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2021-03-31-accounts

SURESTART

'Where Kids Come First'

ANNUAL REPORT 2021

Registered Charity Number: 1064759 Registration Ofsted Number: EY337731

SURESTART ‘Where Kids Come First’, Ockendon Children’s Centre, 2a Afton Drive, South Ockendon, Essex, RM15 5PA

Tel : 01708 670011 Mobile : 07587 005472 E-mail : surestart1@aol.com

Our Charitable Aim

Our aim is ‘to provide the children with opportunities to LEARN THROUGH PLAY in a stimulating and exciting setting. We also wish to support families and encourage their involvement in their children’s education outside of the home. In providing quality care we are committed to developing the full potential of the children and staff.

April 2021-March 2022

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GROUPS AGE TIME COST DAY
Breakfast Club Rising 5 to 7.30am to 8.45 £6.20 Monday to Friday
12yrs am Term time only
Pre-School 2 to 5yrs 8.30am to £18.60 or free Monday to Friday
Morning 11.30am entitlement Term time only
Sessions
Pre-School 2 to 5yrs 11.30am to £18.60 or free Monday to Friday
Afternoon 2.30pm entitlement Term time only
Sessions
Full Daycare 0 to 5yrs 8.00am to £30.90 Monday to Friday
Morning 1.00pm 38/51 weeks per year
Sessions
Full Daycare 0 to 5yrs 1.00pm to £30.90 Monday to Friday
Afternoon 6.00pm 38/51 weeks per year
Sessions
Full Daycare 0 to 5yrs 8.00am to £58.70 Monday to Friday
Full Day 6.00pm 38/51 weeks per year
After School Rising 5 to 3.00pm to £16.35 Monday to Friday
Kids Club 12yrs 6.00pm Term time only
Holiday Club Rising 5 to 8.00am to £30.90 Monday to Friday
12yrs 6.00pm using Thurrock
Council school
calendar
Holiday Club Rising 5 to 8.00am to £30.90 Monday to Friday
12yrs 1.00pm OR using Thurrock
1.00pm to £15.45 Council school
6.00pm calendar
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DETAILS OF STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
STAFF MEMBERS JOB ROLE START EXPERIENCE/TRAINING/
DATE QUALIFICATIONS
Lucy Pollock Manager/Safeguardi March NNEB III/First Aid/Child
ng Officer/Keyworker 1993 Protection
Tanya Gould Deputy Manager/ Jan 2000 Cache III/First Aid /Child
Room Leader/ Protection
Keyworker/Behaviou
r Officer
Sharon McClean Playworker/ Feb First Aid/Food
(left August 2021) Keyworker/Health & 1994 Hygiene/Safeguarding/a
Hygiene Officer number of day courses
attended
Tammy Marsh Playworker/ June NOCN in Childcare II/First
Keyworker/Speech & 2002 Aid/Safeguarding
Language Officer
Jackie Goulden SENCO/ June NVQ III in Childcare and
Playworker/Keywork 2007 Education/ First
er Aid/Safeguarding
Rita Town Playworker/Cook April First Aid/Food
2002 Hygiene/Safeguarding
Kirsten Regan Administrator/Cook July First Aid/Safeguarding/A
2003 number of day courses
Maggie Pollock Deputy Cover (on March Cache III Childcare and
standby) 1993 Education/Safeguarding
Rachel Wood Playworker/Keywork Sept Cache III Childcare and
er 2012 Education/ First
Aid/Safeguarding
Clare Woodward Playworker/ Feb Food Hygiene/First Aid
(left July 2021) Keyworker/Safety 2015 /Safeguarding
Officer
Joanne Spillett Playworker/Keywork Feb Food Hygiene/First
er 2015 Aid/Safeguarding
Lorraine Latham Playworker/Keywork June Safeguarding/First Aid/A
er 2017 number of online courses
Laura Dove Cleaner July
2017
Nicola Fry (left Playworker/Keywork Sept Cache II Introduction to Early
August 2021) er 2018 Years Education/First
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Aid/Safeguarding
Angel Jolly Playworker Sept Children and Young People
2018 Level II/First Aid/ Safeguarding
Courtney Meldrum Playworker April Level III Childcare and
(left April 2021) 2019 Education Diploma/First Aid
Jasmine Newson Temporary Oct NCFE Cache Technical Level III
(left April 2021) Playworker 2020 in Childcare and Education
Tina Bottjer (left Playworker Mar Cache Level 4/First Aid
October 2021) 2021
Kay Henderson Playworker Sept BA Honours in Childhood and
2021 Youth Studies
Suma Deb Playworker Sept NNEB III
2021
Amber Arrowsmith Room Leader Oct Cache III/First Aid
2021
Rachel Enguell Playworker Nov Cache III Children and Young
2021 People Workforce
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TRUSTEES ON THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Maggie Pollock – Secretary Founder & Community representative

I am Maggie Pollock, co-founder of Surestart in 1993, retired Manager and now Properly Trustee. I meet regularly with other Trustees to ensure good governance of Surestart. Helping to build Surestart over the years has been one of my proudest achievements. There are many challenges for us all going forward, but working with OUR amazing staff team and YOU, our parents and carers, we can continue to provide top quality care in a fun and educational way.

