2025-07-31-accounts - The Toybox Preschool

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Toybox Pre-school Registered Charity No. 1038181

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for Year ended 31[st] July 2025

Mural in the Playroom

Chair’s Report

Since I stepped up as Chair back in July we have been busy applying for grants and funding towards two projects.

We are in desperate need of a new kitchen, due to our recent inspection from the council. We have been given a year to upgrade it otherwise our current food hygiene rating will go down and this obviously doesn’t look good to parents or Ofsted.

Also, we are fundraising for our new outdoor play area that will allow the children free flow. We were advised that lack of this was a reason we were not graded excellent from Ofsted. This is causing some issues with Somerset Council’s Planning Department in respect of the erection of a fence, which we will continue to press forward with.

Back in the early part of the year Toybox was granted the lease of the building. Although this is fantastic news as it gives us more freedom with our plans to make the building more community based, it is causing further issues due to the lack of information about utility bills etc. handed over to us when the paperwork was all finalised.

Even though the pre-school has more children enrolled with us this year than at the same time last year, finances are very tight, and as you will be able to see from the accounts this is a result of the Government’s increase in National Insurance and wage rises. Even though the wages are money well spent (in my opinion), the grant monies for funded children don’t increase at the same rate, leaving a funding gap. From January 2026 we will be increasing the fees for additional paid-for hours - not by much - from £5.50 to £6.00 per hour. We have already increased the charge for the healthy snacks we provide from 50p to 60p.

The fish tank in the Sensory Room

I want to end my report on a positive note and that is that we are currently in talks with several people with regards to using the building for parent groups, health visitor visits for new mums, and other activities of benefit to young families. We already have a lovely sensory room, and we want to maximise the potential of the space we have for the children, staff and community and to do this we continue to need your help, support and ideas.

We are also looking for local people to help us maintain the building and its facilities. So, if anyone knows a plumber, electrician, kitchen fitter, gas engineer, handyman we are always happy to have some help when needed.

Finally, I would like to say a few thank yous:

Lin & the staff for your continuing support to the day to day running of the preschool. For all the support you give not only to the children but to parents as well. Your work is the heart and foundations of making this preschool such a success.

Laura as Treasurer for all the hard work you do maintaining the finances and keeping required records and policies all up to date.

Penny as Secretary for all the hard work you do with emails and chasing for the lease, for the promised donations, keeping notes of the meetings.

Dee for your continued work in sorting out the go ahead for the playground, with all the legal requirements and drawings.

Committee Members for all their individual contributions whether it be, grant searching or organising carnival entry.

Louise for updating and modernising the website.

Pip at the White Hart for your continued support in helping with fundraising over the past year as every penny is so helpful and will allow the pre-school to reach its goals.

Hayley Groves, Chair

Manager’s Report

The staff - what can I say? I’m so lucky to have a team that work so well together, supporting each other to make our environment a happy and safe place for all the children and their families, helping to make them feel valued and supported.

In our setting at the moment we have five 2 year olds along with fifteen 3 / 4 year olds, all staff have relevant and up to date qualifications, three staff with Level 3 of the City & Guilds Diploma for Early Years Practitioners and two staff with Level 5. (Well done Alison for gaining her level 3.)

Two of our staff have done additional training to support children with special needs, and we make good use of our Sensory Room to support these and other children. In the spring all our staff will be renewing their first aid training for work with young children, anybody interested joining us for first aid training please get in touch.

Having to say goodbye to the leavers is always hard but also very rewarding knowing we have helped them grow and flourish and prepared them for the next journey into school. We ended on a high note with a lovely trip to Cranmore train station; a good day was had by all. We have now signed on for use of the CAT (Community Accessible Transport) bus and hope to do some more trips with the children.

Where's Wally? at the Children's Carnival

We hope to be able to support more students from Ansford Academy who undertake observation of the Toybox children for their course work; they all engage very well with the children.

We again dressed to impress (Where’s Wally) at Castle Cary’s children’s carnival with another win, a big “well done” to the children that took part, and a big thank you to the volunteers.

We are all excited about the plans for outside area, which will give the children the opportunity for play and exercise throughout the year and in all weathers.

Lin Norman, Toybox Manager

Fundraising activities

Trustees, Staff and Parents have been working very hard this year to raise funds for the much needed outside play area.

Coffee mornings -

We hold two coffee mornings each year and they are always successful. We have themes and activities for children at each event as well as coffee, cake and bacon rolls. Please look out for the dates for the two we are planning for 2026. This year we have been fortunate to receive £200 match funding from The Newt.

