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2023-08-31-accounts

Final report for AGM February 2024

Chair’s Report for the Year 2022-2023

[1 September 2022-31[st] August 2023]

Presented to the AGM on 8[th] February 2024 and submitted to the Charities Commission as part of the Charity’s Annual Return.

Reference and Administration details:

Charity Name: Haslingfield Little Owls Pre-school CIO Registered Charity No: 1174884

Charity’s Principal Address: Haslingfield Little Owls Pre-School CIO Haslingfield Methodist Church High Street Haslingfield Cambridge CB23 1JW

Name of the Charity Trustees who manage the Charity:

Trustee Name Office [if any] Dates acted if not for whole year
Heather Bailey Chair Appointed as Chair 22ndNovember 2022
Charlotte Soules Secretary Appointed as Secretary 22ndNovember 2022
Julie York Treasurer Appointed as Treasurer 22ndNovember 2022
Sue Barnard Vice-Chair Appointed 22ndNovember 2022
Alison Power Head of Fundraising Appointed 22ndNovember 2022

Structure and Governance

The Model CIO Constitution for Childcare Providers 2013 from the Pre-School Alliance [now Early Years Alliance] has been adopted and remains unaltered.

Membership will consist of:

[1] Family Members – family of children

[2] Affiliate Members – anyone interested in furthering the aims of the charity.

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Trustees will consist of:

[1] A minimum of 3 members (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary: Mandatory roles )

[2] A maximum of 12 members

Trustees are appointed and reappointed annually at the Annual General Meeting. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.

Objectives and Activities

Our objectives continue to be to work for the public benefit with regards to the development and education of children by:

  1. Promoting their care and safety.

  2. Promoting their education and promoting parental involvement.

  3. Promoting their health and wellbeing.

  4. Providing services to support them and their families and carers.

  5. Providing services to individuals holding membership of the CIO.

  6. Furthering the aims of the preschool learning alliance [now the Early Years Alliance].

The Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance. Our activities have contributed to be the provision of Early Years care to children aged 2-4 [inclusive].

Chairs Introduction

2022-2023 has been a very interesting year for Little Owls, reaching a low point towards the end of the Autumn term/start of the Spring Term but due to the brilliant teamwork from staff, committee and community ended the Summer term in a very positive position. Our manager, Kayleigh has remained focused on an ethos which promotes emotional well-being, togetherness and friendship and continues to lead the Setting in such a way with wonderful outcomes for the children.

I would like to thank our incredible staff team – Kayleigh, Katie, Sobia, Charlotte and Caroline. Their commitment to Little Owls is extraordinary bringing experience, creativity and a passion for Early Years which makes Little Owls the lovely setting it is.

Achievements and Performance

Autumn Term 2022: Child numbers were low due to a large cohort of children leaving Little Owls at the end of the Summer Term to start school in September resulting in a financial shortfall. At half term the Deputy Manager stepped down and the difficult decision was taken by the previous committee to close the afternoon sessions from the beginning of the Spring Term to try and ease the financial situation.

Spring Term 2023: The Deputy Manager was reinstated which strengthened the management team meaning that Setting could stay open in the event the Manager or Deputy Manager were absent for any reason. They were supported by two L3 practitioners and one bank staff. In February we reviewed the financial situation, and it became apparent that despite the planned extensive fundraising programme we were still looking at a significant

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shortfall in funds. In addition, the extra money to cover the rise in the minimum wage which came into force on 1[st] April 2023 had to be factored in. An Appeal to the community was launched towards the end of February which was hugely successful, and we are very grateful for all the support that was given to us at that time. I would also like to also thank the Parish Council for their generous donation of £3,000.

Small initial changes that made a difference

Signposting

Early in the Spring term we began to focus on advertising and promoting the preschool. The outside space used by the children requires extensive refurbishment and there was just one poster on the Notice Board at the entrance of the Methodist Chapel indicating the location of the preschool. It was decided that the preschool needed to be more visible within the village. In the Easter holidays further signs were erected at the entrance to the Methodist Church and on the gate at Setting. Information posters were also placed on the Village Hall and Parish Council Notice Boards at the recreation ground. In addition, the entrance gate to Setting was re-stained, new planters put in situ by the main door and the Little Owls Notice Board refurbished.