Terri Daniels - Chairperson Community

representative

My background spans across 30 years of Childcare with 19 years working at various levels in nurseries. I spent 16 years in senior nursery management roles and now work as an early year’s advisor for Thurrock. My skills and interests are in early years training and development, leadership & management and performance management. I also know a little bit about the EYFS and Ofsted!! I see my role as ensuring good governance and making sure the charity abide to its Constitution whilst bringing challenge and support.

I am in my 5[th] year as Chair of Surestart after saying I would help for a year or two!

I am immensely proud of the work the setting does in the local community and I enjoy the challenge of supporting Lucy and the Team in their work.

Kirsten Regan Staff

representative

I have lived in South Ockendon all my life. Upon leaving school I worked in the City, having a short break from work to have my children, before starting here at SURESTART in 2003. I have seen lots of changes in Ockendon over the years and have a keen interest in our local community.

Pricila Zanini

Parent representative

I am Committee member and a parent of two children. My oldest daughter has attended Surestart for nearly 3.5 years, until she started school last September. And my youngest daughter is a Surestart child for the last 1.5 years old. I have complete confidence that Surestart staff are dedicated and passionate for what they do and I can see how much my children have learned. I have joined the Committee in 2020 as a parent representative and hope to help support continued communication between parents and staff. My role is to bring a parental perspective to support the nursery to achieve its highest aims and standards. Louise Adlington - Treasurer Parent representative

Hi my name is Louise Adlington and I am a full-time mum to Ronnie, who used to attend SURESTART until he started school last September, and his older sister Emma. I have few hobbies but I love baking as my children can get involved. Starting as a Committee member and now becoming a Treasurer has given me the opportunity to help SURESTART in helping our children develop and learn.

Samara Coombes Parent representative

I'm Samara, a parent of a Surestart child, a Committee member and now Vice Chair. I attended Surestart when I was young so this nursery is part of my family. It has been a difficult and challenging year but Surestart has been there to support every child and every parent every step of the way. The incredible staff make children feel happy and comfortable whilst educating them. My little boy has learned so much since attending Surestart which is why I am committed to helping Surestart be the very best it can be. Lisa Cornwell Parent representative

Chairpersons Report SURESTART ‘Where Kids Come First’ – 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome and thank you for attending our second consecutive virtual SURESTART ‘Where Kids Come First’ Annual General Meeting. The meeting is held on Zoom and will run across two x 40 minute sessions with a short comfort break in the middle. Please re-join after the first 40 minute session.

The AGM is a legal requirement under our charitable status and Constitution and is held around this time each year.

We have to make sure we report on the business side of the charity and its operations and this year covers the financial matters from 2020/21 as accounts are always a year behind.

The rest of the report and information will pertain to this operational year 2021.

I’ll start with introductions to the current Committee members.

Chair - Terri Daniels Secretary – Maggie Pollock Staff representative – Kirsten Regan Vice Chair – Samara Coombes – Treasurer Louise Adlington Parent representatives – Samara Coombes, Louise Adlington, Pricila Zanini, and Lisa Cornwell Community representatives – Maggie Pollock and Terri Daniels

I have been on the Committee for over 6 years and Chair for five of them. I have now actually formally resigned as Chair and will step down from the role as soon as we can find someone else to take it on. Since joining over 6 years ago, the Committee has gone from strength to strength and we have found ways to evolve and change, even during the most difficult and unprecedented last two years, to ensure that we can fulfil our duties and continue to meet the requirements of our Constitution.

I would like to thank the current Committee members for their continuing hard work for the charity and this year has seen Lisa join us. We are now at 7 members but we

still need further members to join us so that we can always ensure we have the right level of support and challenge to keep us on our path of continuous improvement and remain operating in line with our Constitution and charitable status. We must continue to recruit to the Committee and grow numbers so that we can succession plan effectively for the future, always ensuring Surestart can continue to offer their unrivalled services to the children and families in our local area.

A role on the Committee is very rewarding and valuable with opportunities to get involved in sustaining and developing the business and it will give you the chance to have input into the running of the setting. You would need to be able to attend 4-5 meetings per year, with at least 50% of them held virtually to make attending easier. You may be occasionally asked to take on a specific task such as helping with recruitment or fundraising and events (only a few hours every few months).

