– Menheniot Playgroup Trustees Annual Report
Dates: 01 Sept 2020 – 31 Aug 2021.
Address: The Old School, Menheniot, Liskeard, Cornwall PL14 3QS Charities Commission Registered number: 1036235 Ofsted Unique Reference Number (URN): 102924 Website: https://www.menheniotplaygroup.com/
Trustees:
Trustees are governed by the Early Years Alliance Constitution 2011, and elected by Committee.
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Kat Harrison - Chairperson
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Tiffany Dark - Treasurer
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Sarah Robinson - Secretary
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Sarah Thomas
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Kerrie Bennet
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Victoria Humphreys
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Samantha Hammond
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Charlotte Verrin – Simpson
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Olivia Martin
Menheniot Playgroup is a village playgroup providing childcare services for local residents for children ages 2-4 years – pre-school.
Chairperson report 11[th] October 2021
A very warm welcome to you all and thank you for showing your support tonight. For those who don’t know me I am Kat Harrison and have been involved with the playgroup committee for several years as a committee member, then treasurer and taking over the Chairperson role 3 years ago.Normally the Chairperson reports talks through the years events and thanks all the key individuals involved. However, due to COVID so many things didn’t happen or were changed that this will be slightly different to other years!
Last October we formed a new committee with Tiffany Dark becoming treasurer and Sarah Robinson staying on as Secretary. I would like to thank Sarah for her help with the notes this year although we weren’t able to hold many meetings it’s been great to have you on the team. Unfortunately due to COVID the handover to Tiffany was never made so I completed the treasurer role along side Chair this year. Our committee was then made up
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
of Sarah Thomas, Kerrie, Jenny, Victoria, Charlotte, Liv and Sam I would like to thank each and every one of them for giving up their time and helping make some tough decisions.
COVID has played a massive role this year with fundraising but even a global pandemic couldn’t stop us completely, in December 2020 Kerrie headed up Menheniot lights up Christmas decoration competition that was really well supported by lots of local businesses and villagers. This was such a special event in a totally rubbish time. So with that and some online fundraising we still raised nearly £1,000.00 which was spent on new resources for the children.
Alongside her help in fundraising Kerrie has once again shown an amazing level of dedication to our baby and toddler group little owls . She has kept up to date with the constantly changing legislation, kept in touch with the parents and looked at all options to get back up and running as soon as possible. She managed 10 weeks in the church before the summer holidays and excitingly came back home in September. So a huge thank you from all of us at Playgroup for generally being amazing!
Also I would personally like to thank Sarah Thomas our bookkeeper and committee member. Sarah has made a huge difference since starting the role 3 and a half years ago. She provides such good support and honestly knowing she is there to help or bounce things off makes a massive difference to the role as chair. This is also a critical role in communicating with parents and one I think we should build on in the years to come.
Onto this year we started with the highest September numbers for a few years and the staff had a challenging Autumn term while the children adjusted to pre school after previous lockdowns. Then unfortunately by January we were back into closures again and only opening for key worker children but on a much larger scale than previously. Again the staff were under such pressure to come into work under very difficult circumstances but did such a great job and we kept Mercy partially furlough to claim back some costs. By the summer term and along side staff getting vaccinated there was definitely much more of a sense of normality and we are all very hopeful the worst has now passed.
Mercy left us in March this year to move onto Tideford Montessori nursery we are very proud of her journey with us and so pleased to see her grow and move on. This did leave us short for the summer term and after a recruitment drive we unfortunately didn’t find anyone who would be suitable. Instead for the summer term Rachael a qualified friend of Anna’s came to help out a few days a week and we were thankful to have Jane and Carol covering some days as well. Rachael has fitted into the team so well we have now offered her a permanent two day a week position that she can do alongside her other job. We then looked to September and felt another apprentice or two would suit the team dynamic well
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
so again began recruitment for that over the summer. Mainly due to public transport and our location we didn’t have any interest until Emma’s daughter Lizzie applied. She has successfully gone through the process and joined the team at the start of term and has already had such a positive impact. Rachael then covers penny’s day off and Lizzie’s college day. We are starting this year with such a great team!
And as ever mine and the committees biggest thank you is to Emma, Anna,Penny, Rachael and Lizzie. This has been another challenging year and they have all worked tirelessly to make sure Playgroup is a safe and secure environment for Staff and children but also making sure the kids had the most lovely time along the way. Honestly the experience our children get here is so special and shouldn’t be under appreciated. Lots of pre school environments struggle to maintain qualified staffing levels so we are so very lucky to have Emma, Anna and Penny what a unstoppable trio they make!
This year to come will still look different due to COVID and there will be a degree of getting used to a new normal but I am very confident with our strong team and committee we will navigate through it all easily.
Kathryn Harrison – Chairperson
Treasurers report - 11[th] October 2021
Our financial year runs alongside the school calendar so 1[st] September through 31[st] August. The starting balance for September 2020 was £20,340.00 held in our Santander reserve account separately and £43,489.13 held in our working Co-Operative bank account, total £63,829.13
Our accounts ending August 2021 are completed and we made a healthy profit of £11,557.77 including the funding that was paid early in August 2020. We have no outstanding financial commitments except the possibility of new flooring which has been previously discussed.
We are a charity so although we need to be financially secure and hold healthy reserves we are not profit making.
Income
We had a successful year in terms of numbers by the spring and summer terms we were almost completely full and were turning people away. Although we didn’t operate at complete max capacity (25) due to the strains of COVID but we were up to 20-22 children in almost every session.
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
We received £843 back for keeping mercy on part time furlough.
Our Little Owls baby & Toddler group only ran for a few weeks of the year due to COVID restrictions.
We only ran one big fundraiser again due to COVID.
Expenditure
Our largest expense is always our payroll costs. These will continue to increase with the rise in minimum wage and pension contributions.
The rest of the expenses were slightly higher including heating and cleaning due to COVID. Other expense due to slightly higher staff thank you’s and a church donation for their lights. We also bought a newer phone. Training is also up and will continue that trend as there are a lot more requirements for staff to attend certain training courses now.
Our 2020/21 accounts will be independently audited and filed with the charities commission by end June 2022.
The accounts ending August 2020 are available to see with the Annual Trustees Report on the Charities Commission website. https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/
If anyone would like any further information on any figures please get in touch.
Professional Advisors:
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Sue Gillbard – independent Accounts Auditor, and member of the Association of Accounting Technicians.
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Early Years Alliance payroll
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Early Years Alliance Insurance
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Co-op Bank – for operating bank account
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Santander – for reserve bank account
Trustees Declaration:
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Date: 07/06/2022
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
Name: Kathryn Harrison Position: Chairperson Address: 1 Cowling Gardens, Menheniot, PL14 3QJ
Independent Accounts Audit declaration:
In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which give me cause to believe that, in any material respect, accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
Date: 07/06/2022
Name: Mrs. Susan Gillbard
Relevant professional qualification or body: Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians.
Address: Great Threthew, Liskeard, PL14 3PY
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
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