Annual Report 2022-23 Committee Year
AGM 25[th] September 2023
Introduction and Chair’s Report
This academic year has been a very busy one for CAPS as everything tried to go back to ‘normal’ after the previous years of Covid lockdowns etc.
The Trustees have all worked together throughout the year and the committee has been an excellent team, working closely with all of the staff at CAPS.
Staffing has been very stable, which is essential for the effective running of a pre-school. We were lucky to have recruited Caitlin, first as bank staff and this year as a full-time member of staff on a fixed term contract. We have also increased Kelly’s hours to almost full-time, also on a fixed term contract. This is to reflect the fact that CAPS has more children on roll than ever! Another thing to be celebrated!
Last year CAPS was a very exciting place to be.....The Corn Exchange came in each week of the year to deliver their ‘Tots Create Sessions’. They were really varied, covered art, dance, drama and many more areas. The children really enjoyed them and looked forward to their visit. We also had a number of visits from the local community, a local Vicar and many more. The children had their first Christmas Carol Concert in St Mark’s Church which was a huge success. The church was full of parents and the children all performed brilliantly. The annual Christmas party was great fun and something the children will remember forever. CAPS also had a number of walks to explore the local area and really enjoyed a morning of fun playing in the snow on the field! The summer term saw a visit from Farms2Ewe which was very exciting. I’m not sure who was more excited, the goats or the children! We finished off the year with a lovely Teddy Bear’s Picnic which was a great family event and then Sports Day which again was brilliant. All the children participated and they all did so well. The last day of term was marked by a really lovely Leavers’ Ceremony for the parents and children that were moving onto school – it was a perfect ending to their time at CAPS.
The children also had the pleasure of visits from Muddy Pig Pottery numerous times throughout the year where they made really lovely keepsakes.
Safety at CAPS has been greatly increased by having new gates installed by the main entrance. These are very secure and are made even more so with the addition of a padlock etc. The new parking signs have made pick up and drop off safer as the children and parents have clear visibility when walking across the car parks back to their cars.
The committee and Lucy have worked hard together to look at the planning etc at CAPS and put a detailed plan together which was shared with the committee in July and all resources given to all staff in a staff meeting in July too. Everything was left ready to go for September. Lucy, all the staff at CAPS and the committee will take this, or whichever route CAPS follows, forward this academic year.
A Teaching and Learning review by an Early Years Specialist has been provisionally booked for October 13[th] . This will give the new committee and all the staff a great overview on what an ‘external’ specialist identifies as the strengths and any areas to develop. The aim being that this would then be followed up with a ‘mocksted’ by the contact that Lucy has when the team feel ready for this.
Staff training has been a priority this year, to mention a few, Amy has developed her role as the ELSA, Kelly has done a number of training courses to further develop her knowledge to help children with specific learning needs. There have been many, many more! The committee have also agreed to fund Amy to become a fully qualified Forest Schools practitioner and trainer.
All in all, a really successful year! Thank you to all the staff and trustees.
Clare Beynon, Chair, Cold Ash Pre-school Management Committee
Finance & Funding
| Fund Balances | Fund Balances | |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Balance 31/08/23 |
Balance 31/08/22 |
| Main | £47,579 | £52,421 |
| Fundraising | £8,596 | £7,458 |
| Deposit | £50,000 | £50,000 |
| Cash | £14 | £27 |
| Budgeted | Actual | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | £100,283 | £117,869 |
| Expenditure | £112,963 | £121,573 |
| Net | (£12,680) | (£3,704) |
Treasurer’s report
Fundraising: Events, Donations & Matched Funding
Our fundraising income was up £1,754 on the previous year. We held a successful Christmas Raffle, Easter competitions, sponsored bounce, created many beautiful things through Muddy Pig Pottery and Bag2School events. We were also lucky enough to receive donations from both The Greenham Trust and The Eling Trust.
Fundraising income totalled £6,076 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. Most of our fundraising income is generated through the very supportive CAPS families and friends. We are very grateful for all the support received.
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.
Children
In the academic year 2022-23, we had 42 children enrolled at Cold Ash Pre-school. We said goodbye to 20 this 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 44 children enrolled for the academic year 2023-24.
Governance & Leadership
We had 8 parents on the committee this year. We met every 4-6 weeks as necessary.
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.
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 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 sent 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.
Parent Partnership
We have good relationship with parents reinforced through very positive feedback from the annual parent survey. We have invited parents for stay and play sessions 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 introduced Tapestry this year (moving away from eyLog) and this has been received positively by parents and their child’s learning journey is extended into Reception as many local schools use Tapestry. All staff (not just key workers) are able to 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.
Human Resources
This year we have welcomed Caitlin as bank staff, and she is a very much valued member of the team.
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. Kelly has completed additional SEN training to enhance her work as 1-1.
We have undertaken various training sessions throughout the year, including safeguarding and first aid training. 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. The Trustees have agreed to fund Amy through Level 3 Forest School Training and hope that she will be able to undertake this soon.
Operations & Administration
We fundraised for new gates and other new security features as well as playground markings all of which have been very positively received. In addition we erected a new sandpit cover, had new tarmac laid between the hall and the garden, as well buying other exciting resources for the children.
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
Staff: Amy Chambers Caitlin Dalgleish
Carol Terry Clare Wormald Helen Barnes
Kelly Eeles Lucy Sandel Natalie Williams
Committee 2022-2023: Clare Beynon (Chair) Clare Hook
Claire Crocker Kate Thompson Katy Birch
Kimberley Gavigan (Treasurer) Richard Hanks Shannon PIke
Cold Ash Pre School
Accounts For the year ended 31 August 2023
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Receipts | ||
| Main activities | 110,493 | 91,518 |
| Fundraising activities | 6,076 | 4,322 |
| Uniform | 620 | 484 |
| Interest | 389 | 137 |
| Gift Aid | 291 | 193 |
| Total receipts | 117,869 | 96,654 |
| Payments | ||
| Main activities | 121,573 | 92,865 |
| Fund raising activities | 0 | 0 |
| Total payments | 121,573 | 92,865 |
| Net surplus for year | -3,704 | 3,789 |
| Opening balance | ||
| Current account | 52,421 | 85,550 |
| Fund raising account | 7,458 | 4,525 |
| Deposit account | 50,000 | 16,015 |
| Cash book | 20 | 19 |
| Net (deficit)/surplus/ for year | -3,704 | 3,789 |
| 106,195 | 109,899 | |
| Closing balance | ||
| Current account | 47,580 | 52,421 |
| Fund raising account | 8,596 | 7,458 |
| Deposit account | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Cash book | 19 | 20 |
| 106,195 | 109,899 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLANO ANO WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinels Report Rèport to the trustees Cold Ash Pre-school On accounts for the year ended 31 August 2023 Charity no Ilf any) 1174604 Sat out on pages I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above chartty {'the Trust") for the year ended 3110812023. Rèsponsibilities and basls of report As the charty's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of Ihe charleS Act 2011 {"Ihe Acl.) I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's ac¢ounts carried out under section 145 ofthe 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 Acl. Independent I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have •xaminer'8 ststement come to my attention in connection with the examination {olher than that disclosed below ') which gives me cause to believe that in. any material respecl.. the accounting records were not kept in aCrdance with seclion 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 onceming the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reportsl 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 concems and have come across no other matters in connection wrth the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed. Date: 0810212024 Name: Gillian Down Rolovant professional quallfication(sl or body (if any): ICAEW Address: EJBC Limited 2 Ttx)mers Wharf, Newbury, RG14 1 DY IER Oct 2018
Section Disclosure Only complete If the examiner needs to highlight material matters of conrn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018