## **DUXFORD PRESCHOOL**
# **REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31[ST] AUGUST 2023**
Principal Address:
c/o Duxford Primary School St John’s Street Duxford CB22 4RA
Independent Examiner: Rebecca Coles Newton Hall, Town Street, Newton, Cambridge, CB22 7ZE
A charitable incorporated organisation registered in England and Wales Registered Charity no: 1165461 OFSTED Unique Reference no: EY50063
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Trustees' Annual Report**|||||**for theperiod**|||
|**From **|Period start date|||**To**|Period end date|||
||01|09|2022||31|08|2023|
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** Duxford Preschool
**Other names charity is known by**
**Registered charity number (if any)** 1165461
**Charity's principal address** Sunshine Room Duxford C of E Community Primary School St. Johns Street Duxford, Cambridge **Postcode** CB22 4RA
**Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body)**
**entitled to appoint trustee**
**(ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Stephen Burgess|Chair|01.10.16 to present day||
||Natalie Hanlon|Treasurer|07.03.19 to present day||
||Sally Hodges|Trustee|30.09.19 to 04.07.2023||
||Catherine Dunn|Trustee|21.01.22 to present day||
||Karla Marwood|Trustee|04.07.2023 to present day||
||Nicolas Seal|Trustee|04.07.2023 to 06.10.2023||
||Alice Thompson|Trustee|04.07.2023 to present day||
||Charlotte Tomlinson|Trustee|04.07.2023 to present day||
||Steve Scott|Trustee|04.07.2023 to 11.02.2024||
## **Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|
|---|---|---|
|**Type of adviser Name**
**Address**|||
|Local Authority
Early Years
Advisor|Sienna Carter|Cambridge County Council|
## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
Preschool Manager: Katie Draper
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**Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document
- (eg. trust deed, constitution)
Pre-School Learning Alliance Model CIO Constitution for Childcare Providers 2013, adopted on 12[th] January 2016
How the charity is constituted
- (eg. trust, association, company)
> [Trust ]
## Trustee selection methods
- (eg. appointed by, elected by)
> [Appointed by the current members of the Committee (Trustees) at the AGM ]
## **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;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
Duxford Preschool is a registered charity that is run by a committee, primarily consisting of parents and carers of children in the setting. It is run as a Charitable Incorporated Organization (CIO). Our constitution requires a minimum of 3 Trustees, who have overall legal responsibility for the preschool.
The AGM often sees committee members stepping down; to ensure consistency for the Preschool, we have implemented a model which sees the majority of the financial and strategic management carried out by the Preschool Management team, with the Committee offering oversight and governance. The Committee therefore meets once a term (or more frequently as required) to discuss any issues, are in regular email contact and work collaboratively with the Preschool Management team. Trustees complete DBS checks in line with statutory requirements and induction and training take place as part of our regular meetings.
The Preschool management structure consists of one Manager, two Deputy Managers, and a Business Manager. The Preschool works regularly with many Cambridge County Council professionals, namely an Early Years Inclusion Advisor and the Local Inclusion Forum Team (consisting of Specialist Teachers, Health Visitors and Social Services representatives). We also attend Early Years Network and Briefing Sessions hosted by the Local Authority. We are additionally supported by an Early Years Improvement Advisor.
Our Preschool is on the site of the Duxford C of E Community Primary School and, although we are a separate body, we regularly meet with the Early Years team at the school to share ideas.
Trustees give their time for free and receive no financial benefit. We are a CIO to reduce the financial liability and risk to trustees. The Preschool policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and amended to reflect changes in best practice as well as statutory guidance. The environment is checked daily for H&S risk and we use risk assessments in relation to trips, activities, and equipment.
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## **Section C Objectives and activities**
|**Summary of the objects of the**
**charity set out in its**
**governing document**
**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)**|The charity works for the public benefit having as its objects the development
and education of children and young people in particular by:
(1) promoting their care and safety;
(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 Pre-school Learning Alliance.|
|---|---|
||In all of our work we (the trustees) have regard to the guidance issued by the
Charity Commission on public benefit.
