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← Little Saints Pre School

2023-08-31-accounts

Little Saints Pre-School CIO

Trustees Annual Report and Financial Statement September 2022 - August 2023

Charity No: 1174144

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Contents Page
Reference and Administrative Information 3
Structure, Management and Governance 4
Charity Aims and Objectives 5
Activities, Achievements and Performance 6
Financial Review 7
Financial Statement 9
Independent Examination 11

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Details

Charity Name: Little Saints Pre-School CIO

Charity Registration Number: 1174144

Operational Address: All Saints Community Centre, Fulford Road, West Ewell, Surrey, KT19 9QZ Website: https:\littlesaints-preschool.com

Trustees

rustees
Name Position Dates of Service for Dates of Service for
Pre-School CIO Pre-School Committee
Mrs L Viscione Chair October 2018 to present N/A
Trustee August 2017 to
September 2018		 October 2016 to July 2017
Mrs C Farris Secretary / Deputy Manager August 2017 to present November 2004 to July
2017
Mrs C Sale Trustee / Pre-School August 2017 to present October 2004 to July 2017
Manager
Mrs N Williams Staff Representative / August 2017 to present October 2016 to July 2017
Trustee
Ms E Cooling Trustee October 2020 to present N/A
Ms T Garrett Trustee October 2022 to present N/A

Treasurer (employed)

Name Date of Service Ms L Harding November 2019 to present

Other Details

Bank: Lloyds Bank

Independent Examiners: Hazel Day, Tudor John Ltd, Nightingale House, 46-48 East Street, Epsom, Surrey, KT17 1HQ

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Structure, Governance and Management

Little Saints Pre-School is a charity run Pre-School that operates from a church hall at the heart of the local community. The Charity is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) that is Ofsted registered. The Charity provides quality child care in a safe, caring, happy and stimulating environment, whilst following the Early Years foundation stage 2021.

Governing document

The governing document is a constitution. The organisation is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) and is a body in membership of the Early Years Learning Alliance. This organisation was incorporated and registered as a charity on 4th August 2017. Prior to this date Little Saints was a committee run Pre-School.

Organisational Structure

Little Saints Pre-School has a minimum of 3 and up to 12 trustees that meet termly (October, February, June). The charity trustees are responsible for financial planning, other strategic planning, policies, key decisions and administration of the charity. The trustee positions are entirely voluntary and as such no re-numeration or financial benefits are given for their time. At present there are 6 members.

The day to day operation of the charity is performed by the Pre-School Manager and Deputy Manager, with advice on finances from the Treasurer. The Manager, Deputy and staff are constantly evaluating the Pre-School to improve the quality and learning on offer.

During Trustee meetings all charitable matters are discussed including income stream, ongoing performance, fund-raising, and to approve forthcoming expenditure.

The charity monitors performance against budgeted targets and reports termly to the trustees, and annually at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). During the AGM trustee appointments and resignations are made.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

It is the aim of the charity to recruit trustees from parents of the Pre-School, ex-parents and members of the local community. In the first instance trustee vacancies are advertised within the parent community, through the parent welcome session and via email and parent only social media. There is a general difficulty in recruiting trustees and then retaining trustees longer than 1 or 2 years.

Trustee Induction and Training

All new trustees are given an introduction pack including; a copy of the constitution and any amendments made to it, a copy of the last year accounts, a copy of the roles and responsibilities of trustees (CC3 - The Essential Trustee, what you need to know, what you need to do, Charity Commission publication). A confidentiality and photo consent agreement are also obtained. In addition, trustees are encouraged to read the Charity Commission newsletters. Any further training is reviewed on an annual basis.

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Related parties

There were no related party transactions during this period.

Risk Management

The Pre-School management has reviewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed. Systems and procedures have been established to minimise these risks. The risks that the charity may be exposed to is reviewed and discussed on an annual basis, or earlier, if needed.

Little Saints internal policies have been put in place to minimise risk for all parties. Children and staff health, wellbeing, care and safety are promoted through the vigorous policies, procedures and risk assessments. There are currently 48 active policies, the main ones are listed on the website. These policies are available to read on request. Policy and procedure advice is taken from outside agencies such as Surrey Safeguarding. Furthermore, we are fully insured.

The Charity operates a separate bank account for the reserve and closely monitors costs to ensure it operates within its means.

