St Richards CE Preschool – Managers Report - June 2023
Every day, week, month, term and academic year is different at Preschool. But one thing that stays the same is the enjoyment we get from seeing children grow, learn, develop and flourish in the setting. For some children this may be baby steps, and for others bigger steps, but we are very proud that all of our children make wonderful progress. This is down to the wonderful staff in the setting who are always striving to give the children the best opportunities and experiences they can. Staff continually, in their own time, attend courses to get a deeper knowledge of child development as well as google, pintrest and research activities they can offer the children to support their development.
We continually still struggle with children showing a delay in their Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED). This is not just an observation in our setting but a national one. We are now seeing a lot of Covid babies attend the setting or children whose early life was affected by the restrictions of Covid. We therefore have had a heavy focus on supporting children’s (PSED), supporting children to interact with others, learn how to play with others as well as sharing, turn taking and building their resilience.
At the end of the Summer term (July 2022) we celebrated in style with a lovely picnic and had the farm ’Farms to Ewe’ return to us; we also had a face painter. This was a great hit with all the families and we received lots of positive verbal feedback regarding the farm and overall end of term feedback.
“All the staff have been absolutely amazing with my son, I can’t thank you enough for your hard work, patience and kindness towards him”. “I can see children love to go to Preschool, they are very happy”.
“I have always been very nervous about her at a preschool but your team have always kept me up to date, been so welcoming and I have been so relaxed as feel my daughter is well looked after when she is with you”.
“At open mornings and greeting in the morning I can see my daughter likes all members of staff”.
“All staff are very friendly, it makes my child feel safe and cared for”.
Unfortunately, the end of the Summer term also saw us lose Kelly who was made redundant due to low attendance and not breaking even financially. Kelly was a fantastic Early Years Practitioner and we were extremely sorry to see her leave us, however, she was quickly snapped up by another Early Years setting.
We began the new academic year with a full house. However this was also due to our SENCO and Room Leader handing in her notice on the first day of term. We had a lot of children return to us and a majority of these children claimed 30 hour funding. This impacts on staff lunch times as we need to ensure there are enough staff to closely watch children whilst they eat. Staff are continually flexible at adjusting their lunch breaks to ensure children are supervised.
Flexibility has had to become second nature to staff. October half term saw us lose our second member of staff and although we were in ratio with the children, it left little flexibility that staff have previously had. Staff have adapted, however this has not been easy. We are extremely lucky working at Preschool that staff have worked together for a long time and are able to adapt and adjust. An additional impact on staff are the number of Special Needs (SEN) children attending the session. We currently have 5 SEN children, although these children do not require 1-1 support they do require extra interventions and support throughout the session. We receive inclusion funding for these children which covers some of the cost of staff wages to run intervention support.
Preschool life is all about reflecting: reflecting on staff practice, activities provided, development of staff and learning and development of children. Reflection enables us to ensure we are meeting the needs of the children as well as meeting the standards set out by the Department for Education and Ofsted. We do this through weekly catch up meetings, staff meetings, inset days as well as regular audits from the Local Authority and observations of staff and children. Reflection makes us step back and see what we are doing well and what not so well. A key item we are working on in Preschool has been our planning. Planning is done to ensure all children’s learning and development needs are met through differentiated activities which need to be planned for, in advance and in the moment.
We continue to reflect on how to move Preschool forward and make it better. For the last couple of years we have had Covid to deal with which forced us to change some practice, some for the better, but not all of them. We are reintroducing parents open sessions, however with less staff these do seem harder to organise. For Christmas we held our performance during a normal Preschool session where parents were invited to come in and take part in art activities first. It was our best performance yet! We also held a great soup lunch which was attended by 14 parents. Parents made a donation for bowls of soup and we made a wonderful £117. Moving forward we hope to introduce regular stay and plays, and special breakfast mornings. Working in conjunction with the church we hope to have a staff member in coffee morning once a half term to be an extra friendly face to encourage
our parents to attend. We also hope to work with lunch club for some fun intergenerational work.
We have had many ups and downs throughout the year, but we continue to focus on the ups, which definitely out way the downs. We have had many highlights over the year also and relish in watching the achievement the children make. Some of the highlights of staff are Kristy completed her Masters, Jane has nearly finished her Early Years Foundation Degree and 5 members of staff have committed to completing a 6- month Early Years Professional Development programme. All of these staff commitments ensure children are given the highest quality care we can offer. Jade has been appointed new SENCO, passed her probationary period and is fulfilling the role extremely well and Jane has been appointed Room Leader and is due to complete her probation period in July.
This term we enjoy supporting those children leaving us to become school ready and make their transition to school as smooth as possible, and the children staying with us, continuing to watch them learn and grow and support them for the next stage in their development.
The most important acknowledgment that needs to be made is to the parents. Without them we wouldn’t have the children in our care. But we also want to thank them for trusting us to look after the most precious thing to them and allowing us to share the joys of their children. We also want to thank them for working with us to support their children and for being such wonderful people themselves.
Kristy Bartlett Manager
Pre-School Committee (Trustees) Annual Report
This report covers the period April 2022 to March 2023.
Setting and Operation
As you read Kristy’s Manager’s Report you will notice several key words that summarise the last year in the setting.
Flexibility. This has been a year when the strength of the staff team has flexed to ensure the same outstanding provision of the children in the setting.
Reflective Leadership . Modelled by the Manager, but with each member of the team as part of their practice, considering how they can best support an individual child, build relationships with parents and carers, and continue their own professional development.
