2021-08-31-accounts - Freshford Pre-School

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Trustees' Annual Re ort for the eriod p p

	Period start date	Period start date			Period end date	Period end date
	1	Sept	2020		31	Aug	2021
From				To

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) Charity's principal address	Freshford Preschool	Freshford Preschool


	1153406
	Freshford Memorial Hall
	Freshford Lane
	Freshford, Bath
	Postcode	BA2 7UR

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
	Alison Sellers	Chair
	Fiona Meaking	Treasurer
	Kate Walters	Secretary
	Sarah Perry	DeputyChair
	Gavin Bate	Volunteer Coordinator
	LucySturges	Committee Member
	Claire Thomas	Committee Member
	Lisa Rodd	Committee Memeber
	Charlotte Taylor	Committee Member
	Annabel Batchelor-Wylam	Committee Member

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information) Debbie Giles – Preschool Manager from 01/03/2014 Jen Harper – Preschool Business Manager from 01/01/2017

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Initial Constitution for Freshford Preschool Charity 1129972 adopted Type of governing document 16[th] September 2008. Constitution revised and adopted on 13[th] May (eg. trust deed, constitution) 2009, with subsequent revisions on 21[st] April 2010, 1[st] November 2010, 21[st] September 2011, and 16[th] July 2013. Freshford Preschool Charitable Incorporated Organisation constituted 16[th] July 2013 and registered with the Charity Commission as Charity 1153406 on 14[th] August 2013. All activities of Charity number 1129972 transferred to CIO 1153406 by 27[th] March 2014, on which date Charity 1129972 was dissolved. Charitable Incorporated Organisation How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) The Officers and Committee members shall be elected for an initial term Trustee selection methods of two years at the Annual General Meeting. After two years, retiring (eg. appointed by, elected by) Officers and Committee members are eligible for re-election for up to 5 terms in total. In the event of the death or resignation of an elected Committee member, the vacancy shall be filled until the next Annual General Meeting by a Member appointed by the Committee. If the Committee feels that extra committee members are needed to provide additional expertise or to fulfil a new committee role, extra committee members may be appointed between AGMs. To encourage parental involvement, at least two thirds of the charity trustees shall normally at the time of election be family members. ln the event that this figure cannot be achieved however, the CIO may elect affiliate members to make up the balance of the charity trustees. Parents wishing to join the committee between AGMs may approach the Preschool Chair, Preschool Business Manager, or current committee members and offer their services.

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Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

Refer to current Freshford Preschool Policies and Procedures found at https://www.freshfordpreschool.co.uk/s/Operational-Policies-andProcedures-V29-June-2020-xbm5.pdf

The Preschool has a Child protection policy in place. DBS criminal record checks are carried out prior to commencement of employment, trusteeship or other voluntary work with the Preschool. Employee DBS checks are reviewed annually using the Update Service.

All trustees give their time as volunteers and receive no remuneration or other benefits for duties fulfilled as part of their trustee role.

relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Freshford Preschool works for the public benefit having as its objects the development and education of children and young people by: (1) promoting their care and safety;

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

(2) promoting their education and promoting parental involvement; (3) promoting their health and wellbeing;
(4) providing services to support them and their families and carers; (5) providing services to individuals holding membership of the CIO; and (6) furthering the aims of the Early Years Alliance.

In managing the Preschool, the trustees have had regards to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Freshford Preschool has now been fully operational over twelve school years. By providing a Preschool within the centre of the village of Freshford we believe we improve the quality of life of both parents and children. The children socialise and bond as a year group which eases their transition to Freshford Primary School. Parents have a convenient childcare facility close to the village school and Galleries shop. In addition, we are now attracting more children from further afield who go on to other local primary schools. Families are attracted by our ethos, our focus on outdoor learning and Forest School and our rural setting, which helps to create a very positive learning environment.

Activities at the Preschool foster the social, emotional, physical, creative, spiritual and cognitive development needs of each child. The activities also fulfil the curriculum guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage and reflect the interests and ideas of the children.

Our Preschool is entirely inclusive. We welcome all children, whatever their ability, cultural, religious or social background. We work hard to

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find out about each child's individual needs, ideally before they start, through taster sessions, home visits and completion of an 'All About Me' questionnaire. This allows us to get the training we need to accommodate everybody.

