OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2022-03-31-accounts

St Michael’s AGM 2022- Minutes

12[th] October 2022

Welcome/Apologies

All staff were in attendance at the AGM apart from Jenni Rachel and Michele Brown. All committee members apart from Katherine Griffin were in attendance.

The committee welcomed the parents who were in attendance for the AGM.

Manager’s Report

The contents of the attached Manager’s report were presented at the AGM. There were no followup questions or comments made.

Treasurer’s Report

The contents of the attached Treasurer’s report were presented at the AGM. There were no followup questions or comments made.

Chair’s report

The contents of the attached Chair’s report were presented at the AGM. There were no follow-up questions or comments made.

Standing down of committee

The committee stood down. All current committee members apart from Katherine Griffin chose to remain with the committee.

Election of chair

Yannick Rachel was re-elected as Chair.

Election of Treasurer

Kelly Nunn was re-elected as Treasurer.

Election of secretary

Caitlin Brown was re-elected as secretary.

Page 1 of 2

Volunteering of other committee members

Carrie Thomas volunteered to join the committee.

Thank you

Many thanks to all those who have attended the AGM.

Any Other business

No other issues were brought up at this AGM.

Meeting close

Page 2 of 2

St Michael’s AGM 2022

12[th] October 2022

Welcome/Apologies

Manager’s Report

Treasurer’s Report

Chair’s report

Standing down of committee

Election of chair

Election of Treasurer

Election of secretary

Volunteering of other committee members Thank you

Any Other business

Meeting close

Chair Report AGM October 2022

Firstly, I would like to thank the Management, Staff and Committee members, for what has been a very challenging year. Having never worked within an early-years setting before, there has been so much guidance to wade through in order to gain an understanding and appreciation for what the staff do on a daily basis.

We have had to make decisions quickly and effectively. Overall, we have aimed to maintain a consistent and outstanding provision, for preschool children and families, whilst supporting our loyal and committed staff and yet remain sustainable for future generations of our community

Fundraising

One of the challenges that our preschool is faced with is that we rely on continued charitable contributions and fundraising events in order to survive and improve our settings. Some of the fundraising events that have been organised since the last AGM in October 2021 include:

Unfortunately, the Summer Fete was cancelled due to shortage of volunteers to assist with the event.

What are we fundraising for?

Currently the preschool is focusing the profits of fundraising events on improvements for the outdoor area. The largest investment in the past year was the acquisition of new sheds for the garden; we replaced the old 8’ by 6’ shed, which was falling apart, with two smaller sheds and a bike shed.

This allows the children to enter the sheds and choose which toys they wish to play with, and see all the toys available on the day.

Upcoming year

The upcoming year is going to be tough for everyone. The cost-of-living crisis has led to discussions with the church being held over rental increase.

Now more than ever do we need to start looking at increasing our fundraising events and income. To do this we need to ask you, the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, to consider volunteering some

of your time to join our committee. This will allow us to pool ideas and increase our fundraising income.

Do you know someone who is raising money for a charity through a personal challenge (Marathon, 3-peaks challenge, No-smoking challenge)? Would they consider investing their fundraising into the preschool?

Final thoughts

I have completed my first year as chair at this preschool. I have gotten to know some of the staff and some of the children throughout my visits to the setting. There have been some issues outside of anyone’s control (thank you Ofsted for taking 11 months to accept the EY2 form!), but I can honestly say that volunteering for this preschool has been rewarding and very educational. Once more, I thank the Management, Staff and Committee members for the help and support they have provided.

Annual General Meeting October 2022

Manager’s report 2022

Academic year 2021-22

2021-22 was an interesting year, we were not really over the pandemic but were expected to continue as if we were. We chose as a team to not relax our cleaning regime and continue our toy rotation, we knew it worked from our success the year before at keeping Covid out of the setting, we had less closures and positive cases in the setting than our feeder schools and other local settings, and this was the same for last year too. As well as still trying to navigate the “new normal” of post pandemic, we had the challenge of imbedding the EYFS that had been implement from September 2021. We had done our prep work and decided to go with the Birth-to-five supporting document to inform our curriculum, now the team just needed to get their heads around ranges and tracking under the new system.

