## **HARBURY PRE-SCHOOL** ## **Learning Through Play** ## **Harbury Preschool AGM** **Wednesday 21[st] October 2020. 7.45 pm** **Meeting chaired by Kate Holliday Minutes taken by Carrie-Anne Heath** ## **Apologies:** ## **Attendees:** Kate Holliday (Chair) Kathryn Prance (Treasurer) Carrie-Anne Heath (Secretary) Clare Trimnell (Committee Member and social media) Sarah Jackson (Committee Member) Sophie Broome (Committee Member) Catherine Kilbey (Preschool Manager) Anne Stanton (Deputy Manager) Deborah Williamson (Staff) Sophia Green (Staff) Emma Chandler (Staff) Jane Ekins (Book keeper) Sharon Hancock (Library Committee Chairperson) Clare Hemming (Parent) Dave Browne (Parent) Hedy Muhleck (Parent) ## **Welcome and Introduction – Kate Holliday** ## **- Minutes of Last AGM Meeting Kate Holliday** The minutes from the last AGM to be agreed. ## **’ – Chairperson s Annual Report Kate Holliday** ## **Overview of 2019/20 academic year** - We started this school year in September 2019 blissfully unaware of what lay ahead. We had just completed some of the pre-school renovations and we looking forward to welcoming new and returning children. The year started well with hugely positive feedback about the new look and new toys as well the care the children received from the staff. - The Autumn Term is expected to be fairly quiet as many of the previous year’s intake have left to go to primary school. September 2019 we welcomed 16 children 8 new and 8 returning. The Spring term saw a further 8 children with 5 more planned for the Summer term. - In early March we had our Ofsted assessment and was awarded “outstanding” no small achievement - From mid-March onwards all planning went out of the window and due to Government guidelines around Covid-19 the Pre-school along with all schools had to close. All staff except Catherine Kilbey, the Manager were furloughed and the preschool doors were closed until we were able to reopen on 4[th] June. - It became very clear opening in line with the government guidelines would be challenging from both financial and operational perspective. However after reading through guidelines, talking to staff and looking at the finances Catherine and the Committee agreed a plan and confirmed that the preschool would open for morning sessions only. This would allow for the staff ratio’s to be increased, time for deep cleaning every afternoon and for staggered drop off and pick-ups. Throughout this the consideration of the staff and children’s well-being was paramount. - With support from the local Parish Council and the Mini Beasts Challenge we were able to bridge most of the financial gap and take the pressure of a little for following school year. - Kathryn Prance (Treasurer) will go into more detail on our finances and how they have been effected over the last year - We have also undertaken a marketing plan for promoting the Pre-school and its new “Outstanding” rating – Clare will go into more details in her report - Despite all the past challenges, the ones we are currently dealing with and the new ones that will inevitably come our way I am please do say that we are welcoming more children this year and have new enquiries on a regular basis so we are hopeful for a good 2020/21 ## **Things to work on:-** - Surviving is our focus! - Continuing to support the children, their families, our team and each other - Ensuring we have a bank balance that will enable us to survive another lockdown - Fundraising with the aim to create more fully funded spaces (1 fully funded place costs around £900 per year using 15 hours per week) ## **- Treasurers Report Kathryn Prance** A summary of the numbers for 2019/2020: Total Income 68,797.30 Total Expenditure 75,874.38 Nett Profit/Loss -£7,077.08 Grants Brought Forward from 2019 £29,062.00 New grants award in 2020 £15,451.21 Fundraising raised in 2020 £3,770.19 Grant expenditure in 2020 £20,288.29 Grant pot remaining for future £24,484.22 projects Whilst the loss of £7,077.08 seems like a large number, we’ve got to split out our grant expenditure from our genuine incomes and expenditures to see the true loss. So, this year, thanks to the fantastic fundraising efforts of the parents and committee we have managed to mitigate a big proportion of our losses due to COVID-19. Meaning our genuine loss is £2,499.30. The remaining £4,577.78 loss has come out of our grant pot which was rather substantial at the end of the last financial year. This money has all been ear marked for improvement projects that will make the pre-school more future proof and will help it serve the community better. A lot of the grant money that we have been awarded this year has been used to help us cover the costs of additional supplies, PPE equipment and cleaning materials. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to use any of the grant money (awarded this year or last year) to help us cover the financial struggles we faced with COVID-19 as they stipulate they are not to be used against staff wages or running costs. Which is why the monumental amount that was raised by parents during the Mini-Beast challenge was so important. We have spent a large proportion of the grant money on a brand-new kitchen, improving the outdoor garden and buying new toys and equipment for the children. We now have a remaining £21,415.78 of the grant pot. And we have been awarded a special £5k from the National Lottery to help towards all our COVID-19 losses. If anyone is interested, we have a spreadsheet for details on what we’ve spent the grant money on this year and what we’ve received and from who. ## – **Fundraising Report Sarah Jackson** **Harbury Pre-School Fundraising Report** ## Fundraising Report I’m pleased to report that 2019/20 was