2020-08-20-accounts

EARLYBIRDS PRE-SCHOOL TRUSTEES REPORT 2019-2020

Earlybirds Pre-School have had a very successful (albeit difficult year) due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The year was interrupted in March 2020 due to the pandemic when all schools and early years’ settings were told to close.

We remained open to provide care for children who have a parents that are essential workers. We reopened to a wider group of children in June with numbers limited to 8 in line with the government guidance surrounding ‘bubbles’.

Attendance numbers have been good, however we have 16 children leaving in September 2020 to start Year R, meaning our numbers for the next academic year will be lower than usual.

Management Committee

The Committee members have provided support and challenge to the setting throughout the year to ensure of high quality provision and that statutory procedures are being followed. We have a strong team of committee members who have committed to specific roles within the committee, which will develop some ‘expertise’ amongst them.

All our trustees are extremely supportive and play a very important role in the organisation of the preschool.

A very big thank you, to everyone who has been involved on the committee and to all of the parents, who have taken such a fundamental role, in the organising and running of fundraising events. Without this much needed support the pre-school would not be as well resourced as it currently is.

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Ofsted

Earlybirds was inspected in September 2019, just 3 days after opening for the Autumn term, with our new leader Nicola Proctor working alongside Lucy Chambers. We were inspected using the new framework and received a good grade.

We had some fantastic feedback and were pleased with the result. We have some actions to address and areas to work towards and have put these actions into place immediately, including ensuring we work together with other settings when children attend more than one setting, and making sure transition paperwork is passed to us to use as a baseline when children come to us from other settings. This allows us to work more consistently and improves the children’s transition and settling in.

A setting development plan has been written which addresses the key actions from the last OFSTED report and from data gathered from the children’s assessment data showing their strengths and areas of weakness. We are currently focusing on improving our partnerships with parents and support for families at home, and the children’s language and communication development.

Staffing

In September 2019 we recruited our new Pre-School Leader, Mrs Nicola Proctor, who joins us with 20 years of early years’ experience and has worked as a pre-school manager in her previous role.

Mrs Moro left us at Christmas to start a new role in a forest school pre-school. Miss Anne Slade was appointed the position of deputy leader and we now have 3 full time members of staff working within the pre-school which is more consistent for the children attending.

We have a volunteer who has been working with us for 2 days per week whilst she is completing her early years training. She is very flexible and has provided cover for us due to staff sickness or training and during the coronavirus pandemic when we had vulnerable staff working from home. Having a team of consistent staff ensures continuity for our small setting.

Accounts

Our numbers have been high and we have had a good income this year from both funded and paying families. Our staffing costs have been high, but we have been paying the added cost of the previous pre-school leader this year.

Our numbers are looking lower for the next academic year, due to losing a high number of children to school in September. The coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on families requiring spaces for the children. We are focusing on marketing and advertising for the next term, including investigating the viability and requirement for wrap around care.

To ensure staff do not lose hours and to protect the pre-schools financial position we are keen to offer breakfast clubs and after school care. This will hopefully attract more families as it means we can

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provide flexible care to cover parents’ working hours. Staff will work on a rota to cover both sessions, without having to increase their hours and the staff costs.

Our administrator has developed a budget spreadsheet, showing expenditure over the year, which is broken down into different outgoings so we can better track our spending. We have used the previous years’ data to budget for this year.

Our treasurer keeps us informed regularly (through the committee meeting) of our financial position, and we are able to discuss expenditure and any cost cutting measures as necessary. We have an account with contingency funds. In the event that the preschool would have to close, the fund would meet the costs that would be incurred and limit the liability of the committee members.

Outside Activities

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic we were unable to plan any outside trips or visits for the children this year. We are also unable to have a leaving performance for the children who were leaving to start year R in September.

We did have a Christmas party for the children, with Tony Spaghetti performing his magic show, which the children all thoroughly enjoyed. The children all took part in a Christmas Nativity play, which was attended by parents and wider family members and was a great success. We were extremely proud of all the children.

Fundraising

Our Christmas Fair was a great success. FONs have asked us for a wish list and agreed to purchase us an Easy Listener CD player with 6 headphones and story CDs to support the children’s listening, literacy and ICT development.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our main fundraising event this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. We were not able or allowed, due to ‘lockdown’ rules, to hold our annual Easter Egg Hunt at Bere Woods.

The committee agreed to transfer £2000 from our fundraising account into our main account so that the leader could invest the money into making improvements to the pre-school based on the needs of the children. We used some money to improve our reading area and some to make improvements to the outside area including buying a new water tray and sand pit, and storage so the children can access resources more independently. There is still money left in the fundraising account which is a great position to be in.

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EARLYBIRDS PRE-SCHOOL (NEWTOWN)

1083648

Receipts and payments accounts For the period 8/21/2019 To from

8/21/2019 8/20/2020

Section A Receipts and payments

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Deposit 2,000 - - 2,000
Funding 49,729 - - 49,729
Parent Payments 12,970 - - 12,970
Donation 100 - - 100
- - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
64,799 - - 64,799
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 64,799 - - 64,799
A3 Payments
Advertising 162 - - 162
Expenses 2,904 - - 2,904
HMRC 3,206 3,206
Maintenance 102 - - 102
Memberships 864 - - 864
Mobile 32 - - 32
Pension 3,188 - - 3,188
Rent 1,897 - - 1,897
Resources 872 872
Supply 292 292
Utilities 3,691 3,691
Wages 45,242 45,242
Website - - - -
Sub total [ 62,450 ] - - 62,450
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 62,450 - - 62,450
Net of receipts/(payments) 2,348 - - 2,348
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 30,297 - - 30,297
Cash funds this year end 32,645 - - 32,645
----- End of picture text -----

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

			Unrestricted		Restricted
Categories	Details		funds		funds
B1 Cash funds	Bank Accounts	Total cash funds	to nearest £ 32,652 - - 32,652		to nearest £ - - - -
	(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))		Agreement Error	OK
			Unrestricted		Restricted
			funds		funds
B2 Other monetary assets	Details		to nearest £ - - - - - -		to nearest £ - - - - - -
B3 Investment assets	Details		Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) - - - - -
B4 Assets retained for the	Details		Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional) -
charity’s own use					- - - - - - - -
			Fund to which		Amount due
B5 Liabilities	Details		liability relates		- - - - - (optional)
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees		Signature	Print	Name

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

----- Start of picture text -----
CC16a
----- End of picture text -----

Last year

to the nearest £

41,287 20,995 - - - - - 62,283

62,283

646 3,393 - 3,393 764 81 1,743 2,372 795 1,490 8,368 45,978 960 69,982

69,982 - 7,699 - - - 7,699

Endowment funds

to nearest £ - - - -

OK

Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional)

Date of approval

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Oei 2011