2020-08-31-accounts - Little Stars Christian Preschool

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Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2019/20 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Little Stars Christian Preschool is volunteer led Charity, governed by a constitution, whose main objective is to provide early years education of the highest quality in a Christian environment.

2019 -2020 was a challenging year in many in ways due to COVID-19 but we are thankful that our lives, as a setting, for both our children and staff were preserved. We learnt to rely and trust that God would give us the strength to cope each new day and though things were scarry and stressful sometimes, we are grateful that He was with us the whole way through to the end of the Academic Year.

Board of Trustees

Natasha Barlow, our secretary, resigned from the board during the year. We are thankful for her time and all she did for Stars. We pray that the Lord will bless her.

Constitution and Policies

All our Policies and Procedures are up to date, ensuring compliance with the Ofsted and Early Learning Years Alliance Guidelines. We believe in continuous development and continue to evaluate and update our policies and procedures to make Little Stars a better place for both children and employees. We developed a thorough COVID-19 guidance document and risk assessment which is regularly updated in line with government guidelines.

Inline with our Business Plan, we are working on improving our visibility by publicising our preschool on the different social media platforms which are now used young families.

Finance and Fundraising

The primary source of our income continues to be the Early Years Funding from Warwickshire County Council and the fees charged to parents/carers.

Our numbers after the initial lockdown were very low which had a negative impact on our finances. The Council supported us, along with other local settings, through this difficult time by basing their grant on the number of children we had in the last academic year (2018-19).

We also benefited from the Job Retention Scheme which was launched by the Chancellor in 2019 to protect jobs. We furloughed some of our staff as we only had the Rainbow children in the summer term due to social distancing restrictions and the need to ensure children and staff were safe.

Our fundraising activities were restricted this year due to COVID-19. Parent representatives and Staff organised a Christmas Wreath making event which was well attended by our supporters and parents. We also raised some funds through the Easy Fundraising online

Address: Leamington Spa Baptist Church, Chandos Street, Leamington Spa CV32 4RN Trustees for the Period 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019: Simon Archer, Amanda Kilgour, Sara Rouse, Blessing Simango, Karen Barge and Natasha Barlow (1 September 2019 to 11 January 2020).

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2019/20 Period Charity Number: 1070709

shopping platform. We raised £1,549 which will be used to purchase resources and update playing equipment for the children.

We are grateful for the generosity and continued support from all our parents and staff who helped us raise these funds.

Our friends and supporters made philanthropic donations of £848. We are ever grateful to for their generosity and continued support.

Reserves policy

Our Reserves Policy requires that we hold an estimated contingency of funds for expenditure for a period of 3months (currently amounting to £23,000). These will be used for the following purposes:

Payment of staff salaries and essential running costs for a period of three months, t be able to meet expenditure obligations before the Grant Money from the Council is received and or remittance of funds is delayed.
To meet unexpected staff training requirements that is not funded
To provide funds in instances when the Early Years Funding Money is not adequate to cover operational expenditure
To have adequate funds in periods when there is a reduction in the number of children on the register

This policy is reviewed annually to reflect the needs of the Preschool and adjustments made for inflation.

Staffing

This was a good year up to lockdown, with a lovely, stable, and happy team who are always ready to do their very best for the children.

One of our staff successfully completed her apprenticeship just before lockdown and has been great support working with both Sunshines and the Rainbows.

We welcomed a new member of staff in October 2019 who comes in once a week to helps us with Billing and Finance.

We were very fortunate to have very reliable volunteers who helped us a lot during the year up to the start of lock down in March 2020 – covering for staff sickness, training courses and a multitude of other support.

We said farewell to one of staff member who took on a new role as a Teaching Assistant at one of the local schools. We are grateful for all her contributions over the 3 years she was at Little Stars.

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2019/20 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Children on Roll

The numbers on roll this academic year were: -

18 Rainbows and 27 Sunshines (These were the numbers before the start of the lockdown)

Some of our families have needed lots of extra support again this year as they faced financial and emotional problems. We thank our church friends for their prayers when things have seemed very tough for our families and for the support to staff when things have been worrying.

We have lots of our children with English as a second language which has been challenging in the Sunshine room, but these children and the staff do so well at learning each other’s languages.

10 out of 18 rainbows had English as a second language (EAL) and only 4 out of 27/28 sunshine spoke English.

We are also pleased that we had children from many faiths.