a successful year for fundraising holding our usual community events. Unfortunately the pandemic prevented us from running the carnival BBQ which normally generates a large percentage of our annual fundraising income. In lieu of this we arranged a sponsored Mini Beast Hunt which proved to be a great success. We have also been fortunate to receive additional support in terms of grants, funding and goodwill from Harbury Parish Council, Harbury WI, The National Lottery, Stratford District Council, Harbury Wheelbarrow Race, Leamington Dulux Paints, P Lloyd and the Door & Kitchen Store. This has enabled us to purchase a new play kitchen and listening centre, decorate and make improvements to the outside play area including new planters, repair of the playhouse, weatherproof shed doors, replace our main kitchen, carpet and utility area, general maintenance and pay for additional Covid 19 measures necessary to re-open and operate safely. Parent Fundraising Oct Coffee Morning £198 Nov Speed Quiz £719 Nov/Dec Santa’s Grotto at Village Christmas Fair £150 Dec Carnival Donation £50 Dec Local Produce Market £437 July Mini-Beast Hunt £1928 June BBQ £0 Total parent managed fundraising = £3482 Other Funding Parish Council for new Play kitchen £1,464 Women’s Institute for new listening Centre £400 Parish Council for COVID improvements £2,679 Stratford District council for garden £1,000 Harbury Wheelbarrow Race £182 Lottery £5,000 P Lloyd £27 Total other funding = £10,752 ## **Marketing Update- Claire Trimnell** During the last year there has been a greater emphasis on having more of an external presence through a mix of increased Facebook activity, advertising of fundraising and spaces, as well as links with local press. Here’s some of the things we’ve been up to: ## **Change of design to Marketing material** - Adding more colourful images to create impact - Use of Ofsted Outstanding logo ## **More Facebook presence** - Increase in helpful content, particularly at the moment around C19, as well as updates on the Pre School and what children are up to. - Use of Facebook to promote fundraising events, using our own pages but also local pages too like Harbury news. ## **Links created with a couple of local journalists** - Led to a feature in The Leamington Courier ## **2020 and beyond** - Increased use of Facebook - Use of Paid Ads via Facebook to promote spaces for new terms ## **Staf Report – Catherine Kilbey** This Year has been one we won’t forget for many reasons, and it just shows through hard work, determination and team work, how we can deliver some really successes: ## **Autumn Term** Our Autumn term played out like it has for many years filled with Autumn walks, Harvest festival, Diwali, and Christmas celebrations. We were thrilled to be able to share with the parents our Annual Nativity Song-time and have a special visitor at our Christmas party. It is always such as a special time of year to be able to share with our friends and families. We held our first Open Day and were blown away by the response and sign up. ## **Spring Term** Spring Term brought us more changes in the weather to explore and Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat. World Book Day was celebrated when children and staff dressed up as book characters and shared some of their favourite books, and on that day we received the call: Ofsted would be visiting the next day. Although we were all feeling nervous, it was clear from the very start to the Ofsted Lady that we had all of our paperwork in place, the children were engaged in their learning, and the staff team were knowledgeable and love working with the children. We were ecstatic with our Outstanding rating, and we are all so proud of our achievements. “Children are thriving in this pre-school. Staff are kind, warm and welcoming towards children. This helps them to feel safe and quickly settle into their day. The curriculum is very well planned and ambitious to meet the current needs of the children attending. Staff have high expectations of what each child can achieve. Children show excitement and are keen to take part in activities which draw on what they already know. They show positive attitudes towards learning and are eager to take on further challenges. This helps them to develop their knowledge even further. As a result, children are making more than typical progress from their starting points. They are developing the skills they need and more, in preparation for their eventual move on to school. Children are highly engaged in activities that are planned for them. Children behave exceptionally well. Staff are excellent role models who help them to understand the feelings of others and what they can do to make their friends feel happy.” Just 2 weeks later, the Country went into lockdown and we closed our doors for the next 10 weeks. Communication through email and Facebook continued with activity ideas and links; and support where needed. ## **Summer Term** The Government announced that schools and childcare would re-open from 1[st] June, a challenge no one at Pre-School had any experience of. The staff and Committee all felt that we should try to offer some sessions despite the reduction in numbers of children returning, and ultimately it came at a financial cost. The Summer term would have been a really busy term, with most sessions full, however this was not to be the case. Some families chose to keep their children at home due to their perceived risks out in society and the Committee felt that these families should not be charged to do so. There were numerous Government documents and updates to read through, stringent risk assessments and policies to be written, and whole new procedures to be worked