2022/2023 Dickory Dock Nursery Legal Information Trustees Caroline Hunt Richard Gill Robert Hunt Lyndsey Lomas Jenna Dixon
Company Secretary Karly Jennings
Registered Charity number 1100027
Company Ltd by Guarantee number 04678193
Principal address St Thomas Moore Church 58 Margetson Crescent Parson Cross Sheffield S5 9NB
Bank Lloyds TSB Firth Park Road Branch Sheffield S6 4PB
Independent examiner White Rose Accounting for Charities The Ghyll Threapland Aspatria CA7 2EL Chair & Treasurer
Dickory Dock Nursery Trustee report
The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors' report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Entities.
Structure, governance and management
Governing Document
The Charitable Company is governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association incorporated 25 February 2003 and was entered on the Register of Charities effective from 2 July 2003. The company has no share capital. The guarantee of each member is limited to £1. Appointment of trustees
Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association the trustees must retire and be reappointed at each annual general meeting of the company. The trustees are authorised to appoint new members to fill vacancies arising through retirement or death of an existing member.
The trustees who served during the year are listed on page 2 on the report. Trustee Induction and Training
New trustees are encouraged to attend short training sessions to familiarise themselves with the charity and the context within which it operates. These cover:
The obligation of management committee members.
The main documents which set out the operational framework for the charity including the Memorandum and Articles.
Resourcing and the current financial position as set out in the latest published financial statements. Future plans and objectives.
Risk management
The trustees actively review the major risks which the charity faces on a regular basis and believe that maintaining reserves at current levels, combined with an annual review of the controls over key financial
systems, will provide sufficient resources in the event of adverse conditions. The trustees have also examined other operational and business risks faced by the charity and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.
Organisational Structure
The Trustees meet at regular intervals during the year and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity.
A scheme of delegation is in place and day to day responsibility for the provision of the services rests with the manager.
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Dickory Dock Nursery Trustee report continued Objective and Activities
The objects of the charity are to enhance the development and education of children primarily under
statutory school age by encouraging parents to understand and provide for the needs of their children through community groups and by;
Offering appropriate play facilities and training courses, together with the right of parents to take responsibility for and to become involved in the activities of such groups, ensuring that such groups offer opportunities for all children, regardless of race, culture religion or means. Encouraging the study of the needs of such children and their families and promoting public interest in and recognition of such needs in the local areas.
Instigating and adhering to and furthering the aim of the Pre-School Learning Alliance.
Developments, activities and achievements
A much more challenging year to sustain finances as we are still recovering from the loss from the pandemic, with the increase of our rates of pay due to the cost of living minimum.
Many more parents were accessing the extended 30 hours FEL this helped to fill places within rooms, but it meant that the income from the hours used was compromised by the reduced rate of FEL. However, the FEL and EYPP rates have increased slightly.
With the numbers being high we have needed to employ staff to care for the children, but we have also lost staff again due to the job demands and personal situations. We did recruit staff which has been difficult again to get qualified experienced partitioners, we made the choice to employee 2 apprentices as now all the previous staff were fully qualified and felt they could give some time and share their skills for these apprentices to embrace their newfound career. Again, this loss of staff and employing new which took a long time to get the right people, impacted on the settings demands and staff wellbeing as staff have been covering extra hours and also management have been needed to be within the rooms and ratios covering the absence within the nursery rooms. This then has a knock on affect with the work load for management which meant we were faced with higher demands for time management and job prioritising and extended hours. Staff absences has also been a problem again within the setting, which causes cover issues and extra costs such as SSP.
We have also had 3 staff within the year been on Maternity leave. This has meant we needed maternity cover for various roles.
The numbers are good within all rooms, in our baby room we started low but this has increased dramatically over the past coming months, a lot of parents are now returning to work or children are having short sessions in nursery to socialise. We are looking to increase our prices from the
end of April 23 increased our hourly rate to £7.00 per hour. But for this year we have stuck at £6.50 PH.
