Waterbeach After School Play Scheme
Annual Report 2024-2025
Registered Charity No. 1069551
WASPS Annual Report 2025
Table of Contents
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Synopsis
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Chairperson’s Report
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Treasurer’s Report
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Co-ordinators' Report
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Budget Plan for 2025-2026
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Fees for 2025-2026
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Pay Review and Targets for 2025
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Level of Reserves
This report has been prepared by:
Zoe Badcock Breakfast club Coordinator Henry Falconer Chairman Sarah Heil Administrator Corinne Lawrence After-school and Bookings Coordinator Katherine Millen Clay Treasurer
The reporting period is 1[st] September 2024 to 31[st] August 2025.
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1. Synopsis
WASPS has had another strong year, with high attendance across the Breakfast and After-School Clubs and finances remaining in a healthy position. Following a challenging search for a new manager, the club adopted a new, more sustainable structure with two Co-ordinators and a Deputy Co-ordinator, supported by the Administrator during the handover period.
The staff team remains dedicated and well-trained, with new members joining and others progressing in their roles. Children continue to enjoy a wide range of creative and active play opportunities, and feedback from families remains positive.
The club received grant funding through the Cambridgeshire HAF programme and raised additional funds at local events. New equipment and kitchen appliances have been purchased, and the building continues to be well maintained in partnership with the playgroup.
Overall, WASPS is in a stable and positive position, with a strong team, secure finances, and a structure in place to support continued success in the year ahead.
2. Chairperson’s Report
In general, the club is in a strong position going into the 2025/26 academic year:
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Our finances are good, driven by high attendance particularly in the after school club, where the sessions are now regularly at full capacity
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We have a new management structure in place that should be more sustainable
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We have a high quality of staff at all experience levels, with our more experienced staff members training up the more junior members
For most of the last academic year we were actively trying to recruit a new manager. Unfortunately, due to the working hours, location and the level of experience needed, it's a challenging role to recruit for. We interviewed a small number of candidates but ultimately didn’t find anyone suitable.
As a result, we decided to change our approach and change the structure from having a Manager and Deputy Manager, to having two Co-ordinators and a Deputy Co-ordinator, who were all existing staff at WASPS. These three Co-ordinators jointly take on the responsibilities that were previously held by the Manager and Deputy Manager.
This is a more sustainable setup for the future, as the responsibility is shared by more staff, which means it’s easier to find staff who can take on this responsibility.
We’re very grateful that Sarah Heil has stayed on as Administrator to continue with the admin tasks she was doing as Manager, until they can be handed over to the new Co-ordinators. That handover process is underway and we expect it to be complete within a few months.
Apart from that, as always we’ve continued reviewing and updating our policies, keeping in touch with school over matters such as safeguarding, and maintaining the WASPS building and improving our facilities here. In particular, we’ve purchased a new cooker and fridge-freezer, as the old ones were no longer working properly, and a new printer so that staff can print colouring pictures during the sessions, which has been very popular with the children.
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3. Treasurer’s Report
The club’s finances were mostly in line with the budget.
Fees and Grants
The total fees collected for the year were approximately £110k, versus a budget of £109k. The slightly higher income was due to stronger attendance numbers. Fundraising and grants this year totalled £3573 against a budget of £1k. A large portion of the grant income this year was from the Cambridgeshire Holiday clubs and food (HAF) programme.
Fundraising
The club raised £175.35 from the school Christmas Fair.
Salaries
The club paid £74k in salaries compared to a budget of £84k. The £10K difference can be explained at least in part by the fact we were anticipating having someone in the manager position part-way through the year, which didn’t happen.
An increase to salaries of 6% is proposed from 1[st] April 2026 subject to a favourable financial position from strong pupil attendance and fees collection.
Capital/other Expenditure
This year we invested in a new freezer as the existing one defrosted one weekend, a laptop and printer for the playhouse, plus a replacement laptop for financial administration.
Premises
WASPS paid a total £10,800 to the premises Joint Venture for the upkeep of the building and grounds versus a budget of £10,800.
Training
The club made investment in staff training of £1255 versus £900 budgeted. This is at least in part due to contributing to the fees to enable two members of staff to take a level three in childcare course.
Licences, DBS, and Memberships
DBS fees were above budget at £369 compared to £250 budgeted, next year’s budget has taken this into account.
