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Gillshill Pelican Pre-School Playgroup _ Financial Statement 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2022
INCOME
| ; | Breakfast Club | £977.50 | ||||||||
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| . | Fees | £4,466.44 | ||||||||
| ; | Funding DAF | £1,230.00 | ||||||||
| Funding EHCP | £3,386.00 | |||||||||
| Funding EYPP | £2,212.00 | |||||||||
| Funding NEG | £128,964.91 | . | ||||||||
| Funding SENCO | £7 262.42 | |||||||||
| FUNDRAISING | ||||||||||
| Business Expenses (Refund) | £11.75 | |||||||||
| Donations RaffleTickets Rates (Refund) |
£650.00 £448.00 £56.72 |
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| Sponsored Cram | £1,124 80 | |||||||||
| Sports Day | £395.22 | |||||||||
| SSP Grant | £192.70 | |||||||||
| Sweatshirts | £109.50 | |||||||||
| Wages (Overpayment) | £975.91 | |||||||||
| Total | IncomeforGroup | £152,483.87 | ||||||||
| EXPENDITURE | ||||||||||
| Attachment of Eamings | £120.00 | |||||||||
| Business Expenses | £1,106.63 | |||||||||
| CERTFIGD TvM GRIFFTHS |
Q\ : THS |
. | EndofYearPresents Equipment FundingDAF FundingEYPP GasElectric&Water |
£316.05 £590.32 £33.98 £310.76 £1845.34 |
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| ReTileo &Ail | Ail | / MANAGEL |
Insurance -Buildings PLA- |
£1362.98 £8 82 |
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| (LLoNos) | 1 ' : ; os) \ 24623 AAI |
insurance - Sage Intemet Jubilee Ofsted Parentmail Party PAYE Tax/NIC |
£1,814.15 £366.00 £8 13 £50.00 £233.58 £8955 £10,433.19 |
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| Publications | £8.75 | |||||||||
| Rates | £411.24 | |||||||||
| Rent Repairs/Maintenance |
£1.00 £3,564.10 |
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| Sponsored Cram | £224.17 | |||||||||
| Sports Day | £41.00 | |||||||||
| Staff Pension | £4828.46 | |||||||||
| Staff Uniform Stationary |
£161.28 £77.26 |
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| Supplies Tapestry Telephone Training Wages |
£2,068.53 £153.60 £297.79 £118.74 £123,344,38 |
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| Waste Disposal | £317.74 | |||||||||
| Total | ExpenditureforGroup | £155,181.68 |
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Balance Forwards Current Account =” £59,811.71 Petty Cash Account £4.15 Income Over Expenditure for the Group Balance Carried Forwards Current Account £57,113.92 . Petty Cash Account £11.46
£59,815.86
£57,118.07
£57,125.38
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Independent examiner's. , report to the
[report on the accounts of the Pre-School for the year ended 31% August 2022.
RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES AND EXAMINER
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
Itis my responsibility to:
Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act
To follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act
To state whether particular matters have come to my attention
BASIS OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken dco not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whetherthe accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the following statement.
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_ INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S STATEMENT
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In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: .
(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 f the 2011 Act
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act
have not been met; cr
- (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Name: HRS TRACEM MN. GOL FErTHS
Relevant professional qualification or body: Ret. 06p Bank MA AGEL Custos)
Address: WX WIGtHAECO Sudtent How HoT utk Date: . 3 . 1023
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2574 NOVEMBER 2021
Welcome: Sue welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked everyone for attending. Sue welcomed our new member, Lisa and introductions took place around the table. Apologies were received from Kelle, Caroline T, Shiney, Ruth, Caroline W, Nicki, Kayleigh (new member).
