MINUTES OF THE 2024 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Wednesday 6th November 2024 19:30 Virtual meeting – Microsoft Teams
Attendees:
Donna Sarney, Jen O’Brien, Ben Murphy, Jodie Whatley-Smith, Anna Clark, Sandra Warwick, Dani Warwick, Jade Whatley, Sara Jackson, Anne-Marie Singleton, Blayke Handiside, Curtis Mitchell, Jo Lanfear, Elaine Carr, Wendy Hillier, Emily Jupp, Hayaan Adama, Wing On Chan, Maya Tharanee, Sarah Harvey, Zara Heram, Bea Buckley, Sarah Harvey, Oliver Kwok, Ricky Lai, Jenny Cavubati, Hannah McKenzie
Apologies:
Becci & Adam Warren, Hina & Shahbaz Hussain, Gloria Leung & Tommy Kwan, Ellie & Matthew Teagle, Louise Lunn, Jake Card, Julie Loosley, Yue (Merry) Wang, Shellie Litchfield, Dani Warwick
1. Welcome
Meeting commenced at 7.30pm chaired by Jen O’Brien (Chair)
Jen started the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking them for attending
2. Accepting of Minutes from last AGM
Copies of the previous AGM minutes and agenda had been circulated to all parents and staff before the meeting. The minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record of last year’s AGM held on 1st November 2023.
Proposed: Ruth West Seconded: Donna Sarney
3. Manager’s Report - presented by Donna Sarney (Manager 2021 to date)
Firstly, thank you for joining us. As you will all be aware, Earleybird pre-school is a charity registered, committee run pre-school therefore each year we hold this meeting to elect in our committee for the year. We have been very lucky to continue to operate with the kindness of our voluntary committee and we thank them wholeheartedly for the time and dedication they give to the continued operation of the pre-school.
This Year we see Jodie Whatley our current Secretary step down from her role, thank you for the time you have given us this past year. We are extremely lucky to have Jen our
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Chair continue with us for another year and Ben our treasurer.
This past year Earleybird pre-school has continued to grow and develop with the committee’s support and continued passion of our staff team thankyou to the team who give their everything to everyday. I would like to take this moment to congratulate Dani Warwick who has successfully completed your Early years educator NVQ and at this point wish Rebeca Lovato and Merry wang every success with their newly enrolled NVQ’s.
As a Preschool we focus our values on developing the children’s confidence, independence, resilience, creative thinking and sustained attention to give them to foundations for their ongoing learning journey and transition to school. We have a learn through play ethos with our staff being the biggest the resource for the children.
We value ourselves as parents in being the children’s first teachers and value your knowledge of your children’s development, needs and interests and therefore work in partnership with you when planning the children’s individual targets and milestones. As part of our parent partnership ethos, we welcome you to spend sessions in the pre-school with the children and will open up these parent rota sessions after Christmas.
We have are especially lucky to have lots planned for the year, we have monthly visits to Austen House to participate in tailored intergenerational sessions provided by butterfly buddies, this is funded by the pre-school from our fundraising, we have extra curricular sessions planned for every other half term which is partially funded by our fundraising, this will be reviewed to become termly if we receive enough parent contributions to fund the next half term. We have a visit in the diary for spring to have a visit from Feathers and Furred (Birds of Prey) and will also have Living eggs experience for the children in Spring.
We are extremely lucky to have local parks in which we visit frequently during the warmer months and natural spaces in which we can take nature walks and develop the children knowledge of Biodiversity.
We continue to develop our partnership with Hawkedon, especially their reception team and the past year has seen the opening of the outside space to become a shared space with the reception children, Hawkedon invested in the development of the outside space with the replacement of the old rubber matting with fresh looking astro turf which I am sure you will agree looks beautiful and the children are enjoying the grass feel of the outside area. The gates between the rooms will begin to open up this term to allow the shared spaces to become even larger for the children.
With the majority of our children transitioning through to Hawkedon for school we value the partnership we have with them for aiding the transition not only for the children but also yourself as parents. The shared spaces and collaboration between us allows for seamless change into school.