Food and Sundries
Grocery and materials expenditure was slightly under budget. Grocery spending was £4k versus £4.5k budgeted, and materials spending was £1.8k versus £2.2k budgeted.
Reserves
The reserve fund is £32,110 at the end of this financial period (August 2025) and we hope we will be able to increase this in the coming year.
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Income vs Expenditure
The total income for this year was just under £114k, £4k higher than budgeted. Total
expenditure was £102k, about £7k lower than budgeted, so we both earned more and spent less than expected due to various factors.
As a non-profit, we always aim to be cash neutral for the year. The unspent money from this year will stay within the club, and can be used for any unexpected expenses that arise in future.
Budget Summary
The following table summarises the budgeted and the expenditure for the financial year 20242025.
| Budget (£) 2024-2025 |
Actual (£) 2024-2025 |
|
|---|---|---|
| INCOME | ||
| Fees | 108,605 | 108, 771 |
| Grants, donations, fundraising |
1,000 | 4685 |
| EXPENDITURE | ||
| Salaries | 83,620 | 74,481 |
| JV Contribution | 10,800 | 10,800 |
| iPAL Fees | 809 | 735 |
| Telephone Line / Mobile | 300 | 205 |
| BOX | 200 | 173 |
| Expense Claims | 330 | 306 |
| Groceries (Fairfax card) | 4500 | 4035 |
| Training | 900 | 1255 |
| Materials | 2200 | 1825 |
| Refunds | 400 | 938 |
| Memberships (inc. insurance) |
1000 | 779 |
| Financial Administration including payroll |
2690 | 2635 |
| DBS | 250 | 369 |
| Staff Socials | 125 | 80 |
| Capital Expenditure | 0 | 1360 |
| Agency Fees | 500 | 1202 |
| Advertising/other | 0 | 84.99 |
| Total Income | 109,605 | 113, 699 |
| Total Expenditure | 108,624 | 101,190 |
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4. Co-ordinators' Report
We have started the Autumn term with healthy bookings at the Breakfast Club and After School Club following a busy academic year last year there is currently no waiting list for the Breakfast Club, as well as regular morning bookings we also have some ad-hoc bookings. We are currently operating a waiting list for the after-school club. We have welcomed many new families and children this year at WASPS, the newest are settling in well with the help of the children that have been with us for a while. We have been busy with varied activities such as hands on arts and crafts, baking, role play, small world play, playing an array of board games and making the most of our indoor and outdoor spaces throughout the year. Play ideas stem from the children’s interests and they always come up with some very creative play, popular activities currently are colouring, football, tennis and being creative with ‘junk’ modelling. The children will often extend their ideas, and play will be built upon in future sessions expanding further and developing, which is great to see. All planned activities run alongside many other free play opportunities which are always available.
We said farewell to our year 6 children at the end of the summer term, many had been attending the club for several years, and we wish them all the best for the next part of their school journey.
WASPS has been running since September 1997 and is well established in the community of Waterbeach, providing a reliable, affordable service to families. WASPS continues to run fulfilling its original aim; to provide a home from home family atmosphere. The children decide how to spend their time in the club and the staff team facilitate child led play and offer a variety of play opportunities, both inside and outside as detailed above.
The Breakfast Club can cater for up to 24 children in the mornings; sessions are generally planned to offer some gentle play opportunities in the short session, such as colouring and drawing, board games, construction and role play/small world play as well as some outdoor play in the warmer months. We offer breakfast alongside play, the children can choose from a variety of cereals, toast with various toppings and fruit. We also have drinks of water and milk readily available too.
The After School Club can cater for up to 40 children in the afternoons; sessions are planned based on the children’s interests. There are many play opportunities available to the children, such as colouring, painting, den building, card games, Hama Beads, role play and outdoor play to name a few. The children can choose activities from the cupboard with adult supervision, if they would like an activity that isn’t out. We have various snacks available when they get back from school, currently the snack menu is as follows: Monday- wraps with a choice of fillings Tuesday- pancakes Wednesday- beans on toast Thursday- croissants Friday- pizza
We also have bread on offer every day for toast or sandwiches (Cheese toasties are popular) crackers and breadsticks. Snacks are offered from 3.30 until 4.45 but we have a variety of fruits out each day available for the full session.