Confidentiality: Karen reminded everyone that all matters that were discussed at the Committee Meetings should remain confidential and not discussed with anyone outside of the Committee. Karen explained about the role and responsibilities of the Committees. We discussed DBS and EY2 forms and a DBS form was given to Lisa to complete. Minutes of last meeting were emailed to all members prior to this meeting and all were happy were them. : September cohort: Sue advised that we are full this year (42 children on roll) and many of our parents are keen to take on more sessions if they become available. Elaine has a waiting list of names should this be the case. We have started our Breakfast Club from 8.00 a.m. each day. This costs £2.50 per day and children receive cereal and a drink. This has not been as successful as we would have hoped (usually between 2-5 children per day) but we are hoping this picks up throughout the year. Lisa asked if older siblings from school could attend our Breakfast Club. We advised that would mean mixing bubbles and as our session starts at 8.30 a.m. the older children would have to leave then as we would have no room for them to stay until school opens at 8.45 a.m. . Sue advised that Gillshill and Cavendish Schools have changed their leaving time to 3.00 p.m. for all children and therefore we have had to change our end of session time ag some parents were unwilling to stand outside until our session finished at 3.30 p.m. Some parents had complained and insisted their child leaves early, but we were unable to have children leaving at different times as this causes a number of issues for us ¢.g. safeguarding, maintaining staff ratios, being able to provide 3 hours funded education, disruption to the end of the session etc. We therefore made the decision to allow all children to leave at 3.15 p.m. However, if parents want to pick up their child at 3.30 p.m. as normal that was fine. This seems to be working for us at the moment.
SEND: Sue reported that Sally was doing really well in her new role as SENCO. Sally and Tara provide 1-1 support for two children in the setting and both parents (Lauren and Lisa) were very pleased with the support and the progress the children were making. Educational Health Care Needs Assessment Requests had been completed
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and submitted for both children so hopefully they should receive EHC Plans by April 2022. Sue reported that we had 4 other children on the SEND Register and we had _ concems regarding 4 more so our Area Senco was visiting the setting to observe them "and advise and support the staff. .
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP): Sue advised that 7 children were in receipt of EYPP. This is extra funding of £100 per term for children whose parents are eligible to receive it. We have to use the funding to enhance the child’s experience/learning with us and we have written to the parents asking for ideas on how they would like to see the money being spent. This could be resources, :staff training, interventions etc. One idea we have is to use some of the funding to enable us to have a Speech and Language Therapist come to the setting to work with the children and train the staff, as many children would benefit from this. We have a number of children waiting for an assessment from the Speech and Language Therapy Service, but the waiting list is so long it can take months before they are assessed. Lauren and Lisa mentioned that Susie Hayton from KIDS might be able to help with this and will forward me her details. Parental Partnership: We have continued to greet the children at the gate (parents do not come into the setting to drop off or collect their child) but we will have inductions, open evenings, stay and play sessions etc indoors if Covid rules allow. We have recently held a Parents Evening which was well attended and we received some positive feedback. Key workers take their children out to the parents at the end of the session go that they can havea face to face conversation with the parents of their key children. *
Budget: Elaine informed us that we finished £6,000 up last year and this year we are up £6,000 compared to this time last year. This is mainly due to the fact that we are full and are therefore receiving more funding. Sue asked the Committee if it would be possible to pay the staff a Christmas Bonus this year. The staff are on the minimum wage and have not received a pay increase or a bonus for many years. Sue also informed the Committee that staff were working extra hours to cover the Breakfast Club, they were working extra lunches to cover our Lunchtime Supervisor who is on long term sick and have been cleaning on an evening as our Cleaner broke her foot. Most of these extra hours are unpaid. Karen agreed that a bonus could be paid and advised Sue and Elaine to organise this. Lisa and Lauren volunteered to help out with any cleaning duties etc if we were short staffed in the future.
Fundraising: We are holding a Christmas Raffle this year and have asked parents and local organisations for donations. Letters were given out to the Committee Members to seek donations (see letter attached). We continue to ask for a voluntary school fund of £1 per week to cover the cost of baking etc. but usually only half of the parents pay this. We have recently held a Pink Day to fundraise for Breast Cancer Awareness and a Children in Need Day. Lauren said that she would like to organise a sponsored walk during the February half term around East Park for families past and present. This would be a good opportunity to meet up with other families and fundraise at the same time. New Boiler/Radiators: Sue advised that a number of our radiators have had to be replaced in the last few weeks as they had corroded and leaked. A new boiler is also
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needed but to fit a new boiler that meets current regulations, we need to increase the size of the pipes to the boiler as the gas pressure to the boiler is too low. Sue has _ spoken to the School Caretaker and asked him to look at the site plans to locate where ’ our gas pipes come from. We are awaiting a response. Lauren mentioned that her husband works for a gas companyand said he would come have a look at this for us. (N.B. Since the meeting, Lauren’s husband has located our pipes and has offered to replace them and fit a new boiler for us in the New Year).
Grants/Awards: Sue advised that she had contacted the National Lottery to see if any funding would be available to purchase a new building as our portacabin is almost 25 years old and is starting to deteriorate. Unfortunately, there are currently no capital grants available from them. However, the Committee Members agreed to fook at other options for grants or awards that may be available to us in order for us to consider the viability of replacing our building in the future.
