Chairs Report to the Trustees of Saplings Pre School For the Financial Year 1[st] September 2022 to 31[st] August 2023 Charity Number: 1038172
Autumn Term
As most of our children transitioned to Nursery School at the end of the Summer Term, we re-opened in September with depleted numbers and in a departure from previous years, only two children remaining with us for Nursery, this was a disappointing start to the year, but we put our efforts into resettling the remaining children who were missing their friends. Over the Summer the garden had become neglected, and we involved the children in the cleaning of the playground and replanting of the flower beds to enhance the area.
Finance
We were lucky enough to attract several more children to the setting, so things were bustling and we broke even for the term, sadly one of the local schools continues to contact parents and invite them to enrol their three year olds for January and we lost two full time children, which was a blow, but we remained hand hopeful for the rest of the year.
Inspection
Ofsted arrived on a cold December day, all was going well until one of the children was taken ill, despite the arrival of distraught family members and paramedics we were awarded a ‘Strong good’ and the team were able to show just how well they cope in a crisis and how well they know the policies and procedures of the setting.
Spring Term
The afternoon sessions continued to be very quiet and while this was challenging from the point of view of income, it allowed the opportunity to offer activities that would not have been possible with a larger group of children. This included a trip off site to the local woods, where the children acted out the focus book, ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ with a trip to the local bakery for a drink and a gingerbread biscuit afterwards. The learning that took place was amazing and not something that could have been achieved by simply reading the book in the setting.
Once again, the chimney of our Tree House was chosen by a family of blue tits, as the nesting place for their new arrivals, with the help of a tiny camera, the children were able to watch the progress of the fledglings and make sure there was a plentiful food supply for the hardworking parents.
Summer Term
Despite the fact that the weather did not live up to that of the previous year, we were able to hold, ‘Bring your pets to school’ days and were visited by ‘Steve’ the tortoise, ‘Gizmo’ the Gecko as well as Ferrets, chickens, rabbits and puppies galore!
The vegetable garden was a great success, the green beans we planted spread along the fence and the spring onions and tomatoes were delicious, all provided the children with the opportunity to experience where their food comes from and even the fussy eaters tried them for lunch.
Finally
The rush of children we expected did not materialise, we operate in an area where most children have stay-athome Mums, so, as the cost-of-living increases and bills take up more and more of the family income, it is understandable that parents have delayed their children starting until their funding kicks in. We ended another year on a loss and after much deliberation, decided to roll up two of the afternoon sessions from September as there were no children booked in for them. We also decided that having the meals prepared off-site was an expense we could not justify and going forward, the lunches will be prepared by a member of staff.
There is much in the news about the Government’s new childcare funding plans, but the criteria for acceptance on this scheme seems quite narrow, we do not anticipate a huge uptake in this area particularly since we will now offer less hours per week and the working parents the new scheme is aimed at need more than we can
provide. We find ourselves in a catch 22 situation where we either expand our hours with no children attending and hope to attract more, while increasing our predicted loss for the year or, keep to the shorter hours to conserve funds and hope that there will be sufficient parents who are just looking for good old fashion ‘Pre School’ for their children, to make-up the shortfall.
Katrina Seeneevassen
Chair of Committee
Treasurers Report to the Committee of Saplings Pre School,
Financial position at the end of the Fiscal Year September 1[st] 2022 – 31[st] August 2023
Balance Brought Forward 65,675.63 Total Income for the year. 59,621.92 A total of 125,297.55 Total expenditure for the Year. 67,597.14 Balance at Bank as of 31[st] August 2022 57,700.41 Representing a loss of 7,975.22
These figures were provided by Mrs Alison Mead and Mrs Wendy Hart and have been verified by our Independent Accounts Manager Mrs Jackie Nixon
Signed Miss Tina Seeneevassen Chair of Committee
Mrs Alison Mead Manager Mrs Wendy Hart Treasurer Mrs Jackie Nixon. Independent Accounts Manager
| Credits | Debits | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit | |||||||||||
| Opening Balance | Transfer | HCC | Total | Wages | HMRC | Rent | Ofce | Resources | Other | ||
| September | 65,675.63 | 297.50 | 3147.93 | 3445.43 | 4053.12 | 441.45 | 0 | 159.04 | 225.00 | 255.00 | |
| October | 63,987.45 | 1809.50 | 3051.00 | 4860.50 | 4008.73 | 441.17 | 1073.00 | 87.00 | 835.52 | 319.40 | |
| November | 62,083.13 | 2042.6 | 157.14 | 2199.74 | 3638.35 | 477.14 | 669.00 | 11.00 | 388.85 | 138.00 | |
| December | 58,960.53 | 1836.00 | 3051.00 | 4887.00 | 1668.40 | 357.50 | 11.00 | 472.37 | 223.00 | ||
| January | 61,115.26 | 6137.25 | 6137.25 | 6347.09 | 887.32 | 529.00 | 29.00 | 428.76 | 180.00 | ||
| February | 58,851.34 | 2238.50 | 3220.00 | 5458.50 | 3848.66 | 443.12 | 450.00 | 11.00 | 498.36 | 73.00 | |
| March | 58,985.70 | 2308.00 | 4021.36 | 6329.36 | 4545.80 | 0 | 0.00 | 191.00 | 416.68 | 113.00 | |
| April | 60,048.58 | 1206.50 | 4011.85 | 5218.35 | 3977.04 | 0 | 974.50 | 11.00 | 612.53 | 173.00 | |
| May | 59,518.86 | 1332.00 | 8266.90 | 9598.90 | 3894.99 | 443.20 | 600.00 | 11.00 | 604.2 | 263.00 | |
| June | 63,301.37 | 1894.89 | 2057.00 | 3951.89 | 4117.17 | 468.24 | 600.00 | 16.07 | 704.78 | 385.89 | |
| July | 60,961.11 | 3177.50 | 2057.00 | 5234.50 | 4077.94 | 481.48 | 450.00 | 11.66 | 445.05 | 796.69 | |
| August | 59,932.79 | 243.50 | 2057.00 | 2300.50 | 3558.17 | 462.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 | 303.75 | 197.96 |
Accountants Report on Income and Expenditure for Saplings Pre School