Milford Pre-school
Registered Charity Number 1112584
ANNUAL TRUSTEES REPORT 1[ST] SEPTEMBER 2019 – 31[ST] AUGUST 2020
Administrative Information
Name: Milford Pre-school
Charity registration number: 1112584
Company registration number: 5522607
Address: Chevin Road, Milford, Derbyshire, DE56 0QH
Directors: Diane Gayle and Cynthia Troche
Trustees: Chair: C Kinsella, Secretary: S Dales, Treasurer: R Elkhatib, A Isherwood, Laura Winson, Carly Carrieri, Di Gayle, Cynthia Troche, N Rhodes, A Davies
Structure
Being a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital our governing document is the Memorandum of Association.
New trustees are sought from members within the pre-school community and also the wider local community to ensure the appropriate mix of skills to run the setting with consideration for both the business aspect (e.g. financial, health and safety expertise) and the achievement of the educational objectives of the company (e.g. experience of education, working with children). People are asked to express their interest in becoming elected at least two weeks before the AGM at which members vote on their election.
Objectives and Activities
The objects of the pre-school 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, education and care 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 whatever their race, culture, religion, means or ability;
Encouraging the study of the needs of such children and their families and promoting public interest in and recognition of such needs;
Instigating and adhering to and furthering the aims and objectives of the Pre-school Learning Alliance.
The charity provides care for 2-5 year olds throughout the day from 09:00hrs to 15:00hrs from Monday to Thursday and 09:00hrs to 12:00hrs on Friday. The day is divided into two sessions – morning and afternoon with a lunch club session bridging the gap between the two. Children may attend morning, afternoon or all day sessions. Any child attending either a morning or afternoon session may stay for lunch either before or after their session. Most of the 3-5 year olds attending the morning sessions are in receipt of government funding (15 hours of free childcare per week and 30 hours funding and occasionally we have a children attending who are in receipt of 2 year old government funding.) We have added a breakfast club in this year operating from 8am-9pm (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s) due to a demand from parents needing morning wrap around care.
Milford is the only pre-school in the village of Milford, which also has a primary school. We are also the only group providing activities and a public meeting point for pre-school age children and their parents. If the pre-school did not exist parents would have to travel to the nearby towns of Belper and Duffield to access similar provision. We also act as a feeder to boost the Primary School Number’s.
The main aim of the charity is to ensure the children in our care develop in line with age related expectations in a stimulating, caring environment where they feel safe and comfortable exploring and investigating whilst forging relationships with each other. To do this we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum and provide a wide range of stimulating activities and resources which challenge each child to ensure they develop and progress. The progress and development of each individual child is monitored and mapped against EYFS outcomes and areas for further development identified and next steps planned to ensure they are ‘school ready’ by the time they leave our setting and move on to school.
Parents and carers are actively encouraged to participate in their child’s learning and pre-school experience. We continue to use Tapestry to our setting -This is an online system which records children’s learning. Each child has a learning journey profile. Photos and observations of what the child has been doing at pre-school are posted onto this by staff. It can be accessed through any computer, laptop, Apple or android device enabling parents to log on to their child’s ‘learning journey’ and view what their child has been doing each day/week. Parents are also invited, and encouraged, to add photos and comments too making them feel more involved in their child’s learning and enabling staff to gain a greater insight into the children. We invite parents to at our ‘stay and play’ sessions so they are able to see the types of activities we offer and understand how their children progress. They are also able to observe them in alternative environment to their home and to experience how they play and interact with other children. We also encourage parents and carer’s who have a particular skill, for example playing an instrument or cooking, to share this with our children in setting and widen their learning experience.
In order to build effective relationships with our parents/carer’s to ensure both they and their children get the most out of their pre-school experience we arrange events such as open lunches where families can attend and parent consultation sessions where parents/carer’s are able to discuss their child’s progress and next steps with their child’s Key Person. We also involve parents in fundraising events generating a sense of community within the pre-school setting.
The approach to achieving these objectives is multifaceted and there are four major areas of expenditure involved in achieving them:
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The recruitment and retention of well qualified, highly motivated and committed staff members.
