The Acorns Pre-school
(Bower Hinton)
Charity Number:
1078218
Pro &
Bower Hlnton
Income & Expenditure Statements
and
Trustees Annual Report
For the period ended 31st August 2024
TLC Virt4Jl Asliskni
13 Watercombe Lane, Yeov51 BA20 2f D
Tel: 07476 W7822 Email.,
co

In acconlance with the en￿en￿t letter dated 3r1 June 2019. we appro￿ the accounts which
comprise of the Income & Expenditure Attount and related ￿les. We acknowle(18e Our
fèsponslbility for the accounts and provldiry Chr￿115 Accountln8 Services wlth all the inforniatio
and explanab'ons nece55wy for t￿lf compllatSon. The trustees declare they have approved the
tru5tees' report.
S•8ned on behalf of the charlty's trustees:
Si8natUfe".
Full Name..
P05111on (eg seuetsry. (halr etc):
fq.0£.2s

Date of AP￿ntrI)ent
D4te of Leavlng
Nicola t*er (Chalr)
Amy Kempster ITreasurEr)
Helen Whlte (Secretary)
Fiona Waldron (Trustee)
Chantelle Dyer ITrustee)
13103n024
141(W2023
01/￿￿015
15/06n023
1510612023
We a￿ a committee run prHclK)ol open to chlldren aged two to school age. Acorns have s￿d li
wlth the community atxl IcKal schools. This allows Acor￿ to ensure that the tran5ft1on from p￿
sch￿1 to Prfmary 5clx)ol is a snKX)th and worry-freo event.
The ethos at Acorns Is that am thlklon are cared for In a Se￿re fun and frIend￿ envlronmerrt whllst
enga81￿ In learni￿ thro￿ play.
A(oms ensu￿ that all chddren move frDm the PIE School to Pflmary 5choDI wlth a Secure
foundatlon in the 13 core areas of leamiw as outlined Sn the EYFS strate8Y.
aim5 of Acorn5 Pre khool are:
To wovlde a nurturing and 5timul•tln8 erNlrDnment In whlch thildren are e￿ouTr8ed to karn
Ihro¥h play.
To support parents and urers In FXeparI￿ their chIld￿n for the trangtion to schDoL
To malntain ￿ Ilft￿ with the community.
The EYFS framework Is appllcable f￿ chlldren from blrth to the •nd of receptlon (the •codemlc ￿ar
In whDch a chlld tums 5).
The maln aim of the FfFS is to focus on the three ptin* areas of learnin8 essemial for thIld￿n,5
adlTress A)r future learnlng and development:
Personal, social, and omotsnal devek*pn*nt
CommunicatK>n and lan8ua8e
Physical developmenL
A5 a pre-sc1￿1 that rL¥ei￿5 tundlng lor the educatton of thildren aged 2 to sthool age, we are
required to plan acilvitles arKI experbences that help children make pro8res5 in thelr learnir¥ and
develorrfneni pathways.
The four specific are•s of leamin8 are:

Liter•cy
mat￿Ma￿c$
LInde￿andor% the world
Expressfve Arts and desl8n
In thls academlc ￿ar. Acom5 has contlnued to offEr pre.school edu¢a¢lon to all thildren of a
school ase.
The academk year stsrted extremely well. with all thtldren settling gulckty. The ability to offer a
variety ol actr41￿e$ to en￿nce children's Independèno and confidence planned for the ye•r
ahead.
Acoms PresclKKA wa5 Inspected ty Ofsted In January. the outcon* of whlch was a "good" r•iin8.
Staffin8 remalned stsble wlth 2 luu tlme sL1ff m•mbers Witho￿ the need fDr addillond SUPPO
exept on very few occa4on
Fundratsin8 has Increased slowly. and Acorns will kx)k to (Dmmertt a full fundrdising progfdmme In
the tomin8 academic ￿ar.
ndal
The government funded 30 hours for mary famllles has meant that a large number of famllies are
lookir48 for nursery placements that then fÈed ir)to preschool and primary 5ctr￿ In surrounding
areas. Thls In addl￿n to the reduc1￿ natlonal birthrate means that the WAake of places for t
coming atademic year have de(reased and the requ1￿ment for additional staff has dft)pped. It must
be noted that had Acorns P￿sChool not recew¥ed a larBe donatlon of £ 10.IJX) fn)m a kKal presc1￿1
that closed its door5 at the e￿1 of the prevlou5 Ilnancial year. Acorrts PrexlK)ol would havè ended
thi5 flnanclal year In deficlt.
un￿$5 the financlal environment changes and Uptske of ￿aCeS IncTrases It Is unllknly that Acorns
Preschool will be fin•n¢l•lly viable 801ry forward.

