Thurnby and Bushby Playgroup Leaders report for A.G.M. 2022 Monday 10[th] October 2022
The EYFS was revised, and the new revised programme began Autumn term September 2021. The new revised EYFS continues to be child led, learning through play, but encourages a less paperwork approach, and more in the moment learning. All children are allocated a key person who oversees their development and helps them to add to their Learning Journey. This is a collection of evidence of activities and a record of how they have developed, and sets next steps, which are targets to reach whilst at playgroup.
News-
Committee - Again a BIG THANK YOU to them for their hard work and their fantastic support, without a full committee we cannot run. Our chairperson remains unchanged, Rochelle Jarrett, as does our treasurer Karen O’Donovan, and Priya Brookes remains as a general member. The position of secretary has remained unfilled over the last year, however our other general member, Agneta Macca, has agreed to fill this role, and is in the process of completing all the necessary paperwork with Ofsted. Helen Shepherd remains as our representative for Ofsted. Again we thank all who have joined and non- committee parents who also support us. Any parent wishing to join the committee will be expected to complete an enhanced DBS and an EY2, which allows them to be checked as suitable to be involved with playgroup’s roles. We require at least one more general member to complete the committee, if you feel you could give a little of your time to support us, please speak to staff. All other parents can join our forum, which allows them to support us and attend meetings but with less responsibility than a committee member.
Previous AGM - Weds 13[th] October 2021
Staff Changes- There are no changes this year, our full time, permanent staff group remains, Kerri Le-Butt as leader, Nicola Catherall as Deputy, and Karla Appleton, and Meghann Hudson remain as level 3 qualified staff. In the summer term, due to higher numbers of children, we welcomed local child minder, and previous parent, Pinky Jadav, as a helper on a Friday morning. We are looking to add to our bank staff. Training-
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All staff completed online Epipen training, February 15[th] –during half term, in preparation for a child to attend who requires this life saving medication. All parents were reminded that we remain a Nut free zone.
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New EYFS Framework- All staff familiarised themselves with the new EYFS, and throughout the summer gained knowledge of new ways of recording children’s developments.
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All staff complete essential training online (EduCare) throughout the year, which includes Effective Safeguarding (revised 2019), The Prevent Duty in an Early Years Environment, Understanding and Addressing behaviour, Understanding Children’s Rights, Equality and Inclusion in Early Years Settings, Food Allergy and Intolerance Training, as well as others that staff chose to do.
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Thursday 7[th] July -Business Health Check- Praksha Bathia from the Early Learning & Child Inclusion team, came out to advise us about how to run throughout the year financially, and be more cost effective, particularly during lower attended terms such as Autumn. She gave us tips for running a more financially successful, committee run playgroup. These ideas were discussed and implemented over the summer holidays in preparation for the new Autumn term 2022.
Covid-19 Pandemic-
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We continued to adhere to government rules, including lateral flow testing, looking for symptoms, and we changed our practice as rules were relaxed, during the Summer term.
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School requested we change our finish times of our late club, to 3.20 instead of 3.30 due to the pandemic and to allow social distancing to continue. Although social distancing came to an end during this year, we have continued to finish at 3.20, to avoid congestion at the gate
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We continued to close on a Tuesday, and offered another afternoon session on a Thursday instead. We now offer 21 hours, and sessions 9-3, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 9-12 on a Friday.
- Other mentionable items regarding playgroup
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Chubb renewed our fire appliances, and replaced ones as necessary to comply with legal recommendations- Thursday 2[nd] December 2021
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PAT testing was completed on all electrical items- October 2021
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Air conditioning units tested and Cleaned-Monday 25[th] October 2021
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New Area Senco and support officer, Fay Cambell, contacted us, and supported us online, and from the spring term, was able to support, and visit us in person.
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Individual children’s speech therapists were again able to visit in person. They spent time with each child, their key person, and developed strategies, which parents and key persons could continue to develop to help the individual children’s speech and language.