We all hoped that this would be a better year for us all with hope that the pandemic would have passed but 2021 has probably been even more difficult in many ways as we have faced many changes and challenges over the past twelve months.

We have seen the impact of COVID-19 on staff, children and parents and have seen long serving staff leave us.

Throughout this time, the TEAM at Surestart have continued to keep calm and carry on regardless of everything that has been thrown at them. Many of the team have been struck by Covid this last year but regardless of that, they have continued to work tirelessly, caring for your children as we have all tried to adapt to the “new normal” way of life. The efforts of Lucy, Kirsten and the whole team have been second to none and I would just like to say how much they are all appreciated.

A nursery is nothing without a committed and valued staff team and Surestart remains one of the best so that goes a long way to describe how amazing they all are.

Some of the highlights for the Staff and Committee this year have been;

  1. Keeping the nursery open regardless of COVID-19 interruptions and continuing to provide a service to the children and families who need us.

  2. Seeing the commitment of the Committee members, even though we have had to remain virtual to help keep things ticking over as smoothly as they could.

  3. Seeing the hard work, commitment and determination of Lucy and Kirsten to keep the nursery financially secure, making cut backs when needed and ensuring that we have claimed all the grants and funding that we possibly could have to see us through the pandemic.

  4. Being successful in recruiting new staff to post in very difficult times when there is a national recruitment crisis.

Despite the immense challenges we have faced this year, we remain positive and thankful that we have ended 2021 in a good financial position with a profit for the year and a predicted profit for the coming year too. We have continued to deal with all the business that has been asked of us as a small group.

Running a successful and sustainable nursery continues to be a huge challenge and the team at SURESTART continue to deliver an excellent service for the children and families in South Ockendon and beyond.

We continue to work in partnership with the Children’s Centre and other local community organisations to ensure that we support the local community as best we can. We have been lucky to receive help and donations from local businesses.

Some of the Committee aims for the future include:

  1. Continuing to encourage new members to join to increase membership and longevity of Committee.

  2. Working with Lucy and the Team to continue to support the nursery and its business to “normal” as soon as the pandemic allows.

  3. Using our charitable status to locate funding that supports projects we identify to be beneficial to the children and families (impacted by the pandemic, for example, speech and language, SEND, emotional well-being and behaviour). We need to review our fundraising approach to strengthen our financial sustainability.

  4. Creating a succession plan to ensure SSWKCF is future proof and sustainable.

If anyone has any good ideas and suggestions, please let us know

Thanks again everyone for your help and support.

Regards Terri Daniels Chairperson

TREASURER’S REPORT 2021

I am Louise Adlington and have continued in my role as Treasurer this year after stepping into it in November 2019. Again, I have supported remotely this year due to COVID.

Just to remind you, the accounts in this report are from April 2020-March 2021.

You will see the impact of COVID reflected in the accounts for 2020/21 – and we are lucky to have finished the year with a credit instead of a deficit.

As many parents worked from home the demand for Wrap Around Care was reduced as shown in the reduction in income for both Breakfast and After School Kids Club.

We were thankful that the Local Authority continued to fund our Free Entitlement based on the number of children who had booked sessions (even though they may not have been able to attend) as opposed to exact numbers actually attending on our registers, enabling us a small increase in fees and grants for Pre-school.

Food costs decreased as The Professional Nursery Kitchen allowed us to pay for just what we needed instead of there being a minimum charge; as the numbers of children attending were fewer, we did not need to purchase as much food.

Costs for salaries were reduced and we were able to access furlough payments from the government on the percentage of our income from fee paying families only; we could not claim for the percentage under the Free Entitlement funding. This involved lots of calculations and monthly inputting on the Administrator’s part to ensure we could claim what we were entitled to.

Can we remind parents again to complete the relevant sections on their funding forms when they complete their initial paperwork, ticking the box to allow us to check eligibility for us to claim Early Years Pupil Premium? This enables us to buy equipment and support children better.

We are using our Babysdays system more and more… to keep families updated during COVID and to share photographs of the children enjoying their time at nursery. And to receive this year’s Annual Report!

We have continued to improve our predictions in relation to income and expenditure, helping us to continue to make informed decisions regarding fee increases and the impact of National Living Wage salary increases on salaries.

We hope to continue going from strength to strength in keeping the business sustainable and being as transparent with our finances as possible as you will see from the annual accounts.

On a sad note, our Accountant, Dave Bodell, passed away recently. We have used Bodell & Co, based in Ockendon village, for a very long time for our annual accounts – they have always been most helpful and supportive - and we are thankful we can continue to use them as Dave’s grandson, James, continues to run the family business.