Holiday Club runs during most half terms for 2-3 days, we aim to offer some Holiday Club
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days over Easter and Christmas and usually two weeks over the Summer. We also aim to open on school training days when there is sufficient staff cover available. Holiday Club openings are dependent on staff availability. A selection of activities are planned ahead of each holiday club, more recently there has been an addition of science experiments included each day too at the request of the children. We registered with HAF (Holiday Activities and Food Programme) at our holiday clubs. This is run by Cambridgeshire County Council and offers free places at holiday clubs for those children that are eligible. This is funded by the Department for Education for those families receiving income-related free school meals and newly arrived refugee families. This runs over the main holidays (Easter, Summer and Christmas) offering specific free hours over a specified number of days. We provide a range of fun experiences, a healthy meal and snacks.
Throughout all sessions the children enjoy being independent and making and preparing their own breakfast and snacks/drinks.
Attendance has been good this year, putting us in a healthier financial position. We have regular bookings but also ad hoc bookings too. Although there is a competitor on site, (Premier) it is clear that both provisions are needed. We both offer different types of provision, so it depends on what the child/family are looking for. Some children use both settings to get a variety, and others have moved between the two.
We have replenished resources through the year as they have needed replacing, for example, footballs, Hama beads, loom bands, felt tip pens and paper. We also purchased some specific resources too, such as musical instruments, bean bag chair, bubble machine and very recently a disco light, some through funding received. A laptop and printer were also purchased to be used by staff at the club to assist with administration tasks.
We had a stall at the PTA Winter Fair where we raised money for the club, we raffled a festive hamper, sold decorations and items made at the club by the children, had a penny drop game to see if the penny wound land on Rudolf’s nose, a tinsel pull game and we also sold Santa keys and Reindeer food. We also raffled a Playmobile Advent Calendar in November. We also took part in the village Feast again this year where the theme was, something beginning with… Q. The WASPS children decided our entry would be Q is for… Quidditch! The children as well as parents and staff all looked fantastic in their costumes, making a really good effort to support us. This year we didn’t have a WASPS fundraising stall on the green but we aim to have one next year again.
Following our last AGM we were actively recruiting a new manager. Despite WASPS best efforts, this was unsuccessful. Corinne stepped up in September 2024 to oversee the day-today aspects of the After School Club whilst we were recruiting, supported by Sarah, working in a behind the scenes administrator role. Alisa also stepped up to cover where needed and supported, for example with helping to plan activities. The Committee have been working more recently to find a model to move forward without the need for an overall Manager. Zoe continues as Breakfast Club Co-ordinator with administrator responsibilities, Corinne now has the new title of After School Club and Bookings Co-ordinator and also has administrator responsibilities, she is now the main point of contact for the club. Alisa is now Deputy Coordinator and will step up to cover if either Co-ordinator is absent and will also take on some admin duties. Sarah continues as administrator and is gradually handing over admin duties to Corinne and Alisa.
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We have a strong staff team of Playworkers, consisting of Kim and Emma, we recruited Ana in the summer, and Ros has recently joined the team. Rebecca and Maria also continue as Bank Playworkers helping when we have busy sessions or staffing gaps. We have used an agency to cover gaps too recently. Since our last AGM we have said farewell to the following staff, Toyin (Bank), Beena, Kinga and Sarah N (Bank), we wish them all well in the future. We have a great team who have worked hard throughout the year together, building strong relationships with the WASPS children and families.
Staff members have undertaken various training throughout the year, including basic child protection, designated safeguarding lead, FGM and Prevent duty e-learning, First Aid training, food hygiene, manual handling and behaviour management. Some of these trainings have been face to face, some online via zoom and others e-learning. We have also been able to benefit from some training opportunities being made available via the HAF programme too. Waterbeach Playhouse is a shared premises used by WASPS and Waterbeach Community Playgroup. The building is well used throughout the day with children in attendance between 7:45 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. We have continued to work with the Playgroup through the year on our Joint Venture projects. Regular maintenance is needed on the building, and we collaborate on projects to benefit both groups and the environment we provide care in. Since our last AGM we have had our Easigrass replaced in April, we had a clean up of our garden including pressure washing in May and some repairs to some areas, these all made a huge improvement. We have had a gardener regularly to keep the outside areas looking tidy too. In July we got a new WASPS Fridge/Freezer as the old one broke and a new oven and microwave for the kitchen, which we share with playgroup.
