Fylingdales Preschool AGM 2021
End of year Accounts and End of year Report
AGM Report 2021
This past academic year we have continued be a positive and an inclusive setting, even though we have still faced the challenges and problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have continued to offer exciting opportunities and experiences for the children that attend Fylingdales Preschool. Our setting offers a good quality early years education, which shows in the children, feedback from parents and family members. We are very proud of this after all the effort that has been put in to make sure the setting stays open and
continue to be a safe place for our children to access early years education. We believe the that the earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early years education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development. All though we are faced with challenge to hold fundraising events for the setting to provide new resources and develop in other ways we are continually making improvements to the setting by staff, committee members and parents family members all working together. This all helps towards us to make a positive progress in the service that we provide to the local community and been able to keep the setting financially secure and remain a viable business and give childcare option in our local community.
All though it is has continued to not be the usual way of running the setting everyone embraced our strict policies, procedures, and conditions of opening. Testing and isolating became an everyday part of our daily lives for most of this year. Communication between families and members of staff has been frequent. Although different to usual methods, due to adult not being able to enter the building. We hope we have found effective ways to meet this need, but like most new aspects this is ever developing. Communication, resilience, and critical thinking have never been more important to the setting. This alongside a strong sense of teamwork has been invaluable in keeping our small setting a part of the community. We are proud to have supported our families, local community, members of staff and each other during this time.
When we returned in September 2021 after reviewing the recent guidance from both NYCC and the government, it had been advised that our current procedures should remain in place and looks to continue to be this way for some time. However, the children have adapted to the changes so quickly. Yes, some parts of our day here are different, but we have all embraced these changes with the upmost resilience, and for that we are so proud of everyone.
The Covid-19 pandemic has again taken over much of this year, but alongside this the ‘usual’ running of the setting has had to continue simultaneously. This has been challenging, as Covid-19 has felt very dominant. However, we have ensured that this has not taken over the other usual aspects of managing the setting. For that reason, we are confident that we are viable long term. We are still here and plan to continue high quality childcare to our local community for as long as possible!
We have over this year received grants and held a fundraising event Marathon Movers which proved to be a success. With the funds raised we were able to buy new storage furniture for the Preschool Room and some new resources. We are slowly refreshing and
developing the setting as we get the funds to do so. We have been accepted for a grant from Grow and Learn which is a small grants scheme that has been set up to support community development around school readiness in the Whitby and Ryedale areas by NYCC. We have kindly received £250 from member of THE SHED in Robin Hoods Bay which we are using towards our Christmas events and activities. I have put an application in for an Outdoor Learning Grant which if accepted we can choose up to £500 worth of resources from their catalogue. I have also written to Howdens asking if they would like to support us in any way after being notified that they had a pot of money to offer local charities.
Financial we have found ourselves in the position where we need to monitor our finances due to having two members off on Maternity Leave and paying two lots off Maternity Pay. We can claim this back in March unless we find ourselves in a position where we are financially struggling.
We currently have 19 children on role, and this will increase to 21 in January. 11 families receive the 3- & 4-year funding. We have 5 children whose families chose to only take universal funding, 6 children who are eligible or whose families chose to take the full extended entitlement and 1 child whose place is 2 year funded.
The numbers of children attending the setting have started off low in September 2021 which is usual for this time of year with school leavers, numbers usually start to increase in Spring Term. We have 3 new starters due to enrol in Spring term and children increasing their hours who already attend the setting with 3 days nearly at full capacity in the preschool room.
Last year we did not increase fees, so this is something we need to put in place for 2022 by calculating to covering overhead costs and being able to slowly build back up our savings account, keeping in mind the living wage increase in April 2022, so we are financially stable. We must continue with an annual fee increase.
As a setting we have strived to be critical in its self-evaluation process and continually make improvements where and when we can, as we make great effort to achieve the best outcomes for all the children. Our current aim is to focus on fundraising and grants to improve or indoor and outdoor learning areas, renewing resources, toys, storage, and maintenance of the building.
It shows that each member of our staff team has a very good relationship with both children and their families, colleagues, and other settings/professionals, which we value. Each staff member is dedicated to developing their skills, whether it is through training or research. It can prove challenging to send staff on additional training that is not essential out of the setting due to time restraints, ratios and sometimes finances. We overcome this with online training and attending regular webinar meetings which are on an evening. We have recently had staff attend a network meeting relating to help children development in Speech and Language and the EYFS 2021
The committee again this year have continued to provide a great support and commitment to the setting, their dedication has helped the setting continue to grow and develop. We are
still in the process of waiting for some committee members DBS details. We have some parents recently wanting to join the committee so the same process and checks will be carried out.
Overall, we have had a good year at Preschool, maybe not as successful financially, but with the support and dedication of staff, committee members and families we can gradually improve this situation. Our families are happy with the service we provide and value their suggestions and support on how we can improve. Most importantly to us, is that all the children who attend the setting are happy and developing well.