through. The priority was to be able to re-open safely for the children and staff. We are really proud of the fact that eventually all but 2 children starting school in September 2020 came back to PreSchool for some time before moving on. It was great to see the children back, and we adapted to our new bubbles, cleaning regimes, staggered starts and finishes, and changes in how we worked our planning and resources. We really missed the Summer Carnival, which is a highlight of our year, our Summer outing and end of term family picnic. However we made sure that the children had a good send off with 2 Pre-School parties including party games, party food and treats to take home. We want to thank all of the parents and families who supported our Mini Beast walk, and we were blown away by the money it managed to raise to help boost Pre-School funds. Never to rest on our laurels, we had to start planning our return in September and ensuring we could open full time again. It was a very busy 6 weeks holiday with lots of improvement work going on at Pre-School, a substantial roofing leak to get fixed, and new procedures being written to ensure we could welcome back more children. ## **Pre-School Works** Thank you to the Parish Council, Cllr Bob Stevens (who has sadly since passed away) and The National Lottery for their financial support this Year. The money gained enabled Pre-School to be able to re-coup some of it’s losses due to COVID, and to make us more COVID secure. We have been able to update our outside secure play area so that we can spend more time outside in all weather conditions, purchase easily cleaned resources, and had a new kitchen fitted with a dishwasher and cooker. More money has had to be invested in daily cleaning of Pre-School and additional cleaning products and PPE purchased. Outside we have new planters, a music wall and covered small group area for the children to enjoy. Thank you to Julian Collis for all of his hard work replacing, fixing, painting and building. Thank you to Amber at Wonderwall for her amazing Jungle Mural outside, the children love it. Thank you to The Kitchen and Door Store for installing the new more usable kitchen. And thank you to Christal Designs Ltd for their work on the Pre-School roof which we hope following more work over half term will be finally weather proof. ## **Links with Harbury Church** We would like to thank Gill Guilford and Reverend Ann for their support over the past year and taking time to visit Pre-school. The children have loved their visits linked with Harvest and Christmas and we look forward to meeting Reverend Andy in the future. ## **Links to Harbury Library** Thank you to Sue and the library for their Monday afternoon story time. The children really enjoyed listening to the stories and choosing their own books to look at. We are sad that we are unable to continue this this term, but we will look forward to a time when it will be safe for us to return. Thank you also to Sharon Hancock and her team for their support over the Summer when we unfortunately had huge roofing problems resulting in several floods in the main playroom. We are pleased to report that this seems to now be resolved. The library have kindly offered to cover our joint utility bills until the end of the year which is a great financial support. ## **Links with Harbury School** It is very important that we maintain our strong links with our local school. Although we could not take the children for school visits this Year, Ms Guymer supported the transition of our children to school with parents being able to take their children for a school visit and a gradual build up of sessions. We have heard positive reports about how they have all settled in. ## **Staffing** Catherine continued into her third year as Pre-School Manager, with Anne working on Child Development as Deputy Manager, and Deborah in her additional roles as administrator and SENDCo. Catherine, Anne, Deborah and Sophia continued to be session leaders supported by Emma. We are pleased that Emma is now taking on the responsibility of leading session too. Jane has continued to work with Pre-School as our book keeper which is a great support in keeping on top of the funding, fees and figures. Sadly Vonnie has decided to take early retirement, we wish her and her Husband all the best for their future travels. Vonnie will support us for the time being as Bank staff. We are very proud of our dedicated hard-working team through a transitioning Year. We have welcomed Claire McGurk as Bank Staff, and Carrie-Anne Heath and Chrissie Mcveigh as cleaning staff. All 3 have proven to be such great support during these changing times and welcome assets to our team. ## **Thank you to staff, parents and Committee** We would like to thank the Committee and the parents for supporting the fundraising events over the year. We would also like to recognise the commitment of time that busy Committee members and Parents have given to Pre-School. Every little bit helps, and we continue to rely on their support in fundraising and gaining Grant money. Thank you to Kate, Kathryn, CarrieAnne, Clare, and Sophie who have agreed to continue with their roles on the Committee for another year. Having a consistent Committee team helps to keep the momentum up on making necessary changes and has helped to build a much stronger Committee/Staff team which is so important. I would like to thank Anne, Deborah, Sophia and Emma for their continued hard work to ensure that we are delivering the best care and curriculum for the children. They have worked hard as a team, covering each other’s sessions when necessary, and shared ideas on how we can make improvements to the way we work. We could not have