Annual Trustees Report 2020-2021
Blofeld Pre School Playgroup
Blofield Pre School Playgroup is held in the local village hall. We operated as a three day pre school, term time only, on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday until week commencing the 2[nd] November 2020. We increased our sessions to 4 days to include a Friday. We are responsible for the care and learning of 26 children aged between 2 and 4 years. We operate under the guidance of Ofsted and work within the Early Years Framework.
We employ a full time manager who is supported by a deputy and we have an additional 5 childcare practitioners (a combination of full and part time staff). We also employ an administrator. We have staff qualified from a level 2 up to a Teacher status.
We have recently introduced annual parents evenings and parent/carer coffee mornings to allow parents to get an insight into their children’s early years and offer an open platform for any questions to be asked. These are well received and we will continue with these in the future.
The income for the setting is from the Nursery Education Grant, Childcare vouchers, parental fees and fundraising. The impact of Covid has been significant to us in the loss of parent fees and the loss of fundraising income. We have still managed a few fundraising activities this year which have included a treasure hunt around the village, the smartie tube challenge, Christmas cards, Christmas raffle and a Welly Waddle. All of which were shown amazing support from the local community.
We believe we are a modern preschool offering a wide range of toys and equipment with full access to the Early Years Foundation stage curriculum. Our team are highly motivated to nurture each individual child and prepare them for their next step of starting school. Strong links are forged within the community, with the children meeting local emergency services, visiting the village post office, library and we have strong links with the village Primary school. Unfortunately these links have not been able to be maximised this year due to the pandemic.
As trustees we are committed to providing excellent standards of care and education to our children. We continue to support staff development and training and we work closely with our families, enabling us to offer the children a good start and help individuals grow and develop into confident learners whilst they are in our setting.
Blofield Pre School Playgroup Treasurer’s report 2020/21
Blofield Pre School is a village playgroup set up to serve the local community, the ambition is to ensure the children receive the best possible care and leave the setting ready to start their primary education.
Income for the Pre School predominantly comes from Norfolk County Council (NCC) and Parent funding, while costs are staff salaries and Hall fees.
2020/21 was a year unlike any other, typically we know how much income we are likely to receive and staff costs are linked to the hours we operate. If the Pre School is close to capacity, we generally have a good year, while if we struggle for numbers this is reflected in a loss.
COVID meant for large parts of the year the Pre School was unable to open, meaning we were not able to charge the parents. Further to this there were several months where we remained open for ‘Key-Workers’ children and often had a sub-optimal child:staff ratio.
During the year Norfolk County Council were extremely accommodating, we continued to receive funding and were able to able to apply for additional grants meaning we received £58,618 during the period which was an increase of £14,829 on the prior year, this covered the reduction in parent funding of £12,712.
Income for the year was £72,528, this was flat year-on-year. We were expecting a significant increase since the operating hours for the year had increased from 3 – 4 days.
The income we typically receive from fund-raising almost evaporated during the year as we were unable to hold fairs, charity walks etc.
Since NCC continued to fund the Pre School and the rules around COVID were continually changing we continued to keep all staff employed during the period. We could have furloughed staff however had we participated in this the NCC funding would have subsequently been reduced and the impact would have been negligible.
During the year staff costs increased inline with the national minimum wage, 2.4% increase per hour, hall fees remained flat and our NCC hourly rate increased by 1.86%. The impact of costs / income stream changing was minimal. During this difficult period our focus was purely on ensuring when the Pre School was open we took every precaution to protect our staff along with the children and reduce the spread of the disease. We invested in PPE, additional cleaning materials, temperature recording equipment and changed our operating hours to ensure parents were not encountering each other at drop-off and collection times.
On reflection the staff have performed miracles during the year, we have been extremely fortunate they have juggled work and everything else associated with COVID.
During the year we made a loss of £6,868, this isn’t sustainable however hopefully this is a year that will ever be repeated. We are forecasting to be close to capacity on all four days moving into 2021/22 which is supported by the growing village population with the local school doubling capacity moving forward.
Nick Jeffery Blofield Pre School Treasurer
Independent Examiner's Report on the Accounts of Blofield Pre School Playgroup Report to the trustees of Blofield Pre School Playgroup (ChaLIty No. 1039666) on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021. Respective Responsibilities of Trustee5 and Examiner The Charity's trustees are responslble for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's tnteeS consider that an audit is not required for this year under Section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and that an independent exan]ination is needed. It is my responsibility to: Examine the accounts under Section 145 of the Charities Act. To follow the Procedures laid down in th¢ genernl Directions given by the Charities Commission under Section 145 of the Charities act, and To state whether particular matters have Come to Iny attention. Basis of Independent Examiner's Statement My examination was ¢&rri¢d out in accordance with general directions given by the Charities Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosur¢s in th¢ accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertak¢n do not provid¢ all th¢ evidence that would be required in an audiL and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'tTue and fair. view and the report is limited to thos¢ matters s¢t out in the statement below. Independent Examiner's Statement In connection with my examinatio no matter has con]e to my attention which: Gives my reasonable cause to b¢li¢ve that in, any material respect, the requirements to keep accounting records and prepare accounts in accordance with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act. In my Opinio attention should be drawn to in order to enable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. Signed Dated Edward Clarke, Bsc. (Hons). MAAT Clarke Accountancy Ltd Dashwo(xl House l Tyrells Road Great Yarmouth NR31 OAR