– Menheniot Playgroup Trustees Annual Report
Dates: 01 Sept 2023 – 31 Aug 2024.
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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Richard Green – Treasurer
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April Harbour – Secretary
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Kerrie Bennet
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Ashley Elliott
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Joanna Hazlewood
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Alaina Maddever
Menheniot Playgroup is a village playgroup providing childcare services for local residents for children ages 2-4 years – pre-school.
Chairperson report October 2024
A very warm welcome to you all and thank you for showing your support tonight. My name is Kat Harrison and for those that have recently started their Playgroup Journey I am the current Chairperson and this was my 9[th] and final year on the committee after seeing all 3 of my children have the most wonderful time here. I was a committee member for 1 year, treasurer for 2 years and 6 years as chairperson and have loved every moment. It truly has been an honour to work alongside a team who are so deeply passionate about early years and giving children the very best start. I have been amazingly well supported this year by Rich, April, Kerrie, Joanna, Ashley and Alaina, thank you to each of them for all the time given. Some of this team will move on this year with their children going onto school, we look forward to hearing about all the new adventures to come and look forward to welcoming new members of the team.
We have also been really well supported by our Bookkeeper Alison Barton this year she has covered all the invoicing, payroll and book keeping tasks which as so vital for the smooth running of
Playgroup. Sadly, she left us this month but for an exciting reason to retrain completely as a midwife
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
and we wish her the best of luck. The vacancy has allowed me to move into this role and provide continuity and support to the new committee and also take on some of the more in-depth jobs such as tax returns and charity commission reports! The hope is these more slimed down roles will now appeal to more parents and future proof Playgroup and the committee.
Next, we must take a moment to acknowledge Kerrie and the outstanding job she does to support Playgroup, not only now is she part of our wonderful staff but runs the our lovely, inviting, nurturing Little Owls baby and toddler group, this group is such a huge asset to us and the community. On top of all that I had a quick look and since 2016 we have raised nearly £20k in fundraising and most of that was by Kerrie an outstanding figure she should feel very proud of. The time, attention to detail and commitment you have shown in a voluntary role for Menheniot Playgroup is truly exceptional. We would be lost without you!
Moving onto this year, this was our biggest income wise ever and we were on par with our bumper numbers of children in 2019! That meant there was no building up slowly from September we were straight back in with a bang! The team did amazingly with this which also included our biggest number of SEN and additional needs children to date. Emma also took on the challenge of her Level 3 SENCO qualification throughout this year and managed that with ease. Playgroup represented in all the community events again this year from Village in Bloom to Cherry fayre processions. And all of that with the looming OFSTED inspection over our heads! Finally, they took us out of misery in June and although things on the day didn’t quite go to plan the OFSTED inspector was blown away with our team and the environment we have created here. She could see the experience and expertise this team have is second to none. This was partially reflected in our report where we received a Good rating across all 4 areas. We look forward to the next one now in 6 years to get us back to Outstanding!
And now for a sad part, Anna is leaving us after 18 years and we are all truly heartbroken. Anna has been incredible, she has been the most loving caring person to hundreds of children over those years and not only that though she has stepped up time and time again to support playgroup whenever it was needed from covering the managerial role when Emma was unwell to be such a brilliant deputy. Her passion for teaching and genuine care for each child is evident in everything she has done. We wish her every luck and success in the world with her new job.
My final thank you as Chair of Playgroup is to the staff Emma, Anna, Penny, Sharon, Kyliegh, Kerrie, Lizzie and Rachael you are all amazing. You should all be so proud of yourselves for the incredible job you all do, individually and together to create this unique fun loving, kind, caring and sometimes bonkers place. Seeing the children who have been through Playgroup head off to school over the last decade is the ultimate testimonial to you all, they are happy, open, confident children who have learnt how to express themselves individually and work as a team and have been given the best start to go off and follow each of their own paths into the world. So thank you to each of you for your hard work and dedication.
Finally onto this year and although we start with lower numbers and financial constraints which are likely to become an ever-increasing issue, I am confident Menheniot Playgroup will still continue to thrive and provide the very best environment for our Children and I am excited to take on my new role alongside this fabulous team.
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
Kathryn Harrison – Chairperson
Treasurers report - October 2024
Our financial year runs alongside the school calendar so 1[st] September through 31[st] August. The starting balance for September 2023 was £54,361.03 in our Cooperative Bank account and finishing at £63,703.01.
Our accounts ending August 2024 are completed and we made a very healthy profit of £11,103, everyone should have a copy so please take a look. We have no outstanding financial commitments except we are excepting an invoice for Emma's Level 3 SENCO course of around £800 but this is yet to come in
We are a charity so although we need to be financially secure and hold healthy reserves we are not profit making.
Income
Our income for the year was the best ever for Playgroup! This is mainly due to the children numbers we started the year almost completely full and by the Summer term we had to turn several away. There was also a 6.7% increase in the fees we receive from Cornwall Council which helped towards that.
Our Little Owls baby & Toddler group ran for the year and brought in £97.00 after running costs, this includes a grant of £190 for the year from the Parish Council to cover the rental costs for the Old School room.
We had another brilliant year for fundraising although not as high as previous years we still achieved £2,005.62 after costs please see your fundraising sheets for the breakdown. Kat will talk more about these events in her report.
Expenditure
Our largest expense is always our payroll costs, these increased by almost 10% this year with a further 4% expected for 2024/25. So although income is the highest every our so is our wages bill.
The rest of the expenses were very comparable with the previous years.
We do start the year as expected with much lower numbers but as previously agreed at meetings we have kept all staff on and will use the profits from 2023/24 to justify running at a likely loss this year. We will talk more on this at the committee meetings.
Our 2023/24 accounts will be independently audited and filed with the charities commission by end June 2025.
The accounts ending August 2023 are available to see with the Annual Trustees Report on the Charities Commission website.
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/
If anyone would like any further information on any figures please get in touch.
Richard Green – Treasurer
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
Trustees Declaration:
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Date: 23.06.2025 Name: Kathryn Harrison Position: Chairperson
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: 13.06.202 Name: Mrs. Susan Gillbard
Relevant professional qualification or body: Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians.
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
Address: Great Threthew, Liskeard, PL14 3PY
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235
MENHENIOT PLAYGROUP – OFSTED URN: 102924 – CHARITIES COMMISSION #: 1036235