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2022-02-28-accounts

Therfield Village Preschool ANNUAL REPORT 1[st] March 2021 – 28th February 2022

Registered Charity No. 1086252

WELCOME

Welcome to the Pre-school’s 21st Annual Report. This report covers the period 1[st] March 2021 - 28[th] Feb 2022.

The purpose of this report is to provide you with information regarding the pre-school, to keep you informed about its development over the past year and our plans for the future.

This report is divided into the following sections:

Section 1: Reports: Reports:
1.1 Chair’s Report
1.2 Leader’s Report
1.3 Finance & Fundraising Report
Section 2: Aims of the Pre School
Section 3: People:
3.1 The Staff Team
3.2 The Committee
Section 4: Key Developments
Section 5: Future Plans

SECTION 1: REPORTS

1.1 CHAIR’S REPORT – Vassilisa Noble

A very warm welcome to everyone!

This past year at preschool has been one of the busiest however it has remained to be a challenging one with some restrictions from Covid coming and going.

We have had a very positive start to our Pre-School year, our pre-school numbers were up and we have many new starters to replace our OWLS who moved up in September 2021.

We would like to welcome many new children and their parents.

To carry out the responsibilities of a Chair would be impossible without the support and guidance from the pre-school leader, Tina Downing and her wonderfully hard working and enthusiastic team. There have been numerous challenges over the past 12 months and we have been able to remain open as much as possible even with a few positive cases of Covid.

The dedication of our preschool team is simply amazing.

I would also like to thank the many other people for their role in the life of the pre-school including but not limited to:

As we have been able to hold some fundraising activities, here are some of the main ones that took place.

Firstly there was the September Campout which was held together with Therfield First School and yet again with all the great organising, it was a huge success. With many families deciding to stay out and camp out for the night and having fun well into the evening.

Then there was the surprise Tractor Rally that was organised by Abbie and her dad and friends, which took place in October. It was a wonderful day that proved to be extremely popular and a great fundraiser for preschool. Here is to many more of these fun runs.

Things didn’t stop there, at the end of November, Abbie and Danielle organised an amazing Christmas Market that took place at the village hall, with many stalls from local businesses. This event proved to be extremely popular not just within the village but also surrounding areas.

Thank you ladies for your amazing commitment, your time and efforts to support our pre-school and to all the people who gave their time and support in order for these fundraising efforts and fun days to go ahead.

The staff team

Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff for their hard work in the last year. As always, our brilliant staff have kept the pre-school a happy, warm and safe environment in which our children can play and learn.

We have had many new starters and the staff have done an outstanding job of settling them in. Our staff continue to deliver the EYFS to our children whilst catering to the needs of the individual child in order to provide the EYFS required child-led curriculum. Activities led by the children’s interests and curiosity continue to be the strengths of our small and

friendly pre-school. The Pre-school continues to thrive and offer a unique, happy and homely environment in a closeknit village.

Therfield Village Pre-school is extremely fortunate in having Tina Downing as its leader and our Deputy leader Natalie Hunn and the rest of the outstanding team.

Sue Hamilton – qualified assistant and Senco, Aline Revell - qualified assistant. Dunja Starc and Nicola Drew are our valued pre-school assistants. Our bank staff team remain the same with Laura Jenkins as a valued member of the team.

Community

Our pre-school is fortunate in having the close link with the Therfield First School and we will continue to be working in the future together to build on the transition periods for the children as they move onto the bigger schools.

There is a special thank you that needs to be said for the Village Hall Committee. Who worked together with Tina, her team and myself in insuring that the village hall was able to be remain open to pre-school throughout the lockdowns and restrictions. It has been a monumental tasks in keeping up with all the changes that needed to be taken into consideration and all the steps to be taken in order to keep the pre-school open and operating.

Over the summer a big change took place in the Village Hall as the new Lighting/heating system was installed by the village hall committee. It has proven to be a much needed and welcome improvement. The new system is able to provide a much better lighting and the heating is able to be regulated and spread-out throughout the hall in a far more efficient manner.

Committee changes and challenges

As a committee led pre-school we value greatly our committee members for giving their precious time and commitment.

We are coming into a change period in our committee and we need new parents to join us as there are a couple of members that need to step down and their roles are required to be covered in order for the preschool to remain operational.

