Trustees End of Financial Year Report
April 2021 to March 2022
Cylch Meithrin Yr Enfys Ystrad Mynach Boys & Girls Club, Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, CF82 7AS Charity Number: 1177583
Trustees
Anna Marie Webb Caroline O’Neil Lynwen John Lois Mari Roberts
Objectives and Activities
To advance the education of pre-school children through the medium of the Welsh language.
Achievements and Performance
From April 2021 to March 2022, we had 20 children attending Meithrin.
Following the pandemic, the Meithrin has continued to rebuild its service, seeing a full uptake of places for the financial year April 2021 to March 2022. Being located next to Ysgol Bro Allta, the Meithrin has been able to provide a close vicinity service for parents who have children at the school, and younger children needing nursery care. We have continued to work beyond the pandemic with care and flexibility, and it is clear that our services are greatly needed in the local area as a lot of parents do not have the work from home option, as a high number are part of frontline services.
During the year we have also undertaken a full restock of resources in line with the requirements on Flying Start and Mudiad Meithrin. The staff reviewed existing resources within the setting, as well as those in the outdoor area. We employed the services of a cleaning company to fully jetwash and sanitise the outdoor area so as to ensure its continued used by the children.
We have been fortunate to receive a number of grants from the local authority – Caerphilly County Borough Council – with quite a large proportion of those grants being allocated for regeneration following the pandemic. There have also been grants relating to support for the Welsh language in the setting, which has helped cover wages of one member of staff.
We are still a Flying Start setting, and as such we receive a large intake of Flying Start children from the local area. We also have a number of children who are making use of the 30 hours childcare offer in Wales. As a result, our income from fees remains low, but this is balanced out by the money being received through the Childcare offer payments and flying start grant, which is how it should work.
Moving forward, our aim is to fully utilise the new resources, purchased through grants supplied by the local authority, to drive forward the requirements of the new Welsh curriculum. Seeing the children thriving and learning through play and being able to express themselves is a very positive experience within the Meithrin for all staff.
We are still canvasing for new trustees, to replace those who have requested to step down. We are working in conjunction with the staff and Mudiad Meithrin to find those replacements, either from the parents or from the local community. It continues to be a challenge to recruit, especially from the parent base, as people’s priorities and free time altered significantly through the pandemic. Mudiad Meithrin is doing as much as possible.