Annual Report 2021-22 Committee Year
AGM 26[th] September 2022
Introduction
This academic year has been really busy for CAPS despite seeing the return of Covid which seemed to really do the rounds in all schools over the Winter. We lost a few of our Trustees throughout the year due to various reasons but the staff have been amazing and we had a really fun packed year for the children.
The children had many visits throughout the year. Jodie from Moo Music ran regular singing, music and dance sessions. We also had visits from a midwife to learn about babies and West Berkshire Muslim Centre to learn about EID. Various animals visited the children including chickens, guinea pigs, tortoise and a petting zoo! The children watched caterpillars grow into butterflies and tadpoles grow into frogs! They also got busy making lots of delicious treats, including soups, smoothies and apple pie. We all celebrated a lot throughout the year, marking many occasions such as World Dinosaur Day, World Dance Day, Mother’s and Father's Day and Valentine's Day etc. Natalie, our Deputy Leader has also continued Yoga with the children which they love.
Due to the lifting of most Covid restrictions throughout the year we were able to hold a few parties for the children. They had a bonfire party, mini sports day, a Christmas party, an end of term party and a graduation tea party for our leavers. We made sure that the children were getting involved in community life with their sunflowers display for Ukraine at the Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre and their Jubilee art and celebrations with Cold Ash village.
Our leader Lucy, who joined us in 2020/21 has been able to implement more of her ideas and initiatives after settling into the role. We now have ‘focus’ children to enable us to develop specific activities for all the children take part in but which will address individual developmental needs. Children are also taking home ‘chatty bags’ to encourage discussions and development at home.
We did unfortunately have a break in during the year but we were all amazed at the generous support and kind offers from the local community to protect our pre-school.
We ended the year in a record-breaking heatwave and the children had lots of fun with water play and plenty of ice lollies. More recently we have been paying our respects to Queen Elizabeth II and the children learned a lot during a visit to St. Marks Church to sign the book of condolence.
We have built on the support we have been able to offer to our children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We have been recommended by West Berkshire Council to a number of families due to our dedicated SENCO and experience helping all children thrive and develop.
Rebecca Bye who was Chair throughout part of the year has worked hard to put many documents and procedures into place to ensure the smooth transition of Committees from year to year. Many master documents ensure all committee members and staff can keep track and monitor important aspects of the regulatory and legal requirements of the Pre-School, including our Single Central Records. In turn, a well-informed Committee is better able to support and lead the pre-school staff.
Children
In the academic year, we had 40 children enrolled at Cold Ash Pre-school. We said goodbye to 23 in the Summer who left us to start school. Of these, the majority went to Cold Ash St.
Marks, a few to St Finian’s and the rest to other local schools. There are 38 children enrolled this year.
Governance & Leadership
We had 7 parents on the committee this year, three of whom left part way through the year. We met every 4-6 weeks as necessary and held urgent ‘extraordinary’ meetings when needed.
Despite the movement in Trustees, we worked extremely hard on a number of aspects including the banking and reserves, our Safeguarding audit, updating and adding to our policies and procedures, ensuring staff were looked after and supported and ensuring our facilities were maintained and updated where necessary.
Finance & Funding
Fund Balances
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Account Balance Balance
31/08/2 31/08/21
2
Main £52,42 £85,550
1
Fundraisi £7,458 £4,525
ng
Deposit £50,00 £16,015
0
Cash £27 £22
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Income/Spend Summary
Budgete Actual
d
Income £102,096 £96,654
Spend £92,944 £92,865
Net £9,152 £3,789
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We ended the year with a surplus of £3,789 against a budget of £9,152 (surplus). Our total income was £96,654 against budget of £102,096 and previous year income of £139,122. West Berkshire Council had their deficit funding plan in place which saw our hourly rates reduced from 2020/21. The drop against budget was mainly attributed to £19,113 of income relating to the Autum 2022 term being received in August 2022, and therefore being accounted for in the previous financial year.