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February 2nd 2022- all staff attended a Meet and Greet with the local Co Op. We were lucky enough to be chosen to be one of our local Co Ops charities, and will again receive generous monetary amounts, and encourage as many people to choose us as their nominated charity. This time it will last for a year and we hope they will offer some volunteers and some support with essential things such as painting the garden or by donating items towards our annual events.
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Monday 4[th] April 2022-playgroup was forced to close for the day due to staff illness. Unfortunately, due to Covid, we have lost our cover staff, and due to not being able to cover staff to children, legal ratios, and the staff who were ill were management, we were forced to close. Where available we offered alternative sessions.
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Due to the way that funding is paid, in three terms, spring term actually ended on Friday 8[th] April, however the funding for spring ended on 31[st] March. This meant that an extra week was added to the summer term funding, but also allowed any children due to start after Easter, or changing their hours, could actually start the week beforehand.
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As covid restrictions were lifted, we were able to invite the teachers from feeder schools to reinstate their visits, during the summer term. Fernvale teachers came in for several visits, Houghton chose to continue with conversations over the phone, and St Luke’s felt they would do their own transition and did not feel they could offer any transition with us at all. The new EYFS encourages less paper work, and so this year we mainly reported on each child’s development verbally rather than by written reports.
Termly ActivitiesAutumn Term 2021
We returned to the new term, with some restrictions still in place regarding covid-19, and opening 21 hours spread over 4 days (closed Tuesdays). The children continue to
wash their hands on arrival, and before leaving, and are encouraged to be more aware of germs and how we can prevent them spreading. We followed all guidelines regarding symptoms of covid and requested testing or exclusion, and as rules were relaxed followed all government guidelines and changed these accordingly. Total number of children-16
Numbers Mon 13 Tues Weds 15 Thurs 9 Fri 13 PM 11 closed PM 15 PM 8
Themes- First half term- We introduced a new weekly ‘Focussed’ board, which includes a Letter (sound), Number, Shape, Song, Makaton sign, and word (s) of the week. Any new children will spend time completing fun activities within an ‘All about Me’ booklet which determines where they are within areas of learning, and helps their key person set termly goals.
We began the new term talking about Autumn, the changes to trees, animals, birds, including migration, hibernation, and the changes to our surrounding area during this time of year. October 7[th] saw the beginning of Navaratri, (meaning 9 nights) the Hindu festival of dance. We enjoyed learning about this, and Mrs Pinky kindly brought in lots of beautiful outfits to wear, Dandiyas and helped us to celebrate. The children made their own Dandiya sticks, and we had a wonderful time dancing to lovely music. The second half we learned about Autumn festivals and celebrations. During the week of Halloween, we had Pumpkin Week, and scooped out pumpkins, made many different crafts etc. and sang our pumpkin song. We celebrated Diwali (4[th] November) with card making, dancing and many props such as masks, clothing etc for the children to learn about the festival of lights. The 5[th] November was Bonfire night, we made firework pictures using straws, paint and glitter.
Remembrance Sunday, (14[th] November) we made poppy pictures and talked about the soldiers in the war, and on the 11[th] of the 11[th] at 11am we sat outside, as the bells rang for one minute’s silence. The children were fantastic and held their poppies they had made. Saturday 13[th] November was world kindness day, and so we incorporated this into our focus board, as word of the week and children were rewarded, with beads, wristbands etc when they did something kind. Friday 19[th] November was BBC Children in Need and we had a Pudsey Bear day, we wore yellow, spots, bears or Pudsey bear outfits! We enjoyed lots of Pudsey themed activities, and had a donations box to raise funds. Week 11 was also Road safety week, and Nursery Rhyme week, so we also incorporated activities around these. Week 12 included the American celebration of Thanksgiving, and so we had Thank you week, and talked about manners, and how we can be polite and for all the things that we are thankful for. During the first week of December, we decorated the playgroup in preparation for Christmas. On Friday 3[rd] December we joined in with ELF day, and had lots of fun dressing up, playing games and doing Elf activities. During December we had an advent calendar with each child being chosen to open one date, learned about the Christian meaning of Christmas and the first Christmas, by acting out the story of the Nativity.
