2025-04-05-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 2025

Annual Report For the year September 2024 – July 2025

After ending the term in July 2025, 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 2024 start numbers: Morning sessions high 20s with afternoons still relatively low at less then 10 per session. By January 2025, mornings were at their maximum of 24 per session, afternoon at maximum of 16 due to staffing ratios. Still waiting to begin Forest School as we have been waiting on fencing and gate works to be completed and still waiting for planning permission for the outdoor classroom.

The Cwtch (our setting for children with Social Communication Needs) start numbers, 6 per session in both morning and afternoons .Children attending have more complex needs. These 6 children will be with us for the whole academic year with no other children joining mid year.

April 2025, an exciting time for Little Rascals as we saw the opening of our dedicated outdoor preschool, Forest Friends. The fencing has been erected as well as the outdoor classroom. We are registered for eight children in the morning and eight children in the afternoons for three days a week. This has been very popular as has the Friday morning Parent & Toddler sessions in Forest School, with often well over 20 children attending with parents/grandparents.

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 November 2023 (report online). Little Rascals are also registered with ESTYN as Early Years Education providers providing children also with quality education (last inspection 2023 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 through the 30 Hour Childcare Offer. 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.

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.

Lauren Oakley is the Room Playleader, working towards Level 5 in childcare and management. Cally is our Deputy, working towards Level 5 in childcare and management. Hannah, Level 5 is the room Leader of The Cwtch. All other members of staff 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.

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 support a substantial amount of CPD training, 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.

Running Costs ~ This year’s fees remained £15 as more children are now attending from Flying Start areas. Although we are based in the ICC, we pay rent and we receive no grant funding to support running costs. Flying Start funding has increased and this year which enables Little Rascals to remain sustainable.

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 – Big Garden shelter

Forest School Fencing and Outdoor Classroom

Forest School storage shed

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.

Educ8 – Training Incentive Scheme

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Group Visits/Visitors Careers Choice sessions Role Play Lane Mountain View Ranch Colliers Farm Cwmni Blodau Haul – song sessions Ready Steady Music – music and movement sessions Cross County visits to other settings

Achievements

Successful opening of the Forest School outdoor preschool – Forest Friends Included in the Transition Project with Merthyr Council Successfully refurbished the setting in line with the Curiosity Approach

Celebrations

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

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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.

Angela Samuel Manager/Secretary

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