**St Oswald’s Ladybirds Pre-School** ## **AGM minutes Wednesday 24[th] April @ 7.30pm** 1. **Present** : Mary Hutchinson (chair), Emma Sczesniok, Michelle Lemon, Jess Bowring, Jo Ryle, Gemma Eades, Tracey Clarke-Kellow, Louise Redfern, Ruth Smith, Emma Smail, Luke Williams, Becky Dutton, Katie Austin, Sarah Grindey 2. **Apologies:** K Kidawa, Catherine Morely, Sheryl Lucas, Amy Wilton, Kirstie Bond, Alice Kempl, Laura Prince, Emma Coullie 3. **Welcome and Introductions** – Mary welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained what would happen. ## **4. Chairperson’s report – Mary Hutchinson** **Chairperson Report – AGM for the period September 2022 – August 2023** Another busy year at Ladybirds. The Trustees continued to meet each half term with set agenda planned out throughout the year, including policies and our legal requirements to be a charitable setting. ## **Trustees** Louise Redfern came onto the committee and Ruth and I decided to stay on. Yet again it took a few months to get all the DBS checks and Ofsted checks completed. During the year the Trustees regularly reviewed the policies and met each half term to discuss matters concerning the running of Ladybirds to ensure we continue to be a viable setting within very tight financial pressures with reduce funding and more staff qualifying for the auto enrolment of pension and NI contributions ## **Financially** There was a minimum wage increase in April 2023 to £10.42 – a 92p increase. Yet again the funding didn’t go up the same amount as required for this increase. So, we had to decided how we could close the gap of funding rates and how much it actually costs to provide a place. So, consumables to continue to be charged, with a voluntary contribution, but we were concerned that the finances were getting tighter as the funding was not going up as much as the minimum wage per hour. Consumable rates were kept at £6.00 per day, hourly rate £6.50. Our administrator left after 10 years. Jo Ryle took on this role, but had to resign as Chairperson. I was appointed for this role. Due to finances, we were unable to offer any more permanent hours for staff members, just temporary hours as and when needed. ## **Fundraising** Nativity DVD raised some money as well as the sponsored walk which was very well supported by many members of the families. ## **Staffing** Clare resigned and finished in July 2023 after 10 years. Mary thanked the staff and Trustees for all their support over the year. Mary commended the staff for all their hard work, making Ladybirds an outstanding setting who go above and beyond to support the children. Once a Ladybirds, Always a Ladybird. ## **5. Treasurer’s Report – Jo Ryle** ## **Financial Statement for the period 1[st] September 2022 – 31[st] August 2023** Financial Administrator: Joanne Ryle Accounts audited and certified: Libra Business Essentials on 4[th] January 2024 This period for Ladybirds has been finely balanced in financial terms. The total income for year was 98, 691.91 of which 79, 628.91 was the early years funding from Derbyshire Dales District Council. The next largest source of income was fees paid by parents at 15, 825.16. A total of 947.60 was raised through fundraising efforts such as the sponsored walk and Christmas dvd’s. The total expenditure for the year was 94,141.53 and the largest single cost was wages at 74,840.84 followed by rent for our room at 6000.00. It can be seen therefore that we managed to balance income and expenditure over this period with a slim gain of 4550.38. As per our aims as a not-for-profit organisation, this money has been retained and will be put back into Ladybirds in the coming months. Looking ahead, it is a necessity that Ladybirds builds up extra financial reserves. The coming year is set to be financially testing with the increase in the national minimum wage, the extension of the early years funding and the resulting loss of flexibility this will bring with regards to fees. ## 6. Manager’s Report – Becky Dutton **Managers Report for period September 20212 – August 2023** ## **Improvement Planning** Our garden was again our priority. Jess and I took on the role of maintaining the garden now that school had given us the chance to maintain it and add to it. Throughout the year we updated