This Saturday we are joining with Hawkedon TLC day to spruce up the outside areas and give them the time we don’t find in our normal day to day, if you are free to give a couple of hours this Saturday, please do let me know.
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Mrs Lanfear head of Hawkedon school intake has kindly joined us this evening to give you an insight to Hawkedon and school application. I will pass you over…
4. Guest Speaker – Jo Lanfear, Head of Hawkedon School Intake
Jo Lanfear, Hawkedon School Teacher, Phase Lead for Reception and Head of Hawkedon School Intake, outlined how well the working partnership between Earleybird pre-school and Hawkedon School works. Ensuring good communication between them to help with the transition into school from the early years setting. She appreciated that pre-school works with the children to get them school ready.
She invited parents to book onto the school’s open days, which will give them the opportunities come into the school to look around, get a feel for the school, and find out more about what their children will be doing if the parents decide on Hawkedon as their school of choice when applying for their primary school place. This year’s application opens on 13 November and Hawkedon look forward to welcoming your children into the Reception class in September.
5. Chairs’ Report - presented by Jen O’Brien (Chair 2020 – to date)
Evening all, I’m Jen and I’m chairperson for Earleybird Pre-school. This is the end of my fourth year of being chair and I hope to continue for another year. Both my children have been through Earleybirds with my son now in year 3 and daughter in year 5. I have really enjoyed being chair this year and watching the pre school thrive and develop. I try to pop into the pre school once a week to catch up with staff and see the children who are all happily engrossed in various activities. (which tend to be very loud and messy!!)
I also want to give massive thanks to ALL the wonderful staff. They create the most wonderful relationships with the children, which is shown by how much the children love coming in. I’m sure as parents you can all understand how hard the staff work in setting up activities that spur the children’s curiosity and interests to keep them busy and entertained throughout the days. I have the highest admiration for the staff seeing how they interact with the students and all the activities they do and encouraging outdoor play which I’m a big fan of! Donna as always special mention as she makes my role as chair super easy. She is a fountain of knowledge and knows everything about all the children and really does focus on the best for them. Thank you Donna! Ruth – what we would do without her I don’t know! She has all the answers to everything committee and Wokingham borough related and I cannot thank her enough for all she does and all the papers she gets me to sign!!! Thank you Ruth.
Secondly, I’d like to thank the committee for everything they do. Without their support and hard work the fundraising and day-to-day running would not be as smooth. This year we have held a Bingo, Colour run and a circus which were hugely successful. Thank you, committee, for all your hard work and the support you have given me and the preschool. This year we ran the circus which was an amazing event. It was magical seeing the
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children’s faces walking up to the top tent. The laughter that came out of it was brilliant. I don’t intend to run the colour run this year as it takes a lot of time and with limited volunteers it is too tricky. Maybe with years break we can pick it up again once people miss it! As you have all seen the new grass in the garden for starling room what a difference that as made, a new mud kitchen in robin room we really are so lucky to have all this outdoor space!
As the national minimum wage, cost of living and our rent go up it is even more important that we raise as much money as possible so that the pre- school can remain open. If we do not get the volunteers that we need I cannot safely run events – which in turn means we cannot supply the preschool with the supplies that you as parents have become accustomed to. Please help us and volunteer some time.
We, as a committee, have had a few meetings with Mrs Hughes to continue building the partnership with Hawkedon. The school has always been very generous in allowing us to hold fundraising events in the hall and waived the rental fee. Donna and the team have created a fantastic working relationship with the foundation team to help those who go to Hawkedon school, and I feel this is just continuing to grow and has such a positive impact on those going to foundation. The open days that Hawkedon offer are an excellent opportunity for those going to Hawkedon to see the rest of the school and get a feel for the community within.
Staying on this year we have Anne Marie and Jade they are fundraisers and do an amazing job – thank you! I personally am very excited to see what’s next for Earleybirds. I will finish on another thank you to all the staff for the hardwork and time you put into all the children. Thank you.
