
Total raised was £539
Pre-School continues to benefit from considerable financial and practical support from Anerley Methodist Church, for which we are extremely grateful.
Pre-School is in a financially sound condition and there was a surplus on our account for the year – largely due to the generosity of Rotary Club of Beckenham and an Insurance payout for equipment damaged in the flood. We hope that the enforced closures will not have an adverse impact on next year’s balance.
Looking to the future, we will continue to use our best efforts to maintain our good reputation and to offer the highest possible quality of Early Years Education.
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Penge Community Pre-School
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31[st] March 2024
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Penge Community Pre-school Profit and Loss Account for the Year ended 31st March 2024 2024 2023 Income 214 Year funding SIPS funding Catering and refreshments Grants Fees Fundraising and miscellaneous Bank interest received 127,270 6,493 2,130 600 11,824 5,494 4,622 113,264 7,165 1,570 7,181 2,537 2,245 158,433 133,962 Ex enditure Salaries Employers National Insurance Employers Pension contributions Fees Rent Telephone Equipment tools and materials Books and publications Refreshments Courses Travel expenses Printing and stationery other subs and services Fundraising 118,436 4,767 2,529 5,760 8,063 242 1,026 107,898 4,072 2,278 8,809 7,795 242 2,147 46 2,672 103 40 427 4,414 2,169 372 52 180 5,061 148,657 140,943 Sur lusl Loss for the Year 9,776 (6,981)
Penge Community Pre-school Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2024 2024 2023 Current Assets Bank accounts 172,878 162,794 Current Liabilities PAYE & NI Pension contributions 2,132 486 1,874 436 2,618 2,310 Net Assets 170,260 160,484 resented b Profit and loss account brought forward 160,484 167,465 Surplusl(Loss) for the Year 9,776 (6,981) 170,260 160,484 Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 st March 2024 1. These financial statements have been prepared under the historic cost convention in conformity with previous accounting policies. 2. There are no tangible fixed assets. 3. Value added tax is not recoverable by the Charity and as such is included in the relevant expenditure. 4. Penge Community Pre-school enjoys charitable status and its charity number is 1027244.
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Penge Community Pre-school I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Penge Community Pre-school (the Trust) for the year ended 31 st March 2024. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity Trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("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 all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my 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 as required by section 130 of the Act., or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. 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.. Richard Dovey Accountant 61 Malmains Way Beckenham Kent BR3 6SB 18th April 2024