Play/Craft Morning- This could not go ahead again this year due to Covid restrictions- we enjoyed Elf day instead and had craft week with the children. Christmas Meal- Friday 10[th] Dec Our annual adults only, skittles and food evening at the Rose and Crown, was able to go ahead this year the first time since Covid restrictions. Numbers were lower, due to continued caution on many people’s part, but those who attended enjoyed a lovely meal and had a great time.
Christmas Party- We continued follow guidelines and were not able to invite families to join us to celebrate but instead we held party afternoon for children only on Weds 15[th] Dec. The children enjoyed party games and food, and received a gift from Santa.
Spring Term 2022
Total number of children- 22
Mon 14 Tues Weds 20 Thurs 12 Fri 14 PM 11 Closed PM 19 PM 10
Themes- First half term we enjoyed activities based around people who help us. The children have showed a huge interest in emergency services and so we extended this with lots of fun activities. Week 5, we celebrated Chinese New Year, by acting out the story of how the Chinese zodiac of naming a year after an animal came about, this year it was the year of the Tiger. We had beautiful outfits to try, and playing with rice and noodles in a tuff spot, as well as role play food items, and the children made different items each day, such as mini dragons, or tiger masks. We used our large dragon, which we made in previous years, and did a group dragon dance at the end of the morning.
The second half term we celebrated Pancake day (1[st] March) with pancake stories, song, crafts, tuff spot, and we held pancake races in the garden. We celebrated World book day by attending playgroup in our PJs, ready for stories, which the children voted for, and in the afternoons, acted out, using props. Week 10 included the festival Holi, and Red nose day (both on Friday 18[th] March), and we celebrated with Colours weekending with red on Friday. We had a wonderful and colourful party, dressing in rainbow colours, balloon arch and party games. Mother’s day fell on |Sunday27th March, and on Wednesday 23[rd] we were again able to hold our annual event of Cakes and Shakes, the first time since covid restrictions have been eased. We invited mums (or other family member, but limited numbers due to caution) to join us for delicious cakes and milkshakes. During the week the children planted a beautiful flower, and decorated a pot label, all which were kindly donated by our local Nursery Centre, Coles. The children also drew pictures of their mums and made cards and learnt a new song “It’s Mother’s Day” to sing to their mums. On Friday 1[st] April we were fortunate to welcome Animals for Parties, as part of the birthday celebrations of one of our children attending. They very kindly held this at playgroup and paid for the whole event. This was a fabulous experience for all the children, who got to handle and learn about lots of wild animals. We ended the term celebrating Easter, with lots of activities including egg and spoon races, Easter tuff spot, and making Easter treats to take home.
Summer Term 2022
This term we offered extra hours and children who only wanted mornings, or were only eligible for 15 hours, could take advantage of this and stay until 1pm. This meant, as we are closed on Tuesdays, they can now still do mornings but stay until 1 on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 9-12 on Friday and claim their full 15 hours. This is advantageous to them and ourselves, funding wise.
Total number of children- 29
| Mon | 22 | Tues |
Weds 26 Thurs | 21 | Fri 21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1pm | 3 | 1pm 2 |
1pm | 2 | |
| PM | 20 | closed | PM 26 | PM | 20 |
Theme- Our first half term we began by celebrating Eid (which fell on week 2, Monday 2[nd] May, which was a bank holiday), we made a display of items used during Eid such as clothes and decorations, and gave the children resources to make cards. Some of our families who were celebrating Eid, bought the children treats, and staff
lunch, which was wonderful and gratefully received. During week 3, we had a pirate themed week of fun and activities and Karen O’Donovan, our treasurer, and grandparent to a child attending at the moment, came in to do some planting with the children. We planted carrots, radishes and some wild flowers, which the children have enjoyed looking after. Week 4 we had Bee stories and activities to celebrate world Bee Day. On the 26[th] May we held a fantastic party in the garden, for our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Priya Brookes, our general committee member came in and decorated our windows beautifully, for the occasion. With the garden decorated in Red, White and Blue, with the children’s art work, bunting, and the tables set up under the covered area, the playgroup looked spectacular! We had a fantastic party, and also had fund raising stalls, a horse and carriage, and a castle to play in. This was our first big party since covid restrictions and was a great success.