Summer raffle –

Once again we have been supported by The White Hart who very kindly hosted the summer raffle for us as well as making Toybox the recipients of their Bonus Ball raffle. The ticket sales added to our fund total and also raised the awareness of Toybox PreSchool within the community.

Community Support –

During this year we have been supported by grants from Castle Cary Town Council, Castle Cary Carnival Society and Cary Cares. We are very grateful for the donations they have given. We have applied for grants from other groups and businesses which we hope will add to our funds.

Easy Fundraising –

This is a great opportunity to raise money for Toybox by parents and supporters joining Easy Fundraising. Every time you shop online through Easy Fundraiser (Ebay, Argos, John Lewis or 3200 other retailers) Toybox Pre-School (your selected fund choice) receives 1% from your purchase. Over the years we have raised more than £300 so it would be really great if this could continue. Follow the link: www.easyfundraising.org.uk

We have two aims for our fundraising and grant-seeking going forward. In addition to our plan for an outdoor area (see Chair’s report and the details below) we also need to upgrade the main kitchen for health and safety reasons.

Penny Smillie, Secretary

Our proposed “free flow” play area

Spending time outdoors has a positive impact on both mental and physical health so it's important that we encourage it from a young age. Hence at present we are seeking planning permission to enclose half our car park area with secure fencing, with upper and lower gate access provision for disabled users. Our aim is to create a fantastic and much-needed outdoor space for the children to use in all weathers.

The proposed design will include an outdoor teaching barn and huts for role play that relate to our wonderful high street and the local services and businesses within the locality. The role play huts will include a doctors’ surgery to promote health and wellbeing, a vets’ practice to promote animal welfare and kindness and a dentist to create a healthy relationship with dentistry and to dispel fears.

Dionne Banbury, Vice Chair

Treasurer’s Report

Please refer to the accounts which follow when reading this.

2024-5 has been an expensive year for the Pre-school, as we predicted. Staff wages have increased enormously because of the increase in the National Living Wage plus revisions upwards of wages for apprentices. We agreed as Trustees to maintain the percentage wage differentials we had decided upon the previous April, and still believe this is the right approach, but it does increase the wages bill.

These increases are clear in the General Fund, which shows the income and expenditure for the core running of the preschool. The balance at the end of July 2025 was £2,437, a verry significant decrease from the previous year. However numbers of children are beginning to rise. We need this trend to continue.

Keep Fit in the Playroom

I have presented the accounts in the same way as last year, showing clearly the restricted Higher Needs funding (part of which, by agreement with the Trustees, has been transferred to staff wages, recognising the additional one-to-one attention needed by the children for whom we receive this funding.)

The account also shows an earmarked Development Fund into which fundraising and grants are put, ready to spend on our projects.

The solicitor’s costs for the lease have had to be paid which makes the situation seem worse, but of course we knew this was coming and had set aside the required sums in our reserves along with our closure reserve. The latter has had to increase to take into account increased wages.

We now have a building which is ours 24/7, but which we only use for the Pre-school about six hours a day. To keep costs down we are keen to use voluntary help wherever we can for small maintenance tasks. Our future plans to use the building for “Family Hub” activities could help by sharing utility and maintenance costs.

Laura Tilling, Treasurer

THE TOYBOX PRESCHOOL

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

CONTENTS	PAGE
Charity information	1
Independent examiner's report	2
Receipts and payments account	3

Registered Charity number 1038181

MAX FOOTE ASSOCIATES LIMITED

CHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS

2 BAILEY HILL, CASTLE CARY, SOMERSET, BA7 7AD

THE TOYBOX PRESCHOOL

CHARITY INFORMATION

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1038181

TRUSTEES

Hayley Groves (Chair) (Appointed 19 November 2024) Laura Tilling Hannah Garden-Cressey Emma Clarke Jessica Thompson Stephen Higgins Penelope Smillie Frances Eleanor Alden Dionne Banbury (Appointed 19 November 2024) Georgina Hole (Appointed 19 November 2024)

ADDRESS

The Swainson Building Maggs Lane Ansford Academy Castle Cary Somerset BA7 7JJ

BANKERS

Barclays Bank plc King George Street Yeovil Somerset BA20 1PX

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS

Max Foote Associates Limited Chartered Certified Accountants 2 Bailey Hill Castle Cary Somerset BA7 7AD

Page 1

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES ON THE UNAUDITED ACCOUNTS OF THE TOYBOX PRESCHOOL

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Toybox Preschool (the Charity) for the year ended 31 July 2025, which are set out on page 3.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act).

