| Names ofthe chari | ty trustees who ma | nage the charity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trustee name | Office (ifany) | Dates acted ifnot forwhole year |
Name ofperson (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if an |
||
| Mark Lickess | Chairperson | ||||
| Rachael Colman | Secretary | from 14 October 2020 | |||
| Patricia' Mahon | Treasurer | from 14 October2020 | |||
| Alison Blackery | Manager | ||||
| Ashleigh Chapman |
|||||
| Emma Taylor | from 14'" October 2020 | ||||
| Chloe Carrington | Secretary | to 14"October 2020 | |||
| Gathic Watkins | to 22"' April 2021 | ||||
| John Watkins | to 14w October 2020 | ||||
| 10 | Vicki Stoddart | to 14'" October 2020 | |||
| Names ofthe trustees for the charity, ifany, (for example, any custodian | trustees) | ||||
| Dates acted ifnot for whole | ear |
| ~ ~ ~ |
|---|
| This was another unusual year which saw First Steps, like so many |
| charities and businesses, significantly impacted by the coronavirus |
| (Covid-19) pandemic. |
| COVID-19 —In September 2020, we re-opened with our full capacity of |
| 32 children, but implemented various safety measures which included |
| rigorous cleaning, staggered drop off and pick up times, and the removal |
| of certain toys and soft furnishings that could not easily be cleaned. |
| From January 2021, schools were closed with the introduction of national |
| lockdown, but early years settings were permitted to remain open. The |
| furlough scheme was used for employees who were unable to work for |
| health reasons, with other staff working additional hours to provide cover. |
| Lateral flow tests were made available to staff and twice weekly testing |
| was encouraged. We had a number ofstaff members who tested |
| positive during the year, including four cases in November 2020, which |
| resulted in the setting being closed for two weeks. As an additional |
| safety measure, an external company was engaged to perform a deep |
| clean during this closure. |
| The government's Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate scheme was |
| used where possible to recover some salary costs for staff members who |
| were obliged to isolate. |
| Our Covid-19 policy, contingency plan and risk assessments were |
| updated regularly throughout the year. |
| Staffing and Training —Itwas another busy and unusual year at.First |
| Steps. We experienced high levels ofstaff sickness, mostly Covid-19 |
| related absences. |
| A total of3staff members were furloughed at various times between |
| November 2020 and April 2021. |
| During this year a decision was made to stop using bank staff, although |
| contracts were continued until 27August 2021 and one.of our bank staff |
| became a member ofthe permanent staff team. |
| One of our staff members completed her Level 3Childcare qualification |
| in May 2021 and another employee began a Level 3apprenticeship. We |
| also had two students undertaking a college placement with us for two |
| days a week, one ofwhom finished in April 2021 after accepting an offer |
| of employment at another setting. |
| This year the majority of training was conducted remotely, rather than in |
| person. Nevertheless, we kept up-to-date with all mandatory training |
| online and used our weekly staff meetings to provide in-house training as |
| appropriate. Any areas ofweakness identified were followed up through |
| additional sharing of information from the management team, arranging |
| external training, or supervision meetings. |
| Outings —Unfortunately we were unable to enjoy our usual outings due |
| to lockdown and Covid-19 restrictions. We look forward to a time when |
| we can get back to making visits and taking the children out into the local |
| communit, which we believe reall enhances their learnin experience. |
| During this financial year, we signed a new rental agreement with The |
|
|---|---|
| Old School Hall, moving from termly to quarterly rent payments, which |
|
| should provide greater consistency in both our cash flow and theirs. |
|
| Fundraising —We were unable to carry out many of our normal |
|
| fundraising activities this year due to the pandemic, and some events |
that |
| were organised sadly had to be cancelled in light ofCovid-19 restrictions. |
|
| However, the events that went ahead were very profitable, particularly |
|
| the Christmas Fayre in. November and a Summer raffle and garage sale. |
|
| We are grateful to all the staff and Committee members who helped with |
|
| the organisation and manning ofthese events, and to the parents and |
|
| local community who supported them. |
|
| Our event income was supplemented by other fundraising initiatives, . |
|
| including the sale of uniform items embroidered with our First Steps logo. |
|
| During the year we also received donations from a number of local |
|
| organisations, including BOCA (Barlestone &Osbaston Community |
|
| Association) and Central England Co-op, which were greatly appreciated. |
|
| lloving forward —Looking ahead to the next year, we hope to continue |
|
| to build our charity. | |
| We aim to keep enhancing the setting by implementing new ideas and |
|
| activities, to include learning walks around the village, along with stay |
|
| and play sessions to involve parents and carers, when we are able to |
do |
| this safely. | |
| We intend to evaluate how we can improve our service in line with Ofsted |
|
| requirements and set up a' revised improvement plan. |
|
| We will continue to support staff in their professional development by |
|
| using peer and paired observations and regular supervision meetings. |
|
| We hope this will further enhance the quality of provision at First Steps so | |