Louise Adlington Treasurer

Sure Start Registered Charity – 10647590 Income & Expenditure Summary for The Years Ended 31[st] March

INCOME 2021 2020 £ £ Furlough Received 18,106 --Grant Funding 7,239 --Full Day Less refunds 81,282 83,890 Kid's/ holiday club 26,115 48,466 Pre-school & grants 149,932 145,944 Fundraising 365 44 Breakfast club 1,756 3,866 Lunch / Dinner club 2,660 3,140 Other income/ donations 2,808 1,197 290,263 286,567 nb. full day income adjusted by unpaid cheques & refunds. EXPENDITURE Equipment& fittings 1,745 2,359 Fundraising/ photographs 3,702 13,281 Sundry/ food & supplies 10,456 22,648 Wage, Nat. Ins., pensions & Vouchers 209,326 215,765 Rent, rates & cleaning 12,766 22,123 Postage/stationary & office 1,477 1,052 Telephone, mobile & Internet 1,031 966 Bank charges --- --Insurances 1,598 1,573 Subscriptions, training, travel 576 1,378 Legal & prof. Fees 4,466 3,905 247,143 285,050 SURPLUS (DEFICIT) 43,180 1,517 BAL B/FWD. 62,217 62,700 BAL C/FWD. 105,397 64,217 Represented by: Balance at bank 31.3.21 64,352 Petty cash foats 45 64,397 Other creditors / accruals 180 64,217

Manager’s Report 2021

We started 2021 with our first ever virtual AGM in January – thank you to those who attended.

I’m sure we all hoped that covid would become a distant memory and things would return to “normal”, but I think things will take much longer to adjust than we previously thought.

The year has seen many staff changes – long standing members who have left us, as well as welcoming some new faces.

We interviewed for a Baby Room leader in February and employed Tina Bottjer as a Playworker.

We welcomed back Kids Club at the start of March. We logged onto the Early Years Conference sessions and learned about the EYFS reforms in September.

We said goodbye to 2 staff members in April: Jasmine Newson, our “temporary” Playworker who moved to Wales, and Courtney Meldrum who moved to Benyon Primary Academy.

In May we ran our Holiday Club – and watched as the wet pour was laid in the Children’s Centre garden. Some staff updated their first aid training (in a covid safe way of course!) and worked on transitions for the children leaving at the end of the summer term to start Reception in September.

We held our Leavers Ceremony outside in July (a very hot day!) and said goodbye to another staff member, Clare Woodward.

We ran a very busy Holiday Club during the 6 weeks holidays and attended the Community Clean Up and Art in the Park projects in the local community. We also said goodbye to Nicola Fry who moved out of the area and Sharon McClean – who had been with us since 1994. You may see her around if you shop in Costco…!

At the start of September, we closed for whole team training where we looked at the changes made to the EYFS starting that month. We also welcomed 2 more new members of staff – Kay Henderson and Suma Deb. We started bringing some new children in to settle with us too.

Settlings with new children continued in October when we also said goodbye to Tina Bottjer and welcomed Amber Arrowsmith as our new Baby Room Leader. We then had 3 of the staff team hit with covid – but

they thankfully all recovered and returned to work after the required isolation period.

In November we had Zoe the photographer in – who I’m sure you’ll agree always manages to get the best shots – even when working with children and animals!!

The staff ended the year with a fish and chip meal at the last staff meeting of the year in December. The children enjoyed a “party week” with lots of dancing, yummy snacks and saw some of the staff dress up (I’m sure they all told you about Jackie in her “blow up” Santa outfit!).

The Early Years Team at Thurrock Council have supported us throughout the year with online training and advice when needed.

I need to thank the Committee for their invaluable support this year – from helping out with the interviews for new staff to giving their time to meet (albeit virtually) to discuss vital business matters.

I thank you – our families – for your patience and understanding in accepting all the covid regulations we have asked of you, as well continuing to support us to provide the very best of care for your children.

We look forward with anticipation to what 2022 may bring us…!

Written by Kirsten Regan in Lucy Pollock’s absence due to illness

The SURESTART Staff 2021 (and Task Group names)

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4
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Tanya (Terrapins) Rachel (Rainbowfish) Sharon (Sharks) left Aug Courtney

(Crabs) left Apr

Rita Jackie (Jellyfish) Oct

Nicola (Narwhals) left Aug Tina (Turtles) left

Kirsten (Killer Whales) Joanne (Jewelfish) Tammy (Tuna’s) Clare (Crayfish) left Jul

2 : Lucy (Limpets) Lorraine (Lobsters) Angel (Angelfish) Laura-Cleaner fi. cy

Kay (Krills) Suma (Starfish) Amber (Amberjack) Rachel E

OUR THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT AND ALSO TO: