Annual Return Report – 2022-2023
Annual General Meeting
Tuesday 10[th] October 2023 – Nursery Setting
Attended
Nursery Staff – Amanda Darley (AD), Victoria Bourne (VB), Fiona Jones (FJ), Susan Cook (SC), Julie Buchanan (JB), Charlotte Dawes (CD), Anna Millgate (AM)
Current Committee: Steven Burgess (SB) Treasurer and Gemma Brown (GB) Secretary
Parents/Carers: (see List of Attendees)
Apologies
Emily Johnson (EJ - Chairperson)
1. Welcome and Introductions : AD - Thank to all and great to have such a good turnout. Introduced CD and also current committee members SB and GB, apologised on behalf of EJ. Explained in EJ absence GB will be reading the Chairpersons report.
2. Matters Arising : AD – Please take a look at minutes from last year and confirm that you agree. All attendees agreed.
3. Chairpersons Report : GB read on behalf of EJ
4. Managers’ Report : AD read
5. Financial Report : FJ read
6. Resignation of current committee : GB and SB have agreed to stay on the committee. AD explained that being on the committee would entail attending committee meetings (approx. 3 throughout the year) but mainly communication would be carried out by email which at times would need responding to promptly. Also attend and help organise fundraising events.
7. Nomination and election of new committee :
-
Kerrie Shepherd was nominated by Amy Greening and also seconded by Amy Greening.
-
Amy Greening was nominated by Kerrie Shepherd and Steven Burgess seconded this.
-
Kristie Raymond was nominated by SC and JB seconded this. Caroline Lander and Charlotte Waugh nominated each other and GB seconded them.
Cara Picher and Jimena Judelsohn have said they will help out when needed and also Gabor Nadas said he could help out with any maintenance jobs that may need to be done in the garden.
8. Next meeting for the new committee: AD – Thanked everyone and that we have enough people to form a committee. All newly nominated committee members stayed along with FJ, AD, VB, SB and GB, all other attendees left prior to the start of the first committee meeting which followed.
Chairperson Report (Trustees Report)
Firstly, may I thank you for attending Ditton Lodge Community Nurseries AGM, 2023.
2023 has marked some significant staff changes, including the return of Amanda to take over as nursery manager and Vikki stepping into Helen’s role of Deputy, as Helen moved onto pastures new. Most recently of course, Charlotte started with us as our new nursery practitioner.
Every member of the team has continued to show terrific dedication, hard work and an immense loyalty to the nursery and the children. They never lose sight of their common goal; that Ditton Lodge Community Nursery remains a safe and fun place for our children to be. A place full of happiness, laughter, learning and adventure.
Some of the team also gave up much of their free time in the summer holidays to revamp the outside space and rearrange the inside area, in order to develop new opportunities and experiences for the children to enjoy.
Your nursery needs you! If you have an idea for fundraising, or you’d like to become more involved in nursery life, please let Amanda know. The committee needs volunteers. We rely on a committee in order to operate and it is a requirement of the charities commission and Ofsted. I can assure you that it isn’t a huge commitment, maybe a few hours a term. My biggest involvement was in the recruitment of a new nursery manager, which we hope we won’t have to do again anytime soon!
I have loved my time on the committee, as my daughter loved her time at the nursery. I owe so much to the staff who helped her develop into a confident little girl, ready for the next chapter of her journey.
Her move to school, also signals the start of a new routine and journey for me and I therefore feel it is time for me to step down from my role as chairperson. I know that new volunteers will be well guided by Amanda and the team, so please consider joining. Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t have some of the amazing equipment available for our children to enjoy. We have also seen settings close as they cannot fulfill the committee requirements. Let’s not let that happen to our wonderful nursery. Thank you.
Financial Report AGM 2022 - 2023
We have four bank accounts which consist of a ‘Current/General’ account, this is our working account. A ‘Reserve’ account, a ‘Redundancy’ account and a ‘Fundraising’ account.
We started the year in September 2022 with £15,577.95 in our current account and finished in August 2023 with £32,136.60.
Our total income into the Current Account was £130,455.04 (last year’s total was £140,263.51). Our Current Account consists mainly of Early Years Funding, consumable costs and session fees invoiced for hours not covered by funding. Our total expenditure was £113,896.59 (last year it was £133,479.77 ), with our main outgoings being wages, utilities/service charges and consumables.