gained our “Outstanding” Ofsted with out them. These past 2 half terms have brought in lots of new changes in the way we need to work, and has dramatically increased our workload, but everyone has adapted and we are still smiling!! ## **Safeguarding** Safeguarding continues to be one of our main priorities. Lockdown gave Catherine the time to update all of our policies and procedures, and write a new Parent Induction and Safeguarding Induction. All staff have up to date Child Protection and First Aid Training. ## **The future** Our focus still continues to be on maintaining a secure, happy and nurturing environment in which the children can flourish. We work hard to support each child as an individual in partnership with their family and create opportunities for them to build on their personal experiences and prior learning. We hope that with the help of our newly elected Committee supported by all the parents and staff, this year we will be able to continue building our Outstanding Pre-School to full capacity of children. ## **To Finish- Kate Holliday** - I would like to thank all the committee members for all their help and support over the last year, Kat has kept a handle on the finances and kept me sane, Clare managed the Marketing, Sarah project managed the garden renovations and applied for grants along with Carrie-Anne who also kept our meetings on track as well as managed the Mini Beasts challenge. Not to forget Sophie who provided morale support throughout (while having her 3[rd] baby boy!) no small feat! - Huge thanks goes to Catherine Kilbey, without her none of this would be able to happen she is truly the glue that keeps us all together. - Additional thanks goes to Anne, Deborah, Sophia and Emma for all their hard work and for supporting Catherine. As well as Carrie-Ann and Chrissie for all their nightly cleaning to ensure the pre-school is safe and ready to welcome the children every day. - I am immensely proud to be part of the Pre-school team, despite all the challenges everyone has pulled together to do what they can to make sure the children are cared for and educated in a safe, calm, friendly and welcoming environment. Catherine and her team go the extra 1000 miles to make sure everything is safe without any fuss or stress to anyone else! Thank you!!!!! **Election of new committee: Kate Holliday** **Farewell to :** Sarah Jackson. Thank you again for all your hard work moving the Pre-School forward over the past 4 years. She has played a huge role in resolving the legal status of the Committee, organised many fundraising events and project managed all of the garden repainting this Summer Registered Number 07322726 HARBURY PRE-SCHOOL .Micro-entity Accounts 31 August 2020 HARBURY PRE.SCHOOL Registered Number 07322726 miCr￿entitV Balance Sheet as at 31 August 2020 2020 2(JJ9 Fixed Assets 73,175 77.846 Current Assets 39,168 46.431 Creditors: arnounts falling due within one year Net current assets Olabilities) (3,974) {1.615) 35,194 44.816 Total assets less Current liabilities 108,J69 122,662 Total net assets {liabilities) 108,369 122,66? Reserves 108.169 122,662 For the year ending 31 August 2020 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating lo small companies. The member5 have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 7006. The dircctors acknoivl¥diJc their responsibilities for Complyin￿ with rhe requirements of the Companies Act ?006 with respect to accounling records and the preparation ol. accounts. The accounts have been prepared in accordance ￿'Ith the micnFenlily provisions and delivered in accordat]ce with the proN'isions applicable lo companies subject to the small companies regime. Approved by the Board on 8 January ?O?I And signed on their behalf by: K Hollidayy Dire¢lor HARBURY PRE.SCHOOL Registered Number 07322726 Notes to the Micro-entitv Account5 for the period ended 31 August 2020 Employees 2020 2019 Averagc numbcr of employees during the pcriod This docum¢nt was d¢liver¢d using ¢leclronic communications and authenticaled in accordance with the r¢gistrar's rules r¢laling to ¢l¢ctronic forni. authentication and mann¢r ot delivery under s¢¢tion 1072 of the Companies Act 2006. Registered Number 07322726 HARBURY PRE-SCHOOL .Micro-entity Accounts 31 August 2020 HARBURY PRE.SCHOOL Registered Number 07322726 miCr￿entitV Balance Sheet as at 31 August 2020 2020 2(JJ9 Fixed Assets 73,175 77.846 Current Assets 39,168 46.431 Creditors: arnounts falling due within one year Net current assets Olabilities) (3,974) {1.615) 35,194 44.816 Total assets less Current liabilities 108,J69 122,662 Total net assets {liabilities) 108,369 122,66? Reserves 108.169 122,662 For the year ending 31 August 2020 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating lo small companies. The member5 have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 7006. The dircctors acknoivl¥diJc their responsibilities for Complyin￿ with rhe requirements of the Companies Act ?006 with respect to accounling records and the preparation ol. accounts. The accounts have been prepared in accordance ￿'Ith the micnFenlily provisions and delivered in accordat]ce with the proN'isions applicable lo companies subject to the small companies regime. Approved by the Board on 8 January ?O?I And signed on their behalf by: K Hollidayy Dire¢lor HARBURY PRE.SCHOOL Registered Number 07322726 Notes to the Micro-entitv Account5 for the period ended 31 August 2020 Employees 2020 2019 Averagc numbcr of employees during the pcriod This docum¢nt was d¢liver¢d using ¢leclronic communications and authenticaled in accordance with the r¢gistrar's rules r¢laling to ¢l¢ctronic forni. authentication and mann¢r ot delivery under s¢¢tion 1072 of the Companies Act 2006.