## **CHAIRPERSON REPORT** ## **Ladybirds AGM, Held on Zoom 20/07/22** ## **Trustee Report for the period September 2020 -August 2021** This has been one of the most challenging years in Ladybirds history for many reasons. Firstly: ## **Covid** Ladybirds re-opened for all children in September 2020 following the first lockdown due to the covid pandemic. Staff and children had to adapt to new safety procedures and ways of working, such as ‘bubbles’, in order to keep everyone as safe as possible. The staff did a tremendous job of helping the children to settle back into Ladybirds and to provide as normal an experience as possible. The pandemic continued to cause disruption throughout this academic year with two further lockdowns in November 2020 and in January 2021. Ladybirds, along with all Early Years providers who are in receipt of government funding, had to remain open for ALL children, through these subsequent lockdowns which I know was stressful and frightening at times. The Ladybirds team did an amazing job and I would like to thank them all for their dedication and commitment to our pre-school in such unprecedented circumstances. The covid vaccination programme began in early 2021 and the pandemic began to recede as the year progressed. The safety protocols and various restrictions at Ladybirds remained in place however, as we tried do everything to minimise infections amongst our small staff team and remain open. It is all credit to Becky and the team that, although staff members were affected by covid and had to isolate, that Ladybirds managed to remain open at all times. ## 2) **Flooding/Classroom** Ladybirds was still operating from the smaller classroom this year. Work was still ongoing to manage the effects of the flooding of our usual classroom in October 2019 and to prevent it occurring again. Once again, staff did a great job to adapt to the smaller room and to provide the usual, excellent Ladybirds experience. ## **3) Ofsted** Ladybirds was inspected in June 2021. As usual, there is almost no notice of the Inspection and it is an extremely stressful experience for the staff. I am delighted to say that Ladybirds received a ‘Good’ outcome and some lovely feedback about how welcoming the setting is, how well the children learn and interact and how well run it is! A very big, well done to Becky and all the staff!! ## **Fundraising/Finance** The usual Christmas fundraising did not take place this year due to the covid restrictions but we were able to hold a sponsored walk in July which raised nearly £1500 which is a fabulous amount! Thank-you to all staff and parents. As ever, finances remain a concern for the trustees. Ladybirds operates on a notfor-profit basis and the government funding per child is simply not enough to cover wages and bills. We have no choice but to raise charges and voluntary contributions at various times in response to our outgoings. This will unfortunately continue to be the case in the coming ## **’ – Treasurer s Report for year September 2020 August 2021** Sarah Fryatt, who we pay to do the administration of the finances is not part of the Trustees. I therefore act as Treasurer. I manage the petty cash, funding from DCC, invoicing to parents and organise the staff hours for wages. We pay a company called Libra Business Essentials to finalise the wages, sort out the pension scheme money and produce the wage slips. All the accounts for the year September 2020 – August 2021 have been verified and are correct. ## **For this year :** Income - 97,815.07 Expenditure - 83, 175.64 This left a profit of 14,639.43 This profit however, is not the true end of year due to a range of other factors - Since October 2019, when our room was flooded the Governors cancelled the rent, a saving of approx. £5,000. - We didn’t make a big order of resources as we we were unable to store it in the temporary classroom, a saving £2,000 - We need a roll over of at least one month’s cost of approx. £8,000. These factors in total are in total - £15,000 We need to start topping up our reserves. As a Charity we need to have approx. 3 months reserved in a separate account should Ladybirds not be viable in the future. This should be £24,000. This money would contribute to redundancies (although, this amount would not be enough due to cover the long service of some of our staff members). So, although it looks like we have a considerable amount at the end of the year, it is in fact, not really enough to ensure we have got all emergencies covered in case of the non-viability of the setting, (over 4,000 settings this year have had to close due to the fact that they are unable to cover costs). In the future, we need to ensure money is transferred to get the reserves up to the amount required. The majority of the income comes from Derbyshire County Council which is £78, 388.21. Staff wages, Pensions, Employer National Insurance and costs of wages (to be completed by outside sources) amount to 73,208.14. So, although funding pays the wages, we only have £5,000 left to pay for bills such as - Insurance - £1,069.12 - - Cleaning - £902.25 - - Phone - £236.85 - - Photocopying - £1,738.71 - Basic