What is also clear as you read the report but also any time you speak to Kristy or any of team is their enjoyment of what they do, their drive to provide the best possible care and developmental opportunities for the children and their resilience to work with circumstances beyond their control, which thankfully this year has not included a pandemic.
Committee and Staffing
Teamwork . The team know each other well and work together well. That made it especially difficult when the decision was made to make a member of staff redundant. We could not continue to run the setting at a financial loss. I am personally thankful for the way in which the team worked together through this difficult process. I am pleased, and not surprised that Kelly was able to secure new employment.
A strength of this team is their ongoing commitment to professional development as outlined in the Manager’s Report. Kristy completing her Master of Research in Education is of course a particular highlight. Through our regular supervision sessions, it has been good to see how her confidence has grown and her expertise recognised not only within the setting but in the wider professional community too. During these times we also discuss any Safeguarding concerns. Kristy ensures that all staff safeguarding training is up to date and included in each staff meeting.
However, as others have also been on their own journey of up-skilling it was good news that we have been able to promote within the team to fill the vacancy of SENCO, (Jade), and the role of Room Leader, (Jane).
Finances
In 2021 the setting ran at a loss with a deficit of £10, 603. In 2022 this was turned into a positive balance at the end of the year of £7,504. As detailed above this was due to difficult decisions about staffing and some internal re-organisation of staff roles. The accounts show a healthy reserve which would cover the costs incurred should the setting need to close with a term’s notice.
Conclusion
The trustees would like to express their thanks to the team for their continued hard work this year. It is good to hear the buzz of children being dropped off and picked up and to see how much they enjoy coming to St Richard’s Pre-school. The comments from parents affirms this.
Children are part of the Pre-school for such a short time, although families sometimes longer where there are siblings who come along. I look forward to working with Kristy and the team and parents to see how we can continue that connection with the St Richard’s community, perhaps through midweek lunches and the church coffee morning.
Finally, I want to thank my fellow trustees, Gosia and Debi, who have contributed to our meetings and our discussions. They have also completed Safeguarding Training to the level required for trustees. Thank you. And, to our Independent Examiner David, who works with Kristy and our Deputy Manager, Hem, to keep track of our finances and prepare the annual accounts. Thank you to all of you for your time and commitment.
Revd Deborah Wignall
Committee Chair
St Richard's CE Preschool Charity No. 1178927 Report & Accounts 31 December 2022 Content5 Page Independent Examinerfs Report on the Accounts Income & Expenditure Acmunt Statement of Assets & Llabilrties Page I I
St Richard's CE Preschool Charity No. 1178927 Independent Examiners, Report to the Trustees of the St Richard's CE Preschool for the year ended 31 December 2022 Respectlve responslbllltles ol trustees and examlner The charrtvs trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charitle5 Art 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charit5e5 Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Direction5 8iven by the Charity Commission (under section 1451511bl of the Charitie5 Act. and to State whether particular matters have come to my attentlon. 8•sls of Independent ex•mlnerfs statement My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or dis¢losure5 in the accounts, and seekin8 explanations from the trustees ¢oncernin8 such matters. The pr¢xedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be requlred in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fairf view and the report is limited io those matters set out in the Statement below. Independent examlnerfs statement In connertion with my examlnation. no matter5 has come to mv attentlon to indicate that: 111 which 8i¥es me reasonable cause to believe that. In anv materlal respett, the requirements: To keep accounting records in accordance wlth section 130 of the Charities Act.. To prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met.. or 121 to which. in my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned- Date- 24" April 2023 Mr David 8aggs A.C.A. li ymour Gardens, Hanworth. Middlesex. TW13 7PQ. Page12
St Richard's CE Preschool Charity No. 1178927 Detailed Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December 2022 Year Ended Year Ended 31 December 2022 31 Decembor 2021 INCOME Contract & Grant Fundln8 SLC Grants London 8orou8h Hounslow funding Job Retention Scheme grant 1.232 138.488 109,016 6,240 139,720 115,256 Other Fees & Income Subscriptions & other receipts Fundraising Donations Bank de posit i nterest 6,343 13,995 25 26 74 6,394 14,072 146.114 129,328 EXPENDITURE Wage5 & Salaries NEST pension contribution5 Printing, postage & stationery Materials and other resources Rent Insurance OFSTED registration Computer equipment Staff training Unif orms Subscription to Early Years Alliance Telephone Gifts Payroll management software Cooking Website hosting fee5 Repairs & renewals 112,839 3,3CO 114,739 3,436 1,780 1,807 12,( 562 3,150 637 113 857 1.268 777 115 178 220 1,831 115 120 229 119 260 452 16 144 31 1138,6101 1139,9311 Surplus / l Deficit) for the year 110,603 Page13
St Richard's CE Preschool Charity No. 1178927 Detailed Statement of Assets & Liabilities for the year ended 31 December 2022 31 December 2022 31 December 2021 Current Assets Bank savings Alc Bank current Alc Cash balances to be banked 31,074 64.391 533 31,048 54,403 367 95.998 85,818 Credltorn amounts falllng due wlthln one yoar C)eferred income PAYEINIC'S Sundry accruals IS,¢XO 1, 182 1,453 13,C 1,459 5CQ 78,363 70,859 Unrestrlcted Income ReseNes Balan blfwd Surplus / Ideficitl of receipts over expenditure 70,8S9 81.462 10,603 8alance c/fwd 78,363 70,859 Approval of the Accounts The account5 have been approved by the tru5tee5 On 24 April 2023. Revd Debs Wignall Trustee Pa8e14