The Preschool promotes British Values through all our activities. As part of the focus on self -confidence and self -awareness, Freshford Preschool staff encourage children to know their views count, to value each other’s views, and to talk about their feelings. Staff choose opportunities to demonstrate democracy in action, for example, children sharing views with a show of hands. Staff provide activities that involve turn -taking, sharing and collaboration. Children are given opportunities to develop enquiring minds in an atmosphere where questions are valued.

Supporting and promoting the wellbeing of the child has always been central to how preschool operates as this allows each child to fully participate and gain maximum benefit from preschool attendance. Staff provide opportunities for children to develop their self -knowledge, self -esteem and increase their confidence in their own abilities. We encourage a range of experiences that allow children to explore the language of feelings and responsibility, reflect on their differences and understand we are free to have different opinions. Overall high levels of wellbeing and involvement can be seen in the children through both staff observations and the children’s day-to-day behaviour: they are confident, relaxed and settled.

Our ethos is one of inclusivity and tolerance where views, faiths, cultures and races are valued and children are engaged with the wider community. The children are encouraged to acquire a tolerance and appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. They also learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others from different families, faiths, communities, cultures and traditions, and share and discuss practices, celebrations and experiences. We encourage and explain the importance of tolerant behaviours such as sharing and respecting other’s opinions. Staff promote diverse attitudes and challenge stereotypes, for example, sharing stories that reflect and value the diversity of children’s experiences and providing resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping. We have an annual topic focus on different countries and cultures, where we encourage parents to share knowledge, experience and artefacts of other countries where they have lived and travelled.

Preschool continues to provide parents with access to their child's online learning journal on Tapestry. Parents can log on securely and view their children's observations and photographs and upload their own observations of WOW moments recorded at home. They also receive weekly email digests of observations for their child, and their child’s complete learning journal as a downloadable PDF when their child leaves the setting.

We accept the Early Years Entitlement Grant from Bath and North East Somerset Council, (including the extended ‘30 hours’ grant for eligible families) to provide up to 22 hours of free childcare per week for eligible 3 and 4 -year olds. This funding can be used for all sessions without restriction.

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Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

Committee members, parent and community volunteers give a lot of time, energy and expertise over the preschool year and this makes a significant contribution to the successful operation of the Preschool, along with staff commitment outside of their paid hours.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Pre-pandemic, parent volunteers helped at every Preschool session, which provided a valuable opportunity for them to see their child's Preschool life and share their own skills with the Preschool. Other parent helpers have assisted in work party activities, such as maintaining the Preschool garden, and at fundraising community events.

COVID-19 restrictions have prevented parent volunteers returning to the preschool setting. However, in the summer term we were able to welcome them back to help during our forest school sessions. They have also continued to provide support for the preschool through virtual fundraising events and help in the maintenance of the garden.

The Preschool provides a regular source of income to the Memorial Hall, which helps to ensure its own financial security and ongoing maintenance. This was incredibly important this year as most hall users were unable to continue using the hall during the lockdowns.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and erformance p During 2020/2021, Freshford Preschool operated successfully for its Summary of the main twelfth school year. The Preschool was once again fortunate to have a achievements of the charity dedicated staff team, and a professional team of trustees. The during the year Preschool is a highly valued part of the local community with an excellent reputation both in the village and further afield. We had some staff changes this year. Two staff worked slightly reduced hours from September reflecting initially low numbers of children registered. These hours were increased again from January. Kerry Sherlock’s promotion to the Deputy Manager role was made permanent in December. We created a new Assistant post to provide 4 hours a week (plus cover as needed) to flexibly support the existing team. We hired Becky Clay, who was looking for experience of Early Years work, for this role. She finished in the role in July 2021, and we have maintained the role, subsequently hiring Jo Carter (an NNEB qualified supply staff member) for the post as we find the flexible support it offers to be invaluable. We continue to invest in our staff and all staff members have been participating in regular training during the year, covering both statutory requirements (safeguarding, First Aid, the EYFS) and best practice learning (Makaton, wellbeing, emotion coaching). During the 2020/2021 school year, the preschool was 60% subscribed in the Autumn terms and 80% subscribed from January 2021. We continued to have two intakes, the main one in September and then a smaller additional intake in January, which helps the children to settle into preschool life. Our numbers were slightly down for the Autumn term, partly due to the larger than normal number of children who left to start school and partly due to lower demand during the pandemic with families experiencing unsettled work and finances. Numbers remained lower than usual in the Spring term as the January-March lockdown saw several families choosing not to send their children to preschool, and one or two families not taking up their child’s place. We ended the year 98% subscribed as families’ confidence returned and we were able to admit another 3 children in April. For 2021/22 we are currently 80% subscribed rising to 100% from January. Our fundraising opportunities last year continued to be limited by the pandemic. However, despite this we raised £1,632 in 2020/2021. Our new outdoor Spooky Trail raised £200 in the autumn, Christmas cards, carol singing and nativity video donations £530, our Easter Trail £200 and our Chair running the Bath Half raised £500. We also continued to raise funds through Give as You Live, raising £200. This is a great total considering our usual fundraising events for Fireworks and Christmas had to be cancelled and it shows the strong support we enjoy from families and the wider community. We used the money raised to upgrade staff IT equipment so that updating Tapestry and planning and administration was made much easier and faster. We also purchased a new storage shed for the garden. Fundraising money also enabled us to continue providing a weekly sports session, which is greatly enjoyed by all the children and fits in with our healthy ethos. We continued our music sessions led by a music teacher parent, and were able to host travelling performers Music for Miniatures again in the summer term to enjoy their live Bubble Bach

