2023-04-05-accounts - Little Rascals Playgroup

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Little Rascals Preschool Limited Address :Cwm Golau Integrated Children’s Centre Duffryn Road, Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil. CF48 4BJ Tel No: 07760227106 ~ Email: littlerascalspreschool@live.co.uk Facebook: Little Rascals Preschool Registered Company Number: 06750544 Registered Charity Number: 1181400

Little Rascals Preschool

Dated July 2023

Annual Report For the year September 2022 – July 2023

After ending the term in July 2023, Little Rascals decided to close for the six weeks of the Summer Holidays in order to give all members of staff a well earned break.

September 2022 saw Little Rascals returning with numbers of children attending reasonably low, but with the forthcoming Flying Start expansion due it was expected that numbers would increase, which by July all morning sessions were at maximum with only a few session available in the afternoons. Although there would be occasional cases of Covid 19, none had any impact on the running of the setting. An exciting time for Little Rascals was going to be the opening of ‘The Cwtch’. This is a second smaller room within the ICC supporting children with Social Communication Needs where school places are not available. Children from the age of 3 years would be attending from the start of the Spring Term 2023. The room Leader and myself were in meetings to discuss which children would be attending the room, what support would be needed and any training. In January 2023 we saw 6 children attend morning sessions and 6 in the afternoons. Although, children are given the opportunity for free play and the usual craft activities and sensory play, interventions are put in place to support children’s communication, attention and listening skills and language development. By the end of July 2023, 16 children from The Cwtch transitioned into either mainstream, LRB units or a School based Early Intervention Class. Little Rascals main room also saw 16 children move on to main stream school.

The following information includes the annual running of the setting:

Regulatory Procedures ~ Little Rascals is a Company limited by Guarantee but not for profit, with Charitable Status. Little Rascals continue to run within the CIW guidelines on ratios of 1:4 children who are 2 years old, 1:8 with 3 year olds providing children with quality care. We are CIW registered, our last inspection was in May 2018 (report online). Little Rascals are also registered with ESTYN as Early Years Education providers providing children also with quality education (last inspection 2015 report online). Being ESTYN registered provides parents of children, in the term after their third birthday, with part funded places. Also, for eligible parents we can provide 30 hours per week of Education and Childcare if the child does not attend school. Little Rascals is also registered as a Flying Start setting, allowing children in the term after their second birthday free access of up to 12.5 hours per week.

17[th] March, 2020 would have seen us being inspected by both ESTYN and CIW in a joint inspection. Unfortunately, on 16[th] March, we were informed that this was not going to go ahead due to Covid 19. We are still awaiting information as to when our inspection will next go ahead. We have an up to date, July 2023, Self Evaluation Report and CIW Quality of Care Report. We have also put together a Development Plan for September 2023 to July 2024.

Management Structure ~ Hannah Hughes is a past parent who continues to be our Chair of the Committee. Karen Roberts, again a past parent, also continues to be our Treasurer. Myself as Secretary on the Committee, Manager for the Preschool.

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Leadership and Management

Staff ~ Angie (myself) continues in a managerial role (behind the scenes) but am on occasions seen within the setting.

Sarah Mathias is the Room Playleader

Lauren is our Deputy

Hannah who has now completed her Level 5 is now the room Leader of The Cwtch. All other members of staff are qualified to Level 3: Tara, Denise, Ceri, Cally, Kali, Ellie, Sarah McCarthy and Natalie are qualified to level 3.

Anna who is also qualified to Level 3, returned to us after an extended maternity leave has taken on the role of Additional Needs CoOrdinator.

In May this year, we welcomed back an old member of staff Becca, who is also a Level 3.

Weekly Themes/Planning ~ We continue to plan for children’s learning and experiences based on weekly themes. Photos of these activities are posted on the Facebook Closed Group Parent page weekly. We also have a public page showing these activities, but there are no pictures of the children. We are now working within the New Curriculum for Wales and enjoy giving the children authentic experiences in which to learn through play and play based activities.

