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Registered Charity No 1042921
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‘Nurturing Happy, Healthy Creative Explorers Embarking on Life’s Learning Adventure’
Ford Pre-school & Ford Toddlers Pre-school Managers Report January 2025
This report will give an overview of key events from September 2023 until July 2024
During the year 23/24 we had 31 children accessing the setting which is a very high number for such a rural setting but a slight drop on the previous year's record high, 20 of these children were accessing some/all of their funding entitlement.
the number in July were: 17 children on Monday 20 children on Tuesday 20 children Wednesday 15 children Thursday 16 children Friday.
We have a maximum capacity of 16 children in the main downstairs room, meaning that we were making use of the upstairs room at least 3 days a week. Upstairs we can have 8 children so we still had capacity for all the children looking to access the setting.
Staff structure
The staff structure has mostly remained the same. I (Rebecca Clark) am the Manager, Gemma is the afterschool and holiday club co-ordinator. Debbie continued her role as Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and behaviour management, Hannah is the Deputy Manager as well as working after school and at the holiday club alongside Gemma. Samantha is our Speech and language coordinator, and Rebecca is an early Years Practitioner. Debbie, Samatha, Gemma, Hannah and Rebecca are all key workers to a group of children, they have all formed positive relationships with those children and their families and have facilitated some amazing personalised learning opportunities for their key children to help support them on their learning journey.
Safeguarding
As we all know safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and the staff take their role in this very seriously. Myself Hannah and Gemma are trained designated persons meaning there is always at least one on sight should a safeguarding concern take place.
Staff dedication
Another very busy and challenging year for many staff in their private lives lead to more absences than average. All staff worked as a team to cover planned and unplanned absences, meaning that the setting was never below the legal ratio and the children were always able to thrive. Staff have worked exceedingly hard this year to meet all individual child's needs, tailoring activities to allow them all to make the next step on their learning journey. This has shown in the child's individual achievements, and assessments made on the school readiness passport.
Planning permission
Following on from the decision to expand Pre-School and have a purpose built building erected outside, we enrolled Gillian Seed the architect who drew up plans for us. We submitted them and had the planning permission passed. (please see attached plans) This new space would allow for more 2,3 and 4 year olds to be in the same room at one time. It would also allow the space for us to extend the age of children so that we can provide care for lowering the age to birth to allow us to cater for the child care needs of all the families in the area. With the closest provision that provides care for children under 2 being Berwick or Alnwick this is a much needed resource for the families within the locality. The plans have been drawn up to allow for level access from the gravel area into the current preschool room, meaning the buggy and disability access was not an issue. The next step is for Gillian to organise the structural engineer to assess the site and plans and also have all the correct levels taken for drainage. Once all this has been done and all the relevant information has been correlated a tender pack can be produced for us to put out to prospective businesses allowing them to give us a quote for the work. This in turn will mean we can be more accurate when applying for funding.
Fundraising
We are being very proactive in our quest to raise money towards the new build. With the kind support of Hendrik Van Boeckel and James Neill we worked together to host a clay pigeon shoot. This was a huge success bringing in just shy of £3000 with thanks to The Barn at Beal for the drinks and to Northumberland meats for the BBQ meat. The day created much positive feedback and many people telling us that they were looking forward to next years shoot.
The Pre school staff walked from Berwick to Norham a distance of 9 miles to raise money, this was a good day and sponsors were generous.
We put an application in to the Joicey Trust Foundation with the Kind support of Tom Jackson, this bid was successful and we were granted £3000 which has helped us to get to the point where tender packs can be created.
We have put a large funding application bid into the lottery, the application process has been supported by Karen Fogget from the Glendale Gateway Trust. We put in what we felt was a strong bid with lots of evidence of need and viability however we were sadly turned down
due to the lottery feeling we were subsidised by the government because children and families are able to access their funding entitlement with us. I have been working closely with
Stephanie Ellis from the lottery foundation who has made suggestions and also recommended other funders. She has advised us to attach the tender quotes to the applications as well as planning permission to build us a stronger case with evidence of where the money will be spent.