Our second half we were able to invite schools to visit the children who will move into school in September.
We made Father’s day cards, drew portraits of our dads, and chose a mini car as a gift, during the week up to Father’s day on Sunday 19th June, and talked about our dads and other father figures in our lives, and read stories which included dads.
Our annual Sports day returned once again! The children practiced all week, and on the day (Friday 17[th] June) ran different races within their team colours, and we also had a sibling’s race, and a big family race across the field. All the children received a medal, and we enjoyed a snack from our tuck shop. Thank you to our committee, and representative of Co Op (Harrison Hincks) for all their help manning the fund raising tuck shop. We also enjoyed lots of summer activities throughout the term, such as the nature area, trim trail, school field, and summer themed crafts and role play areas such as an ice cream shop.
Our leavers party was also able to go ahead this year, and for the first time, was held as an addition to the usual hours, on Friday 1[st] July, 12-2pm. This was a great success, and those parents who chose to attend, the staff and children, had a great time.
We said good bye to 17 children, and ended the school term on Thursday 7[th] July, due to the closure on Friday 8[th] July, due to the extra bank holiday given for the jubilee. It was a very changeable year, as covid restrictions began to ease, the way we ran play group was altered, and we returned to some ‘normal’ practices or events.
Thurnby & Bushby Playgroup Income & Expenditure Account
1st September 2021 - 31st August 2022 Final Report for AGM
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Income Expenditure
Funding 47,396.29
Furlough income 0.00
Parents Fees 5,334.50
Registration Fees 580.00
Learning Journey Contributions 835.00
Bank Interest 0.00
Milk Refund 443.78
Fundraising 397.30
Funding (Course) 0.00
Grant Income 323.86
Donations 838.50
30 Minutes Club 521.50
Wages/Tax & NI (53,539.56)
Ofsted Renewal (50.00)
Milk (455.31)
Waste Collection 0.00
Rent & Premises Costs (1,847.00)
PLA Renewal (109.25)
Business Rates (513.20)
Building Insurance (1,841.30)
Phone Contract (343.35)
Other Expenses (9.99)
Pupil Premium 0.00
Stationery and Stamps (363.08)
PLA Shop 0.00
Fire Safety (49.23)
YPO Office Supplies 0.00
Costco 0.00
Photography 0.00
Cleaning Products (116.64)
Seasonal, Toys and Crafts (391.45)
Refreshments 0.00
Garden Items 0.00
Computer Equipment 0.00
ESPO 0.00
Petty Cash 0.00
Courses (7.00)
Gardener 0.00
Electricity/Water (965.67)
Entertainer 0.00
Lottery Licence 0.00
Book People 0.00
Air Con Service (208.20)
Photocopying (70.76)
Baker Ross 0.00
DBS check 0.00
cash transfer 0.00
56,670.73 (60,880.99)
Net Income/(Expenditure) (4,210.26)
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Bank & Cash b/f 534.44 Bank & Cash c/f (3,675.82)
AUDIT CERTIFICATE for Thurnb & Bushb Pla rou I herèby cenify that the actounls ol Thurnby & Bushby PlaygfOUP for the period io Jl" A4JgUSt 2022 represen15 a true antl fèir view ol ihe PlayÉroup's financial operations lor the period I confirm that adequatt financial records are maintained by the Play8roup Damian Mitchell Independenl FinancSal Adviser and 'reor Hèrcotsrt Financial Lid The Old Dairy 2 Tr118h Street Fleckney Leicestershire LE8 8AJ 23.05 2023