Christmas Provision: We have made the decision not to invite parents into the setting to watch our Nativity performance this year due to Covid guidance. However, we will video the performance and upload this to our Facebook Page seo that parents can still see it. Kate advised that she could get a company who videos dance shows to contact us as they could possibly come in and film It and put it onto a disc which parents could then purchase. We are having a Christmas party on our last day (17" December) and all chitdren will attend one party between 9.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. All children will receive a gift from Pelicans and have party food and games. We) are also hoping for a visit from Father Christmas. *
Any other business: None
Present: Karen Rourke, Sue Dixon, Gill Peachey, Elaine McKenzie, Julie Christie, Kate Smith, Lauren Whitelam, Lisa Morfitt. ;
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LICAN P c =E MEETING 2874 MARCH 2022
_. Welcome: Sue welcomed everyone to the mesting and thanked everyone for attending. .
Apologies were received from Elaine and Caroline W.
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Resignations: Sue advised that Shirley and Kayleigh had resigned from the Committee. Minutes of last meeting were emailed to all members prior to this meeting and all were happy with them. Sue gave a brief update on some of the Issues discussed at the last meeting:
Breakfast Club — was becoming more popular with many parents using the club on an ad hoc basis as and when they needed to. There has been some interest in the Breakfast Club for our new cohort of children in September.
Start and finishing times ~ is working well and parents seem happy that we are able to provide some flexibility at home time.
SEND — one child has now received their EHCP in draft format whilst another child is still awaiting the outcome (should find out in the coming weeks). Two further children have successfully received Additional Support Funding so that we can provide intensive interventions for them. We currently have 8 children on the SEND Register.
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) — we were going to spend some of the EYPP money on Speech and Language training for all staff and an online course was sourced for £500. However, the focal authority are currently offering free SALT training and therefore all staff are taking part inthis wherever possible.
Staffing - Sue said we had paid staff a Christmas Bonus and all were very appreciative. Karen Windass had offered to carry out our cleaning duties since our cleaner left at Christmas and was happy doing this each evening. Sue and Gill were continuing to cover lunches until our new Lunchtime Supervisor started with us (would probably be starting in the Summer Term).
Fundraising - Our Christmas Raffle made £448.00 and Sue thanked all committee members for asking local companies and for their contributions.
New Boller and Radiators — had been fitted by Lauren’s husband Greg and Sue thanked them for this as it hadn’t been a straightforward job.
Grants/Awards: Sue asked if anyone had had any luck finding any grant or funding that we might be able to apply for in order to replace or refurbish our building. Many of the members had been looking into it and a number of links were providing to us e.g.
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Persimmon, Creative Learning, Bernard Sunley Foundation, Friends of Pelican Park, Goodwin Trust. Sue and Gill to follow up. -
. Parental Partnership: Sue advised that we were holding Parents Evenings on Monday 4° and Tuesday 5” April. We were also hoping to start our Stay and Play sessions after Easter as parents have not had the opportunity to come into the setting as yet.
Budget: Sue gave everyone a copy of the 2021/2022 budget. We are currently £4000 ’ up on this time last year. We have managed to keep staffing costs down by not paying extra hours. However, we need to increase pay by 6.6% next month in line with the new minimum wage. This will cost us approximately £8500 a year on current staffing levels. Funding is only increasing by 3% from £4.02 to £4.15 per hour. Last years accounts are back from the auditor and are ready to be submitted.
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Sue discussed that a parent was refusing to pay their fees and we had referred to the Small Claims Court. However, the parent was being very difficult, so a discussion took place on how to progress this. Karen suggested we look at our Policy but although we don’t have a specific Policy, parents are asked to sign a contract with us regarding fees to be paid in advance. (Mum has not signed and returned this!) Committee members were not keen to take on the child's sibling who is due to start with us in September 2022. However, we discussed that they had only been allocated their funded 15 hours so we would not be in this position again. Sue said all the correspondence was between her and the parents so that the Key Worker was not involved as they had to maintain a good relationship with them as this was in the child’s best interests.
Fundraising: Sue advised that we have just sent out our annual Sponsored Cram. We held a fundraising day for Red Nose Day and raised £42.29. We had also received donations from two parents of £50 and £300 which we were very grateful for.