Other income included over £400 in bank compensation of after the Pre-School was a victim of fraud. All funds were recovered and we received compensation for the way our fraud was dealt with.
We were also able to apply for additional funding for a number of our children with special educational needs. We have dedicated SEN members of staff and have worked with our
families to ensure that we are supporting these children to the best of our ability. Some of this funding was for staff time to be spent with the children and some was spent on toys, books and equipment which was tailored to help the development of our children.
Our rent was higher than budgeted and the prior year due to a change in the invoicing from the Acland Hall who moved from invoicing in arrears to invoicing in advance. Staff costs were broadly in line with budget. We made the decision at the year end to award each staff member with a small bonus for their dedication and commitment throughout the year to 31 August 2022. We also had more staff joining the pension scheme this year.
Fundraising: Events, Donations & Matched Funding
Our fundraising income was up £1,872 on the previous year. One of our Trustees, Selina Hall, very kindly raised money for the Pre-School by running London Marathon. Selina raised over £1,000 for the Pre-School. We also had a successful Christmas raffle, raising just under £1,000 and in March 2022 we held our sponsored bounce. Many of the children proved they could do a lot more bounces in one minute than we expected and raised £1,283. Vodafone matched £350 of our fundraising for the sponsored bounce.
Fundraising income totalled £4,322 this year. We have been generously supported by parents, members of the local community and local businesses with donations, services provided, gifted equipment and matched funding.
In addition, we have received a steady flow of donations via our online donation platforms:
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Easy Fundraising
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Amazon Smile
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West Berkshire Lottery
A huge thank you to everyone who has generously donated to our fundraising and volunteer requests, the support is always gratefully received and monies are spent carefully.
Marketing & PR
We have been very active on our Facebook page this year; this is a public page where we have enjoyed sharing what we’ve been up to at CAPS with the wider community and prospective parents. We’ve also had lots of activity in our private parents’ group (CAPS Members) which is a welcome form of communication for parents. Our leader has posted weekly updates with pictures of what the children and staff have been doing in setting that week. Many parents have fed back that this is a great way of getting their children to talk to them about their time spent in setting. Our white board updates each day have also allowed parents to talk to their children about their days at the end of the session. Most families have been amazed at just how much the children get up to each day and the discussions that have then followed.
We have also been working on sending out more newsletters through the year to communicate with parents and keep them up to date with reminders and information. The website is also under constant review but we feel that this is now an improved space for gaining information on the pre-school.
Parent Partnership
We have been working hard his year to build on communication and relationship building with parents which had proved difficult throughput the pandemic restrictions. We have been able to start to invite parents into sessions to stay and play and volunteer with events such as the
farm visit. This really is a valuable experience for parents and we are very much looking forward to more parents and carers coming in to join us over the coming academic year.
We have continued throughout the year to remind parents of our ‘open door’ policy. We have encouraged parents to call or email our staff anytime to arrange a meeting or phone call if they have any queries or concerns regarding their children or the pre-school. In addition, we have posted on Facebook a ‘weekly round up’ each Friday describing what the children have been up to and sent out a newsletter at the end of each half term with all the latest news and events. We have also been using a white board outside the gate each day summarising activities. This ensures that parents know what their children have been doing each day and has been a great conversation starter between parents and children about their experiences, aiding communication skills and emotional development.
We have continued to use Eylog for sharing ‘wow’ moments, milestones and news about children with their parents. All staff (not just key workers) contribute to the children's learning journeys. In such a small setting we have the advantage of all the setting staff getting to know all the children extremely well and sharing in their growth and development. With the start of the new academic year Eylog is no longer in use at the Pre-School and we have moved over to Tapestry which is being well received by parents and staff. Tapestry is used by many of our surrounding and catchment schools so should also assist with transitions to school for both staff and parents.
Human Resources
This year we have welcomed Amy and Kelly, both now very much valued and loved members of the team. Natalie was also promoted to Deputy Leader and has been doing a fantastic job of supporting Lucy our Pre-School Leader.