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or

the accounts did not accrod with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Sian Hill FCCA Max Foote Associates Limited Chartered Certified Accountants 2 Bailey Hill Castle Cary Somerset BA7 7AD

Dated: 18 November 2025

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THE TOYBOX PRESCHOOL Charity No. 1038181

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2025

RECEIPTS Fees and grants for childcare Fees received Grants Total fees and grants Paid for by parents Snacks Uniform Consumables Welcome packs Total items paid for by parents Miscellaneous income Bank interest Other Total miscellaneous Grants and fundraising Fundraising Donations Total grants and fundraising TOTAL RECEIPTS PAYMENTS Staffing costs Wages and pension contributions Total staffing costs Toys, equipment and entertainment Entertainers and events for children Educational resources and equipment Total toys, equipment and entertainment Welfare and uniform Staff and child welfare Uniform purchases Total welfare and uniform Snacks Snacks purchased Total snacks Building costs Rent Repairs and maintenance Cleaning Total building costs Administrative costs Bank charges Insurance IT, software, and computer consumables Printing, stationery and postage Licensing costs Subscriptions Telephone and internet General expenses Total administrative costs Professional fees Legal fees Payroll services Independent examination fees Total professonal fees Fundraising costs Fundraising expenses Total fundraising costs TOTAL PAYMENTS NET RECEIPTS CASH FUNDS AT 31 JULY 2024 Transfers in reserves Increase in provision for eventual closure CASH FUNDS AT 31 JULY 2025 CASH FUNDS HELD Barclays Community account Savings account Petty cash Total cash funds	General Fund (Unrestricted) £ 15,001.27 71,031.89 86,033.16 1,883.40 122.06 82.79 165.00 2,253.25 332.82 595.00 927.82 - - - 89,214.23 91,923.87 91,923.87 595.00 985.43 1,580.43 508.27 549.60 1,057.87 1,246.19 1,246.19 3,955.20 - 736.68 4,691.88 43.72 1,019.00 86.40 238.87 135.22 327.87 745.62 42.00 2,638.70 - 564.50 300.00 864.50 - - 104,003.44 (14,789.21) 23,837.57 (6,670.00) 2,378.36 2,371.64 - 6.72 2,378.36	Higher Needs Fund (Restricted) £ - 6,356.00 6,356.00 - - - - - - - - - - 6,356.00 5,000.00 5,000.00 - 768.68 768.68 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5,768.68 587.32 889.57 - 1,476.89 1,476.89 - - 1,476.89	Development Fund (Designated) £ - - - - - - - - - - - 938.77 2,290.00 3,228.77 3,228.77 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 45.30 45.30 45.30 3,183.47 10,584.43 - 13,767.90 13,767.90 - - 13,767.90	Reserve Fund (Designated) £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3,420.00 - - 3,420.00 - - 3,420.00 (3,420.00) 21,750.00 6,670.00 25,000.00 4,705.62 20,294.38 - 25,000.00	Total 2025 £ 15,001.27 77,387.89 92,389.16 1,883.40 122.06 82.79 165.00 2,253.25 332.82 595.00 927.82 938.77 2,290.00 3,228.77 98,799.00 96,923.87 96,923.87 595.00 1,754.11 2,349.11 508.27 549.60 1,057.87 1,246.19 1,246.19 3,955.20 - 736.68 4,691.88 43.72 1,019.00 86.40 238.87 135.22 327.87 745.62 42.00 2,638.70 3,420.00 564.50 300.00 4,284.50 45.30 45.30 113,237.42 (14,438.42) 57,061.57 - 42,623.15 22,322.05 20,294.38 6.72 42,623.15	Total 2024 £ 12,462.75 83,524.79 95,987.54 1,918.94 169.93 191.89 354.00
						2,634.76 309.18 50.00
						359.18 8,938.33 119.25 9,057.58 108,039.06 77,826.56 77,826.56 140.00 3,256.27 3,396.27 504.93 2,147.10 2,652.03 1,297.21 1,297.21 6,303.60 611.26 114.59 7,029.45 32.00 790.02 150.00 334.33 - 288.70 812.10 - 2,407.15 1,750.00 540.00 - 2,290.00 4,587.90 4,587.90 101,486.57 6,552.49 50,509.08 - 57,061.57 33,613.29 23,381.56 66.72 57,061.57

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