Our main activity is to deliver, within our fully inclusive setting for 2 ¼ –5-year
olds, the Early Year Foundation Stage. In order to do this, we employ childcare
managers and practitioners who undertake joint daily planning of activities to
meet the needs and interests of the children attending our setting. We deploy a
key person approach to ensure that the progress and well-being of all individual
children is constantly monitored and feeds into future planning.
We ensure that our staff are well trained and hence able to successfully meet
the needs of the children in our care. We promote the importance of the learning
environment and endeavour to make this as stimulating as possible. We listen to
the views of children, parents and staff and use this feedback to inform our
improvement work. We accurately assess our children and provide this
information to Cambridge County Council as requested.
We develop positive relationships with parents and carers and invite them into
our setting as observers or helpers. We value all children as individuals and
celebrate Britain’s diversity of culture of ethnicity. We help the children in our
care to be happy and healthy.
We have policies and procedures in place for all aspects of safeguarding, child
protection and health and safety, and we use staff training days and meetings to
ensure all staff are fluent in these. We follow the recommendations offered by
our Cambridge County Council improvement advisor and the guidance available
from the Early Years Alliance (formally the Preschool Learning Alliance).|
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
## **Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year**
## **Overview**
During the 2022-2023 period, the Preschool continued to open for 38 weeks of the year, offering up-to 30 hours of early years education and care to children 2 ¼ to 5 years old. We have continued to offer 15/30 hours per week free of charge to children from the term after they turn 3, as well as those children who qualify as a Funded Two, as part of the central government’s Early Years Funding scheme. In addition, we offer private places to those families who do not yet qualify for funding. We started the year at 76% capacity (2022: 67%), which by the summer term had increased to 97% occupancy (2022: 90%), an excellent improvement year on year. Of the 36 children on roll, 18 children left to move onto reception at the end of the Summer Term with 18 children remaining for the Autumn Term 2023. Our wonderful staff have continued to provide the children with first class support and early years education. We continued to see how children born during the Covid-19 pandemic have been impacted by the lockdowns and changes in behaviour. There has been significant impact on the children’s PSED skills (physical, social and emotional development) as well as Speech and Language, and the staff have focused extensively on supporting their friendships and social interactions and engaging the support of Speech and Language Therapists where needed. They have offered a wide variety of opportunities to extend their learning through open—ended activities and encouraged them to become curious and independent learners. Ongoing effort is made each year to improve both the level of care provided to the children and the business practices employed by the Preschool. The senior management team continually seek to further their knowledge through involvement in groups and forums, and undertake additional CPL regularly. In addition to listening to staff and Committee members, the families are invited to give feedback using the annual questionnaire, the result of which are incorporated into practice. This year, the AGM was held during the Summer Term and we were delighted to welcome 5 new Trustees to the Management Committee. After two years of planning, we were very excited when work finally began on the construction of the new Preschool premises in September 2022. Work progressed quickly and there was a significant amount of work involved in liaising with the site manager to keep everything on track and to the desired specification. Almost 3 years to the day of the fire, we were handed the keys to our purpose built Preschool and the work began to get everything moved from the mobile unit and set up over the holidays ready for the new term in September.
## **Staffing**
The current senior management team comprises the Manager, two Deputies and the Business Manager. There are also 3 staff members working as Preschool Practitioners, which brings the total number of staff to 7.
We continue to strongly believe in the continuing professional development of our Staff and provided considerable opportunities for them to refresh their knowledge and qualifications in: • Basic Child Protection including Prevent and FGM • Food Hygiene L2
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## Section D Achievements and erformance p
- Paediatric First Aid
- • ENCO • SENCo
The management team also attend termly Leadership & Governance Briefings, and Early Years Foundation Forums provided by the Local Authority.
## **Fees**
We made a small increase to our fee rate during the year (£6.50 for 2-year-olds and £6.00 for 3/4-year-olds) and also received a small increase in our rate of funding from the Local Authority. For 3 and 4 year olds this increased to £4.63 from £4.37, and the 2-year rate increased to £6.12 from £5.78.
## **Fundraising**
A small committee for the majority of the year has meant that there has not been a focus on fundraising, but the Preschool staff attended the village “DuxFest” event in July, offering facepainting, glitter tattoos and a teddie tombola, making £238.18 after expenses. Together with commission from Preschool photographs (£80.48), the sale of unwanted Preschool equipment (£177), and cashback from Amazon Smile (£36.03), we raised a net total of £531.69.