Any parents that would like to join us, are able to help and want to know more about the roles that we have and need to be covered, please have a look at the section 3.2 Committee Members and you are always welcome to come have a chat with me or any other members. We will always be more than happy to take you through what we do and how we do it. Please do come and join us if you can.

1.2 - LEADERS REPORT MARCH 2021-FEBRUARY 2022

2021/22 DEVELOPMENTS – TAKEN FROM PREVIOUS PROPOSED AND PLANNED ACTIONS:

CONTINUING TO FOLLOW NATIONAL AND LOCAL GUIDELINES AND ADVICE TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE AND SAFE PROVISION FOR ALL CHILDREN.

We are pleased to be able to move away from provisional restrictions and difficulties that have been caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and to move forward as we learn to live with Covid, supporting families, staff and children in the process.

The implementation of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, with increased focus on engagement and time with the children and less time spent on evidence gathering.

The revised Early Years curriculum is embedded in practice with positive results. We will continue to access appropriate training and reflect on our own practice on an ongoing basis.

Improving our support of families in making healthy choices, providing further information and guidance, and in particular developing our healthy lunchbox policies.

This area is one we still intend to develop and improve, and to ensure advice and information provided includes the importance of good dental hygiene.

The attachment and trauma training has been shared as a team and de-escalation strategies are used and implemented throughout with positive results. Tina has recently completed the Therapeutic Approach to Behaviour (TAB) training and a priority is now to feed this back to the team and introduce and utilise the tools provided.

Supporting the Continuous Professional Development of all members of the team, including Health and Safety Awareness, and Fire Safety training for the appropriate representatives.

During the Covid-19 pandemic training has been online. The staff team have all been supported to complete core training. Dunja will access health and safety training and Natalie fire safety training.

Working with Therfield First School to monitor the need for increased provision and hours for children in the area, working towards ‘wrap around’ care.

To continue monitoring the need for, and working towards wrap around care. The employment of a cleaner may help to maximise the hours that can be offered. Autumn 2022 to consider increasing number of afternoon club sessions

This year’s highlights:

Spring 2021:

Having missed out on some of our celebrations over the previous years we were determined to make some lasting impressions and particularly enjoyed dressing up for World Book day and celebrating with lots of Role-play, story telling and crafts related to our favourite stories.

We also enjoyed exploring Spring changes and creating colourful displays of flowers indoors, as well as enjoying gardening and bug hunting outdoors. We were able to enjoy our own Easter Egg Hunt, this year in the setting, with the children excitedly hunting for laminated and plastic eggs around pre-school, before taking home a chocolate egg.

Summer 2021 -

An exciting part of our Summer Term is always the introduction of Owls club and this year was no exception. We worked with the children and Therfield First School to determine priorities to help the children smoothly transition to future settings and enjoyed working on fine motor skills, handling tools including knives and forks and mark-making opportunities, working together during heavy work and of course the favourite – our ‘PE’ sessions, giving the children their first experience of changing themselves for an activity and taking ownership of their own items.

We were also pleased this Summer to get back to some of our usual events, visiting the first school and particularly enjoying stories in the Outdoor classroom, our Party in the Park and our End of Year Bug and Butterfly Party and Graduation celebration – this year just for the leavers to minimise numbers in the hall.

Autumn 2021

Numbers were quieter again for our return but we enjoyed lots of outdoor play in the milder weather, exploring Autumnal changes and celebrating Halloween with a variety of messy and discovery play, and Role-play in our witches kitchen.

We were also keen to enjoy the festive period, however restrictions were again on the increase. We therefore asked Father Christmas during our party to drop the presents outside the door and keep himself safe. The children were of course excited to hear the bells and apparently they spied a glimpse of his red hat outside the window!! We finished off with our Christmas show - complete with costumes and songs to sing. We were incredibly proud of this year’s cohort, who have had little or no experience of singing/performing in front of parents.

Staff update:

We were pleased to welcome Nic to our team in May who quickly bonded with the children and demonstrated to us all what a caring and nurturing nature she has. We were also excited that Sue was able to take over the role of Special Educational Needs for us ensuring that we are fully inclusive throughout the setting and able to support the individual needs of all children.