New Cohort for September 2022: We currently have. 36 children starting in September. We still have a few spare places and need a minimum of 3 or 4 more children. Sue advised that we had lost a number of children to Gillshill Nursery as they have an Easter intake. We discussed that we would advertise again on Facebook and had ordered a banner to place on our railings. Lisa said she would be happy to hand out posters and Lauren suggested advertising with other organisations e.g. KIDS. Kelle suggested we contact Cavendish School and advertise in their Newsletter. Sue said she wasn’t too concerned at this stage as often parents request extra sessions once the child starts with us and we could even contact Family Information Services and they would signpost parents to us.
Sports Day: would be taking place on Friday 27 May as school is closed due to a training day. We would have one event in the afternoon (times to be confirmed). Members offered to come in and help on the day and offered to bake cakes/buns for our cake stall and donate prizes for our Tombola stall.
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Any other business:
| Sue would forward a copy of the Charity Commission newsletter to all members along . With the minutes.
Kate offered to put on a dance session at Pelicans for our children. (could be a sponsored event to raise funds). We said we would love to do this and will liaise with Kate regarding dates in the summer term.
. Julie suggested a Race Night at one of Sally's pubs. Sue to discuss with Sally. Caroline gave us some information from Usborme’ Books to promote reading and books. Sue and Gill to look into it.
Present: Karen Rourke, Sue Dixon, Gill Peachey, Julie Christie, Kate Smith, Lauren Whitelam, Lisa Morfitt, Nicki Dunn, Caroline Tate, Ruth Quest, Kelle Yeoman : .
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GILLSHILL PELICAN PRE-SCHOOL : COMMITTEE MEETING 11% July, 2022 MINUTES | : . Welcome: Sue welcomed everyone to the meating and thanked everyone for attending. :
Apologies were received from Lauren, Caroline R, Kelle, Nicki, Ruth, Caroline W.
Minutes of last meeting were amailed to alt members prior to this meeting and all were happy with them. Sue gave a brief update on some of the issues discussed at the last meeting:
Speech & Language Training - The Local Authority offered free ELKLAN SALT training which Sally, Sue & Gill completed. This will then be cascaded to all members of staff at our training day in September and we will discuss which strategies could be implemented at Pelicans.
Staffing — Caroline Dearlove has started with us as our Lunchtime Supervisor. Karen Windass is continuing to take on the Cleaners role.
Grants/Awards - This is still ongoing. Some links have been forwarded to Sue and Gill to follow up but unfortunately, we have not had the time to look into this too deeply. if any Committee Members have the time to look into grants and follow it up in more detail, it would be appreciated. Lisa mentioned that Frederick Holmes Schoo] may have two portacabins which may be available as they are constructing a new building.
Parental Partnership - Parents Evenings were well attended and Stay and Play sessions were held. =
Small Claims Court - We had referred an outstanding debt from one of our parents to the Small Claims Court. The parent has. now been paying us £50 a month directly into our bank account. The debt will be repaid in September 2022.
SportsDay — Was a great success and Sue thanked everyone who had helped out. A representative from Usbourne Books came on the day with a book stand to promote reading and seil books to parents.
Dance Session — Sue thanked Kate for coming to Pelicans to carry out a Dance Session with the children which they absolutely loved.
Transitions: Al! transition documentation has been completed and is ready to be given to the schools this week. General transition visits where we take the children to play and meet their new teachers have not been allowed again this year. instead, the schooijs have arranged for parent’s transition visits. We have only been able to take children with additional needs to both Gillshill and Cavendish schools for an extra transition visit. We have had visits from Spring Cottage, Neasden, Northcott and
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Tweendykes schools to meet the children who were due to start with them in : September. oo - We have had transition visits for our new cohort of children and have visited Little Owls Nursery, Westside Nursery and Playmates Nursery to observe the children who are starting with us who have additional needs. . ‘ New Cohort for September 2022: We currently have only 30 children starting in September and have lots of spare sessions. We have advertised via posters, - Cavendish School Newsletter, social media and have contacted the Family Information Service. We think that there was a particularly low birth rate for this year. We are hoping that once the children start in September parents may take extra sessions. We are also having a January 2023 intake to catch all the younger children who turn 3 in the Autumn Term. We mentioned that a small number of parents had cancelled their place because they needed sessions with longer hours (until 6pm) and had therefore taken a place at a private nursery. It was discussed whether it was an option for us to open longer hours however, we would need to have a large majority of parents wanting this to make it worth our while and cover the cost of staff wages. Currently our breakfast club only attracts on average 3 children a day and this is covered by staff who do this unpaid. An after school club was discussed but as we do not have the space, resources or registration to take older siblings, again it would probably not be worth our while. We have 3 children (possibly 4) with additional needs starting in September. : Staffing: Tara will be leaving us at the end of this term as it has not been possible to extend her temporary contract. All other permanent members of staff will be returning in September but due to our low numbers, all will be losing a half days pay. Hopefully this will only be for a short while until we can fill more of our vacant sessions. Staff will be needed to cover two lunches each and therefore this will help to make up some of their shortfall in wages. |
Budget: Elaine gave everyone an updated copy of the 2021/2022 budget. Elaine explained that we will break even this year. Next year is slightly worrying because of our low numbers and therefore there will be a reduction in funding, especially as the cost of our bills e.g. energy etc is increasing. However, hopefully we will have less maintenance costs next year especially as we replaced the boiler and radiators this year.