daily activity resources - 1,069.12 ## **Total - £5,016.05** This year we reduced paper costs by the use of email and Facebook messaging. This has also reduced the amount of post we send but we still need to send some things through the post, this year at a cost of £87.82. We try to deliver packs by hand to save money! We also need to pay for the milk and snacks too. During the year we had to start charging more for Consumables, this was a really hard decision. However, parents were very understanding and the majority are able to pay. As you have heard, without the additional charges, we wouldn’t be able to provide for the extra enhanced resources for adult led activities or maintain the garden. I will send out the profit and loss and balance sheets with the minutes of the meeting. ## **Manager’s Report – AGM – 20/07/2022** ## **– For year September 2020 August 2021** I will go through my report as a diary of the half term’s throughout the year as so much happened! ## **August 2021** - Throughout the whole of the summer holidays, we were receiving updates with regards to COVID 19. We hadn’t had all children in setting since March 2020. So, it was left to settings to update their risk assessments as all children were going to be able to come in from September. Each day new guidance’s were received from the government, DFE and DCC. So not much of a break for us. ## **Autumn 1** - INSET day, all staff came together, this was the first time since the March 2020 Lockdown. It was good to be together, but things would be very different in setting. All staff would wear visors and, in some instances, face masks. Staff had to socially distance from each other. No visitors were allowed in session and we had to stick to our bubbles. All children returned. Everyone soon got into a routine and children coped really well with the changes, including walking into the room on their own. We actually found this worked well, so to this day, children come in on their own. Cleaning regimes continued and again, we are still doing the routine of steaming and disinfecting. - Emma, Gemma and Jordan were given permanent contracts. - We were still in the temporary classroom. Governors cancelled the rent from November 2019 until we were actually in the new room. We still had to go in early on some days when it had rained to take water out of the classroom, so many early mornings and late nights were done. On some occasions, we have had to mop out during sessions. The caretaker had to go in at the weekends if we had heavy rainfall to mop out. After each flood we had to then disinfect the floor. ## **Autumn 2** - Starting from November, the COVID situation was getting more serious throughout the country and more and more children were now getting it. So, we continued to follow the guidance’s of cleaning, hand washing regimes etc. - We decided to have a nativity, but would record this in the temporary classroom. Not ideal, but it went well. - Michelle announced that she was having a baby, so some exciting news in what was quite a stressful term. - Christmas with no more than 2 bubbles was cancelled due to the rises in COVID cases. So, all of the holiday, more guidance’s were being sent and had to be reviewed and risk assessments updated. ## **Spring 1** - We had an INSET day on the first day back after Christmas. That evening, there was a public announcement to inform the country that we were going into yet another Lockdown. Schools would only be open to Key Workers, however Early years settings would be open to all. At first, I thought I had heard this wrong, but no, Boris wanted us to be open so people could go back out to work, we were child care! We were all extremely upset by how the early years settings were being treated and the lack of respect for our health. There was also lack of clarity in the reasoning behind this. All staff were worried about their health and the health of their families, some being vulnerable. However, we put yete another risk assessment together and tried to reassure staff and parents that we were doing everything possible to keep everyone safe. Unfortunately, under 5’s can’t socially distance as what was expected, so we had to take the hard decision that Michelle would need to stay at home to protect the health of her and her baby. - So, we had one evening to inform parents and staff what would be happening, update risk assessments and send out to everyone– another stressful time! - Most parents decided to send their child into Ladybirds. We had 35 children in. Some parents decided to keep them at home. However, we were then told by the government that if children didn’t attend, we would have to set up remote learning in order to receive each child’s funding. If we didn’t have funding, Ladybirds would not be viable to keep going until September. So, Michelle and Becky worked together to plan. Michelle quickly learnt how to use zoom and screen sharing. She met arpund 10 children on zoom twice a week and then zoomed in for 2 circle times a week to see children in the setting. This worked really well. Michelle was an absolute star to make sure this happened. I made sure that the