## **Future**
We currently have a reasonable number of children on the waiting list to join the Preschool in during the 23-24 academic year which is a great position to be in. However, our rate of growth could be limited if we’re unable to recruit staff as we continue to have very little interest from suitable candidates for Practitioner Roles that have been advertised. This reflects other settings’ experiences up and down the country, and recruitment is likely to be our biggest challenge during the coming academic year, especially following the announcement in March 2023 by the Government that it would be expanding the roll out of the funding scheme to offer funded hours to the children of families where both parents are working from 9 months old. It is anticipated that this will result in a surge of applications from families of children aged 2 years. Increasing the number of children in this age bracket presents a number of challenges: children require far more support especially with intimate care and their PSED which in turn affects staff deployment. Additionally, the child:staff ratio is reduced to 4:1 which results in us being able to offer fewer places for the same number of staff. If we are unable to increase our staffing, then we will have difficultly in offering places to families on our waiting list and will be unable to support our local community with their childcare needs.
## **Section E Financial review**
**Brief statement of the** There has been no change to the Preschool’s Reserves Policy which aims to **charity’s policy on reserves** keep reserves of approximately £33,000; a contingency sum which provides for 1 terms expenditure and redundancy obligations.
Accumulated funds now exceed the Early Years Alliance recommendation to hold 3 months’ running costs in reserve. Ordinarily we would take measures to reduce these funds by re-investing any surplus back into the charity to further its aims (i.e. to benefit the children). However, we are aware that the Preschool will need to purchase large play equipment for the outside area of the new Preschool and will retain these funds for this purpose.
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**Details of any funds materially in deficit**
None.
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about:
- the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
We ended the 2022-2023 year with an unrestricted loss of £32,059.97. The balance of reserves brought forward on 01/09/22 was £102,298.82 and the balance carried forward has therefore been increased to £70,238.85 as of 31/08/23.
Over the period, income totalled £115,666.13 (2022: £119,735.65), an decrease of £4,069.52. It should be noted however, that the 2022 financial year included an insurance claim payout of £12,515.45, so adjusting for this non-recurring income, there would have been a year-on year increase of £8,445.94 in income from operating activities.
The Charity’s principle source of income comes from the local authority for the provision of 15 or 30 hours of funded education for eligible children. This ‘early years funding’ income totalled £84,117.21 (2022: £81,198.72), representing 72.7% of our total income. Fees paid for additional sessions and for non— funded places totalled £18,445.04 (2022: £20,430.96) representing 15.6% of income. The Fair Funding and Consumable supplement raised a further £2,255.71 (2022: £4,357.54) which was a significant decrease from the previous year. The remaining 9.4% of income of was from a mixture of fundraising, donations, miscellaneous fees and income specifically related to supporting Ukrainian Refugees.
Over the same period, expenditure totalled £147,726.10 (2022: £91,818.57). This was expected and in accordance with the Trustees’ decision to invest in the design and installation of an amazing garden space in the new premises, £45,000 of the £48,922 cost was paid in this financial year. Adjusting for this one off item, expenditure relating to ongoing operations for the period was £102,276.10. Our main expenditure continues to be our Staffing Costs, which at £83,489.09 (2022: £77,618.98) accounted for 81.27% of our adjusted expenditure (56.5% of all costs). Our next largest expenditure was rent, totalling £8,070.00 (2022: £5,671.20) which is 7.9% of our adjusted costs, with all additional running expenses of the preschool accounting for the remaining 10.9% (£11,167.01).
## **Section F Other optional information**
## **Section G Declaration**
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
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**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)** Natalie Hanlon
**Position (e.g. Secretary, Chair, etc)**[Treasurer for the period ]
**Date** 15[th] May 2024
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## **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/** Charity Name Duxford Preschool **members of On accounts for the year** 31 August 2023 **ended Set out on pages** 1 to 12 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31 / 08 / 2023** .
**Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** 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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
**Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
**Signed: Name:** Rebecca Coles FCCA **Relevant professional** ACCA **qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:** Newton Hall, Town Street Newton, Cambridge CB22 7ZE
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## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of** n/a **any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
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## **DUXFORD PRESCHOOL REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1165461 RECIEPTS AND PAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 AUGUST 2023**
|**Notes**
**Unrestricted**
£
**Income**
Early Years Funding
84,117
Invoiced Fees
18,445
Fair Funding & Consumables Fee
2,256
Registration Fee
280
DAF & SENIF
-
Ukraine Funding
5,950
Uniform Sales
303
Fundraising
658
Grants
-
Donations
3,518
Gift Aid
-
Special Events
140
COVID-19 SSP
-
Insurance Claim Pay-out
-|**Restricted**
**Total 2023**
£
£
-
84,117
-
18,445
-
2,256
-
280
-
-
-
5,950
-
303
-
658
-
-
-
3,518
-
-
-
140
-
-
-
-|**Total 2022**
£|
|---|---|---|
|||81,199|
|||20,431|
|||4,358|
|||460|
|||-|
|||-|
|||90|
|||313|
|||-|
|||177|
|||-|
|||-|
|||193|
|||12,515|
|**Total Income**
**115,666**|**-**
**115,666**|**119,736**|
|**Less Operating Expenses**
Wages Pensions PAYE
83,489
Rent
3
8,070
Telephone & Internet
371
Website & Email
250
Toys & Resources
1,038
Furniture & Equipment
2,297
Art & Craft Consumable
416
Snacks
643
Stationery & Postage
458
Health & Hygiene Equipment
373
Recruitment
-
Repairs & Maintenance
146
End of Term Gifts
448
Special Events
1,259
Marketing & Advertising
-
Insurance
1,047
Professional Fees
350
DBS Checks
254
Subscriptions
225
Uniform & Clothing
562
Payroll & Accountancy Services
428
Staff Training
474
Fundraising Expenses
127
Bank Charges
-
Fire Refurbishment Expenses
4
45,000|-
83,489
-
8,070
-
371
-
250
-
1,038
-
2,297
-
416
-
643
-
458
-
373
-
-
-
146
-
448
-
1,259
-
-
-
1,047
-
350
-
254
-
225
-
562
-
428
-
474
-
127
-
-
-
45,000
**-**
**147,726**
**(32,060)**
-
**102,299**
**-**
**70,239**||
|||77,619|
|||5,671|
|||401
174
1,160
745
317
590
399
383
72
152
437
585
-
1,016|
|||465|
|||156|
|||75|
|||93|
|||401|
|||845|
|||62|
|||1|
|||-|
|**Total Operating Expenses**
**147,726**||**91,819**|
||||
|**Surplus/Deficit**
**(32,060)**||**27,917**|
|Cash balances b/f
**102,299**||74,382|
|**Balances c/f**
**70,239**||**102,299**|
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## **DUXFORD PRESCHOOL REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1165461 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31 AUGUST 2023**
|**Notes**
**RESERVES**
Balance b/f
Excess income over expenditure
**Total reserves**
**CASH FUNDS**
Current Banking Account
Savings Account
**Total cash funds**
**LIABILITIES**
Rent
3
Independent Examination
Garden Design and Installation
4
Early Years Funding for 2023-2024
5
**Total liabilities**
**FUNDS OF THE CHARITY**
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
**Total charity funds**|**2023**
£
102,299
(32,060)
**70,239**
70,239
-
**70,239**
-
180
3,388
16,540
**20,108**
-
70,239
**70,239**|**2022**
£
74,382
27,819|
|---|---|---|
|||**102,299**
102,299
-|
|||**102,299**
2,034
180
13,244|
|||**15,548**
-
102,229|
|||**102,229**|
Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31[st] August 2023.
## **1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## **Basis of Accounting**
The financial statements have been prepared on the receipts and payments basis.
## **Income**
All income is included at the time of receipt.
## **Expenses**
All expenditure is accounted for at the time of payment.
## **2 EQUIPMENT**
All equipment purchased by the charity is included under these headings as an expense. No items have been capitalised.
## **3 RENT**
£2,034 of rent for the prior financial year was paid during this period.
## **4 FIRE REFURBISHMENT**
A final balance of £3,388.01 remains due in respect of the garden design and installation works.
## **5 EARLY YEARS FUNDING**
£16,539.78 of Early Years Funding relating to Autumn Term 2023 was received on 30[th] August 2023.
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