Chair's AGM Report September 30[th] 2020
Thank you to everyone for joining this year's AGM. I am sorry that it is on Zoom and not in person - it’s a real shame, but hopefully the meetings at the Cricketers will resume soon as it’s so much nicer to meet in person.
The past year has been a real tough one for many reasons, but although we have been faced with many uncertainties, we have also seen what a strong and supportive team we have at Redbourn pre-school. I speak as chair, but also as a parent, when I say how happy and impressed I was with how smoothly the day to day running of the pre-school continued once we were able to open again. I also know from speaking with other parents how happy the children were to be back after lockdown.
The academic year had a great start in September, our register was looking healthy and the previous year had been a strong fundraising year. Caroline and Jen completed their level 3 qualifications, again – congratulations to them. Excitingly, Eli announced she was pregnant. We had a fabulous Christmas concert, where the children performed in their gorgeous costumes and the committee served teas and coffees and ran a raffle. We also had an incredibly generous prize of a gas fire donated by Shirley’s family, which was a big boost to our fundraising efforts. Eli commenced her maternity leave from February half-term, and she welcomed baby Sydney shortly after, and we then welcomed Francesca to the team and Kelly to acting deputy manager.
We returned shortly after half term to the start of the unrest, with increasingly worrying daily updates from the government on the Coronavirus, and then in March we were forced to close our doors temporarily. Whilst we were closed, we were sorry to lose Fiona Burton, our administrator. Joanna has since started, and although it wasn’t the easiest of handovers due to us still being in lockdown, Joanna has been brilliant at working it all out and continues to be as real asset to the pre-school.
I am so grateful for the support of my committee team throughout the year, but in particular whilst we were closed. We were having nearly daily email conversations to ensure we had a preschool once we were allowed to reopen. I am so proud that we did not have to make any redundancies or furlough anyone, and it’s thanks to Jeanette our treasurer and Shirley my cochair that this was handled so expertly. We had many talks on how to handle fees whilst we were closed and it was decided that fortunately due to fees received from government-funded children we were able not to charge any of the parents a fee during lockdown, while continuing to pay our staff their full wages.
We were also incredibly lucky that the Methodist church very kindly waived rent whilst we were closed. Having spoken to Rev Stuart, he is keen to build on the relationship between the Methodist church and the pre-school, they have been a great support to us.
As expected, fund-raising has had to take a bit of a back seat this year, which was a great shame. Obviously, the money that we raise is vital to the running of the pre-school, but I also think the opportunity to socialise and work as a team was really missed, not to mention the fun
that the children normally have at our annual Summer fun day. However, we are fortunate enough to have secured a grant from Redbourn Parish Council, which means we are able to go ahead and purchase some equipment for the garden, including a mud kitchen and a three way easel.
I must take this opportunity to thank a number of people for their commitment and hard work during the past year. Firstly, high praise must be given to Lorraine, who managed the everchanging situation with confidence, even when there was little for us to go on. We went through every option there was to ensure we could re-open safely – with the children and staff’s safety at the forefront. Having spoken with the staff at the appraisals it was agreed just how well she had handled the situation, so huge thanks to you Lorraine.
To the rest of the team, your continuous commitment, especially previous to lockdown, at a time of great uncertainly, enabling the pre-school to stay open until we were forced to close. I can’t even think of the amount of cleaning you are all having to do however your hard work to make sure the pre-school is a fun but safe place is very much appreciated, you just need to look at how happy the children are to see this.
On the committee side, thank you so much for all your hard work to Louise and Vanessa, who are also stepping down this year from their secretary and fundraising roles, and welcome to Helen who is stepping in as secretary and Leanne and Samantha in fundraising. We also welcome Laura to the committee too – your support is greatly appreciated – thank you all.
And finally thank you to Shirley for stepping up to the chair role and Jeanette for continuing her treasurer role – we would be lost without you two, and I feel stepping down, as chair, that the pre-school is in very secure hands.
Who knows what the next year has in store for us. I just hope we can keep the children all in their settings, as it feels like they missed out on so much last year. Whatever happens we have a great team and I am sure we are ready to meet whatever challenges lie ahead.
Thanks again for joining the AGM, your support is greatly appreciated.
Redbourn Pre-School
Income and Expenditure Account For the year ended 31 July 2020
| Income Fees Grants and donations(1) Fundraising Milk refund Sundries Interest Expenditure Wages Training Equipment / Sundries Rent Milk Advertising Insurance and DBS fees Gifts Profit / (loss) for the period Balance Sheet As at 31 July 2020 Current assets Bank current account Deposit account Petty cash Debtors Current liabilities Creditors Net current assets/ (liabilities) Reserves (2) Balance brought forward Profit / (loss) for the period |
2020 2019 £ £ 26,060 26,648 31,700 35,739 639 2,835 0 0 170 119 58,570 65,341 47,080 57,734 293 344 3,368 6,218 7,678 6,308 0 210 929 889 200 168 59,548 71,871 (979) (6,530) 2020 2019 £ £ 1110 10,406 28636 20,317 87 89 29,833 30,812 29,833 30,812 30,812 37,342 (979) (6,530) 29,833 30,812 |
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Approved by the Committee on 30th September 2020
Jeanette A Burden
Treasurer (Trustee)
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAIES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner"s Report Report to the truslee¥l members of Redbcrn Pr&School On accounts for the year •nded 31 July 2020 Charity no (If any) 1031610 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf} for the year ended 31 July 2020. Responsibiliti and ba$1$ of rpport As the charitls trustees, you a responsible for the preparation of the accounls in accordance with the requiremerts of the Charities Act 2011 he At). I report in resFed of my examination of the Trusf8 accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act arKI in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the aptAirable Directions given by the ChaTty Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have xaminerfs 8tatemant come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me Cause to believe that in. any material respect.. the accounting records were not kept in accordan with section 130 of the Charities Ad" or the accounts did not a(ord with the accounting records,. or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements nrnIng the foffti ar content of accounts set cxrt in th8 Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the a¢¢ourts give a true and fairf view which is not a matter consKJered as part of an independent examination. I have no cOnmS and have come a(xoss no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should drawn in this report in order to enable a FforEr understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: 22 Septber 2020 Name: Adam Clark Relevant professional quallfication(s) or body (If any): ACA Address: HWB, Cleveland Road, Hemel Hempstead. HP2 7BW IER Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure Only comwe rf the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern Glve here briof details of any ltsms that the examiner wishes to IER Oct 2018