Open Day
We hosted our second open day which was a real success. This gave parents and carers the opportunity to explore the setting with their child, talk to staff and other families, find out information about our plans for the future and be reminded of the things that make Ford Pre-school so unique. Again the feedback from staff, families and visitors was positive and something we will be doing again in the future. Since covid the number of parents acutely accessing the setting has been at a minimum so it was really nice to be able to showcase what we do and demonstrate how we encourage our children to thrive.
Taking children from a young age
Due to the likelihood that the new building will not be ready for us to use come September 2025 we have come to an agreement with school that the upstairs area will still be able to be used by pre-school and that this will not have a negative effect on the education of the older children in school. This space could be used to accommodate a small number of babies. Rebecca Tait alongside myself will be undergoing training, as well as a lot of resources research and setting visits to see if the space is usable and, if so, how best to set this out. All the staff have said that they would be willing to support work in the baby room and be a staff member there when needed, but would rather the majority of their hours were in the main room, with the exception of Rebecca Tait as she was keen to work closely with the under twos. This is all in planning at this stage.
Outdoor Learning
As any family, child or visitor would be able to tell you the environment that we have and the outdoor space that we have access to is second to none, the staff are amazing at taking the learning outdoors, accessing nature and fueling that love of learning. Due to higher than average child numbers and not all children having permission to leave the school site, we haven't been able to access the village as regularly as we have in previous years. This said, one activity that we have done that had a really positive outcome was in December when all the children made a card and went in small groups to the post office to buy a stamp and then put it into the post box addressed to their own houses. The children were so excited to come in and tell us that their card had arrived at their house.
Maternity leave
Hannah shared her fantastic news with us that she was expecting a baby at the beginning of September. We were all overjoyed. Fergus, who came a little earlier than planned in August only 6 days after Hannah finished work for the summer, is a beautiful happy baby with a doting big sister. Due to the drop in child numbers that we have been forecasting for the last 2 years we didn't need to recruit maternity cover as Hannah's hours could be covered with the existing staff.
Hourly rate increase
In April with the increased minimum wage the Committee made the decision to increase the hourly rate parents would be charged for time outwith their funding entitlement to £4.75 to cover the additional outgoings for staff wages.
Funding
The implementation of 2 year funding means that children from 2 years old will be able to access 15 hours per week of government funding. This funding is going to stretch to 9 month old children and then allow 2 year old children to access 30 hours. This is now called Working Family Entitlement and the majority of families are able to access this when both parents are working.
Family Day
We hosted a family day at Spittal Park. The weather was fantastic, and the splash park was working. This was a fantastic opportunity for staff to chat to parents as well as meet each other. As these days always are, the feedback was positive with the children were talking about the day in setting for the weeks to come.
Holiday Clubs
The popularity of the holiday club has been decreasing over recent years. The half term holiday clubs have been particularly unpopular with on some days only 2 children attending. We need 6 children to attend per session to make the session viable.
The summer holiday club has been popular and it has helped reap back some of the lost revenue created due to the half term clubs.
After School Club
School is continuing to host after school clubs on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday for the school children. Reception and preschool students are able to access the after school club in the Pre-school room on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The school children are able to join us if they require care after the finish time of 4.15. These sessions are staffed by Hannah and Gemma but Myself, Debbie and Rebecca are going to cover a night each during Hannahs maternity leave.
Thank you
Over the last few years we have been through many changes and have had some big decisions to make. Thanks to the strong committee that Ford Pre School has we have been able to navigate these with ease and my job has been helped knowing I have a strong committee to lean on. A PreSchool Lead Committee is only as good as its members and we have some of the best.
Special thanks have to be extended to Abbie and Indra who have been officers on the committee for 8+ years. Cara who very kindly agreed to be the secretary and Carly for her many years of support thank you ladies for always going above and beyond.
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Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examlner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Ford Pre-school & Ford Toddlers On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 Charity no (if any) 1042921 Set out on pages ATTACHED ACCOUNTS PAGES RECIEXPIFINANCIAL STATE Respective The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given examiner's statement by the Charity 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 disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair, view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent In connection with my examination, no matter has Come to my attention examiner's statement (other than that disclosed below ') which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act,. and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met" or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the braGkets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: fj.dl-Zol Name: ffjENJfvJ Ifi (L No L Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): LILS , OA IER
Address: Co Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems. IER