6. Treasurer’s Report – Ben Murphy (Treasurer 2023-2024)
Hi, I’m Ben and I’ve been Committee Treasurer for the past 12 months. Three of the children in my life have attended Earleybird, the youngest left in July and I still miss Friday updates and photos on Famly!
As Treasurer I get to give the slightly drier update this evening. I’ll present figures onscreen for academic year 2023/24 but I hope you’ll indulge me as I try to put these into the context of providing a safe, secure and stimulating environment for the children. So at a high level you’ll see that our income is up £16,000 (7%) on last year while our expenditure was also 7% higher than in 2023/24. We ran a budgetary surplus again this year following one in 2022/23 which itself came after a deficit year in 2021/22.
For narrative purposes I’m going to defy convention and start with that expenditure. Staff costs, of course, make up the vast majority of our expenditure. And I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the incredibly capable and passionate education team who look after the children and enable the children to develop and grow during their time at preschool. We made the decision to peg staffing costs to our core funding stream from Wokingham BC. This increases confidence in our ongoing ability to meet core costs and the greater
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certainty means we can continue to invest in staff and think more creatively about reward. You’ll note spending on rent was double in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23. Just to explain, this is an accounting period anomaly where the third rent payment from 2022/23 was actually paid the first week of September 2023. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank colleagues at Hawkedon Primary for their continued support – reflected in the generosity of their approach to rent setting – and general appetite for cooperation.
The preschool is not immune to the impact of the cost of living crisis and you’ll notice that spending on materials and fundraising events have increased from last year. You’ll also see we continued to invest in materials and equipment for the children including the new mud kitchen which went into the Robin room site last year.
Moving onto receipts then. Our core income is made up of funding for statutory free entitlement, which we prioritise. Like most other early years settings, we supplement this income through a mix of private fees for hours over the free entitlement and fundraising. I want to take this opportunity to thank the amazing team of fundraisers that support Earleybird. They raised over £4,000 after costs in 23/24 (this figure doesn’t include the circus as that event fell within current accounting year) but the events they run offer more than just an opportunity to raise money that goes back into delivering great care and support for the children by helping to foster community among the preschool family as well as the wider Lower Earley area.
Finally, a look at the state of our accounts. Each offers a different function – our current account is for day-to-day running, the instant account acts as a back up for that, and our charity bank account holds sufficient reserves for redundancies and emergencies. Last year, with a new Treasurer and off the back of a deficit in 2021/22, we took a relatively cautious approach to investment. This year offers more solid ground to explore how to continue to invest in our staff, our equipment and our surroundings for the benefit of the children here at Earleybird.
I’d like to finish by thanking my fellow committee members for their support throughout the year. And a massive thank you to Donna and Ruth, without whom I’d be lost at times (and I don’t think I’m alone in that!) And thank you to our parents for their continued support. I look forward to seeing you all at Bingo on Friday!
SUMMARY OF ACCOUNT 2023-2024
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CHMITY COMM15510N FOP ENGIANOANDWAiES 10293 Recelpts and payments a¢¢ounts CC16a FotthD pDriad fFoin I'OYX23 31 (&212 Section A Receipts and payrn ents Las1 yt Al R•¢•l FEE$fr IV 1*29 R) Slrb J14 AJ PtyM•nts PAYE 17. 5VJ FDMS 76> 706 1S4 total AlAatandIn•&nt
Jb tor Net A5 lund ABC&h lasty&f•nd shhlrtts vlise1)d Ifil.452 Section 8 Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the pèriod Bl C••h IwAI• rnS11 Dtls D•1411s B4 kn9ets ietaltkdforthe r¥y'B 4 B5 Lbll• ¢1411*tryl
7. Vote on Policy Document
No changes need to be made to the pre-school Policy Document. Therefore, it was agreed to re-adopt the document which was updated last year and adopted at last year’s AGM.
The full Earleybird Pre-School Policy Document is available to download the pre-school website (www.earleybird.org.uk) and printed version will be supplied on request by contacting our Administrator.
Proposed: Jen O’Brien Seconded: Ruth West
8. Resignation of Committee and Election of New Committee
Jen thanked all current committee members for their support this year and those stepping down this year. The Committee member stepping down is Jodie Whately-Smith (Secretary).
