Ashwell Preschool
(formerly known as Ashwell Playgroup)
Treasurer’s report SEPTEMBER 2021- AUGUST 2022
Ashwell Preschool (formerly known as Playgroup) have been in operation since the 1970’s! Over the past fifty years times have changed. From humble beginnings as a Mothers and Babies group, staffed solely by volunteers, the Preschool is now an Ofsted registered, Early Years Educational setting for children aged 2-4, and was rated GOOD on a recent Ofsted inspection in May 2021. We employ members of staff whom are qualified Early Years Educators and Practitioners, and follow the age appropriate curriculum laid out in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Our management committee look after the business side of the setting, seeking grants and additional funding, dealing with staff training and recruitment, updating and maintaining the policies for the setting in conjunction with the Leader, and liaising with the school in termly Early Years meetings.
Autumn term 2021 started fairly typically with just 6 children on roll. By July 2022, we had 17 children on roll. 13 of these were 3-year-old children and they participated in several transition sessions up at the village school during the summer term to help them prepare for starting their new term in the Nursery class at the school in September 2022.
The renovation and resurfacing of the village hall garden was completed in September 2021 and has provided the children with a lovely new safe play surface, with the addition of some new play equipment too. The garden has been greatly enjoyed by the children in the setting for this academic year, including the cohort of leavers from July 2021, most of whom have returned to the preschool for successful lunch clubs and afternoon sessions.
By the year end, 31[st] August 2022, accounts show a loss of £5841.58
Whilst this is disappointing, to put it into context, we looked at sources of income.
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Our fundraising ability was reduced due to a lack of volunteers, and including grants and donations totalled £3539.56, which is less than in previous years.
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One main grant application submitted in April 2022 was indeed successful but this income was not awarded and presented to us until after this accounting period (HCT grant amount total = £9072 ).
In summary, had the HCT grant been awarded in July 2022, which is customary following an April application, the year would have ended in profit. Nonetheless, given the ever-increasing costs of running the setting and the difficulty in fundraising with so few volunteers, we must be mindful of our tight budget and low income reserves.
Our sources of income consist of the amounts allocated by NHDC for all 3 year old children whom become eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare, and for funded children aged 2, - whom for example may be from a low income household or from local authority care. Note these amounts have remained unchanged for years now.
All other funding is by means of donations and from fundraising events held by the management committee.
Historically, and pre-COVID, the setting has run at an approximately £5,000 loss each academic year, and hard fundraising by committees of 10-16 people running a “Winter Wonderland”, a big Quiz, the village Duck Race and other smaller local events has significantly offset this loss or removed it completely.
Post COVID we find ourselves as a management committee of 2! We face increased staff wage costs which are essential in order to recruit and keep trained staff, and a 15% hike in hall hire in 2022 (this equates to approximately £1000 increase), with a further rise anticipated in September 2023. Our business model is simply not functional in these times of a paucity of volunteers within the community,
plus generally increased pressure on households to be considering their own income and a lack of free time to help out charities such as ourselves in planning and running events. Our yearly deficit is now approximately £9000 prior to receipt of any grants or income from fundraising.
For the mid to long term, I am seeking a means of greater financial security for the Preschool, which I believe should come from direct support from the village school. For good reason, there is no other village within our local area where a preschool functions independently of the village school. Assistance is provided for other settings by means of a rent-free site, and often additional managerial support with the day to day running of the setting.
We believe our location in the village hall is a satisfactory one, and need not change (in fact we provide a vital source of village hall income), but we intend to pitch to the school governors a plan for the midterm where some reliable fixed amount of financial support for the preschool is incorporated within the school’s own grant applications to the Henry Colborn Trust (HCT) for example, and further support for staffing and management of the setting is incorporated into the business management of the school also. Whilst we do submit a grant application to the HCT each year this is not always successful and our ability to communicate with the HCT is significantly less effective than that of the school, in spite of our role as an educational setting.
Fundraising by volunteers for the preschool will remain a requirement but the hope is that this fundraising could be for items such as a new equipment shed, or updated play equipment, rather than to meet the ever-increasing deficit in the running costs of what we believe is an essential village service.
We continue to provide a valuable source of low-cost early years education within the village. We enter the academic year 2022-2023 with a new settings manager and look to a future of greater liaison with the school to help maintain our high standards of teaching of the preschool children in our care, and to reliably meet our financial deficits in running costs.
Merry Pertwee (nee Smith)
Treasurer, Ashwell Preschool
Ashwell Playgroup Profit & Loss 2021-2022 From September 2021 to August 2022
| Income Voluntary Sources Unfunded Fees Lunch Club Breakfast Club Afternoon Session 2 yr Funded Fees 3 yr Funded Fees SENCO funding IDACI Total Voluntary Sources Fundraising Income Fundraising Events Fundraising Merchadise Donations Grants Total Fundraising Income Other Income Other Income Interest Received Total Other Income Total Income Expenses Charitable Purposes Wages Paye Nest 1-1 Support Outside professional fees Milk Rent Equipment Training Materials Snack Xmas Party/Outings etc Other (inc Petty Cash) Total Charitable Purposes Admin Costs Admin Accountancy Advertising Insurance Total Admin Costs Fundraising Costs Fundraing Events Costs Fundraising merchandise costs Other Fundraising costs Total Fundraising Costs Total Expenses Net Profit/ (Loss) |
YTD Actual YTD Budget Variance £17,256.50 £16,809.00 £447.50 £1,733.00 £1,764.00 -£31.00 £906.00 £1,011.00 -£105.00 £9,146.00 £9,042.00 £104.00 £497.16 £6,612.79 -£6,115.63 £19,408.52 £15,040.62 £4,367.90 £250.00 £0.00 £250.00 £114.18 £0.00 £114.18 £49,311.36 £50,279.41 -£968.05 £2,422.24 £5,000.00 -£2,577.76 £14.00 £0.00 £14.00 £253.32 £375.00 -£121.68 £850.00 £4,000.00 -£3,150.00 £3,539.56 £9,375.00 -£5,835.44 £53.96 £0.00 £53.96 £11.10 £30.00 -£18.90 £65.06 £30.00 £35.06 £52,915.98 £59,684.41 -£6,768.43 £43,389.74 £44,434.32 -£1,044.58 £1,745.09 £0.00 £1,745.09 £446.39 £0.00 £446.39 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £6,900.19 £6,542.25 £357.94 £6.25 £0.00 £6.25 £35.20 £0.00 £35.20 £438.96 £600.00 -£161.04 £332.32 £706.50 -£374.18 £230.39 £300.00 -£69.61 £179.50 £0.00 £179.50 £53,704.03 £52,583.07 £1,120.96 £712.41 £750.00 -£37.59 £3,014.00 £3,960.00 -£946.00 £64.80 £300.00 -£235.20 £434.20 £450.00 -£15.80 £4,225.41 £5,460.00 -£1,234.59 £1,086.79 £1,900.00 -£813.21 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £1,086.79 £1,900.00 -£813.21 £59,016.23 £59,943.07 -£926.84 -£6,100.25 -£258.67 -£5,841.58 |
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Ashwell Playgroup
Unaudited accounts
For Year ended 31 August 2022
Reporting Accountants’ report to the members on the unaudited accounts of Ashwell Playgroup
We report on the accounts for the year ended 31 August 2022. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard Applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
No audit has taken place.
The Wright Accounts Services Ltd