The fundraising total for the year was approximately £1,000.00 . This year we had our pancake toddle, sponsored find and Christmas Fayre. As you are all aware fundraising money is vitally important to our Nursery as there are always things that need improving and updating.
In our Reserves account we have a total of £10,608.34 , £6,000.00 of this has been ring fenced for future rent payments. In here we aim to have 3 months running costs in.
In our Redundancy account we have a total of £16.960.95 , this will cover all redundancy costs should there be a need ever in the future.
We keep a very close eye on all of the spending. Each year budgets are set and we monitor these closely. We also regularly forecast where we are with the income v expenditure for the year. The years accounts are also sent to the Charity Commission who publishes them on their website.
Nursery Manager Report AGM 2023
1. Thank you!!
Thank you to everyone on the committee for their support throughout the year. We raised £1000 throughout the year in fundraising, sadly this was around £200 less than the previous year. Most fundraising events were organised and carried out in nursery but we did welcome families into session for our ever popular pancake toddle.
2. Staffing
I would like to thank my fantastic staff team for all their hard work over the past year. Helen sadly left us at the end of the summer after 10 years dedicated service to the nursery. Yesterday we welcomed the newest member of our team, Charlotte, we are all really looking forward to working with her getting know her. Charlotte has over 10 years’ experience working in Early Years and is qualified to Level 3. I am so proud of how hard the whole staff work, always putting the needs of the children first and striving to ensure that every child reaches their full potential.
3. Training
Training and keeping up to date on best practice is so important to us. Our most valuable resource is the adults. All staff attend training, and all mandatory training is kept up to date, this includes paediatric first aid, basic food hygiene and child protection which we all renew every 3 years. In addition to this some members of staff have a designated role for which they are responsible, and they therefore need training to fulfil their responsibilities, this includes child protection, Special needs, equalities and behaviour management.
4. Website/Social Media
Fiona continues to maintain our website, keeping it up to date, which she does brilliantly. Steven Burgess continues to support us if we get into any difficulty not only with our website but with technology in general, so l would also like to give big thank to him. We have public Instagram account and a private Facebook account which Vikki keeps updated for us, she is much better at this than I would be, thank you Vikki.
5. The past year –
To summarise...
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We have had our first full year of accepting 30-hour funding.
-
In October last year we held our first Open Morning for a number of years, welcoming, past, present and future families into our nursery.
-
We introduced Stay and Play sessions, where family members can come into nursery to play for an hour.
-
The Christmas Fayre was held again for the first time since Covid.
-
We used fundraising money to go towards a visit from Animal Ark for our summer fun day and the end of year party.
-
This year we have had a change of management team with me starting after February half term and Vikki stepping up as deputy in September.
-
Over the summer we used some fundraising money and kind donations from Wickes, Homebase and parents, to give our outdoor area a bit of a makeover. We have transformed the mud kitchen and installed a music area.
-
You will all be aware that we had 3 of our trikes stolen recently, we are pleased to say that through our article in the local paper all bikes have been returned.
So, the year to come...
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Will see us continuing to strive to enable your children to reach their full potential while with us, maintaining the standards that gave us our outstanding grade.
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Continue to advertise for new children to enable us to remain sustainable.
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Create a new public Facebook page to advertise our nursery.
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Re-introduce the donations list.
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Look to use fundraising money to continue to develop our outdoor area, including adding some climbing equipment that we are currently lacking, and to replace resources that have dwindled over the last few years.
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This April will see the introduction of 15 hours of funding for working parents with 2-year-olds, we are still waiting for further details on how this will work.
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There is also talk of a rise in the National Living Wage, with figures of at least £11.00 per hour being spoken about. This will obviously put a huge financial strain on us, so budgets will need to be looked at closely.
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We do recognise that finances are a struggle for all and understand that fundraising may not be as effective as it has been in previous years.
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As always, the children will remain top of our priority list, and we will continue to support their early education and care, providing a variety of activities and resources to gain their interest.
We cannot do it all by ourselves and do need you to help us and be a part of what goes on for us to continue to achieve our goals. Therefore, l cannot highlight enough how important it is that we have a committee who are willing to give up a little time a few times a year to support your children’s nursery and its ability to move forward.
Myself, Fiona and Vikki will support new members in completing the appropriate paperwork to enable you to be part of the committee.
Financial Review
| Adjustments for financial report | Adjustments for financial report | Adjustments for financial report | Adjustments for financial report | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| Current Account |
Grant Account |
Reserves Account |
Redundancy Fund Account |
TOTAL |
EY Funding received at end of previous fin year relating to thisyear(enter as aplus) |
EY Funding received at end of this fin year relating to next year (enter as a negative) |
ADJUSTMENTS TOTAL |
ADJUSTED TOTAL |
||||||||||
| I ncome | ||||||||||||||||||
| Session Fees 33,867.36 £ |
33,867.36 £ |
- £ - £ |
- £ |
33,867.36 £ |
||||||||||||||
| EY Funding 92,929.29 £ Uniform 829.64 £ GLP - £ EYPP 103.00 £ Trips 260.00 £ |
92,929.29 £ |
8,442.89 £ |
19,912.46 -£ |
11,469.57 -£ |
81,459.72 £ |
|||||||||||||
| 829.64 £ |
- £ |
829.64 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 103.00 £ |
- £ |
103.00 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 260.00 £ |
- £ |
260.00 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| Grant - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Fundraising 866.60 £ 837.71 £ |
1,704.31 £ |
- £ |
1,704.31 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Float In - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Transfer to/from other accounts 1,300.00 £ 538.94 £ - £ - £ Other 299.35 £ 52.66 £ 53.94 £ 86.04 £ |
1,838.94 £ |
- £ |
1,838.94 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| 491.99 £ |
- £ |
491.99 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| Total | 130,455.24 £ |
1,429.31 £ |
53.94 £ |
86.04 £ |
132,024.53 £ |
8,442.89 £ |
19,912.46 -£ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
11,469.57 -£ |
120,554.96 £ |
|||||
| Expenditure | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wages 93,225.52 £ HMRC - £ Rent/Rates 814.83 £ |
93,225.52 £ |
- £ |
93,225.52 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 814.83 £ |
- £ |
814.83 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| Equipment 27.08 £ 165.00 £ |
192.08 £ |
- £ |
192.08 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Fundraising 135.45 £ |
135.45 £ |
- £ |
135.45 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Insurance 994.96 £ Ofce 1,791.90 £ Training 386.20 £ Subscriptions 444.39 £ |
994.96 £ |
- £ |
994.96 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| 1,791.90 £ |
- £ |
1,791.90 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 386.20 £ |
- £ |
386.20 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 444.39 £ |
- £ |
444.39 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| Float Out - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Consumables 1,875.01 £ - £ |
1,875.01 £ |
- £ |
1,875.01 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Transfer to/from other accounts 538.94 £ - £ 1,300.00 £ - £ |
1,838.94 £ |
- £ |
1,838.94 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Utilities/Service Charges 7,719.70 £ Health & Safety 1,095.29 £ GLP - £ Uniform 896.16 £ PettyCash - £ EYPP 295.39 £ Pension 1,886.68 £ |
7,719.70 £ |
- £ |
7,719.70 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| 1,095.29 £ |
- £ |
1,095.29 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 896.16 £ |
- £ |
896.16 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| - £ |
- £ |
- £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 295.39 £ |
- £ |
295.39 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| 1,886.68 £ |
- £ |
1,886.68 £ |
||||||||||||||||
| Other 1,904.54 £ 150.00 £ - £ - £ |
2,054.54 £ |
- £ |
2,054.54 £ |
|||||||||||||||
| Total | 113,896.59 £ |
450.45 £ |
1,300.00 £ |
- £ |
115,647.04 £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
- £ |
115,647.04 £ |
|||||
| Surplus for theyear | 4,907.92 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Funds b/f(fromprioryear accounts) | 47,529.25 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Funds c/f | 52,437.17 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Represented by: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current Account | 32,136.60 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Grants Account | 4,200.85 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Reserves Account(BuildingFund) | 10,608.34 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| RedundancyFund | 16,960.95 £ |
|||||||||||||||||
| Deferred Funding | 11,469.57 -£ |
|||||||||||||||||
| 52,437.17 £ |
||||||||||||||||||
| Difference(Should be zero) | - £ |