Blakeney preschool
c/o Blakeney School Blakeney Gloucestershire GL154EB
Annual report 2020 - 2021
Charity Number 1060878 Ofsted Registration Number 510052 PATA member setting
Mission statement
At Blakeney pre-school we aim to help ALL children be the best they can be, by supporting them and their families during their important early years .
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Structure, governance and t Type of governing document[PATA model constitution] How the charity is constituted Nomination by outgoing committee members Trustee selection methods (Trustees) and parents at the Annual General Meeting.
All Blakeney Preschool policies and procedures abide by the laws regulating child care including The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2014), The Children and Families Act 2014 and the Data Protection Act 2018 thereby conforming to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (2017) as laid out by these acts.
Blakeney Preschool is a Pre-school and is managed by Cathy Rowlands and Rachael Thomas, assisted by a committee of members.
Committee members complete DBS checks in line with statutory requirements.
Blakeney Preschool is registered with and inspected by OFSTED and have consistently achieved a “Good” evaluation .Our latest inspection dated June 2018 is available on request or on the Ofsted Website.
Blakeney Preschool is run as a charity for the public benefit of the children in the local area with the purpose of enhancing their education, explicitly during their preschool years by providing a safe, caring, supportive and stimulating range of learning activities, so that they are well prepared for statutory schooling.
Blakeney Preschool is a friendly village preschool that has been established for a number of years. We promote a safe, caring, supportive and child orientated environment for learning to take place through play.
We offer a range of provision that provides quality care and education in the foundation stage for young children between the ages of 2 years and 5 years, with up to 24 children per session, for five days per week in term time.
We are run by a management committee of volunteers we work within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. We follow set policies and procedures to ensure we continue to operate legally and ethically.
For the period of this business, we aim to ultimately offer our families, friendly, high quality and affordable childcare which where possible allows them to access full nursery education entitlement.
Blakeney Preschool managers and staff review and amend the policies/ procedures throughout the year.
Every policy has been reviewed in time for our yearly AGM, normally in the autumn term where they are formally adopted. A full set of updated policies is kept at the Pre-School. Parents have access to view the policies online on Tapestry or our website.
Our objectives and activities
Blakeney Preschool was originally opened at the church rooms many years ago, the group
moved to our own purpose built setting in the grounds of Blakeney School approx. 15 years ago . The new premises offered outdoor facilities that were sorely lacking at the Church rooms, along with a space designed especially for Early Years children .
Blakeney Preschool cater for children aged 2 years to 5 years. We offer 15 hours free funding through the government's scheme from the term after children have turned 3 or for eligible 2-year olds. We also offer 30-hour funding for eligible 3 and 4 year olds, over 38 weeks a year. We are open Monday to Friday from 8.20am to 2.30 pm.
We aim to be very flexible and work with parents to support their needs. Some children attend just mornings, and some all day. We also offer funded children additional hours (up to 30 per week ) parents pay for this service.
Blakeney Preschool promotes child-centred learning through play. Play is the foundation for learning and creative problem solving. Through good quality play children learn at their highest level, enabling them to actively be involved in their learning. To concentrate, persist, create and co-operate to deal with world materials, situations and people without discriminating.
Our highly qualified practitioners are committed to promote a safe, clean environment (both inside and out) and work within each child's comfort zone to ensure optimal social, emotional and educational results.
We make full use of our outdoor area, as we recognise the opportunities and benefits that outdoor play provides. We plan and provide resources to enable the children to develop in all areas of learning when utilising both the indoor and outdoor areas. We offer free flow play, realising the positive effects for the children and the setting.
Blakeney Preschool is in receipt of Nursery Education Funding from the Local Educational Authority. As a charity, Blakeney Preschool Management comprises of the preschool managers and parent Volunteers.
Organisational structure
We are affiliated with the Charity Commission as an educational charity and are run by a voluntary committee made up from our families
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes an unincorporated charity.
Committee members:
Mrs Rachel Maher – Chairperson Mrs Joy Sandford – Secretary Ms Jodie Dawson (Pending)
We are registered with Ofsted and are members of PATA.