Next Steps

Our numbers will be very low in the next academic year due to COVID-19 which has resulted in many companies closing or requiring employees to work from home. We have 11 Rainbow families and 9 Sunshines (who only want a few hours a week) with 3 more starting in January.

Our staff have been brilliant again this year, working hard amidst all the challenges. They managed to build great relationships with our families, sharing the children’s progress, going on training days to other settings to further extend their skills. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all members of staff for their resilience and togetherness which was evident when they returned on 1st June in the middle of the pandemic. We are humbled by their commitment and commend them for going over and above the call of duty, thank you, you are amazing.

Training and Development

In the coming year we will continue to invest in our staff by enrolling them in training which will enhance and ensure they are up to date with their safeguarding knowledge and skills. All staff completed many modules of online training during the first lockdown in April and May – both statutory and child development and some looked at areas such as children’s bereavement, children’s wellbeing and even yoga.

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2019/20 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Community Engagement

We have continued to enjoy great relationships with our church friends and other groups which are using the building, working together, and supporting each other.

We especially enjoy meeting with the Tuesday and Thursday folks and loved sharing our Christmas dinner and excitement with them.

We have enjoyed the Family Light Party Praise, the Christingle and were sad that the Easter party had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.

We are looking forward to a new minister in the coming year.

Many of our church friends helped with our Friday story reading. They have been a great help in keeping the bible stories alive and fun.

Pre Covid, we frequently popped into the church to look at the displays, have a quiet story or a loud one which the children enjoyed a lot.

We work closely with Tiny Stars, advertising them to any newcomers. Many of our families who have preschool age children enjoy the safe and welcoming environment Tiny Stars provides for both children and parents.

This year, we didn’t have opportunities to spend time with our Tuesday friends due to illnesses, but when the world is calmer, we will find a new way of integrating with our elderly friends and Chandos.

We are ever grateful to our manager for her hard work and resilience during the pandemic. She worked tirelessly supporting both parents and staff and keeping them abreast of all the changes and requirements from the Government while ensuring that Little Stars remained a safe and happy place for the children to learn.

Finally, we would like to thank our Manager and staff once again, for their unwavering support and continued desire to provide a loving and caring environment for all the children they look after.

We would also like to thank Leamington Baptist Church, Parents, and our friends for their continued support.

Trustees

Little Stars Christian Preschool

Littlestars Christian Preschool Income and Expenditure Statement for the Period 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020 Charity Number : 1070709

2018-2019 Receipts 82,053.20 Grants Warwickshire CC - HMRC Job Retention Scheme Grant 21,038.02 Fees 3,219.99 Fundraising 2,295.76 Donations 1,653.71 Other 110,260.68 Expenses 86,849.95 Salaries - Salaries - (HMRC Job Retention Scheme) 3,386.83 Administration 215.97 Cleaning 768.60 Insurance 2,189.53 Playgroups Materials & Equipment 870.22 Printing & Stationery 3,900.00 Contribution to Church 1,165.00 Training & Development 6,790.59 Other Costs 106,136.69 4,123.99 Net Deficit 44,129.51 Balance b/f 48,253.50 Blance c/f	2019-20 70,764.60 5,270.78 13,250.31 1,549.42 848.00 1,853.28
	93,536.39
	79,161.16 5,270.78 2,663.49 463.38 773.56 1,926.40 562.29 3,900.00 729.60 3,526.61
	98,977.27
	5,440.88 - 48,253.50
	42,812.62

Signed by: K.B Simango On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Littlestars Christian Preschool

Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Little Stars Christian Preschool On accounts for the year ended 31" August 2020 Charity no (if any) 1070709 Sèt out on pages Respectlve The chanty's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of The chanty's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Chanties Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibilty to= examine the accounts urxler section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the prOureS laid down in the general Directions given by the Chanty Commission (under section 14515)(b} of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordan with general Directions given examiner's statement by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees conceming any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a Yrue and fairf view and the report is limited to those matters sel out in the statement low. Independent In connection wtth my examination. no matter has come to my attention examiner's statement which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordan with section 130 of the Chanties Art; and to prepare acwunts whith accord with the accounting records and comply with the a¢¢ounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met" or 1. to which. in my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.. Signed: Date: 16th February 2021 Name: rah m Howe Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Retired Independerrt Financial Consultant Address: Flal 7 Grosvenor Court IER March 2012

KeniOrth Road Leamington Spa WanMKkshire CV32 5TF Section B Disclosure Not ApFICab1e IER March 2012