Fundraising: Sue advised that we raised £1124 from the sponsored cram and Sports Day raised £395.00.
Last Day Party: We were having ona party this year on Friday 15" July from 9.00 a.m. ~— 2.00 p.m. for ail children. In the moming Sam's Safari will be coming with a selection of animals for the children to handle. We will then have party food and party games in the afternoon. All children will receive a gift when they leave us.
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Any other business:
‘Staff have updated their safeguarding training were applicable and all staff will be updating their Paediatric First Aid training next term. .
The large trees in the garden will be cut in the summer holidays. The tree nearest the building will be removed completely and the other tree will be pollarded as it has some . unsafe branches. : .
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Present: Karen Rourke, Sue Dixon, Gill Peachey, Elaine McKenzie, Julie Christie, Kate Smith, Lisa Morfitt
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GILLSHILL PELICAN PRE-SCHOOL
COMMITTEE MEETING
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28™4 NOVEMBER 2022 MINUTES .
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_ Welcome: Sue welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked everyone for attending. We welcomed our new members Vikki, Sian and Samantha who are parents of our current children.
Apologies were received from Caroline R.
Resignations have been received from Nikki, Kelle and, after the meeting had taken place, Caroline W and Sue had thanked them personaily for their support over the years. Sue will complete Ofsted EY3 forms on their behalf.
Introductions: we went around the table and everyone introduced themselves and gave a brief summary of their background and explained why they had joined the Committee.
Responsibilities of Committee/Confidentiality: Karen explained about the role and responsibilities of the Committee and reminded everyone that all matters that were discussed at the meetings should remain confidential and not discussed with anyone outsideof the Committee. Sue explained that it was important for all Committee Members to have an understanding of safeguarding and gave everyone a copy of the Early Years Alliance mini-guide ‘Safeguarding Responsibilities of Charity Trustees’. Sue advised that Karen and Caroline W had completed Safeguarding Awareness Training. Sue explained that Ofsted may want to speak to Committee Members at our Inspections. Our last inspection was January 2020 and they are usually every 3 years but, due to the backlog caused by Covid, we might not be inspected for a while yet. However, we are always prepared and receive a half day notice of them coming.
DBS and EY2 forms: Sue explained to the new members that EY2 forms should be completed by them individually on-line (this is a requirement of Ofsted and without it members cannot be officially on the committee or be registered with the Charities Commission). DBS application forms were given out to the new members to complete and return and Elaine would then carry out the DBS checks.
Minutes of last meeting were emailed to all members prior to this meeting and alll were happy with them.
September 2022/January 2023 intake: Sue advised that we had a particularly low intake of children in September (33 children) but we had 8 new children starting in January. A discussion took place around why we had not been full in the September and Sus explained that a lot of pre-schools and nurseries were in the same position, and we think it was due to a low birth rate that year. We had advertised our spare sessions via facebook, posters, school and the local authority but had no success. Vikki asked if we could get any data on the demographics for future intakes, but we
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said this would be difficult to do as we are usually the first educational setting they attend. Elaine advised that our waiting list for coming years looks quite promising.
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_ Sue advised that we still offered a Breakfast Club although it was not very busy (usually between 0 and 3 children attend daily). Vikki asked if we advertised this, because as a working mum, she finds this useful. Sue advised that it is on our website and we discuss with parents when we offer them a place.