Helen has undertaken additional training to become our SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) and her knowledge and training has been invaluable to us throughout the year. She has supported many families and continues to build on her knowledge and experience. Amy has also undertaken training to become an ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant). Amy has been working with many of the children throughout the year, planning and undertaking different sessions to help the children with their emotional development.
We have undertaken various training sessions throughout the year, including our Safeguarding training which was attended by all staff and a Trustee representative. Lucy and Natalie attended the EPOP festival, all about Exploring the Power of Play. They have lots of great new ideas to bring to the Pre-School. As Trustees, we encourage the staff to approach us with ideas of additional training which will help both the Pre-School and their own personal development.
Operations & Administration
We erected a new shelter for the children's coats and bags. A massive thank you to CG Roofing for providing the labour and building our shelter. We were also donated a wooden tower and slide for the children which they love and have been practicing using the fireman's pole!
During the year we increased our enrolment deposit after we had a number of ‘no shows’. This seems to be working well and parents are making a more informed decision when registering their child for a place. Our enrolment deposit is now in line with other local childcare settings.
A review of reserves meant we moved some of our cash balances to a new bank who were endorsed by The Charities Aid Foundation. This enables us to earn more interest on balances ‘reserved’ for specific purposes. We have also set up a PayPal account to make it easier for CAPS to receive donations.
WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED COLD ASH PRE-SCHOOL THIS YEAR
Staf: Amy Chambers Carol Taylor
Committee:
Alice Dearden – Resigned June 2022 Kimberley Gavigan
Clare Wormald Lucy Sandel Helen Barnes Natalie Williams Kelly Eeles Louise Green Selina Hall Rebecca Bye – Resigned Sophie Ingram – Resigned June 2022 January 2022 Rosie Rogers
Cold Ash Pre-5oIKJol
Cold Ash Pre School Accounts For the year ended 31 August 2022
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Receipts | ||
| Main activities | 91,518 | 134,380 |
| Fundraising activities | 4,322 | 4,246 |
| Uniform | 484 | 496 |
| Interest | 137 | 0 |
| Gift Aid | 193 | 0 |
| Total receipts | 96,654 | 139,122 |
| Payments | ||
| Main activities | 92,865 | 90,724 |
| Fund raising activities | 0 | 424 |
| Total payments | 92,865 | 91,148 |
| Net surplus for year | 3,789 | 47,974 |
| Opening balance | ||
| Current account | 85,550 | 38,696 |
| Fund raising account | 4,525 | 3,405 |
| Deposit account | 16,015 | 16,013 |
| Cash book | 19 | 21 |
| Net surplus/(defcit) for year | 3,789 | 47,974 |
| 109,899 | 106,110 | |
| Closing balance | ||
| Current account | 52,421 | 85,550 |
| Fund raising account | 7,458 | 4,525 |
| Deposit account | 50,000 | 16,015 |
| Cash book | 20 | 19 |
| 109,899 | 106,110 |
Section B Disclosure Only complete If the examiner needs lo highlight material matters of concern {see CC32. Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examinefs). Glve here brlef detalls of any items that the examiner wishes to dlsclose IER Oct 2018
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAIES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustèes Cold Ash Pre-school On accounts for the year ended 31 August 2022 Charity no (if any) Sot out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the a¢counts of the above charily 1.the Trust.) for the year ended 3110812022. Rosponsibilitios and ba818 of report As the Charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {'Ihe Act.) l port in respect of my exarnination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ibl of the Act. Independ•nt I have completed my examination. I confinn that no matenal matters have examlnerf8 statement come to my attention in connection wrth the which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the 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 applirAble requirements con¢erning the form and content of a¢unt5 sel out in the Charilies {A¢counts and Reports) Regulalions 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Irue and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have ¢offle across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a woper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: Dato: 1410312023 Name: Gillian Down Relevant profèssional qualificationlsl or body {if any): ICAEW Address: EJBC Limited, 2 Toomers Iltharf, Newbury, RG14 1 DY IER Oct 2018