| that we can offer the best possible learning environment for all the |
|
| children. | |
| We look forward to resuming many of our usual fundraising activities |
in |
| the coming months as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. |
|
| We will continue to publicise First Steps in the immediate and |
|
| surrounding areas and focus on keeping staffing levels as low as |
|
| possible, without compromising the quality ofcare, to help minimise our |
|
| outgoings. |
| Brief statement ofthe charity's policy on reserves |
Our policy is to hold a minimum ofEt0,000 reserve to ensure sufficient funds are available at any time to pay for costs in arrears, namely wages, payroll taxes and rent. |
|---|---|
| During this financial year we were able to increase our level ofreserves | |
| to F16,000, thanks to the discretionary grant received from Hinckley 8 |
|
| Bosworth Borough Council. Our aim is to further increase our reserves to |
|
| between K20,000 and F25,000as our financial position improves. |
|
| At the end ofthis year, we also held L1,142of restricted funds that are to | |
| be used specifically for improving the outdoor space. |
|
| Details ofany funds materially | Not applicable |
| Further financial review details |
(Optional information) |
| You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about |
Our main source of income is session fees received via the Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE)scheme from Lei'cestershire County |
| ~ the charity's principal sources offunds (including |
Council (for funded sessions). Where children are not eligible for this funding, the session fees are funded by parents Icarers. |
| any fundraising); | We do not have any investments. |
| ~ how expenditure has |
|
| supported the key objectives |
Any surplus funds at the end ofthe year are used in part to continue |
| ofthe charity; | building our reserves to a more robust level and in part carried forward to |
| ~ investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy |
pay towards costs in the following year, including essential staff training and wage increases to ensure that the overall staff package remains sufficiently competitive to retain employees. |
| adopted. |
| First Steps | Playgroup | 1167009 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recei | ts and | pa | ments accounts | CC&ea | |||||||||||||
| Forthe period from |
01/08/2020 | To | 31/07/2021 | ||||||||||||||
| ' | |||||||||||||||||
| - | |||||||||||||||||
| ~ | ~ | e | ~ | ||||||||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
,Endowment funds |
Total | funds | Last year | ||||||||||||
| to nearest f | to nearest 5 | to nearest 6 | to nearest 8 | to neamst 8 | |||||||||||||
| A1 Receipts | |||||||||||||||||
| Donations | 341 | 733 | |||||||||||||||
| Parents / Cnrers' |
Fees | 29,362 | 29,362 | 18,671 | |||||||||||||
| Government | Funded Fees | 77,473 | 77,473 | 91,522 | |||||||||||||
| Fvndrnising | 2,530 | 2,530 | 1,420 | ||||||||||||||
| Grants | 13,924 | 13,924 | 4,436 | ||||||||||||||
| Event income | 227 | ||||||||||||||||
| Other receipts | 22 | ||||||||||||||||
| Sub(Gross | income for | ARj | 123,635 | 123,635 | 117,031 | ||||||||||||
| A2 Asset | and | investment | sales, (see | table) | |||||||||||||
| Sub | |||||||||||||||||
| Total receiPts | 123,635 | - | - | 123,635 | 117,031 | ||||||||||||
| A3 Payments | |||||||||||||||||
| Fundraising | Costs | 337 | 337 | 314 | |||||||||||||
| Salaries & | NIC | 110,097 | 110,097 | 98,565 | |||||||||||||
| Premises Costs | 8,749 | 21 | 8,770 | 7,692 | |||||||||||||
| Consumables | &Equipment | 1,912 | 1,912 | 1,416 | |||||||||||||
| Catering | 1,532 | 1,532 | 878 | ||||||||||||||
| Office Expenses | 3,590 | 2,976 | |||||||||||||||
| Event Costs | 138 | 138 | 95 | ||||||||||||||
| Staff Training | eic | 546 | 669 | ||||||||||||||
| Insurance | 723 | 723 | 717 | ||||||||||||||
| Other Expenses | 636 | 636 | 1,175 | ||||||||||||||
| Sub | 128,260 | 21 | 128,281 | 114,497 | |||||||||||||
| A4 Asset | and | investment | purchases, | (see | table) | ||||||||||||
| Sub | |||||||||||||||||
| Total payments | 128,260 | 21 | - | 128281 | 114497 | ||||||||||||
| Net ofreceiptsl(payments) | 4,625 | 4,546 | 2,534 | ||||||||||||||
| A5 Transfers | between | funds | |||||||||||||||
| A6 Cash | funds last year | end | 45,151 | 1,163 | 46,314 | 43,780 | |||||||||||
| Cash funds | this | year | end | 40,526 | 1,142 | 41,668 | 46,314 |
| ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | c | ~ | e | ~ | ~ ~ | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||||||||||||
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | funds | |||||||||||||
| to | ueareet | 6 | to | nearest | 6 | to nearest 6 | |||||||||||
| 81Cash funds | Bank | 40,426 | 1,142 | ||||||||||||||
| Cash | 100 | ||||||||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | debtors | rcreditors | |||||||||||||||
| Total cash funds | 40,526 | 1;l42 | |||||||||||||||
| .16 | |||||||||||||||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||||||||||||
| funds | funds | funds | |||||||||||||||
| Details | to | nearest | 6 | to nearest | f | to nearest 6 | |||||||||||
| 82 Other monetary assets | |||||||||||||||||
| Fund towhich | . | Current value | |||||||||||||||
| Details | asset helen | e | m | o tonal |
|||||||||||||
| 83Investment | assets | ||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| 84Assets retained for | the | charity's | |||||||||||||||
| own use | |||||||||||||||||
| Fund towhich | Amount | due | When due | ||||||||||||||
| Details | aebili relates |
o tional | . | o tonal |
|||||||||||||
| 85Liabiiities | |||||||||||||||||
| Signed by one or the trustees |
two trustees | on | behalf | of all | Signatur | Name | Date of approval |
||||||||||
| Chair | M S | Lickess |