We started the Autumn term with 43 children in setting. One of the busiest opening terms I have ever known 28 children returned from the previous year and we had 15 new starters. We also had Jo starting her new role as Key person, Jo had previously been a bank staff member, but this was her first time working as a key person in the setting. Jo Brought some fantastic ideas from her background as a childminder and fitted into the team so well, we felt like she had always been here.

As the first half term ended, we said goodbye to Ashleigh; our apprentice. Ashleigh was moving to a nursery to gain experience in the baby room and finish her course out with them. This meant that we needed to fill the position of key person for Ashleigh’s children and the 5 new children joining us in November. Thankfully Jenni our bank staff team member was available and keen, stepping into the role without missing a beat and completing the team, bringing experience from her nursery work with the younger children we now had more of. We also had an almost complete Committee change, with all three main roles, Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, stepping down at the AGM and the positions being filled by new parents.

We completed our first round of tracking using our new curriculum and EYFS and the team felt that the system worked well. We were able to discuss with parents at feedbacks about the changes and demonstrate how the levels worked, from 1-6, with the children moving through as they develop naturally in the seven areas of development, as identified in the EYFS. We all felt that the levels took pressure of the children, as age expected in months could give a false negative impression, causing some parents to worry about their child’s development. Whereas the ranges are an easier way to explain the process of child development, you start at range one, when born and by the end of the foundation stage will be working towards or in range six.

Our nativity returned to the Church this year, all be it with reduced attendance, as we had to restrict parents to two audience members only. We were so pleased to be back in the

church and the children did us and their families so proud. The committee also managed to run a very successful, though all be it little fundraiser, at the nativity. As their first fundraiser, they should be very proud of themselves. We are hoping to improve on that success at this year’s nativity.

Unfortunately, our Christmas party was rudely interrupted by Covid, when three of our staff became ill in the last week of term and we could not safely run the event. The staff were gutted to not be able to provide the children with the experience and it made the end of a very long and tiring term very anticlimactic. Staff morale was low, and the team tired, covering the hours of three staff off. But at no time did they let this effect the children or impact on the fun and experiences the children had. As throughout the whole pandemic, my staff stepped up and did what was necessary to ensure the children’s lives were as normal and happy as possible. I couldn’t be prouder of them.

2022 started with six new children and ran reasonably smoothly. There was some continued staff illness, and with no bank staff (as we had employed them both), this did put some strain on the team, but as always, they rallied and covered hours and supported children and families. We were also getting our heads around the new EYFS by now and the tracking system, feeling more confident in our choice and our ethos of learning through play and curiosity, planning in the moment and following the children’s interests.

The end of the Spring term we were able to have our Teddy Bear’s Picnic and sponsored scoot. With no restriction on numbers or mingling. We took the opportunity to invite in Major Magic, who usually performs at our Christmas Party, as we had had to cancel his performance in December and wanted the children to get this experience. We had a glorious day, and the committee did a fantastic job of running the event. At the end of which we were able to purchase our new sheds for the garden.

The sheds are our first step in providing an outdoor environment that allows the children to free choose toys and resources, moving more towards more independent play both outside and inside. May we thank Yannick and Matt for coming and building the two storage sheds, they have been a great hit and the children really enjoy the independence that these sheds allow, being smaller than the old shed, we can safely see the children inside and so allow them to choose their own resources. We had some delay on our bike shed but having a shed per garden made a big difference.

As a team we made the decision to stop our toy rotation from the summer term and allow for continuous provision again. This also meant that our more strenuous cleaning schedule could be scaled back also. Though we have kept many practices that started in 2020, we now have a more realistic and manageable schedule, that allows the children to access and select toys as they want. This was much appreciated by the team for several reasons, one being that Caroline had sadly decided to step down from Key person to bank staff from the end of the spring term, and though we had successfully recruited to replace her, Michele was unable to start until June, leaving us short for a half a term, so reducing our time cleaning and rotating toys, made a huge difference.