plans and activities were printed off and sent to the children’s homes so they could be involved. - Yet again, it was a very busy and stressful half term. ## **Spring 2** - After half term, most children returned. - Government told schools and settings that inspections would resume in the summer term. - We were informed that the EYFS was changing as of September 2022, so additional training was required. - We had our parent’s chats, the first ones since 2020. - DCC agreed that the work to the flooded classroom would go ahead in the summer holidays. ## **Summer 1** - Everyone continued to try to get back to some normality for the children - Staff completed Ofsted training to know what to expect as we knew were would be one of the first settings to be inspected. ## **Summer 2** - We were all overjoyed by the news that Michelle had a baby boy called Harry. One child was extremely upset as he thought he would be called Jesus. - The telephone call for inspection came in on Monday 28th June. All staff rallied round; we had an emergency staff meeting that evening so we could all focus on what we needed to do. We would sock it to her! The inspection day was very stressful. The inspector didn’t really give us the feeling that we were doing ok, rather that she was picking fault with things. However, the early years department told us that we should be in charge of the inspection to show case our setting. So that it what we did! We had amazing support from the parents, grandparents and carers. The staff were brilliant and although we were stressed, we were able to show the inspector what we offered the children and how we supported both them and the families we care for. At feedback the inspector was extremely complimentary and we received a jolly big GOOD. - On the last day of term some staff stayed until quite late to clear the whole of the flooded classroom so the work could be started the Monday after. All the furniture etc was piled into the temporary classroom. During the first week of the holiday, I kept popping in to do work, but nothing was started until the 2[nd] week of the holidays, so I had an inkling that the work would not be completed in time for the September return. Alas, my instincts were correct and on the day before the INSET I was informed that it would be finished on the Sunday before we return. At the time, we had no plaster on the wall or any flooring! So, all the staff came back in September and had to move the furniture back into the room (as the floor and plaster was finished, but no painting was completed). By the 2[nd] week of the term, we finally moved back into our new room….. Throughout the year, the staff and I completed training ranging from Supporting Early Years Language, Special Needs and Yoga in Early Years to name a few. In November, First Aid training was completed by all the staff and was done by 6 hours face to face (with masks on!) and 6 hours online. Staff continued to meet each half via zoom to discuss policies and development plans working on PSED and outdoor learning. Peer on Peer and Supervisions continued and I attended Leaders and Managers briefings and Network meeting each after term too. ## **Looking to the future September 2021 – August 2022** - Continue to provide the high-quality early years education for all our children - To continue to update and renovate the outdoor learning spaces, including the garden - To keep safe and avoid COVID! So, as always, I would like to thank all the staff and Trustee’s for their continued support. I am so grateful to have an amazing team of ladies who came into setting, making the Ladybirds children a priority, sometimes above their own children. Ladybirds is certainly a very place special to us as a team. It was another exhausting year, but as always, we all held hands and stuck together and we got through it. Thank you. ## **PROFIT & LOSS FOR ST OSWALD’S LADYBIRDS PRE-SCHOOL FROM SEPTEMBER 2020– AUGUST 2021 CHARITY NUMBER 1163362** ## **INCOME:** DCC FUNDING 78388.21 FEES PAID BY BACS 17480.90 FEES PAID BY CASH 56.00 CONSUMABLE FEES 296.00 SWEATSHIRTS/T-SHIRTS 91.00 FUNDRAISING 396.47 MILK REFUND 707.22 MISC 361.56 Petty Cash adjustment starting bal for Sep 2021 36.52 (balance started at 37.70 and ended 1.18) Petty Cah adj 1.19 **TOTAL INCOME 97815.07** ## **TOTAL INCOME** ## **EXPENSES:** GROSS WAGES 69876.79 EMPLOYER NI 1194.36 PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS 1358.68 WAGE COST 778.31 STATIONERY 348.24 STAMPS 87.82 PLAYGROUP ACTIVITIES 1036.96 SNACKS 761.88 SWEATSHIRTS 465.20 CLEANING MATERIALS 902.25 PHONE 236.85 MILK 716.71 FUNDRAISING PURCHASES 50.68 FUNDRAISING COSTS 56.95 INSURANCE 1069.12 PHOTOCOPIER LEASE 763.20 PHOTOCOPING 975.51 MISC 1888.78 EYY 607.35 RENT 0 **TOTAL EXPENSES** **83175.64** Mrs Susan FlaDders AAT NVQ level 4 Book-keeping 70 Windsor Rd Pitstone Bucks LU7 9FA St Oswalds ladybfirds Pre school Mayfield Rd Ashbourne Derbyshire 26th Febnwy 2022 I have examined the books and working papers for St Oswalds ladybirds Pre- school for the year ending 31sr August 2021. 5 find the accounts to be a true and accurate record of the playgroups activities. Mrs Susan Flanders