Leader’s Note:

This year I have decided to reiterate my note from last year having continued to work through changing guidelines and legislations. During these times we have been faced with the overwhelming responsibility of providing the safest care and education we can. Throughout this our priority has been the wellbeing of the children ensuring that they know they are safe and secure with us, the health and safety of our families and the safety and wellbeing of our staff team.

We have been pleased however to re-introduce favourite activities and experiences for the children and to learn together that some of our recent adjustments, e.g. our drop off and pick up arrangements actually make transition and separation easier and smoother for parents and children and therefore will remain in place. We have also been excited and grateful to other members of the community for supporting us as we moved into living with Covid, including Therfield First School, particularly Mrs McGovern and Miss Haxton in particular working with us to support transition and the Village Hall committee as other users of the hall have again become more commonplace.

As always determining and putting into practice the most effective and safe provision possible during the changes taking place in Early Years and in workplaces in general, would not have been possible without the dedicated and pro-active support of our committee, particularly Vassilisa and Claire who have continued to work through legislation and guidance, the hard work and commitment of the staff team, and the unquestioning support and understanding of our families throughout.

I am so grateful and appreciative to work in a nurturing, warm and friendly environment supported at every turn, thank you all.

Tina.

Planned Actions for 2022/23

1.3 EXPENDITURE REPORT

Therfield Village Preschool - Income and Expenditure (1[st] March 2021 – 28[th] February 2022)

Income 21-22 Income 20-21
ENP/DAF/ENF/30 hours
funding		 incl below ENP/DAF/ENF/30 hours funding incl below
Nursery Funding received £52,951.93 Nursery Funding received £55,752.35
Othergrants £0.00 Othergrants £0.00
Events/fundraising/donations £1,372.89 Events/fundraising/donations £550.00
Fees received £28,369.40 Fees received £11,711.20
Owlets Income incl. above Owlets Income incl. above
Lunch club incl. above Lunch club incl. above
Owls club incl. above Owls club incl. above
Clothes and bag sales Incl. above Clothes and bag sales £0.00
Interest Interest
Other £185.00 Other £0.00
HMRC JRS(COVID) £1,938.51 HMRC JRS(COVID) £4,646.21
Total £84,817.71 Total £72,659.76
Expenditure 21-22 Expenditure 20-21
Preschool equipment -£2,121.27 Preschool equipment -£822.56
Wages, Pensions & PAYE -£68,061.38 Wages, Pensions & PAYE -59,670.05
Insurance, Registration,
Accounting		 -£2,568.94 Insurance, Registration,
Accounting		 -£3,287.49
Advertising/marketing £0.00 Advertising/marketing £0.00
Hall Hire -£10,019.25 Hall Hire -£2,176.00
Petty cash (daily
consumables)		 -£1060.00 Petty cash (daily consumables) -£210.00
Jumper/t shirts £457.88 Jumper/t shirts £0.00
Stationary/craft (inc. in
resources)		 £0.00 Stationary/craft £0.00
Printing/photocopying -£311.80 Printing/photocopying -£316.21
Phone -£136.92 Phone -£136.68
Fundraising costs £0.00 Fundraising costs £0.00
Bank charges -£96.00 Bank charges -£66.00
Staff training -£649.20 Staff training -£72.00
Other -£438.55 Other -£120.00
Total -£85,921.19 Total -£66,876.99
Excess of Income over
expenditure		 £1,103.46 Excess of Income over
expenditure		 £5,782.77
Add Balance brought forward £14,192.15 Add Balance brought forward £8,409.38
Balance carried forward £13,088.60 Balance carried forward £14,192.15
**Represented by: ** Represented by:
**Balance CafCash A/C ** £13,088.60 Balance CafCash A/C £14,192.15
**Balance Caf Savings A/C ** £7,601.49 Balance Caf Savings A/C £7,600.73
Balance ofpetty cash £122.84 Balance ofpetty cash £31.59
Cash in Hand £0.00 Cash in Hand £0.00
Paypal £30.00 Paypal £30.00
National Lottery Grant on
prepaid card		 £0.00 National Lottery Grant on
prepaid card		 £0.00
Difference £0.00 Difference £0.00
£20,842.93 £21,855.47

Things to note for spending February 2022 onwards:

-Consider fees increase

-Staff needed if numbers of children remain high

-Ensure we have a good intake for September 2022

SECTION 2. AIMS OF THE PRE-SCHOOL

SECTION 3: PEOPLE

3.1 THE STAFF TEAM

We are extremely fortunate to have a truly wonderful, dedicated team of staff who work at the pre-school:

Tina Downing - Leader

Tina has been with us for over 10 years as our Pre-School Leader. She holds a certificate in Early Years Practice and a Foundation Degree in Early Years Child Care and Education. Tina initiates and organises the daily programme of activities at the pre-school, monitoring the quality of teaching and charting developmental progress of the children. She is responsible for short and long-term planning. She also supervises all staff including appraisals and liaises with Therfield First School and the pre-school committee. Tina heads up the senior management team and she is our SENCO lead.

Natalie Hunn , - Deputy Leader

Natalie has been working for the pre-School for over 10 years and is the leader of Owlets. She holds a Cache Level 3 Diploma in childcare. Natalie became our Deputy Leader in September 2018 and has had a positive impact within the team from the very start. She has introduced number of new initiatives to help streamline how the pre-school works and has been working closely with Tina.

Aline Revell - Qualified Assistant

Aline joined the pre-school in February 2014 as a pre-school assistant. She is qualified in Food Hygiene. She qualified in her Skillsfirst Level 2 certificate for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (QCF) in May 2017. Further training undertaken: PREVENT Safeguarding (November 16)

Sue Hamilton - Qualified Assistant

Sue has been a permanent member of staff since September 2014.

She is a former Pre-school parent and committee member, and an experienced foster carer. She is working towards her Skillsfirst Level 2 certificate for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (QCF).

Sue has attended an Introduction to Sign Language and Solutions Circle and an Improving the School Experience for the Child with Autism course. In February she attended Solutions Circle, Social Stories and completed her Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering. She has also attended a Paediatric First Aid course, safeguarding trainig and Effective EYFS teaching and learning. Sue has also taken on the SENCO training and now working closely with Tina in this area.

Dunja Starc – Pre-School Assistant

Dunja joined the team after October 2020 half term and she has become part of the team very quickly. She has joined us from Rainbow nursery that had to close down due to Covid.

Nicola Drew – Pre-school Assistant

Nic joined the team in May 2021 and has become an inspiring and valued member of the team.

All members of staff are police checked through the DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service), participate in half-termly planning meetings to plan the curriculum and share ideas, and are updating continuously their knowledge and skills through additional childcare training courses. With a key worker system in operation, staff members are each responsible for observing and charting the progress of a small group of children.

3.2 COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Committee changes:

We would like to thank Claire Lewzey for her unwavering reliability and efficiency in her role as Joint Treasurer. Her hard work ensures the accounts are kept in great order.

The committee is going to be undergoing a changes as highlighted above but I believe these changes ensure that we always have a committee who are fully dedicated to the current and future needs of the pre-school. We ensure that the majority of our members have either previously had, or currently have, a child attending the pre-school.

Our current committee members:

Vassilisa Noble Chair Claire Lewzey Joint Treasurer Robyn Childs Joint Treasurer – stepping down – hand over will be happening later in the year Abbie Knights Secretary & Fundraising Lisa Penn Training Organiser & Safe Guarding

Committee Roles

The committee has been re-organised into various sub-committees (Finance, Health & Safety, and school and IT) all of which are overseen by the Chair. The members of the sub-committees are responsible for taking forward their own specific areas of work as well as being involved in more general committee work. Every member is involved in fundraising as much as they are able to.

The committee is responsible for the management of the pre-school and undertakes various roles including the following:

• Writing & circulating minutes

SECTION 4: KEY DEVELOPMENTS

4.1 Owls’ club

We have been able, again, to offer an Owls’ club (for the children moving on to school in September) during the summer term of this year. The aim of this club is to provide the children with more focused activities in preparation for school and to ease their transition to school. The Owls’ club operates in the summer term.

4.2 Starting age

The starting age for pre-school children was reduced to 2 years in September 2013. This has continued to be a popular age to join the Preschool. We are happy to continue to offer places for children from 2 years old. The numbers of children under 2.5 years old are monitored very closely by the Leader (Tina) and Chair (Vassilisa). If a term is forecast to have a high number of children under 2.5 years old joining the pre-school, these children’s start dates are staggered accordingly to ensure each child is settled in based on their individual needs.