All committee members shown below were unanimously voted in with 20 counts by all attendees of the AGM:-
| Committee Position |
Name | Nominated by | Seconded by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | Jennifer O’Brien | Becks Edwards | Sara Jackson |
| Secretary | Sara Jackson | Becci Warren | Laura Richardson |
| Treasurer | Ben Murphy | Becks Edwards | Sara Jackson |
| Fundraiser | Jade Whatley | Sara Jackson | Becks Edwards |
| Fundraiser | Anne-Marie Singleton |
Laura Richardson | Sara Jackson |
And Donna Sarney, our Manager, was voted onto the committee as a co-opted member.
8. AOB
No other business was raised.
The first committee meeting for the new committed was arranged for 19th November at 7pm.
Jen O’Brien closed the meeting at 8.10pm
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| Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
Earleybird Pre-School 1029326 CC16a Receipts andpayments accounts 9/1/2023 To 8/31/2024 For the period from ~~==~~ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section A Receipts and payments | ||||||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | ||||||||
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | ||||||
| A1 Receipts Fees from Wokingham BC 206,561 - - 206,561 202,902 Private Fees 26,763 - - 26,763 14,476 Fundraising 9,325 - - 9,325 10,948 Other 76 - - 76 526 Interest Earned on Bank Accounts 2,629 - 2,629 463 245,353 - - 245,353 229,314 A2 Asset and investment sales Sub total(Gross income for AR) ~~=~~ ~~= =~~ |
||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Sub total | Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts 245 | 245,353 | - | - | - | 245,353 | 229,314 | ||||||
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||||
| Wages | 158 | 158,302 | - | - | - | 158,302 | 154,305 | |||||
| PAYE | 17 | 17,522 | - | - | - | 17,522 | 18,940 | |||||
| Pensions | 6 | 6,721 | - | - | - | 6,721 | 6,267 | |||||
| Materials | 1 | 1,898 | - | - | - | 1,898 | 1,401 | |||||
| Expenses | 10 | 10,545 | - | - | - | 10,545 | 10,917 | |||||
| Food Shop | 2 | 2,962 | - | - | - | 2,962 | 3,004 | |||||
| FundraisingExpenditure | 4 | 4,769 | - | - | - | 4,769 | 3,706 | |||||
| Training | 665 | 665 | - | - | - | 665 | 549 | |||||
| Rent | 20 | 20,056 | - | - | - | 20,056 | 10,028 | |||||
| Phone | 154 | 154 | - | - | - | 154 | 168 | |||||
| Garden | 1 | 1,925 | - | - | - | 1,925 | 1,570 | |||||
| Miscellaneous | 706 | 706 | - | - | - | 706 | 535 | |||||
| Sub total 226 | 226,224 | - | - | - | 226,224 | 211,390 | ||||||
| A4 Asset and investmentpurchases | ||||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Sub total - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Total payments 226 | 226,224 | - | - | - | 226,224 | 211,390 | ||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) 19,129 - - A5 Transfers between funds - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 160,452 - - Cash funds this year end 179,581 - - ~~===~~ |
- - - - |
19,129 17,924 - - 160,452 142,527 179,581 160,452 ~~——~~ |
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | ||||
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | funds | ||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||
| B1 Cash funds | Lloyds Current Account 78,511 - - Lloyds Bus Bank Instant 24,524 - - Petty cash 41 Charity Bank saver 76,505 - - 179,581 - - Total cash funds ~~——===~~ |
|||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK (agree balances with receipts and payments |
OK | OK | |||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | ||||
| funds | funds | funds | ||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | |||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | ||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Laptops Unrestricted - - School Furniture Unrestricted - - Toys Unrestricted - - Digital Camera Unrestricted - - Ipads Unrestricted - - ~~===~~ |
|||||
| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||