areas, including making a raised bed to add in more annual plants. Jess worked hard on digging over part of the garden and made our own vegetable patch. We planted potatoes and beans, both of which grew well. The staff spent a whole day at the weekend in April, along with our partners, dads and brothers to barrow 2 tons of top soil into the digging area at the top of the garden and put more soil into the borders. We also had 2 tons of bark delivered which also needed barrowing in. It was hard work as the garden is on such a slope, but by the end of the day we all felt that a good work out was had by all! We changed a fenced area into a quiet area and put in a sand pit. The garden is loved by both the children and staff and it has such a calming effect for those children who sometimes find being inside tricky. We wanted to update our knowledge in Communication and Language as we were finding that more and more children needed additional support, especially since coming out of the COVID pandemic. So, In January 2023, we embarked on A Confident Communicators training course which included ELKLAN, a Communication and Language course to enhance staff knowledge and to give us strategies and tools to help us to develop children’s language development. Michelle took on the role of lead practitioner and she had webinars each week and then work to be done within setting, working with the staff and implementing the learning and teaching. This course would be for 18 months. By July 2023, Michelle had been awarded the Level 3 ELKLAN. Well done to Michelle as this course took many intensive hours to complete. Looking forward, the setting is hoping to gain a Confident Communicators Accreditation Award, Michelle will take us through another year’s training and train the staff and then Michelle will gain a level 4 in ELKLAN. _**April 2024 - Congratulations to Michelle, she has trained all the staff and we have gained the accreditation and Michelle has gained her level 4 – outstanding work from Michelle._ ## **Training** The staff attended individual training in accordance with the EYFS framework this year such as food hygiene and safeguarding and ensuring all these were updated on a regular basis and within our staff meetings. In January 2023, Myself, Jordan, Emma, Jess and Gemma embarked on a Cache level 2 Understanding Autism. This took 6 months of intense reading and evaluations. In June 2023, we were all awarded our certificates. Our mentor congratulated us in our prior knowledge and said that our setting sounds like a very inclusion setting to meet the needs of all children. ## **Ofsted** We continue to have regular updates from Ofsted and we continue to comply to the necessary expectations. ## **Staffing** Michelle took on the role as Supervisor on a Monday on a permanent basis. This enables me to have one day in the office rather than being in ratio. Clare resigned to go to another job after 10 years. We still keep in touch with her and she is still our social secretary! Jordan took on Clare’s role in helping with the Facebook posts each week. Staff took on and accepted more responsibilities to support me, often doing these in our own time to enable the setting to continue to be viable. Staff meetings were reduced to 3 times per year, but we still met as part of the training each half term for the Confident Communicators training. ## **Next year – September 2023 – August 2024** We will continue to press on towards gaining our accreditation and Michelle’s level 4 in ELKLAN. We will be meeting people to discuss funding opportunities to support projects and help with the sustainability of Ladybirds. We will be looking into opening the garden to a school club to help to raise money for Ladybirds, but also to give children the opportunity to carry on their Ladybirds experience as forest school. We will be continuing to enhance the garden. We are planning to ask the children what they would like as well as the staff working together to make more exciting areas in the garden area. ## **Thanks** Thanks go to the parents for entrusting your children with us. It is a privilege to work with you and them. Next, my thanks go to the Trustees who have supported me and the staff. They have shown concern and compassion when we have had situations within