Winterslow Pre-School & Toddler Group AGM – Summer 2023
Welcome and thank-you for joining us tonight.
As a charity, the pre-school relies on many people to ensure its success and you will hear from some of them tonight. You will also hear about the wide range of activities and support that has been on-going all year. As the Management Committee we are extremely grateful to the people who have given their time, many of them voluntarily. Therefore, this report will include several ‘Thanks’ to these people.
Overall, we have had another successful year. Numbers were low in September, but there has been a steady increase and we have a higher than usual number of parents interested in a place for their child for this coming September term.
The staff have always been one of our most treasured assets as they are responsible for making the pre-school such a safe and fun place to be. This year they have continued to face the challenge of making up for the lost opportunities during COVID time. Staff have concentrated on maintaining the attention of the children as well as teaching social skills to help them form positive relationships, have conversations, cooperate, share, and even play together.
Following the introduction of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Guidance (2021), staff have once again reflected on and tweaked our curriculum so that we offer a consistently high level of provision for the children, equipping them well for their transition to primary education.
Helen’s report is available for you to read so that you can get an update on many of the activities and achievements of the children and the staff.
Recruitment has proved to be a worrying problem. We started the year with no Deputy Manager and it took several attempts to recruit someone. Likewise, we thought in September that we had managed to appoint another member of staff, but she was poached back to the primary school. It took until December to get a replacement – a little more on this below.
Nic needs a special mention as she has twice stood in as Deputy Manager, despite having no thoughts of wanting such a role. Had she not agreed to do this the pre-school would have closed. Nic has extensive knowledge and experience of the Deputy Manager’s role. She is also an extremely hard-working member of the team and she is much loved by the children. She deserves a huge ‘Thankyou’.
The staffing rules and regulations put great demands on pre-schools and nurseries as they not only insist that each setting has a Manager and Deputy Manager qualified at Level 3 or above, but for every session there must be at least half of all other staff qualified to at least an approved level 2 qualification. With the low rates of pay and current national staffing shortages recruiting is not
easy. It has taken most of the year to appoint a permanent Deputy Manager – this is Lesley Sandell. Some of you might know her as she has worked at the preschool in the past. Lesley has also agreed to be the Holiday Club Manager. She has already settled in well with the children and so we welcome her back to our pre-school.
As mentioned, we have managed to recruit another member of staff and this is Kevin Cook who started just before Christmas. He has recently been enrolled as an apprentice and will be embarking on at least 18 months of study for his Level 3 in an Early Years Educator qualification. We are pleased that Kevin has settled in so quickly. We feel that having a man brings a different perspective on many aspects of the development of the children. It is not just in play and outdoor activities that Kevin can make a difference. By employing him it gives the children an opportunity to interact with both male and female staff, reflecting a more balanced view of our society and adding value to the pre-school.
I would like to thank Helen for her dedication to the setting. It has been another difficult year for her as staff shortages resulted in her needing to work longer hours. She has given over many extra hours at home to the planning of schemes of work and keeping her paperwork up to date. We thank her for this as she has ensured that the children have been given a high standard of education throughout the year.
Our thanks also go to Alison and Christine who are members of the Bank team and help whenever staff are unavailable for any reason. They need to show much flexibility in what they are asked to do, but they always rise to the occasion with a smile.
Finally, I know the staff very much appreciate the help of all parents and carers as the pre-school would not be able to run so effectively without this level of support.
Training:
We have managed to stay on top of statutory training requirements, with all staff undertaking the annual safeguarding updates as well as Fire Safety and Manual Handling. All staff are trained in Paediatric First aid.
Learning Journeys – Tapestry:
Tapestry is going well with staff uploading evidence of activities undertaken by the children as well as details of individual development. Although we do have a proportion of families contributing to Tapestry in the way of uploading evidenced observations - photographs and written observations at home - this is something staff will continue to focus on to encourage more parental input and feedback.
Finances:
We continue to offer the 15 hours free Nursery Education Funding (NEF) to all families who qualify for this financial support. As you probably know all 3- and 4- year-old children, as well as some 2-year-old children, are entitled to 15 hours of free early education and childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year. Some 3- and 4-year-old children are also entitled to an additional 15 hours per week (30
Hours Childcare). We continue to have parents who pay for additional hours above the 15.
However, government funding for the free entitlement means we have been running at a loss for children who are eligible for this funding. We have been very lucky that we have managed to maintain our reserves despite them being reduced slightly by this government under-funding. We hope we can keep sustainable for the foreseeable future. However, to break even this year, we had to review our fees and put in place a new charging system for the summer term. Despite recent government announcements, the free entitlement funding will be inadequate for the foreseeable future.