Sue advised that we have three children with additional needs. One child has deferred her schoo! place and has come to us with an Educational Health & Care Pian in place. We are supporting her on a 1-1 basis to meet her basic needs and for safety reasons but it is very challenging as she should be attending a specialist provision. Sue explained that we have raised our concems with the local authority but until a place becomes available, she will remain with us. We also have two other children who receive additional support funding and many children with speech and language difficulties. Lauren said we have a good reputation for our work with children with additional needs. Lauren is a member of the Hull Parent Forum and they support parents of children with additional needs and have meetings and social events. Lauren will provide us with some resources and leaflets to hand out to our parents.
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Sue advised that we have five children with allergies (mainly dairy or nuts) and one child has an Epipen. We have lots of younger chiidren this year who are still in pull ups and we will probably have more in January.
We have 6 children who receive Early Years Pupil Premium (we receive an extra £342.00 per annum per child) to enhance the child’s learning and experience with us. We then have to evaluate the impact the additional funding has had on the child’s development. The funding can be used to purchase resources, staff training, interventions etc.
Staffing: Due to our low numbers in September, all staff reduced their hours and lost a half days pay each week. However, most of the staff cavered extra lunches and therefore this helped to make up some of their shortfall in wages. In January we would all get our hours back. Vikki asked about staff retention and whether we had a high turnover of staff (she had previous experience of nursery staff leaving for better wages at supermarkets). Sue advised that we were really fortunate to have a great staff team and most had been with Pelicans for many years.
Sue informed the Committee that Caroline had sadly passed away and therefore we were going to advertise for a new Lunchtime Supervisor.
Karen W was happy to continue to carry out our cleaning role. All staff had completed Paediatric First Aid level 3 and their safeguarding training was up to date.
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Budget: Elaine gave everyone an updated copy of the 2021/2022 budget. Elaine explained that we had a £2600 overspend last year but this was mainly due to having our boiler and radiators replaced and our trees pollarded. it has been a difficult start to this year due to our low numbers, because not only do we receive less funding we also have less fundraising opportunities with less children. However, we have a
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cushion of £60,000 at the beginning of the year so hopefully we should be fine. We currently receive £4.18 per hour per child funding and we do not know if this will be increased next year. However, we do know that the National Minimum Wage will be ‘increasing in April, which in tum increases our pension contributions, and our utilities bills and the cost of living have also gone up. We explained that our water bill had been £600 for the last quarter but we realised this was due to a leak from the water heater under the sink in the kitchen. Sian asked if we had applied for a rebate because of this and we said we would jook into it.
Sian asked if we had looked into grants to get more funding and said there are lots available in the Hull region. Sue advised that we had looked into it previously and had spoken to the National Lottery but had no success. Sue also said it was very time consuming to look through all the information to try and source appropriate contacts. Sian offered to speak to her contacts that she deals with at her work.
Parental! Partnership: We had a parents evening on the 18' November which was well attended and the parents were very happy. Gill mentioned that although parents do not come into the setting on a daily basis, we still have an open door policy and parents are aware they can speak to staff if they need to. We will be offering Stay & Play sessions to parents after Christmas
Fundraising: Sue advised that we raised £287.00 on our Tickled Pink Day and £66.56 for Children in Need. We advised that we still ask parents for £1.00 per week voluntary school fund. A discussion took place regarding our banking facilities and whether parents could pay via bank transfer or by card. Elaine explained that we had an old charity bank account and to transfer to a business account would incur costs. We had also looked into a card machine but again we would be charged for each transaction. The committee members felt we should look into this again in order to be more up to date as this is what parents want. Parents do not carry cash with them and we could get more donations if we offered bank transfer or card. We advised that some parents do pay by bank transfer but as we do not have online banking with our account, we only receive bank statements monthly and this does delay us sending receipts to parents. Lauren enquired about us accepting payments by Paypal. Although we did not know much about this we felt it would be inappropriate as we need to be abie to provide a paper trail of payments especially as weget audited by the local authority. We were asked if we accept donations from individuals or companies and we confirmed that we did. We agreed that we would look into setting up a new bank account and look at the options for a card machine. Christmas Provision: We will be holding Nativity Performances for the first time in three years whereby parents can come into the setting to watch. We have increased the price of our tickets to £2.00 each. We will be having a Christmas Raffle and have asked parents for donations.We have given out letters to some companies asking for donations and Sue asked the committee if they would be willing to hand some of these letters out for us. Kate asked if we could email the letter to her. (This will be attached when we send out the minutes). We are having one party this year on Friday 16" December from 9.00 a,m. — 2.00 p.m. for all children. We will have party games and party food (which the parents will provide) and all children will receive a gift from Santa.