Attms fv•.Sdw•pl. Vamon
Ch¥lty 14umbÈr. 1071218
Profil I[￿￿ni
F•rth•pw*d ISrw•rnbtr X23. 31
Intomv ffomdk** l•es
Irom knhtodty. CNltsrn F￿￿￿•GThrt
FundTr151fi1
Swifyy Intor
61919
FryiloyeeCost5
0151tpd Fees
cnhei Fees
l¥ew twilpment
l•w•rs &•¥Ynt5 lttthlldry
7r41•in8
Ll
L912
In
Il
61ft5
T•l•phC￿e
Subxrlpbwli
IDèflciillSwplus
Curyent ktount
Svoiw¥A((ouoi
Oèlkn
Cash

Notes to the accounts
Fof academk year ended 31° August 2024
2024
£9.460
£43.209
ar8ed Fees
Childcare Ftsndiw (local Authorlty)
2023
£3.354
£43,404
Chlldren on roll Is fallin& while tharged fEes hès Increased. the InC￿lISe In Income Is not In Ilne with
the iwease in costs.
Employee costs have Increased, due to ifKfta5ed hourty rates and trke up of Pen￿On schen*s.
ountln8 Costs remain 5tstk and are due to In¢￿aSe In the comln8 academic ￿ar due to ￿￿rIv
rate Increase5.
Income in the year rernalns static. whlch can be attrlbuied to a fall in numbers ol children on roll.
While the Increase in costs to the Prexhool ￿ntInue to increasÈ the take up of ploces doe5 not. Thls
ts not a sustalnable situatlon.
Staffin8 refflalned conslstÈirt. wlthout the posslbllity ol redt￿￿ hows workd wlth the to have
the mlnlmum Stsff employed dur1￿ openin8 hou(s of the Preschool.
Rent for the hall has Increased due to payments onty cleari￿ the bank for financlal year 2022-23
durlr* 202>24 arademlc year.
pre-sc￿}1 cuntlnued to bank wlth Lloyd5 Bank opeTatfn8 onty one current aca)unt arml a small
cash, whlth is rdrety utlllsed as staff are reimbursed electronlcally. en5urlng that al ts
acrx•unted fof Cofrecrty,
After all expenses, the we-5chool accounts show a Surplu5 for the year of £15.088. Thi5 surplus
iTKludes a donation of £IO.CKX) and therefore there would be a deficit had this (h)natlon not been
received.11 is the oplnlon of the Treasurer that if take continues ai the current rate and costs
contlnue to rise at the current rate, Acorns Preschool will not be Viable past the end of the next
financlal year.

Indepefmlent examlner's report to the tnstee5 of Acorns Pre-kknf. I on the accounts of the
Trust for the year ended 31" Au8USt 2023, which are set OLrt on pagès 01 to 07. The charitvs trustees
are re5ponslble tor the preparation of the accounts. Thè charity's trustees conslder that an audit
not requlred for th15 year under sectk>fi 14412) of the Charittes A(12011 (the 2011 Act) arKI that an
Inde￿ndent examlnat5on is l￿ded.
It b my responslbility to:
• examlne Ihe Kcounts utmlef section 145 of the 2011 Art
• to follow the procedures lald d¢Mn kn the Be￿(31 Dlrectlons 8iven by the mmmtsslon urKler
sèttion 14515)Ibl of the 2011 Act
. to stale whether partlcular marters ha¥e com• to my attentlon B•sls of Independent exaMI￿rf*
re￿rt
My ewamlnatlon wa5 ￿rrIed out In accordance with the gefteral Dirertlons glven ￿ the Charlty
Commlss•on. An examination Include5 a revlew of the accountln8 records knpt ty the charity and
(omparlson of accounts p￿ented wlth those ￿￿ords. It also i￿l￿deS mn5ideratlon of anv
unusual Item5 or dIsCk￿re$ In the accounts and Seek1￿ explanalSons from as trustees
Co￿em1￿ ary s￿h matters. The pmcedures undertaken do not provlde all the evKlence that
be requlred in an audtt and consequently no opinion Is glven as to whether the accounts present a
'true and fatr and the report 15 Ilmited to those matters set in the next siaternenL
Independent examlner's statEmenL
In connectx)n wfth my eXaMin￿10n. no matter ha5 come to my attenllofi:

(l} which gives me reasonable cause to belkn thal In any matrrial respect the re9ulrements:
• to keep •ccourrtlr8 In accordance with sert?on 130 of itre 2011 Acl and
• to prepare accounts which accord wlth the acCoun￿n8 records and compty wlth the
ac(ountin8 requi￿rnents of the 2011 Act have w been n*t or
12) lo wthich. in my opinion, attention should be drnwn In order to enable a proper
undersiandir¥ of the accounts to be reached
Name: Tamsln Cl￿neV
Sl8ned: _.
Tic Virtual Assstsnt Accountsncy ServKes
Address: 13 Watercombe Lane Yeovll 8A20 2ED
Date: 031L%12024