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

show.

Our Manager Debbie continues to have a good working relationship with the reception teacher at our local primary school (to where two thirds of our children usually transition). The school continue to say how well the children from Freshford Preschool are prepared for school and complimented our amazing staff team on all they do to ease the transition into formal education.

Despite the Covid Pandemic we have kept preschool open throughout the year with only one week closed (4-7 January 2021) while we responded to the very last minute announcement of another lockdown. This gave us the time to make sure we could open in a safe way in that stage of the pandemic. We provided safe care and support for our children and families, easing the transition into school. Both the committee and staff team worked hard to allow preschool to stay open and comply with all relevant safety protocols during the COVID pandemic, providing a vital resource for local families. Despite their not being allowed in the setting we maintained our close connection with our families, continuing to use Tapestry to communicate with parents and share pictures and information about what the children had been doing at preschool. We were delighted to welcome back parent volunteers to our outdoor forest school sessions in the spring. We have re-introduced in person home visits for our new starters in September 2021, but also offered online ‘visits’ if the families preferred. The Preschool committee continues to fulfil a vital role in ensuring the smooth running of the Preschool. During 2020/2021 they carried out a wide range of tasks on a voluntary basis including observing and monitoring the children's learning and development; appointing new staff; approving changes in the terms and conditions of employment for staff members; maintaining the rota of volunteer helpers; marketing the Preschool through digital and print media and organising fundraising events. In addition to this the committee was involved in decisions around how we maintained child and staff safety through the multiple lockdowns and guidance changes. Each family with a child attending the Preschool has the right for one parent or carer to vote at General Meetings of the Preschool and join the Preschool committee and trustees. During 2020/2021, the Preschool provided part-time family friendly employment for six permanent members of staff from the surrounding area. The Preschool also offered regular supply work to another four individuals.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The Preschool aims to maintain a reserve fund of £40,000 which is adequate to cover our normal operational costs for at least 6 months. This will allow us to meet staff notice and redundancy costs if ever needed and will put us in a better position to absorb any temporary fluctuations in income due to unexpected decreases in child numbers, or difficulties in bill payments. The Preschool's unrestricted reserves are currently £78,876, reflecting a surplus for 2020/2021 of £12,150. This is due mainly to very strong attendance numbers for the Spring and Summer terms, but also to reduced staffing costs in the Autumn term when we were initially undersubscribed.

The additional surplus and any additional surplus during 2021/2022 will be allocated towards:

Supporting any major repair or renovation of our premises at Freshford Memorial Hall. Freshford Memorial Hall is in relatively poor repair, with low levels of financial reserves. The trustees therefore feel it is prudent to maintain sufficient reserves to allow the Preschool to contribute to any major repair/renovation bills if needed. The heating system needs to be replaced and new building insulation is required. A plan has been put in place to reclad the building and install an air source heat pump. Preschool have committed to donating £5,000 towards this. We expected to make this donation during the 2020/21, but the works have been delayed until 2021/2022.
Garden improvements once the cladding work has been completed. The initial landscaping was completed over a decade ago and running repairs are becoming problematic.
Allowing for reduced income from families choosing not to send their children to preschool during this period of inevitable disruption.
Undertaking a major review of staff pay, to incorporate benchmarking with other settings, changes to the National Minimum Wage and improving differentiation between roles based on experience and qualifications. The trustees anticipate this will increase ongoing staffing costs but believe this will help with staff retention and will underpin a staff team who are able to deliver the best possible Early Years care and provision going forward.