In 2018/19, a new school nursery opened within the local area. This has been identified as a potential issue that could affect the numbers of children attending the setting for the foreseeable future. The Pre-School has seen a different pattern to the number of children attending in each term since the pandemic, Brexit and continuing inflation. There are less children at the beginning of autumn term which then increases over the year which increases the risk of making a deficit. The charity will continue to operate according to guidelines issued by the government for Pre-Schools.

Additional Governance Issues

Little Saints is a member of the Early Years Learning Alliance. As a Pre-School, additional governance is also taken from the Surrey Early Years, Ofsted and including regular notification updates from the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership.

Charity Aims and Objectives

Little Saints Pre-School promotes the development and education of children within the local community (West Ewell) by;

The primary objective of the Pre-School within these aims is to provide quality fully inclusive child care, to deliver the early years foundation stage 2021 and to support the families of children using our facilities.

Furthermore, the charity’s purpose is set out in the organisation’s constitution (see objectives above).

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Ensuring aims

The Charity reviews the aims, objectives and activities each year. This review looks at the achievements from 01 September 2022 to 31 August 2023.

Statutory Declaration on Public Benefit

The Trustees declare that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the charity commission in exercising their powers or duties.

Activities, Achievements & Performance

The primary role of the Charity is to deliver quality fully inclusive child care, to deliver the early years foundation stage 2021 and to support the families of children using the facilities. The activities benefit families with children between 2 and 5 years as these are the primary users of our services.

This review period showed a continuing reduction in child numbers, especially in the Autumn term, primarily due to the economic climate and therefore an increased likelihood of parents waiting until their children are fully funded before sending their children to Pre-School.

Experiences

Throughout 22/23, Pre-School operations ran as usual. Early Years Foundation Stage 2021 was followed and the full curriculum was implemented. This included, child targeted learning, adult led and child led activities, in the moment planning and group planning activities. Children’s education was enhanced, using a variety of resources to promote their learning experiences, while ensuring all children had the right level of support to ensure they were engaged and challenged and gaining or moving towards their individual expected outcomes of learning and development.

The experiences offered during this time included both inside and outside learning environment. As children attending are from a variety of cultures and backgrounds, the Pre-School also promoted fully inclusive activities and festivals for all children and adults attending. These included different multi-cultural themes and festivals such as Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Easter. The children had the opportunity to dress up for world book day and attend outings to the park, post office and local farm. The children also benefitted from partaking in small and large group activities.

Fundraising activities included Mother’s Day, Father’s Day gift shop, mufti-day, scavenger hunt, raffles and cake sales. The annual quiz night continued to be a popular community event.

Parents were invited in for meetings to discuss child development, to view the reports and learning journals and volunteering was actively encouraged. Educational professionals (ie SEND) came into the Pre-School to support additional learning needs. During the 22/23 review period there was a continuing increase in the number of children requiring additional support.

Overall, the Trustees feel that Little Saints Pre-School had a successful year fulfilling the objectives, despite many continuing challenges of lower child numbers, increasing numbers of children requiring additional support and higher costs.

The Charity continued to employ 13 members of staff, 8 qualified childcare practitioners, 4 unqualified child care practitioners and 1 treasurer.

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Financial Review

For the financial year 1[st] September 2022 to August 31[st] 2023, Little Saints Pre-School made a deficit of £6,476. This deficit was due to a number of challenges, including a continued change in the pattern of requirements seen from parents since the Covid-19 pandemic, and increasing inflation. Parents are waiting until they receive funding from Early Years before sending their children to PreSchool, or sending children for less days until funding is received. As a result, due to a larger proportion of the income derived from Early Years and the funding being considerably lower than directly payable fees, the overall income has fallen in relation to the associated costs related to the children. The minimum wage increase in April 2023, was 9.68% which had a significant impact on the expenditure of the facility. The parent fees were raised in April 2023 to assist with the cost increase, but it was not raised to the same level, as it was not felt that this was reasonable to pass on the full cost of the rise in wages.

Fundraising events resulted in an additional income of £2,997 due to a well executed fundraising plan. This was lower than 21/22, but a good result nevertheless. Voluntary donations generated £1,799 due to strong support from the parents. Lunch club was run raising a total of £799. Additionally, the Pre-School was able to claim back Gift Aid from HMRC, resulting in an income of £565.

