## **Minutes for Little Apples AGM** ## **2nd May 2023** - Committee – Joanne Whatley, Karen Totterdell, Sherri McAra, Emma Williams. - Apologies – Bridie Heslin, Alison McMahon. - **Chair’s report – by Alison McMahon** I am still the Little Apples Chair and have held this position for over 5 years of which I enjoy very much. Once more I am looking forward to an exciting and successful year for Little Apples Jo and the Little Apples team have continued to support both each other and the children and their families who attend Little Apples. This amazing team have continued to provide a very high standard of care and dedication for the children in this fantastic Pre -School setting. The number of children attending Little Apples has increased and have a healthy waiting list which is fantastic news to hear. Throughout the year Little Apples has had some staff changes and it is nice to hear the new staff who have joined this fantastic team are enjoying their new roles. Little Apples like all care settings are finding it a struggle to find qualified staff especially since COVID. People have left the care settings to work in e.g. retail setting where they can earn more money. Also, staff could apply for bursary’s in the past which are no longer available which helped towards training costs etc. The children and staff worked really hard for their nativity play which was a great success. The children loved their Christmas party and their visit from Father Christmas. The refreshments and raffle raised £86.45 The children are looking forward to their sports afternoon on 27[th] June and the leavers party on 13[th] July where CrazyM will be providing entertainment for them. Over the year the team have provided a creative and fun environment encouraging the children to learn and explore topics such as Space, Harvest Festival, Chinese New Year, Valentines, and exploring pumpkins. They are currently learning about gardens, minibeasts and growing plants. They also have been watching and learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and are awaiting their caterpillars to turn into butterflies. Susan and Sharon have made a new mud kitchen for all to enjoy. Little Apples have continued to help their vulnerable families. They received a small Hardship discretionary grant in March of £150.00 which was used to help some families and also provided food parcels. There is an upcoming housing development due to start behind Little Apples. Jo is going to speak to the parish council or borough council regarding the upcoming housing development and the impact it will have on Little Apples. Jo will also raise concerns regarding construction project noise, dust etc and how it will impact on Little Apples as it is so near to the playground. Little Apples have fundraised where they can this year due to the current economic situation as they did not want families feeling pressured to contribute when their financial budgets are tight. Little Apples also set up a webpage www.smile.Amazon.co.uk as a named charity. When people use this site to buy gifts then a contribution is given to Little Apples. Once again thank you and well done to everyone involved maintaining Little Apples bank balances especially during this current economic situation. I have once again have seen no reason to refuse any requests for this year. Little Apples have remained a very important Pre-School in our local community which is reflected by increased numbers and a very healthy waiting list. Little Apples have continued to use the Bramley Magazine to gain awareness and give parents in our community information regarding this fantastic Pre - School. Once again, I would like to say a very big thank you to all the committee members for all your support you have given Little Apples this year. To Jo and the fantastic team thank you and well done for all your hard work, dedication and support you give to everyone who attends Little Apples. I look forward to hearing about all the exciting things you will be doing in the upcoming year and am so pleased that Little Apples has continued to maintain its very important status in our local community. ##  **Treasurer / Financial Controller report – by Karen Totterdell** `o` BA £112,677.57 SA £28,405.71 (as of 30[th] April 2023) The income and expenditure for the year ended 31 August 2022 have now been finalised and show an income of £155,998.30 and a total expenditure of £139,086.49 resulting in a profit of £16,911.81. In comparison, 2021 resulted in a profit of £1839.01 and 2020 a loss of £17,012.58. Income for year ending 31 August 2022 was £155,998.30, considerably higher than the previous year (£146,391.19). This is mainly due to an increase in children, we removed the cap of 42 children, and instead referred to our Statutory Guidance, which details how many children we can take per square footage. Fundraising has always played an important role in assisting Little Apples, we made a profit of £396.65, again this is considerably higher than the previous year (£248.28). Our total expenditure for the year was £139,086.49 this was lower than the previous year (£144,552.18). Considering increases in NLW, Work Place Pension and running costs Little Apples expenditure has been kept as low as possible and closely monitored. Reducing the adult to child ratio to keep staff costs down has assisted with this reduction in expenditure. In addition, where possible we included Jo in the ratio’s, with her qualification we were able to amend the ratios, which reduced staff costs even further. This current academic year has been phenomenal, our intake of children has increased rapidly, and we have a lot of children staying on with us into next academic year. We have continued to keep expenditure low and continued with reduced adult to child ratios to reduce staff costs. As a result, we are expecting to exceed a profit of £16k, which is fantastic. Our government funding rate increased, effective from April 2023, by 21 pence per hour for 3 / 4 year-olds (last year it was 16 pence) and 38 pence for 2 year olds (last year it was 20 pence). In addition, EYPP has increased from 60 pence per hour to 62 pence and the DAF allowance is now £828, from £800. So, all positive increases. In addition to this, we received a donation