Until this year we had been holding reserves in anticipation of securing alternative short-term premises such as a temporary classroom during any major building works at the Hall. A plan was drawn up by the Memorial Hall Trustees in 2017/18 to re-develop the hall and this has the potential to greatly improve the premises we rent in the long term. We have recently received assurances from the hall redevelopment committee that any work would be carried out in such a way that the preschool could continue to use the Hall, and so we no longer need to hold reserves against this eventuality.

In response to the Childcare Bill, in 2016/17 we made the decision to offer up to 22 funded hours to eligible families from September 2017.

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		Acc	ountSummarv
	2019t2020 Unrestrictedfunds	201912020 Restrictedfunds	20201202',1 Unrestrictedfunds	202012021 Restrlcted funds
	t
RECEIPTS
RegistrationFe€s	c390.00		e640.00
Early Years EntitlementGrant	t30,500.57		849,818.98
EY PupilPremium	r0.00		e0.00
Tripconlributions	E'165.50		r0.00
Parents Fees anddonations	244,517 .06		e38,163.93
GiftAid	t_1,222.12		t1,155.02
lnterest	s0.00		e0.00
FundRaising			21,970.41
Milk	tl43.87		€115.86
Refunds	r0.00		€0.00
Histoilcalrounding Grant making trusts	€0.75	c0.00	e0.00	t0.00
Uniform		1205.80		€188.60
EYITT Transfer between funds(seeNote1) Transfer between funds (see Note2)	S9,639.07 90.00	r0.00 -89,63907 e0.00	€0.00 r000	e0.00 t0.00 e0.00
Receiprsfor01/09/2019.31/08/20		-t9.43		g188.60
PAYMENTS
Events and fundraising	e1,644.05		e2,601.85
Fee Relunds	€0.00		e0.00
Consumables	s2,511.26		82,725.O0
Training	c637.87		e966.73
Staff salaries, Nl,taxandpensions	e67,851.25		e66,529.97
Advertlsing and Recruitment	t1,036.72		L441.17
HallHire	e4,621.63		c4,759.50
lnsurance&registrations	r1,050.37		s1,071.85
t\,1ilk	€153.78		8125.22
IT	r489.66		8493.44
Capiial expenditure Extemal Visits	e0.00 2453.20		€0.00 t0.00
Grant making trusts		e500.00		€0.00
Unitorm		€365.80		8311.94
EYITT		!0.00		E0.00
Paymentsfor01/0912019-31/08/20	48044S.79	t86580	14	!311.94

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF	ASSETS&LIABILITIES	ASSETS&LIABILITIES
CASHFUNDS
		2019t2020202012021
Balance bff	e6q43430 e81,6013'
EQUIPM ENT
		20191202020121
CategoryNowfor oldr€Placementcost (t)
Art andffaft		L1,262E1,292
ConstructionToys ForestSchools		L4,482 e0 91,254t1,254
Furniture &furnishings Hygiene andsafety lcT		f8,511 f8,51I f,553 C553 14,77885,464
Kitchen e405 e405 rirAre.v t1,376 t1,376 Music f,860 €860 Numeracy t580 1637 Physjcaroutdoor Play &Gardent11,318tl'1,348 Puzzles andGames L741 L741
RolePlay SensoryPlay Smallworld Stationery andOffice STEM		e1,90481,934 e165 2281 tl,695 €1,695 8752 E752 €0 e4,865
Woodworking		L4A4 E484
World aboutus
Total replacementcorl(ll	__31_213__LA-,s!_
CURRENT LIABILITIES
		201912020202012021
Tax..due, notyetpaid Pension-due, notyetpaid Suppliers-due, noiyetpaid		1647.42t1,147.76 f0.00 e320.69 e000 e0.00
		L647.42t1.468.45

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF FRESHFORD PRE-SCHOOL (CHARITY NUMBER (1153406)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Freshford Pre-School (the Charity) for the year ended 31[st] August 2021.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the 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 examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below) in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

The accounts to 31[st] August 2021 have been prepared on a Receipts & Payments basis; for all earlier years the accounts were prepared on an accruals basis. The result for the current year is a surplus of £12,166.79. If the prior year had been prepared on the same basis, then the surplus would have been £8,089.73 (rather than the reported deficit of £1,549.34 under the accruals basis). This change in accounting policy has caused a one-off adjustment of £9,639.07 and going forward the results should be directly comparable. This is fully explained in the notes to the accounts.

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 in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: Philip Cox

Name: Philip Cox

Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): ICAEW

Date: 17[th] October 2021