Andy will give you an up-to-date account of our finances.
Fundraising:
As budgets are tight, fundraising can help to pay for extra projects such as new play or specialist teaching equipment. We still want to be able to pay for phonics sessions run by an outside peripatetic teacher from Robot Reg. She visits once a week to teach early phonics skills. Each class includes games and activities that teach the children sound recognition, alliteration, oral blending and segmenting - all these are the foundations for reading and writing. These classes are fun for the children, but they are expensive.
Our thanks go to the staff, parents and members of the management committee, who have helped raise money for all the extras that are provided for the children. The sponsored week of litter picking that the staff organised helped the children to learn about respecting and protecting their environment. It also helped the local community by removing much litter from the streets.
Please talk to the staff if you have any fundraising ideas or if you can give a little time in supporting events such as the Christmas Fair.
Wrap around Care:
It has been an aim of the committee to introduce wrap around care. We want to be able to offer childcare that wraps around the conventional school day and into holiday periods. This will extend social and learning opportunities for the children.
With the appointments of Lesley and Kevin, we have managed to re-open on Fridays and in September we are aiming to extend after-school care on Mondays.
We already offer a daily breakfast club and after-school care on Tuesdays to Thursdays. The holiday clubs are proving successful and we hope to be able to offer more weeks during school holiday times.
Future Plans:
We hope that during this next year we can continue to grow, take on more children and get the balance right so we can remain sustainable for many years to come.
The government is to expand the Early Years funding scheme so that working parents of all children over the age of nine months are entitled to free 30 hours of childcare. This is to be phased in as follows:-
From April 2024 , working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare.
From September 2024 , 15 hours of free childcare will be extended to all children from the age of nine months.
From September 2025, working parents of children under the age of five will be entitled to 30 hours free childcare per week.
During these transformational times, we will continue to support staff, families and their children. Our one aim will be to maintain the high quality of provision we know we provide.
Winterslow Pre-School and Toddler Group Profit & Loss Sheet as at 30 September 2022
| INCOME Fees WCC Grant (unrestricted) Toddler Subs Furlough Grant re Covid-19 Income from Sales/Commissions etc Donations/Sponsorship Interest Profit from Events Race Night Car Boot Jubilee Weekend Summer Fayre Christmas Fair Total income in the Year Excess of income over expenditure |
2021/22 2020/21 EXPENDITURE £ £ 24264.5 12532.05 Wages 42355.04 35033.5 Pensions 0 154.79 Training 0 6453.61 Rent 66,619.54 54,173.95 General Expenses Website/marketing/advertising Phone Printing/postage/stationery Craft materials Insurance Learning Resources 977.45 1,479.33 Gov food payment 0.77 0.04 Early Learning Foundation 978.22 1,479.37 Ofsted ICO levy Accountancy fees Presents Staff rewards Xmas DBS Checks Supervisor's costs Trips Loss on Events 450.00 0.00 0.00 400.00 Car Boot 335.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Summer Fair 442.53 0.00 Christmas Fair 1,227.53 400.00 68,825.29 56,053.32 Total Expenditure in the Year 1,675.13 -7,204.55 70,500.42 48,848.77 |
2021/22 2020/21 £ £ 54,333.86 51,744.58 2,052.46 1,582.66 315.80 802.50 4,407.50 6,075.50 0.00 0.00 1,167.19 549.60 181.20 44.00 119.88 201.88 644.12 0.00 876.70 510.61 1,390.00 0.00 435.00 370.00 121.20 121.20 220.00 50.00 35.00 35.00 150.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 200.00 260.00 133.00 224.60 322.25 675.74 45.00 0.00 67,150.16 63,257.87 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 67,150.16 63,257.87 |
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteos WJitwfr e(Lt _ On accounts for the year ended Charity no lif any 10303gS Set out on pagos I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above Charity {"the Trust") for the year ended Responslblllti88 and basis of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Ad 2011 {'the Act'i. I report in respect of rny examinalion 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 rrhe charity's examlnerfs ststsment u keth applicab ss income ex¢èéded £250,000 and l a exa alion by a qualifi ted bodyl . ellifn qualified to f linsert name of I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters hava come to my attention in connection wilh the examination (other than that disclos8d below ') which gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect.. the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act., or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records,. or the accounls did not comply with the applicable requirements ConrnIng the form and content of accounts set out in the Charrties (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirem8nt that the accounts give a Irue and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attenlion should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be aChed. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgnod: Dats: Nam•: Relevant professional quallfi¢ationls) or body IER Oct 2018
(if any): Address: k•J ) (LSL Gknj £ln4 s It Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs lo 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 Oct 2018