| Details | liability relates | (optional) | (optional) | |||
| B5 Liabilities | August 2024 PAYE | Unrestricted | 1,207 | Sept 2024 | ||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Print Name | Date of approval |
07/02/2025
| Lloyds Current Account |
Lloyds Bus Bank Instant Account |
Charity Bank 40- Day Saver |
Petty Cash | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening balance 01/09/2023 Ext. receipts Ext. payments Interest earned Investment Transfers INCOME Investment Transfers EXPEDITURE Calculated closing balance 31/08/2024 Closing balance on bank statement 31/08/2024 |
62,014.14 242,720.94 -226,223.84 0.00 0.00 0.00 |
24,217.13 0.00 0.00 306.97 0.00 0.00 |
74,183.55 0.00 0.00 2,321.58 0.00 0.00 |
36.75 683.00 679.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 |
|||
| 78,511.24 | 24,524.10 | 76,505.13 | 40.55 | ||||
| 78,511.24 | 24,524.10 | 76,505.13 | 40.55 |
07/02/2025
Additional Information required for online submission of the annual return
| 2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-19 | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017-18 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fees from Wokingham BC | 202902 | 173308 | 192515 | 163638 | 154,809 | 138636 |
| Private Fees | 14476 | 13221 | 13889 | 4379 | 13861 | 11157 |
| Fundraising | 10948 | 8271 | 3385 | 6942 | 10814 | 9259 |
| Other | 526 | 121 | 427 | 140 | 223 | 112 |
| Interest Earned on Bank Accounts | 279 | 9 | 7 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| Total receipts | 229131 | 194931 | 210222 | 175134 | 179743 | 159201 |
| Wages | 154305 | 148015 | 141607 | 138009 | 122035 | 109959 |
| PAYE | 18940 | 19148 | 15013 | 12726 | 9954 | 5339 |
| Pensions | 6267 | 5264 | 5307 | 4614 | 2486 | 1289 |
| Materials | 1401 | 1036 | 3660 | 1403 | 2726 | 3240 |
| Expenses | 10917 | 10073 | 5156 | 11543 | 3765 | 4068 |
| Food Shop | 3004 | 2798 | 2116 | 1277 | 1949 | 598 |
| Fundraising Expenditure | 3706 | 3568 | 286 | 5473 | 7353 | 6444 |
| Training | 549 | 1516 | 365 | 1264 | 605 | 676 |
| Rent | 10028 | 16067 | 12000 | 8000 | 12000 | 9600 |
| Phone | 168 | 186 | 211 | 260 | 336 | 252 |
| Garden | 1570 | 364 | 1832 | 576 | 5048 | 3789 |
| Miscellaneous | 535 | 472 | 1884 | 1141 | 1422 | 1346 |
| Total payments | 211390 | 208506 | 189439 | 186285 | 169679 | 147601 |
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 17741 | -13575 | 20784 | 11151 | 10065 | 11601 |
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 142527 | 156102 | 135319 | 14647 | 136405 | 124804 |
| Cash funds this year end | 160268 | 142527 | 156102 | 135319 | 146470 | 136405 |
142031.3 121315.8 134760.5 114546.6 108366.3 97045.2
0.884727 0.994915 0.841114 0.949346 0.868651 0.840958 179513 172427 161927 155349 134475 116587
147972.7 145954.5 132607.3 130399.5 118775.3 103320.7
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustsesl members of EA D PQLSCHOOL On accounts for the year end8d Charlty no (if any) 31st AU&UST 202 Icmdl IC)2 31 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('the Trusf) for the year ended 3 1 /0 8 / wZIk . Re8ponslbllltle8 and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation ba81s of rnport of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Yhe AGt'). 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 Directions given by the Charity Commi88ion under section 145(5){b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the account8 do not accord with the accounting rncords Independent examiner's 8tstsm8nt I have no concems and have come acr088 no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to b8 reached. ' Please delete the words in the brackets rfth8y do not apply. Slgned: Date: 7th JL)Mc 20 Nam•: LINQShl A 6ALtrIAM Relevant professlonal quallflcatlon(s) or body (If any): N(JNE Address: 31 LEDRfW QLDE LI EArfL IER October 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brlef details of any items that the examiner wl8hes to disclose. Njc£ku ÈD n(Je . IER October 2018