1/9/2024 - 30/8/2025
Little Explorers Cash Flow (£'s)
| £'s Essex County Funding Fundraising & Donations Preschool Fees Uniform/Bags/Scrap Books SEN Grant Other Grants Sundry Income Wages Inland Revenue Beaumont Seymour Fees Staff Training Preschool Uniform Rent Office/Postage/Stationary Phone Cleaning Materials PPE Costs EYA Membership & Insurance Ofsted Fee & DBS Snacks/Refreshments Outings Art & Craft Materials Play Equipment Sundry Expenditure Expenditure Net Cashflow Opening Balance Bank + Cash Net Cashflow Closing Balance Bank + Cash |
Grand Total |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 84,617.00 308.05 0.00 21.00 1,848.00 840.08 4,237.86 91,871.99 53,865.55 295.83 360.00 425.02 204.02 10,283.76 525.61 92.04 172.52 4.99 631.53 156.81 195.95 744.80 306.17 676.17 1,063.53 70,004.30 21,867.69 83,514.38 21,867.69 105,382.07 |
Little Explorers Pre-School
Accompanying Comments on Cashflow for Year Ending 31st August 2025
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Essex County Funding : In line with 2023-24. Overall number of children in the pre-school setting and mix of children receiving basic vs additional funding stable year on year. Does reflect annual increase in funding rates in Summer term.
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Preschool Fees : £0 income in 2024-25 with no children/hours provided where private contributions required and local authority funding not available.
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SEN Grant : Two children eligible for grants in 2024-25.
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Other Grants : grants obtained in 2024-25 included Colchester Borough Homes grant towards summer trip and Local Councillor Locality grant for clothing.
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Sundry : EYPDP Phase 3 Cohort 3 Training funding for staff out of work hours £2,400, and EYPDP £1,000 for equipment (to be spent in 2025-26).
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Wages : 4% year on year decease. Staff structure change in 2024-25. Full time member of staff left at the end of 2023-24. An apprentice joined the team in 2024-25, some staff hours were increased, and salary increases from April 1.
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Inland Revenue : Employee earnings in 2024-25 required some NI/PAYE payments to HMRC.
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Staff Training : Includes Best Practice Apprenticeship fees.
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Rent : 2.5% year on year increase in Greenstead Community Centre rent.
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Outings : £745 spent on Jimmy’s Farm (coach and entrance fee), part funded by CBH grant.
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Sundry Expenses : Includes transferred of Essex County funding to another pre-school on movement of child.
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Net Cashflow : the 2024-25 £21,868 surplus allows for a lower number of children initially expected in 2025/26.
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Annual Report for Little Explorers Pre-School
(Year ending 31/8/2025)
Little Explorers Pre-School is a committee run charity registered member of the Early Years Alliance it operates term time only childcare, 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday. It supports families whose children may have SEND and works closely with partners like Social Care and Family Solutions.
The Pre-School continues to accept funded and non-funded children, aged 2-4, from around the local Greenstead area and beyond. Most of the income that the Pre-School obtains is from Essex County Council, based on an annual contract for childcare. Depending on individual child’s needs further pupil funding can be applied for through a Special Education Needs grant, again from the local Council.
Fundraising was well supported by families again this year. A Christmas ‘buy a square raffle’ were organised also an Easter raffle was a big hit. Donations of prizes and help from committee members was greatly appreciated. The PreSchool obtained donated of new books from Penguin House, and these were given to all the children at the end of the year leaving celebrations.
Families were invited to work alongside the children during Christmas craft week and also a couple of parents came in to make Ice-cream and to teach maths in French.
An extra unexpected one-off payment was received, following the Early years development programme being completed by staff from Essex County Council. This will be used to purchase new Maths associated resources in the future.
The Pre-School expenditure includes staff wages, payroll via third party accountancy firm (Beaumont Seymour), Ofsted registration, ongoing staff training, rent, food, cleaning materials, Early Years Alliance registration and insurance, telephone, and office equipment. All essential to running the pre-School on a yearly basis.
Employed at the Pre-school are 5 members of staff, all of whom work directly with the children. All staff continue to be extremely dedicated and hardworking for the benefit of the Pre-School. One member of staff is in their second year of a Level 3 apprenticeship and continues to build her skills and knowledge with support from the staff and Holly at Best Practice. (This was the first apprenticeship that the Pre-School has offered).
The committee continue to be a valuable means of support for the group and the joint managers. The committee meet every term, and the chair conducts the managers appraisals on a yearly basis. (They are responsible for the day to day running of the group). Further support can be obtained directly from Essex County Council advisers if required.
Collections from the ‘Fareshare’ organisation continue to be collected from Tesco every week, by a member of staff. This allows the snack costs to remain low, with families not having to pay for food. The Pre-School had its OFSTED Inspection on the 26[th ] of June 2025 and was graded ‘Good’. A letter of appreciation was received from the local MP Pam Cox. All staff were pleased with this grading as the this was the joint managers first grading since taking charge.
The summer term trip was to Jimmys Farm, Suffolk and was well received by families. A 54 seated coach was nearly filled. The trip was completely free and funded by a grant from Colchester Borough Homes and Pupil premium money.
The end of year graduation was well attended by families and children where they received a graduation photograph as part of their good luck/farewell giftpack. Feedback from families via the end of year questionnaire continues to be positive. It is recognised that staff do all they can to help the children thrive.
The end of year accounts continues to show a healthy balance, and this will enable the Pre-School to continue providing a valuable childcare service to its community, while keeping wages as competitive as possible and charges to families at zero.
The Heart of Greenstead Project development continues to be ongoing, with the Pre-School included in the plans still to potentially move premises.
Rachel and Julie (Joint Managers/Committee Treasurer)