Advertising/Recruitment : Every opportunity was taken to advertise and promote the preschool. From Easter until the end of the Summer Term information about the preschool and future fundraising events was displayed on two large boards in the reception area of the Methodist Church. A tri-fold information leaflet was designed advertising Little Owls, which was handed out and displayed at all our fundraising events and ‘Little Stars’ [mother & toddler group] which proved very useful initiating discussions with new prospective parents.

Summer Term: As with the previous two terms our focus was continuing the fundraising programme; we were involved on both days of the King’s Coronation weekend in May, and finally finished in June with the Strawberry Fair.

In the second half of the Summer term with numbers of children attending and enquiries increasing our focus turned to staffing levels. We advertised for a full-time member of staff – 3[rd] in Charge – to strength the management team.

Staffing

Katie York was reinstated as Deputy Manager from the beginning of the Spring Term, and completed her Early Years Teaching Training at the end of the Summer Term. Becky Slater was recruited at the end of the Summer Term as 3[rd] in Charge and joined the team in the following Autumn term.

Links with our Community

We continue to be grateful for our strong links with other groups in our community. I would like to thank the Methodist Church for their continued support and for sharing their building with us.

We are also grateful to our local primary school – thank you to Donna Peck; Acting Head at Haslingfield school, who joined the management committee in a ring-fenced role focusing on the links between the pre-school and the primary school. I would also like to extend thanks to the Early Years advisory team at the County Council who have given us support this year.

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Our gratitude extends also to the Parish Council for their continued support and their willingness to help Little Owls financially.

Reserves Policy

The Reserves Policy was reviewed and no changes made in this academic year.

The Year Ahead

Financial pressures and sustainability remain our top focus. With a strong staff team now in place we will be able to:

We will continue to:

Summary and Thanks

We remain grateful to the committee, staff, parents, children and other stakeholders for everything they do to make Haslingfield Little Owls the wonderful setting that it is providing high quality care for the youngest members of our community.

Heather Bailey

Chair: Haslingfield Little Owls Pre-School Management Committee

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Haslingfield Little Owls

Independent Examiners Report to Trustees

As requested, I have carried out an examination of the accounts for year ending 31st August 2023 as presented to me by the Treasurer.

General review

  1. The financial situation has vastly improved from last year with a substantial increase in fund raising and donations. Just to note that donations also include £5,600 for Katie. There is also an increase in expenses for Katie.

  2. I was pleased to see that a register of invoices has been maintained so that payment of invoices can be monitored. However this did indicate that about £3,500 was outstanding. As it is unlikely that these will be collected they have not been included as accrued income. A process should be developed to chase up on outstanding amounts for 2023-24.

  3. The Examiners Certificate and final accounts have been sent to Julie.

  4. I would like to thank Julie for her help during some difficult circumstances and I understand that 2023-24 is now in a better state.

Scope of activities

  1. I have checked the payments to the vouchers, invoices and supporting receipts where these were available.

  2. I have checked the receipts entries to the vouchers and supporting documentation where this was available. As a number of these are cash transactions it is not possible to confirm their completeness.

  3. I have agreed the financial statements to the supporting records.

  4. I have agreed the bank account balances in Balance Sheet to the appropriate third party documentation.

  5. I have raised appropriate queries with the Treasurer and sought the necessary

responses.

Issues arising

  1. There does seem to have been a number of issues arising from the handover of the treasureship to Julie mainly caused by the bank.

  2. There were a number of receipts for payments that were missing but I have received

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assurances from Julie that no payments were made without being properly supported. The level of expenditure seems consistent to last year.

  1. There is a substantial balance in the current account which should be transferred to the deposit account to earn some interest.

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