Children’s Progress ~ All children are allocated a keyworker. Within the first six weeks of them starting in Little Rascals, the child’s keyworker will have arranged to meet with the parent to discuss assessments that have been carried out over the six weeks and the children’s next steps. At any time the child is with us, parents are more than welcome to arrange a meeting with their child’s keyworker to discuss progress or at the beginning and end of each session if parents wish to know, the keyworker will be available to inform of progress or about how the child’s day has been. All staff are happy to talk to parents so at any time parents can feel free to talk to any member of staff about their child’s day. At time of the child’s transition to school, a One Page Profile is completed, which is discussed with the parent and is then sent to the school the child is attending. Wellcomm assessments, which assess children speech and language skills and understanding, are carried out throughout the year and again, at transition, these assessments are shared with the receiving school. A weekly online learning journal, through the App SeeSaw, is shared with parents about their child’s progress and development with accompanying photos.

Links with Outside Agencies ~ We have had good links with all the receiving school of the children leaving us in July. A transition forum was arranged where Nursery and Head Teachers from the school receive the One Page Profile and Transition Document in person from our Leader and the children’s development discussed. This year we have a good link with College with students attending to complete a Level 3 qualification. Other links include Early Years Wales, who supported funding from the Arts Council for Wales, for the setting to develop children Creative Arts through Music and Movement, Cymryd Rhan who have supported with Business advice, EY Advisory Teacher, Health Visitors, Speech and Language, Barnardos, Educational Psychologist, Occupational Therapist and The Flying Start team.

Training Undertaken ~ All staff continue to undertake mandatory training (every three years) and optional training (resulting in some closure days). Mandatory training includes: Safeguarding, Paediatric First Aid and Food Hygiene. Staff also undertake their own Continuous Professional Development attending courses. Enhanced Support CoOrdinator and Leader attended regular forums. More training this last year has been carried out face to face.

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Running Costs ~ This year’s fees increased £15. We continue to strive to provide affordable childcare but with increasing costs, minimum wage and rent, it was necessary to increase our session costs. Although we are based in the ICC, we pay rent and we receive no grant funding to support running costs. All incoming fees are our only source of income and all outgoings are taken from these. With the expansion of Flying Start, many more children were able to access 5 sessions for free.

Allergens ~ Little Rascals provides a daily snack for the children. The child’s registration form informs us of any allergies the child may have. Regulations state that we must keep a record of all allergens in the food we provide. This is available upon request. A daily menu is displayed on the parent notice board and posted on our closed Facebook parents group page.

Fundraising/Grant Funding

This year it was decided to take part in Operation Christmas Child again – Christmas shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse, although not as many boxes as in the past, we were very grateful for those received.

Food collection and toiletries for the homeless – this we did and all donations were gratefully received by the local charity Children in Need Red Nose Day

Little Rascals were successful in receiving capital funding from the Welsh Government towards: Capital grant items – Kitchen Area within The Cwtch Large Wooden Shelter in Forest School Area

Other funding supported Forest School sessions for other users at the ICC plus a weekly Parent & Toddler Forest School Group, which also ran for 4 weeks during the Summer holidays.

Arts Council Funding – Creative Movement Keep Wales Tidy – Wild flower garden area Educ8 – Training Incentive Scheme

Group Visits/Visitors

Careers Choice sessions Role Play Lane Mountain View Ranch Cwmni Blodau Haul – music sessions Louby Loo Storytelling Sticks & Stones – Forest School session

Achievements

Successful opening of the Pilot of The Cwtch – for children with Social Communication Needs Included in the Transition Project with Merthyr Council Forest School Leader Level 3 completed course training

Celebrations

Divali Thanksgiving Christmas A.A. Milne Birthday Chinese New Year St. Dwynwen’s Day, St. David’s Day World Book Day

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Mother’s Day Easter King’s Coronation

Father’s Day Independence Day

Premises ~ The premises indoors continues to be in good repair. It continues to have calm, welcoming and warm atmosphere. Outdoors is well resources to support children’s learning. We also have use a large garden area with fixed play equipment and also the small play area with climbing equipment. The Forest School area is resourced using mainly natural resources.

Parking ~ This is a real difficult issue for the centre who have tried in vain to ensure the safety of children coming to and leaving the Preschool. At no time should parents park on double yellow lines, on the pavement or in the disabled bays. Parents are also asked be mindful of travelling to and from the car park at a safe speed. As we and the Centre have a duty of care, we must ask that parents do not leave children in cars unattended at any time.