The committee of parents are elected annually at the AGM which is responsible for the finances and the overall management of the group. Made up of 3 officers; Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. We hold meetings to make decisions about the current and future management of the setting. At each committee meeting the Bookkeeper presents an up to date statement of accounts. All decisions made by the committee are made in view of the financial situation and required reserves, as laid out in our constitution.
The Pre-School has much to offer parents and carers. Through committee work and fund- raising new skills and confidence can be gained. It’s a chance to get to know others in the same situation and to develop a support network. Parents can share skills and interests with the children. Many lifelong friendships begin in the years when the children are at Pre-School together.
Blakeney Preschool advocate strong professional development for all our staff, currently we employ 6 members of staff:
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Name Role qualifications
Cathy Rowlands Manager / SENCo Level 3 ,
SEND, Safeguarding level 3
Rachael Thomas Manager / CP officer Level 3
Safeguarding level 3
Emma Evans Deputy Level 3
Julie Hodges Senior practitioner Level 3
BradeyMay Baldwin Practitioner level 2
Anna Webb Bank Staff QTS
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Our Achievements and performance
During the last year we have continued to reflect on our services. We had over 30 children on role -aged two to rising fives, with up to 24 attending each session.
During this financial period we continue to work through the Covid crisis – we ensured we followed all Govt guidelines and remained open to support our frontline worker parents and provide consistency and a feeling of ‘normality’ for our children. As can be seen from our financial information – we were hit by the Covid crisis – although costs remained steady - income dropped dramatically. We had lockdowns to adhere to, parents were making the choices not to send their children to Preschool to keep them safe, and the number of new parent enquiries stopped. Our costs did not fall in line with income -as we continued to keep all staff employed in the setting – as we were hoping the situation would improve, and did not want to make any of our reliable team redundant or cut hours. We had increased cleaning costs , PPE costs and additional staff hours for increased deep cleaning.
We were not able to undertake any fundraising due to Covid restrictions – meaning all purchases came from our account – and not from any additional funds raised.
Thankfully we were able to maintain our level of service as we have a good contingency plan – although this is not sustainable indefinitely.
Our staff have shown the upmost dedication and support during this financial period of uncertainty and we are extremely grateful .
We continue to advocate strong professional development for all our staff, and our team have continued to complete many training courses.
We are expecting to make a smaller loss in 2021 / 2022 , but new children have began to restart their preschool sessions and we are hopeful that moving forward things will begin to improve financially.
C Rowlands
Manager
Blakeney Under Fives Preschool
| Sep '20 - Aug 21 Sep '19 - Aug 20 |
Sep '20 - Aug 21 Sep '19 - Aug 20 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Statement for Financial Activities | ||
| Incoming Resources | ||
| Voluntary Income | 40,847.07 | 55,904.09 |
| Activities for generating funds | 0.00 | 190.62 |
| Total Income Resources | 40,847.07 | 56,094.71 |
| 40,847.07 | 56,094.71 | |
| Resources Expended | ||
| Cost of Generating Voluntary Income (Expense) | 48,711.99 | 56,250.14 |
| Governance costs | 668.50 | 885.70 |
| Total Resources expended | 49,380.49 | 57,135.84 |
| Net Incoming Resources | -8,533.42 | -1,041.13 |
| Reconciliation of Funds | ||
| Total Funds brought forward | 113,750.66 | 114,791.79 |
| Total Funds carried forward | 105,217.24 | 113,750.66 |
Blakeney Under Fives Preschool
| Balance Sheet Fixed Assets Tangible Assets Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand Net Current Assets Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Total Current Liabilities Total Assets Less Current Liabilities Net Assets Funds Unrestricted Funds Total Funds |
Sep '20 - Aug 21 Sep '19 - Aug 20 53,775.48 53,385.52 51,679.26 60,750.54 51,679.26 60,750.54 237.50 385.40 237.50 385.40 105,217.24 113,750.66 105,217.24 113,750.66 105,217.24 113,750.66 105,217.24 113,750.66 |
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