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Staff training to ensure they are knowledgeable in all areas of their work and able to provide high quality care and education. Staff regularly undertake training in delivering the curriculum; safeguarding; health and safety; Special Education Needs provision.
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The provision of a safe environment. The need to maintain the building to ensure it is safe and fit for purpose and to ensure the safety of both children and staff: regular fire and electricity checks; regular risk assessments and health and safety checks are undertaken.
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The purchase of new resources to ensure the children has access, to a wide range of stimulating activities to engage them. An area for development is identified by the trustees annually for larger investment in conjunction with spending on everyday resources (crayons, paint, paper etc.) and consumables which are necessary for the day to day running of the setting (snack foods, paper towels, soap etc.).
Achievements and Performance
In line with the setting’s aims and objectives the setting has made the following achievements during the academic year 2019- 2020.
- Milford Pre-school has kept a very stable staff base with excellent staff retention
As a team everyone has worked well and all members and parents have praise the commitment, passion and strength that the staff. Especially through the Covid-19 pandemic
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Staff have attended training and increased their knowledge in: Senco Training, safeguarding, Cultural Capital, Behavior and attitudes, Equal opportunities in regards to diversity and British values, and First Aid . All of which is fed back to pre-school to be discussed.
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A safe environment has been maintained. In addition to general health and safety audits logs for risk assessments, accidents and incidents are kept and these show no major occurrences have taken place during the academic year and staff and children alike have been kept safe and well. We have appointed a new Health and Safety representative.
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Apart from the day to day running costs of the setting we have spend very little this year due to our profit loss from last year’s expenditure (18/19) keeping the resources up to date to a minim. Spending on resources what we have raised through fundraising this year. This included the purchase of a interactive whiteboard table. As a result we managed to reclaim the loss from the previous year and gain approx £5400 in profit which will be available to spend in (academic year 20/21)
(The loss from the previous year was due to the credit with HMRC coming to an end and new expenditure which was not budgeted for that year in the accounts.)
The trustees have decided that the main focus of funding/spending for the next academic year should be to raise money for damp proofing within the setting this may take a couple of years to raise funds. It is a Problem mainly due to the setting being based in the undercroft of an old heritage building which was used as part of the old cotton mill. The damp problem is under control but will need addressing in the near future but it is though that it will
be expensive. Other focuses of Expenditure next year will be to upgrade staff tablets which they use every day to ensure children developmental needs are assessed and tracked.
Milford Pre-school was last inspected by Ofsted in July 2015 and received a grading of ‘good’. We continue to grade our selves ‘good through our Self development plan.
Financial Review
Reserve Policy – The charity’s business is dependent upon the number of children being born which is beyond the control of the company. As the birth rate fluctuates from year to year business can be unpredictable. Business can also be affected by government policy. Policy on entry to school was changed a several years ago and Derbyshire adopted a one point entry policy to school. This means that all children now start school in September as opposed to previously when the younger children in the cohort would stay at pre-school until January of the following year. As a consequence the number of children attending the setting between September and January has fallen. This has developed into a trend which is predicted to continue. In order to ensure the company runs smoothly during quieter periods and does not fall into debt the trustees agreed to hold a reserve account containing £10,000. At present the company accounts are in credit and none of the reserves have been used. The level of reserve will be discussed annually by the committee and adjusted accordingly should the committee decide this to be appropriate.
There are 3 strands of income available to the setting:
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Government funding. Each 3-5 year old receives fifteen hours of free childcare per week. The money is paid to the setting through the Local Authority. This funding forms the majority of the company’s income. Occasionally we have a two year old child who receives fifteen hours of free childcare per week.
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Fees. Children not in receipt of government funding are charged a fee for attendance at sessions. Parents also make additional voluntary contributions for administration. Fees have been increased so they match the funding received by the government, this has been approved by the committee to support the increase in minimum wage and the government requirement of three member of staff need to be on a pension scheme.
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Fundraising. Over this academic year fundraising events have been limited due to Covid but we did manage to run a Christmas nativity and raffle and the Christmas photos.
The business accounts are currently in credit with a profit margin of £5,400 to be used in the financial year 2020/21.
Signed on behalf of the committee:
Name: C Troche
Role: Director/committee Member
Signature: C Troche
Date: May 2021
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