WASPS are members of Waterbeach Community Association (WCA), We have continued to write articles for the Beach News throughout the year keeping the local community up to date with what’s going on at the club and a WASPS representative attends each meeting. As mentioned earlier, we enjoyed taking part in Waterbeach Feast again this year which is organised by the Community Association. The Feast is always a fun community event. We had another busy year at the club. Along with the Staff Team and Management Committee we work hard to continually reflect on our practise and to make changes where needed to improve the service for the WASPS children and families. We value the views and opinions of the children and parents on the service we provide. We would like to thank all of the Management Committee for giving up their time and for their hard work throughout the year. WASPS would be unable to run without a fully functioning committee, so much goes on behind the scenes, thank you to you all!
With the growth of Waterbeach Community Primary School and Waterbeach, we hope WASPS continues going from strength to strength into the future.
Corinne Lawrence After School and Bookings Co-ordinator Zoë Badcock Breakfast Club Co-ordinator
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5. Budget Plan for 2025-2026
The budget for the coming year compared to last year’s budget is shown below.
| Budget (£) 2024-2025 |
Budget (£) 2025-2026 |
|
|---|---|---|
| INCOME | ||
| Fees | 108,605 | 120,840 |
| Grants, donations,fundraising | 1000 | 1000 |
| EXPENDITURE | ||
| Salaries | 83,620 | 93,722 |
| JV Contribution | 10,800 | 12,000 |
| iPAL Fees | 809 | 800 |
| TelephoneLine/Mobile | 300 | 250 |
| BOX | 220 | 43 |
| Expense Claims | 330 | 350 |
| Groceries (Fairfaxcard) | 4,500 | 4725 |
| Training | 900 | 1000 |
| Materials | 2200 | 2300 |
| Refunds | 400 | 400 |
| Memberships | 1000 | 1100 |
| AccountsExamination | 330 | 340 |
| Financial Administration & Payroll |
2690 | 2556 |
| DBS | 250 | 400 |
| StaffSocials | 125 | 135 |
| Uniforms | 0 | 300 |
| AgencyFees | 500 | 1000 |
| Total Income | 109,605 | 121,840 |
| Total Expenditure | 108,624 | 121,421 |
| Balance | 981 | 419 |
Budgets have been increased in line with actual expenditure in the previous reporting period and to allow for increased numbers, inflation and salary rises.
The fees income is based on confirmed bookings for the autumn term.
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6. Fees for 2025-2026
For this financial year, we budgeted an increase in fees of approximately 6%.
| **Session ** | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 | 2025-2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | ||||
| Standard | £6.75 | £7 | ||
| After School | ||||
| Fullsession | £12.95 | £14 | ||
| Halfsession | £9.40 | £10 | ||
| **Session ** | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 | ||
| Holiday Club | ||||
| FullSession | £36.40 | £38 | ||
| HalfSession | £22.60 | £23.75 | ||
| Hourly | £5.70 | £6 |
Sibling discount is 8%
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7. Pay Review and Targets for 2025
An increase of 6% is planned across all rates and salaries from 1[st] April 2026. This is subject to a favourable financial position. The increase reflects inflation rates and expected increase in the national minimum salary.
8. Level of Reserves
The club policy on reserves indicates a level between 3 and 6 months of operational costs. Our monthly operational costs in 2024-2025 were approximately £8,500, which sets recommended reserves levels between £26k and £51k, the middle point being £38.5k.
In light of the strong positive cash flow for this year the committee transferred £6000 to our reserves account. This put the financial reserves at a level of £32,110k at the end of August 2025.
END OF DOCUMENT
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Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ WATERBEACH AFTER SCHOOL PLAYSCHEME (WASPS) members of
On accounts for the year 31 AUGUST 2025 Charity no 1069551 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1 TO 2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
- I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/08/2024.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention ~~(other than that disclosed below *)~~ in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
~~~~ ~~Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.~~ Signed: Date: 04/06/2026 Name: SIMON LASKEY LTD Relevant professional FCCA CTA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:* 1 PICCADILLY BUILDINGS, SHEEP STREET KETTERING, NORTHANTS NN16 0AN
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October 2018
IER
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of NONE. any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
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October 2018
IER