||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|||||Print|Name|||||Date of
approval| |||||Chair|||||||M S|Lickess|||||| ## ## ##