Trustees Annual Report
For the period 01 April 2024-31 March 2025
Cylch Meithrin Creigiau
Charity No: 1056147
Scout Hall, Castle Close, Creigiau, Cardiff, CF15 9NJ
Charity Committee
Chair: Bethan Worrall Treasurer: Victoria Jones Secretary: Rhiannon Richards Vice Secretary: Holly Davidson
Structure, governance and management
Cylch Meithrin Creigiau is a non-maintained Early Years education provider and playgroup which caters for children aged 2-5 through the medium of Welsh in the small village of Creigiau in Cardiff. It is well received in this area in which Welsh is spoken widely, and where a there is a Welsh stream within the local primary school. Cylch Meithrin Creigiau is governed by a Constitution which was adopted at the inception of the Cylch, and was reviewed by the current Committee in January 2024.
Cylch Meithrin Creigiau is run on a day to day basis by one Leader who is responsible for the smooth running of the playgroup and for the childcare assistants. She is assisted by a Committee who are appointed from the parents of children who currently/previously attended the Cylch, and an administrator who is employed on a part time basis; they organise fundraising events, collect fees, pay staff wages, and provide additional information to families through regular contact and newsletters. Committee Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually at the Annual General Meeting held in the Autumn. Regular meetings of the Committee and Staff are held to discuss matters regarding the Cylch and to make important decisions.
The Committee and Staff are also supported by Mudiad Meithrin and Cardiff County Council who provide advice and guidance.
Disclosure and Barring checks are carried out on all members of staff (including students) prior to commencement of employment, and are renewed in a timely fashion.
We work closely with the local Scout group from whom we rent the hall for the Cylch.
All Committee members give their time voluntarily and received no remuneration or other benefits.
Objectives and activities
Cylch Meithrin Creigiau aims to provide high quality early year’s education and childcare for children aged 2-5 through the medium of Welsh. We continue to offer sessions which work around the local school times, are reasonably priced and which have the best interests of local children and their families at heart.
Our activities are designed to stimulate and engage young children, and encourage them to socialise with their peers. We work within the framework for early year’s education to provide a challenging curriculum with achievable goals. Young children benefit from the immersion into the Welsh language and get used to routines similar to those used in school. Our hours work in tandem with those of the local school, including a wraparound service for the nursery and Meithrin sections, which allows a full day’s childcare for working parents.
Cylch Meithrin Creigiau welcomes all young children regardless of background, faith, language, or disability.
Achievements and performance
2024-2025 has seen a continuation of our success in providing sessional care to children in the area, in particular the wraparound service with the local school Nursery/Meithrin which remains highly popular with working parents. Providing full daycare for 2-year-olds saw a decrease as children turned 3 and moved to wraparound rather than full daycare. The Wraparound Scheme is permanently full in both language streams, and we continue to hold a waiting list for wraparound places well in advance of children receiving a school place. Demand for individual sessions and full daycare for 2 year olds has seen a decrease as parents look for longer days or less sessions due to the cost of living.
Demand for early year’s provision in the area remains constant and we work hard to meet that demand. We have found that most children retain their place with us by taking advantage of the wraparound scheme once they have a part time place at school, and therefore they remain with us for at least an extra academic year, though this impacts the amount of full day places we can offer.
Fundraising has gone back to our normal attendance, including a successful Sports Day and Christmas Concert. Plans to use the funds raised to build a designated external play area for the children in the grounds has been successfully completed with our outdoor classroom, the children have been using in all weathers and love the outdoors
Financial review
2024-2025 saw Cylch suffer a deficit. Despite continuing good attendance many children moved from full day sessions as 2-year-olds to wraparound care as 3-year-olds. This led to a decrease in income as they qualified for 30 hours funding which is significantly less than the charges for full day care for 2-year-olds. We have found the 30 Hours child Childcare offer for Wales continues to be popular with working parents of children once they are 3, and this income increased slightly as our base consisted of an increased amount of 3-year-olds. Our expenses also increased significantly, as expected, due to increased staff costs and planned capital costs. The combination of decreased income and increased expenses resulted in a deficit, which was funded by reserves. We anticipate further increased costs in 2025-26 as wages increase due to both the increase in minimum wage and wage increases required to retain staff. We plan on increasing session rates to cover these increased costs, while using some reserves to absorb the remainder.
Our current reserves policy is to maintain a reserve equivalent to 3 month’s operating costs, along with a designated reserve for redundancy costs should they become necessary. All income through children’s fees, Early Year’s Funding and fundraising/donations is put towards the general running of the Cylch, with general reserves fluctuating depending on occupancy levels.
We aim to hold at least £10,000 cash in bank above the reserves detailed above to cover wages in times of low occupancy. As we utilise reserves to cover current deficits, we will continually monitor reserve levels to ensure sufficient funds are kept to ensure the continued running of the Cylch. If necessary, we will consider further fee increases or increased fundraising.
Public benefit statement
The charity trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the commission in exercising their powers or duties.
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees
Signature Bethan Worrall
Full Name Bethan Worrall
Position Chair
Date Jan 2026
Income and Expenditure Account 2024/2025 Financial year 01/04/24-31/03/25
| Income Mudiad Grant Others Grants Children's fees 30 Hours free childcare funding Fundraising Interest Training Incentive Educ8 Donations and sundries Total Expenses Salaries Rent and heating costs Registrations and PAYE scheme fees Administration and training costs Equipment, materials and resources Fundraising Other Total Surplus/(deficit) for the year Cash in bank at year end Unallocated cash at year end Cash held in bank increase (decrease) 2023/24: Less: surplus/(deficit) Difference: |
2024/2025 £ 0 280 46,409 39,458 1,546 1,249 0 1,000 89,940 £ 89,965 6,162 150 0 2,629 0 1,815 100,720 -10,780 88,514 88,514 -10,780 0 0 |
2023/2024 £ 0 0 38,825 36,819 354 1,371 |
|---|---|---|
| 77,369 | ||
| £ 79,781 6,016 125 553 4,004 0 1,830 |
||
| 92,309 | ||
| -14,940 | ||
| 99,293 | ||
| 99,293 | ||
| -14,940 -14,940 |
||
| 0 |
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