Michele started at the end of the summer term and though she comes in off a four-year hiatus from childcare employment, she has brought a wealth of knowledge to the team and is just what we needed. Being back at full capacity we happily took our school leavers on their leaver’s trip. Of our 30 leavers, 28 attended the trip to Sir Hillier’s Gardens, near Romsey. We had a fantastic day and the team were very proud of all the children and how they took part in the experiences and enjoyed the day.

The end of the academic year is always a hard one, saying goodbye to our children, especially as we had so many leavers this year, but we also said goodbye to Jane, my Deputy. Jane has worked at the Preschool for 22 years and been the deputy for 18. She dedicated a large part of her working life to St Michael’s, and she is very much missed by the team and the families. I know she is enjoying retirement though and we are hoping she will pop in and see us from time to time.

We also said a sad farewell to Sue, who also stepped down from Key Person to bank staff after 19 years at the setting. We miss her greatly, especially her wonderful messy ideas, but do know she will come to our call for support.

I want to thank both Jane and Sue, who were both instrumental in helping me to find my feet at St Michael’s four years ago, but also on behalf of all the families and children who’s lives they have touched. I get people phoning for places for their own children, or work experience for secondary pupils, asking about job positions and all other enquiries, who mention Jane and Sue by name and recall them fondly and with respect. They are unsung heroes who have had a positive impact on so many lives and have helped to shape a generation in Andover.

With so many school leavers and only 18 returning children, we knew that the autumn term was going to be low on numbers and tight with funding, we made the decision to not recruit and replace these two roles immediately. However, as Jane was deputy and SENCo for the setting and Sue our Health and Safety officer, these positions needed filling. I knew that there was capacity within our team for internal promotion.

After interview Helen was offered the role of Deputy and Nikki that of SENCo. We decided to split these roles as SENCo has become a far more in-depth role over the last few years and we’ve seen a large increase in the number of children with additional needs, requiring interventions and support each year not to mention a larger amount of paperwork and form filling for the role. Jo has also been given the role of Health and Safety Officer, on top of her Key Person duties. Ann-Marie has also taken over the social media side of the pre-school, returning parents have probably noticed an increase in the use of our Facebook page, and Jenni is now our Art co-ordinator. Once Michele has completed her probation period she will become officially our outdoor provision co-ordinator, though she has already taken on most of this role already. We are half a term into the new roles now and all are finding their feet and settled happily into their new roles. The team are finding the new structure works well and have adapted quickly.

So far this year we have had 17 new starters and we have another three joining us from November, taking us to 38 children in setting. This is a much healthier position than we

were in 4 months ago. I am receiving enquiries weekly about spaces and am having to put some children on waiting lists for some mornings, as their desired hours are not available. We have another eight children on the books for the spring term meaning that we will be looking to recruit at least one new staff member from the new year. Next academic year we have 5 children already on the waiting list for a place. So, numbers are going in the right direction.

Our plans and focus for this year are to look at our curriculum and as a team really establish what this means to us and our children’s outcomes. The team will be getting settled into our new structure and building on the strong bonds we already have. We also wish to continue improving the outside provision and environment, where I want to say thank you to Michele and her husband Martin, Jo and her partner Adam, and Yannick and Jenni, all of whom have come in in their own time at weekends to build sheds, clear undergrowth, fill holes, dig out roots and do tip runs. Our pre-school relies on our community and your efforts are greatly appreciated. Moving forward it is our community that we will need further support from to make further improvements and therefore enhance the Pre-school for your children.

Lastly, thank you to the committee, you were thrown in at the deep end with the big three positions last year and have done a fantastic job keeping the pre-school running, helping me to navigate the new invoicing system, being a shoulder to cry on and an ear to whine into. We could not run without you and I know it has been hard with the low numbers, you all have your own lives and work to do and we are grateful for the time you dedicate to the voluntary positions you hold. We all know many hands make light work, so hopefully going forward we will have an increase in committee numbers, making fundraising and events easier for all and more successful.