We have made the decision that all parents from September 23 will be asked to do core session rather than these 2 or 3 hrs sessions as it is causing some issues when pre school are outside and for safety reasons we believe this is the right decision.
We have also stuck to our snack rate of 80p per day but again from April 23 we are going to increase to £1 to cover the cost of consumables, nappies wipes and snacks provided by nursery. This will help cover the cost a little more but my need to be reviewed if the cost of food etc continues to rise.
Our website is still generating a high number of parents to our waiting lists and new occupancy levels for September. Our numbers for September 2023 are looking really good, we intend to do a drive on baby places a with publicity sharing on social media platforms to increase the numbers expected in there. As explained above the numbers are expected to lower slightly in our babies and 2years room due to transition children.
The expenditure was mainly higher due to staffing costs, cover replacement maternity staff and staff absences than last year.
Our employment of staffing level is now 18 members of staff within the setting, which continues to help with our wages bill. However we do have 2 apprentices on the lower rate of pay, and have employed in preparation for a newest member of staff who is now pregnant and will be leaving in December. Also Emily Fuller is due to return in July 23’ from maternity leave, but has been visiting the setting to keep InTouch.
We have also has back payments of our utility bills to the Church. We had a gap of GAS, ELECTRIC AND WATER BILLS. This had a 18 months back date so this used a huge amount of our reserves and a back up plan.
Within the setting we also have a high number of children who have Special educational needs, This has meant that we have been able to claim DAF funding and the early years inclusion funding. 2 of our children was successful with EHCPs (education health care plans) which again entailed some funding. This money in has been great to give support in to our children and really was shown within our reputations, thriving children and professional views.
Our greatest achievement this year would be our OFSTED grade which we achieved an Outstanding Grade, a great achievement for the setting and all down to the hard-working empathic staff who show cased their great skills and dedication to the children and the setting. The children have been challenging this year with a high intake on SEND children again this has impacted the setting, with demands to meet individual needs at times pushed ratios to require one to one support we have reached out for additional funding to catered for these demands. We are also in the need of updating the setting with new equipment, resources and decorating as everything is showing its age and wear and tear this year has been at a high. We are completing funding bids and additional support to help support us for this.
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Dickory Dock Nursery Trustee report continued
Many of our delivery methods for the setting had to change for the government guidance, we kept some methods in place such as the staggered starts the arrivals and departures, settling in sessions and parents visiting out of setting hours and out of session times at an appointment system, this also helps to safeguard the children and setting as we have details of all visitors.
As our management team continue to review, evaluate, and strive to enforce positive relationships with parents and strong communication methods. In September 23’ we will also reinstate the home visits as we feel these are very beneficial to the setting, alongside our stay and play sessions which again is why we support the decorating and getting the setting parent view ready for this September intake.
We aim to continue to look for funding opportunity for the setting, last year we had positive returns, this year many funding bids are being declined due to the reserves showing in our account, even when explained this is for reserves for the setting. Also less people are giving as there too are finding a hit with the current financial crisis. We are continuing the process of these funding opportunities as we require new toilet’s and Astro turf in the plays areas, new equipment due to demanded, and resources to continue to make us strive for the outstanding setting we are. We are however looking to develop a rainbow room, to help have an positive impact for our SEND children a calming sensory room which allows space for
them to self-regulate, have time in with staff, all children also use this room for them to have the same opportunities.
Alongside our individual professional development for all staff who continue to bring exciting new plans for the setting. Rebecca Peacock is completing her SENDco level 3 training and many other staff have expressed their interest in team leading courses. Our apprentice Sharnie is completing her level 3 in Early Years.
We value our long-standing hard-working staff so much and appreciate all their help and commitment they have shown the setting. We are looking at incentives to show this back to the staff with a day in lieu or something else we feel as a business we can offer and support. Staffs working hours have been revised for the Autumn term, and we are still planning on our end time for sessions being 16:30, due to demand. This is reviewed constantly to ensure we are meeting demands.
Karly Jennings Company Secretary