the setting that have been upsetting or stressful. My grateful thanks go to the amazing staff who work so hard to ensure the children have the very best time at Ladybirds and are able to develop to their full potential. All staff are so passionate about Early Years and go above and beyond their pay grade to enable Ladybirds to be the very special place it is for all children. I am so thankful for each and every staff member. They all bring their uniqueness and special gifts and that is what makes us the fantastic team we are. A quote I found recently that reflects what our staff team is all about ‘A successful team is a group of many hands and one mind’ and that is what working at Ladybirds is. ## **7. Trustee nominations – until the next AGM** |Nominee|Nominated by|Seconded by| |---|---|---| |Mary Hutchinson
(chairperson)|Becky Dutton|Ruth Smith| |Louise Redfern(member)|Jess Bowring|TraceyClarke-Kellow| |Ruth Smith|Emma Sczesniok|MaryHutchinson| |Becky Dutton
(secretary/manager)
100% votes|Ruth Smith|Gemma Eades| Emma Smail and Luke Williams offered to be nominated as a Trustee. However, we need to get all the DBS and Ofsted checks before they can take up the roles. **ACTION :BD to set up links for DBS and Ofsted and keep in touch with Emma and Luke.** ## **8. Charity Commission** All data from this meeting needs to be up loaded to the Charity Commission website. **ACTION : BD** ## **AOB** Mary and Becky thanked everyone who had attended the meeting. The attendance was the highest we have ever had. **Date of the next AGM** – Wednesday 29[th] January 2025. ## **ST OSWALD’S LADYBIRDS PRE SCHOOL CHARITY NUMBER 1163362** ## **BALANCE SHEETS** **SEPTEMBER 2022 – AUGUST 2023** **CURRENT ASSETS:** CASH BOOK 49693.15 PETTY CASH 55.00 LEEK UNITED 6634.23 **TOTAL ASSETS 56382.38** **TOTAL WORTH** INCOME 98691.91 EXPENSES 94141.53 **GAIN 4550.38** ## **PROFIT & LOSS FOR ST OSWALD’S LADYBIRDS PRE-SCHOOL FROM SEPTEMBER 2022– AUGUST 2023 CHARITY NUMBER 1163362** ## **INCOME:** DCC FUNDING 79628.91 FEES PAID BY BACS 15717.66 FEES PAID BY CASH 107.50 CONSUMABLE FEES 908.00 SWEATSHIRTS/T-SHIRTS 51.00 FUNDRAISING 947.60 MILK REFUND 1052.71 MISC 266.98 Petty Cah adj 11.55 _TOTAL INCOME_ _98,691.91_ ## _EXPENSES:_ GROSS WAGES 74840.84 EMPLOYER NI 873.77 PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS 2042.94 WAGE COST 623.70 STATIONERY 201.53 STAMPS 45.24 PLAYGROUP ACTIVITIES 1827.07 SNACKS 685.80 SWEATSHIRTS 318.20 CLEANING MATERIALS 508.64 PHONE 173.97 MILK 1052.71 FUNDRAISING PURCHASES 508.93 FUNDRAISING COSTS 54.17 INSURANCE 1122.74 PHOTOCOPIER LEASE 584.40 PHOTOCOPYING 702.86 MISC 1536.02 GARDEN 428.00 RENT 6000.00 PETTY CASH ADJ 10.00 TOTAL EXPENSES **94,141.53** Libra Business Essentials Ltd S2a, St. lohn Street, Ashbourne, Derbyshire. DE6 IGH Telephone: 01335 347225 Email: info@librabe.co.uk St Oswalds Ladybirds Preschool Mayfield Road Ashboume Derbyshire DE6 1AS 4th January 2024 TO MIHOM IT MAY CONCERN Independent Examiners Report For St Oswal(Ys Ladybirds Preschool Ashl)ourne This report relates to the accounts for the year ended 31" August 2023 of St Oswald's Ladybirds Preschool. Samantha Heath MAAT of Libra Business Essentials Ltd has independently reviewed the financial records. As the examiner has not seen a diary of events. she is not able to confirm that there are no further fund-raising sources and income other than those reported by the Preschool, which were: 3010912022 Sponsored Walk DVD'S £60.08 Nov to May 1710512023 3110512023 3110712023 £168. Easy Fundraising cake stall £17.01 £117.51 Sponsored Walk £571.CM) The examination carried out included a review of the accounting records and a comparison of the bank accounts with those records. It also included considering any unusual stems in the accounts and seeking explanations when required. There are no outstanding issues from the queries raised. Re8lstered th En*￿1 NufflbEr- 7358530 VAT Re8￿tra￿Tr Number . GBS07 fAW 42 Inde endent Examiners Statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives reason for any concern over the accounts of St Oswald's Ladybirds Preschool Ashbourne for the year to 31 August 2023. Signed...............................-.-..-....................... Samantha Heath MAAT Libra Business Essentials Ltd 52a St John Street Ashbourne DE6 IGH