of £5,500.00 on 19[th] April 2023, from Bramley After School Club, their charity is closing and they must donate any remaining profits to other charities, and we were on their list. Jo has been discussing with the team, how we should use this money. New hourly funding rates from 1[st] April 2023: 3 / 4 year olds £4.87 2 year olds £5.94 The NLW increased, effective from April 2023 to £10.42 per hour, as a result an increase was applied to all staff members, due to our pay scales: SEN £13.32 Deputy £10.92 Upper level 3 £10.62 Level 3 £10.52 Unqualified £10.42 Little Apples is a charity and therefore aims to be a not-for-profit organisation. This means that any underlying profit will go towards the reserves policy which will allow Little Apples to continue during a period of unforeseen difficulty, which can occur at any time. ##  **Manager report – by Jo Whatley** At Little apples, We are currently full for this academic year with 70 children on roll. As you can imagine this makes us very busy. This term we will be focusing on managing the transitions to school for the children that are leaving us. I had initial meeting with Bramley School last week, although we have a child going to Sherborne St John and another going to 4 lanes in Chineham, and one to Bishops Wood in Tadley. We already have 48 children on the role for next academic year, so the numbers look very healthy. We have frequent enquiries for availability and other families have been booked to look round with a view to starting next academic year. We have one child who is subject to a child protection plan and two further children who are currently in foster care. It is likely that they will be placed with an adoptive family in the next six months and so will be leaving us in July. We have several children who are currently under paediatric care for some element of additional need. At least one of these will require an education, health and care plan which I will be preparing next academic year. In the setting, we are working to improve the provision all the time. The garden has recently benefited from an improved mud kitchen created by the staff. We are also working on our provision for preparing the children for writing skills which includes a small group activity of “hand gym”. You may have seen our recent appeal for old handbags scarves costume jewellery and children’s shoes which we are using to improve the role-play opportunities. Our new recruits, Rhona and Amelia, are settling in really well and Rhona has taken on the design of our “focused craft” each week. Carrie is leaving us in May to become an LSA at Great Binfields, which is a shame because she is a valuable member of the team, but we understand her wish to progress her career and wish her well. She is the leader of our Makaton provision so we are looking for training for other staff to take this on. We are now in the window when an Ofsted inspection is due. Members of staff are undertaking an online workshop of an hour and a half to prepare for this and other training has also been undertaken on line, including the role of the key person and preparing children for writing. For the first time, we believe we will have a child with deferred school entry staying with us next academic year, which will add a new challenge. I would like to thank you all for your on-going support, as well as Karen, whose help and hard work I could not do without. - **Fundraising update** 22/23 Total so far £541.09 - £86.45 Xmas raffle / donations - £80.00 Sale of tricycle - £40.64 Amazon Smile - £334.00 Treasure Hunt AOB Date of next meeting TBC Ltttle Awes Zncome Expendltwe AcCo￿t for the ye(r enthd 31 2023 Fees EYE 6mnt Uniform Fundmistng 6mnts & fx)nations 353)3.12 I￿221.83 279.CD 947.93 5yX).(Y) 139.87 Interesr TOTAL £197.397J5 Exp￿￿￿8 Staff Woges Tax/Nr Pensions ent Payroll fees Fundroisin9 Equipment rief reshments 6rnnts Adminishntion Expenses Ad¥erti*ng 122.348.64 9515.69 6584.76 14.033.36 .45 5.C6lXI 1.459 159.82 1.498.89 349. In.46 Tmining Povhes/<)JtingS Unifom Insumnce a Annual Fees Hostin9 Storage Accounts DBS Checks Misc 3e6.33 624.34 t297.42 I,8￿.91 939.￿) IT3.64 367.98 TOTAL £169.760JO £27*37.25 Little Apples Excess of Income ofter EXp￿d1tlre Openirnj Fund Bal(uKe F￿S f rom prevIc￿$ ye]r Cheques from weviws yenr Closin9 FLWVJ Balonce as at 31 Aiyr 2023 £27.637.25 £66.398. £o.(yJ £0. £94,036.15 The CLrrent balarKe is made up os foll￿$. Santonder (Current ACc￿t) sant¢￿d￿ (DeFQSit AccoLmt) Petty Cash £65.531.76 £28.464.39 £40.CQ £94.036.15 Signed: Si9%d: Ali&)n Mcmahon Fk)ho Royds Independen* Exorntner Chairpws¢)n CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl mombors of LlffLE hTPL&S OP BZfiMLEV On accounts for the year onded Charity no {rf any) Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charty {Ihe Trusf) for the year ended Responsibilities and As the charty trustees of the Trust, you are tssponsible for the preparation basis of report of the a(£ounts in ￿CordanCe 44ryth the requirements of the CharttiBs Act 2011 Ilhe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the TNst's accounts carried OLrt under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying OLrt my examination. I have followed the appltcable Drrections given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the A I have completed my examination. I cOnfi￿n that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disdosed b8low ') in connection with the examination which gNes rne cause to b81ieve that in. any material Independent examinerfs statement accountirwJ records wère not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the acKounts do not with the ac(x)unting re￿rdS I have no u)nc8rns and have come acmss no other matters in ct)nnertion th the examination to which attention should be dra￿￿ in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in Ihe brackets rfthey do not apply. Si9ned: Date: f7/8 Name: IfA-Wh YD S Relevant professlonal qualification{s) or body (If any): Address: 8phMLrY thPLLY IER October 2018 tion B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlighl matters of concern (see CC32. Independent examination of charity arxourts: directKJns and guidanc8 for examiners). Glve here brlef detalls of any items that the examlnor wish05 to dlsclose. IER October 2018