2022-08-31-accounts - Little Stars Christian Preschool

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Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2021/22 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.

2021-22 brought us hope that things would finally return to normal. With families’ lives having been disrupted for so many month unending, we did not know what to expect but we were happy to welcome all the children and parents in September. The year started with a lot of regulations and guidance on how to keep our setting safe from Covid. We introduced rigorous cleaning of the children’s toys at the end of each day. This meant that days became longer for staff who had stay behind cleaning. In March 2022, the Department of Education lifted restrictions and recommended that we follow Government, local guidance and our own Covid risk assessments and guidance.

Board of Trustees

We had a minimum of five board of trustees throughout the 2021-22 academic year.

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 and safe place for both children and employees. We have updated our COVID-19 guidance document and risk assessment to ensure that it was in line with government and other regulatory bodies’ guidelines.

Inline with our Business Plan, we continued improving our visibility by publicising our preschool and posting updates regularly on the different social media platforms like Facebook.

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 and carers.

Our numbers improved in 2021/22 but we are still building up to get to where we used to be prior to the Covid Pandemic. Lower numbers translate into lower funding from Grant Income and or Fees Income which continues to have a negative impact on our finances. We are thankful to Leamington Spa Baptist Church who have not increased our contribution throughout the Covid period which has helped a lot with our finances.

Our fundraising activities were mostly through non-contact activities like Easy Fundraising online shopping platform, Bags 2 School and Guess the Smarties tubes. It was good to get the opportunity once again this year to marshal at the Regency Run. The total amount we raised through fundraising activities this year £962 which will help us in replacing old 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.

Address: Leamington Spa Baptist Church, Chandos Street, Leamington Spa CV32 4RN Trustees for the Period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022: Ian Doncaster, Amanda Kilgour, Sara Rouse, Blessing Simango and Karen Barge

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2021/22 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Our friends and supporters made philanthropic donations of £1,516 during this academic year, we are ever grateful to for their generosity and continued support even in these challenging times.

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, to 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

Our Deputy Manager left us in early November due to the impact of Covid in the last year on her mental wellbeing. In January, another staff member left to care for her elderly family member.

We struggled to recruit a new deputy so instead have employed an almost full time level 3 in January. We also employed a skilled SEN worker in late September to help us with our three special needs children, she will start her Early Years qualifications later this year.

The rest of the team remains stable with three staff members per room. The manager covers for days off and a regular bank staff member and volunteer help for a couple of mornings.

The financial administrator has been in preschool 1 morning a week the whole year and keeps everything in order. Our other administrator has supported the manager with various administrative tasks.

Children on Roll

The Sunshine room was a remarkably busy room this year since we had low numbers in Rainbows, we compensated by maximising the number of children in the Sunshine class many of whom were just two year olds. A higher number of children than we normally had also had to be assessed for special needs.

The room started off noticeably quiet but ended with twenty three Sunshines, four of whom moved to the Rainbow Room in March when they were developmentally able.

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2021/22 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Of the 23 Sunshines – 15ifteen had English as a second language and three from a very dual language background. Many had limited experience of being with other children, or adults, playing and sharing due to their living environment during lockdowns. Settling these children in was quite a challenge.

There were three children with quite challenging extra needs, which we supported without any 1: 1 and financial support. One child had incredibly challenging behavioural problems.

The Rainbow room had slightly lower numbers, ending the year with eighteen children, sixteen of whom use English as a second language.

This year group’s development seems to have been negatively impacted by Covid. Their living experiences provided limited opportunities to develop and their ability to listen, pay attention, do as they are asked, share and have independence in toileting, eating and drinking was extremely limited at the beginning of the year. Although this has vastly improved it has taken a lot of time to try and bridge the gap.

Three of the Rainbow children had remarkably high SEN needs, and we employed a 1:1 to help us to support their development, we received a small inclusion grant to help us, but this does not cover all of the hours they do or the work outside of that.

We all love messy play and outdoor play and are grateful to the church for allowing us to play outdoors every day except Thursdays. It has dramatically improved the children’s experiences as they have been sheltered and many live in flats with no gardens.

We have had a lot of families with safeguarding problems, and families struggling to manage behaviour and boundaries issues. They have been supported with courses, meetings and collaborating with other professionals to improve their homelives.