Safeguarding ~ Safeguarding and Child Protection are our priority at Little Rascals. We have an open door policy where values such as honesty, fairness and respect are fostered. All staff adhere to essential policies and procedures, such as Safeguarding, Confidentiality, Child Protection, Health and Safety, Fire Safety and Behaviour Management. All staff attend regular Child Protection and Safeguarding courses. Senior staff have attended the Level 3 Child Protection and Safeguarding training and also MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) and Prevent Duty training. All staff are aware of MASH and the process for Child Protection. All staff are aware of the new law against smacking and the process should they witness this. At the first initial meeting with parents, they are informed that should we have any Safeguarding concerns regarding their children, we can and will inform Social Services and/or MASH. All staff have also attended ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) training. All staff recruited complete an application form with names for two references, one from their most recent employer. Any breaks in employment need an explanation and is documented. The setting is safe and secure with enclosed fencing, high level gate latches and internally high level exit button and handles. At the beginning of each session children are collected from their parents at the main gate and at the end of the session, parents are let into the setting through the intercom system to collect their children. The main gate is locked at all times and has an intercom video system. The main gate can only be opened by a member of staff. Fire and Risk Assessments are carried out termly as are fire drills. Offsite risk assessments are carried out as necessary. If a child enters preschool with a pre-existing injury, we ask parents to let a member of staff know. Internally, the exit buttons and handles have been raised to enforce the safety of the children. Little Rascals continue to conform to the General Data Protection Regulations. Annually, Little Rascals complete the Local Authority Safeguarding toolkit and actions from it are carried out. Termly Risk Assessments and Fire Risk Assessments/drills are carried out.

Facebook/e-mail ~ Little Rascals are on Facebook: Little Rascals Preschool Closed Parents’ Group and also Little Rascals Preschool public group for information purposes only. This last year LR have put photos of children on Facebook (with parents’ permission) of the weekly activities the children carry out based on the themes. Should you wish to contact the Manager/Leader via e-mail the address is littlerascalspreschool@live.co.uk We also have a Forest School Parent & Toddler group email page.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff in Little Rascals for all their care and education they continue to give to the children. I would also like to say thankyou to all parents who support the preschool in many ways, and show their gratitude with so many thankyou presents to the staff at the end of term. I would especially like to thank our Management Committee who carry out their role unpaid and for their support of the Preschool.

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Angela Samuel Managerlsecretary pg.5

Little Rascals Preschool Limited Address:Cwm 6oltw Integrnted Children'$ Centre Duffryn fioad. Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil. CF48 48J Tel No: OT160227106 - Email: IittlerascalspreschoolIy¢o.I Facebook: Little PAscais Presthool Little Rascals Preschool Little Rascals Preschool Income and Expenditure Account- 2022 - 2023 In ome Parent Fees Ftying Start FeesTrundiDg Early Years Fee5ffiunding FArly Start FeeslFunding Child¢are Offer Feesffiunding FlyÈng Stsrt ALN EY ALN Other Wages innIningmPI&SP Grants EYGF and RRRS Grnots Mi]k Reimbursement Reserve Accouni 75620 16568 IV2125 1121.611 IS797A6 03331 14496.05 19,940.73 liJ79.40 9Q031.42 795.43 TO1 Income 24ST7725 Ex Wages Ftying Sthrt Enbanced Supp(rt wages Tax & Natio11 InsuT8nce Pensions R¢nt (132.439.12) (3,033.31) (7.945.02) (3.410.58) (12.555.06) (690.74) {41927) {167.40) (817.60) (1,595.58) (1.616.42) {64.055.85) (1237.(} (467.89) (91.02) (2211.55) (1,487.IK)) (159.78) Hygiene Snack Craft Equipment EducationaVPlay Equi IT Equipment Unifonn Bank Charges Staff Welfare & Training Trips Revol tsd Cw Ov¢T (234.4CKI.19) Surplus Funds to C*ny Fornrd liJ77.06 4&12&12 Closing Balance clf Accountant Signattwe . . Company ........