Overall income in 22/23 was lower than 21/22, however expenditure remained approximately the same. In the Autumn term, the numbers of children continue to be lower than pre-covid, with numbers being at 50% of full capacity. The Pre-School continued with its careful expenditure policy in an attempt to minimise losses, however, the rise in minimum wage meant staff costs rose considerably, for the second year in a row, impacting the finances considerably. A total of £11,537 was provided by Surrey County Council for the support of children with additional needs. This was put towards additional resources and staff costs to support and progress the children.

Resources within the facility were managed carefully while providing all the necessary resources for the children. Additional donations of resources and cleaning products from parents were accepted. Hall hire price remained the same as 21/22 throughout this review period.

It is expected that challenges due to different patterns of childcare uptake will be ongoing. The pattern of lower numbers in Autumn, slowly increasing throughout the Spring and Summer terms has become the new norm. Furthermore, it is expected that lower numbers of children attending before full funding is available (because of the continuing effect of stretched family incomes), will continue be part of the future life of the Pre-School for the foreseeable future. For further details of the accounts please see the financial statement. These are presented on a cash basis.

Principle funding sources

The main source of funding is from fees for the children attending gathered directly from parents, tax free childcare and from Surrey Early Years Free Education Entitlement (from 2 year FEET or from 3 years). Other sources of revenue come from donations and fund-raising events. The main expenditure is wages and hall hire. Restricted funds are funding received for children that require additional support (SEND).

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Reserves policy

Currently, the reserve statement is within the finance policy. The reserve amount is reviewed and updated on an annual basis allowing the Pre-School to perform its legal responsibilities if required to close. The reserve bank account for 22/23 holds £35,301.

Investments

The charity has no long term banking investments. The funds are held in 2 separate accounts. Surplus funds are set aside and used for replacement of equipment and activities for the children.

Particulars of Any Outstanding Guarantee Given by the Charity

The trustees declare that the Charity has given no guarantee where potential liability is outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.

Particulars of Any Outstanding Debt

The Trustees declare that the charity has no outstanding debt which is secured by an express charge of any of the assets of the charity at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.

Plans for the future

It is the Trustees intention that the Charity continue to provide its services in-line with its aims and objectives. During this time of challenging economic environment, the Charity and its Trustees believe it is more important than ever to provide caring and supportive childcare to continue to support the community. The careful and conservative fiscal approach the Charity has been operating by is continuing to serve the Charity well and has been an asset within this year.

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Financial Statement

Receipts and payments 22/23 21/22
A1 Receipts Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Fees 90,536 90,536 92,915 92,915
Voluntary donations 1,779 1,779 1,500 1,500
SEND funding 11,537 11,537 11,396 11,396
Uniform sales 749 749 1,013 1,013
Fundraising activities & 2,997 2,997 3,994 3,994
special events
Other income 335 335 175 175
Other funding 565 565 728 728
TOTAL 96,961 11,537 108,498 100,325 11,396 111,721
A3 Payments
Staff Costs 81,268 81,268 83,798 83,798
Hall hire 14,253 14,253 13,456 13,456
SEND expenditure 9,761 9,761 8,317 1,610
Fund raising & special 863 863 547 547
events expenditure
Running costs 4,689 4,689 2,983 2,983
Administrative costs 2,477 2,477 2,396 2,396
Uniform purchases 1,183 1,183 1,129 1,129
Other expenditure 479 479 419 419
TOTAL 105,212 9,761 114,973 104,728 8,317 113,045
Net receipts and (8,251) 1,776 (6,475) (4,403) 3,079 (1,324)
payments

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Cash funds
Current account 3,896 7,852 11,748 15,701
Deposit account 35,301 35,301 35,117
Cash 357 357 335
Creditors (2,728) (2,728)
TOTAL 36,825 7,852 44,677 51,153
Change (6,475) (1,324)

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the above report and authorised that it be signed on their behalf.

The Trustees’ annual report was approved on 27th June 2024 and signed on behalf of the Little Saints Trustees by:

Luisa Viscione

(Chairperson, Trustee)

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Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Little Saints Pre-School

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Little Saints Pre-School

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Little Saints Pre-School for the year ended 31 August 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation 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 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do 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 confirm that there are no other matters to which your attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

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Hazel Day BSc (Hons) FCA DChA Tudor John Limited Nightingale House 46-48 East Street Epsom Surrey KT17 1HQ

Date: .27 June 2024..............

Little Saints Trustees Annual Report - September 2022 - August 2023