Most families are just doing the funded hours, instead of adding extra hours and paying for them, which seems a direct effect of Covid, home working, and the effects of the challenging financial environment the country is currently facing.

We had children from many faiths, cultures and languages are represented too.

Next Steps

Our main priority next year is to monitor our finances and balance staff wages in view of the expected high increase in the minimum wage, against children’s places. This will be accomplished with careful budgeting and reviewing our staffing structure.

To promote Little Stars using Facebook, our website and posters and word of mouth to increase the number of children attending.

Once again, offer an open day in early Summer to promote Little Stars to prospective parents.

Address: Leamington Spa Baptist Church, Chandos Street, Leamington Spa CV32 4RN

Trustees for the Period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022: Ian Doncaster, Amanda Kilgour, Sara Rouse, Blessing Simango and Karen Barge

Little Stars Christian Preschool Report for the 2021/22 Period Charity Number: 1070709

Upgrade our outdoor provision – sand pit, learning shed and resources - balancing the workload for setting up (as staff need to be paid to set up and put it away) and encouraging church to let us make it more attractive for families.

Support the welfare of our wonderful team of staff, supporting the heavy workload due to high SEN needs, and behaviour problems to enable time to build confidence in curriculum and enabling environment.

Training and Development

Staff have continued with their professional development, completing all statutory training such as safeguarding and first aid.

Emphasis on in house training and staff meetings has been on safeguarding, our curriculum, and the new 2 year progress checker an assessment of children.

Planning fully around the children’s needs and next steps and using small learning groups to address those needs.

Community Engagement

Families are now welcome in the setting, and it has been wonderful to show them the classrooms and share the children’s learning with less restrictions.

We once again joined in with the Church Thursday group which gave everyone some lovely intergenerational play.

We have started using the main church again and have had lots of fun with egg hunts, and musical statue games and stories.

We worked closely with the Tiny Stars Toddler group team to support their reopening in September. The reduction in covid restrictions has made having sessions on Wednesdays easier again and we hope this will grow in popularity.

We supported the Easter and October “Stay and Plays” and hope there will be a summer one too.

Finally, we want to thank Leamington Spa Baptist Church, Parents, and our friends for their continued support during this last year.

Trustees

Little Stars Christian Preschool

Littlestars Christian Preschool Income and Expenditure Statement for the Period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022 Charity Number : 1070709

2020-2021 Receipts £ 58,659.75 Grants Warwickshire CC 4,253.16 HMRC Job Retention Scheme Grant 17,716.21 Fees 506.20 Fundraising 1,038.60 Donations 941.94 Other 83,115.86 Expenses 73,753.34 Salaries 4,253.16 HMRC Job Retention Scheme Expenditure 3,144.66 Administration 578.04 Cleaning 782.45 Insurance 1,261.12 Playgroups Materials & Equipment 483.39 Printing & Stationery 3,300.00 Contribution to Church 460.55 Training & Development 938.01 Other Costs 88,954.72 5,838.86 - Net Deficit(-)/Surplus 42,812.62 Balance b/f 36,973.76 Blance c/f	2021-22 £ 91,967.30 - 21,372.19 962.25 1,515.56 1,032.71
	116,850.01
	92,894.00 - 5,145.61 660.11 797.97 1,488.47 660.73 3,900.00 463.29 1,998.89
	108,009.07
	8,840.94 36,973.76
	45,814.70

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

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Report to the trusteesl members of 'Lit+lc st15 chn11a P<e5c&oo I 3010£ On accounts for the year ended Charlty no (If any) |Qi•J Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"the Trustl for the year ended 30 0 8 Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordan with the requirements of the Charities A 2011 (Yhe Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusvs accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. I have followed Ihe applicable Directions gNen by the Chanty Commission under section 14515)Ib) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gNes me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accountirrfJ records were not kept in accordance section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accor(I with the accounting records Independent examiners ststement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Heas& déletè th8 worrts in the bmckets rfthey do not apply. Slgned: Date: Name: Relevant professional quaiificationls} or body lif any): AAT Address: @A(IoLQ Clos fdshire OXIS £kS8 IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Onty complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of conrn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brlef details of any items that tho examinerwtshes to disclose. IER October 2018