Treasurer Update for the financial year April 2021 to March 2022 – Provided by Kelly Nunn

Despite having various of members of staff off with COVID, I am very pleased to say that we have not had to borrow any money at all from our ISA. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the whole St Michaels Pre-school team; without their dedication and hard work it would not have been possible for us to provide a continuous service to as many families as possible.

Our ISA balance currently stands at £31,795.06. This is currently enough to cover 3 months’ worth of outgoings, in the event of an emergency.

Early years funding is still our biggest source of income

Total Gross income (Session fees, fundraising, sundry, milk, petty cash)

April 2021-March 2022: £146,461.36 (23% increase on April 2020-March 2021)

Of which £1,145.57 was fundraising and charitable donations.

Payments (wages, rent, fundraising, food, drink, consumables, insurance, registration, equipment, admin, other)

April 2021-March 2022 £137,970.54 (13% increase from April 2020-March 2021)

Overall profit for that financial year was £8,490.82. This has been ringfenced for emergency funds.

This has been my first year as Treasurer for the Preschool. It has been a learning curve with plenty of opportunity for personal growth and development. Monthly meetings with the committee in order to share ideas and have adult conversation have been great, and I have made many friends along the way.

I would like to thank the management, staff and committee for a fantastic year. I feel proud to be part of the team.

Profit and Loss

St Michaels Playgroup For the year ended 31 March 2022

Profit and Loss
St Michaels Playgroup
For the year ended 31 March 2022
2022
Turnover
Donation 592.13
Early Years Education Funding 118,159.74
Fees For Playgroup Sessions 24,081.15
Fund Raising - Photographs/ Tea towels 969.44
Other Revenue 1,955.00
Registration Deposits 655.90
School Uniform 48.00
Total Turnover 146,461.36
Gross Profit 146,461.36
Administrative Costs
Accountancy fees 2,336.80
Administration 1,200.81
Children's Play Equipment / Visitors 1,944.25
Cleaning 1,226.65
Consumables and Stationery 2,295.52
Employers National Insurance 886.37
Fund Raising 40.00
Fund Raising - Photographs & T Shirts 929.40
Insurance & Registration Fees 901.66
Milk & Snack 719.56
Pensions Costs 1,051.12
Rent / Premises Cost 9,874.67
Repairs & Maintenance 137.67
Salaries 112,763.89
Staff Training 1,003.59
Subscriptions 294.34
Telephone & Internet 131.24
Travel 233.00
Total Administrative Costs 137,970.54
Operating Profit 8,490.82
Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation 8,490.82
Profit after Taxation 8,490.82

Profit and Loss

St Michaels Playgroup

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the Charity Name St Michael’s Preschool trustees/ members of

On accounts for the 31/03/2022 year ended

Charity no (if 1032123 any)

Set out on pages

(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

Respective The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this responsibilities of year (under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act),as trustees and amended by s.28 of the Charities Act 2006) and that an examiner

amended by s.28 of the Charities Act 2006) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with General examiner’s Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention ( ~~other than that disclosed below *)~~

Independent examiner's statement

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that:

  2. proper accounting records are kept (in accordance with section 41 of the Act); and

  3. accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act; or

  4. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

  5. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

April 2007

1

IER

Signed: Gemma Coombes

Date: 13/10/2022

Name: Gemma Coombes

Relevant Member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers professional MICB qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address: Cedar Gables, Penton Mewsey Andover Hampshire SP11 0RQ

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.

April 2007

2

IER

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

The opening balance on the accounting system for the bank is incorrect, when reconciling I can confirm all transactions for the year are correct and the opening balance amendment has been requested. The opening balance is £23022.01 but entered onto Xero as £23506.60 and the closing balance reflects the same difference.

The Petty Cash is a minus balance but this is s timing issue and resolved soon after with funds being put back into the petty cash.

April 2007

3

IER