4.3 Village hall

Thank you to the Village Hall for supporting our preschool throughout the years and all the new updates that have been happening to the hall. Currently, the rent charges are remaining the same.

4.4 Marketing

We continue to spread the word about the setting via our website, current parents, social media (especially sharing fundraiser information on Face Book), and the occasional flyer drop. We have a healthy number of children attending pre-school currently, almost to capacity. It is however important we do not sit back to ensure we see numbers grow following a large Owl departure in the summer term.

5. FUTURE PLANS

5.1 Policies – updates and implementation

Tina has undertaken the policy updating role. The policies are now all reviewed for this year and updated.

Extending possible opening hours.

1.3 EXPENDITURE REPORT

Therfield Village Preschool - Income and Expenditure (1[st] March 2021 – 28[th] February 2022)

----- Start of picture text -----
Income 21-22 Income 20-21
ENP/DAF/ENF/30 hours incl below ENP/DAF/ENF/30 hours funding incl below
funding
Nursery Funding received £52,951.93 Nursery Funding received £55,752.35
Other grants £0.00 Other grants £0.00
Events/fundraising/donations £1,372.89 Events/fundraising/donations £550.00
Fees received £28,369.40 Fees received £11,711.20
Owlets Income incl. above Owlets Income incl. above
Lunch club incl. above Lunch club incl. above
Owls club incl. above Owls club incl. above
Clothes and bag sales Incl. above Clothes and bag sales £0.00
Interest Interest
Other £185.00 Other £0.00
HMRC JRS (COVID) £1,938.51 HMRC JRS (COVID) £4,646.21
Total £84,817.71 Total £72,659.76
Expenditure 21-22 Expenditure 20-21
Preschool equipment -£2,121.27 Preschool equipment -£822.56
Wages, Pensions & PAYE -£68,061.38 Wages, Pensions & PAYE -59,670.05
Insurance, Registration, -£2,568.94 Insurance, Registration, -£3,287.49
Accounting Accounting
Advertising/marketing £0.00 Advertising/marketing £0.00
Hall Hire -£10,019.25 Hall Hire -£2,176.00
Petty cash (daily -£1060.00 Petty cash (daily consumables) -£210.00
consumables)
Jumper/t shirts £457.88 Jumper/t shirts £0.00
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Stationary/craft (inc. in £0.00 Stationary/craft £0.00
resources)
Printing/photocopying -£311.80 Printing/photocopying -£316.21
Phone -£136.92 Phone -£136.68
Fundraising costs £0.00 Fundraising costs £0.00
Bank charges -£96.00 Bank charges -£66.00
Staff training -£649.20 Staff training -£72.00
Other -£438.55 Other -£120.00
Total -£85,921.19 Total -£66,876.99
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Excess of Income over £1,103.46 Excess of Income over £5,782.77
expenditure expenditure
Add Balance brought forward £14,192.15 Add Balance brought forward £8,409.38
Balance carried forward £13,088.60 Balance carried forward £14,192.15
Represented by: Represented by:
Balance CafCash A/C £13,088.60 Balance CafCash A/C £14,192.15
Balance Caf Savings A/C £7,601.49 Balance Caf Savings A/C £7,600.73
Balance of petty cash £122.84 Balance of petty cash £31.59
Cash in Hand £0.00 Cash in Hand £0.00
Paypal £30.00 Paypal £30.00
National Lottery Grant on £0.00 National Lottery Grant on £0.00
prepaid card prepaid card
Difference £0.00 Difference £0.00
£20,842.93 £21,854.47
----- End of picture text -----

Treasurer: Date: 03/11/22 Independent Auditor: Date: 14/12/22

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ THERFIELD VILLAGE PRE-SCHOOL members of On accounts for the year 28[TH] FEBRUARY 2022 Charity no 1086252 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1-16

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 28/02/2022 .

Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: Name: Samantha Selkirk Relevant professional MAAT qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 56 Browning Close Royston Herts, SG8 7EY

Date: 14/12/2022

Oct 2018

1

IER

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of N/A any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

2

IER