## **CHIDDINGSTONE NURSERY SCHOOL CIO** Charity number: 1184378 ## **TRUSTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT** ## **FOR THE PERIOD 11 July 2019 to 31 August 2020** ## **Constitution** The CIO is governed by a constitution adopted in February 2020 ## **Objects of the CIO** The charity works for the public benefit having as its objects the development and education of children and young people in particular by: 1. (1) promoting their care and safety; 2. (2) promoting their education and promoting parental involvement; 3. (3) promoting their health and wellbeing; 4. (4) providing services to support them and their families and carers; 5. (5) providing services to individuals holding membership of the CIO; and 6. (6) furthering the aims of the Pre-school Learning Alliance. ## **Trustees:** Felicity Streatfeild Wendy Madgwick Jill McCoy Ed Miles ## **Committee members:** Vincent Nobel Melissa Hiles Victoria Whitewood Elizabeth Rushbrook Rebecca Chapman Sally Moore Rebecca Nicholson Abigail Brown ## **TRUSTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD TO 31st AUGUST 2019 – 23[rd] FEBRUARY 2020** ## **CORONA VIRUS** The Corona Virus pandemic shaped much of the activity of the CIO for this period. On 18[th] March 2020, the government announced all schools would be shut, except for the children of key workers, due to the rise of Covid 19. The nursery remained open throughout, initially providing care for children of key workers and then opening, when guidelines allowed, for all children. Three members of staff were required at nursery to cover the children of key workers, and the rest of the staff were furloughed. The trustees applied for a government ‘Covid-hardship’ grant and the nursery was awarded £10,000 by Sevenoaks District Council. The government issued guidelines for early years settings to follow and the nursery lead implemented these with: - New protocols - A change in opening hours to maintain daily bubbles - New cleaning schedule - PPE where appropriate - New risk assessments Parents were consulted throughout and provided regular updates. Staff also provided videos of the new nursery set up (according to Corona-Virus guidelines) to parents in order to help their children settle back into nursery once it opened up beyond the children of key workers. Parents were also provided with increased online suggestions of home learning activities. The safety of the staff and the children remained paramount. Staff on furlough were consulted appropriately and kept up to date with all developments. ## **CIO** The final transfer of the bank accounts from the old charity to the CIO was completed after much delay due to the pandemic. Also, due to the delay in the transfer of the bank accounts, the payment of our funding from Kent County Coucil was delayed. Therefore, the committee voted to use £5,000 from the reserve account to pay for staff wages in July 2020. (This amount has now been refunded from the current account back into the reserve account.) ## **PREMISES** Mr Glossop (estate manager) has been informed that the nursery tenant lease with Chiddingstone Castle ran out in 2015. We have been in contact with him after the CIO conversion to remind him of our aim to re-draft the lease. We are waiting for him to arrange a meeting to discuss. Phase two of the kitchen refurbishment was completed. A food hygiene inspection awarded us a rating of 4 out of 5. ## **DONATIONS** A family made a generous donation of £711 which was spent on play equipment. ## **MARKETING** Marketing was suspended due to the pandemic. ## **PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS** The nursery website and Facebook pages provided regular updates and ideas for parents. A questionnaire was issued to parents in order for them to feed back on the nursery practices and its management. Relevant suggestions and changes have been implemented. As noted above, staff also provided videos of the new nursery set up (according to CoronaVirus guidelines) to parents in order to help their children settle back into nursery once it opened up beyond the children of key workers. ## **OFSTED** The nursery lead maintained close contact with OFSTED. The CIO conversion will trigger a new inspection (most likely a short update inspection) but this has been delayed due to the pandemic. ## **SAFEGUARDING** Staff and committee members were provided with all the annual updated safeguarding documents to be read and signed on completion. Appropriate risk assessment and safeguarding evaluation forms were reviewed and completed. ## **POLICIES AND PROCEDURES** Nursery policies were reviewed, updated, agreed and signed by the Chair-people prior to being forwarded on to all committee members, staff and parents. Relevant Corona- Virus addendums were included. ## **TRAINING** The nursery’s staff training budget was used to part-fund one member of staff’s level 4 training which was progressed with great success. ## **STAFF** The deputy nursery lead left the nursery after 12 years, on 18[th] March 2020. A recruitment process took place and Megan Downing was promoted from cover-staff to Deputy lead and SENCO (she did not take up her post until after her time on furlough – September 2020). Sam Wells was promoted to IT manager and deputy SENCO. Vicki Wallis was hired as cover staff in March 2020. ## **REGULATION** The nursery continued to promote self-evaluation completing a SSTEW, EFICLE audit, along with the nursery questionnaire which directly links into the nursery improvement plan. The SEN (special education offer) is online for parent/carers to find information on the nursery’s inclusion procedure. The nursery consistently followed the EYFS with learning opportunities through-out the pandemic. This was not compulsory, but something we felt was important to commit to. ## **COMMUNITY LINKS** Chiddingstone Nursery continues to take an active role within the Sevenoaks rural collaboration of local nurseries to support each other in training opportunities. Links with the community continued through the monthly article in the village magazines and a new advert has been updated to maintain awareness of the nursery in the Hever, Mark Beech, Four Elms, Penshurst and Cowden magazines. The nursery also has close links with the village school and the village church. CHIDDINGSTONE NURSERY SCHOOL CIO Charity number: 1184378 IIYDEPENDENT EXAMINF.R'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31st AUGUST 2020 I report to the trust¢¢s on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 31 st August 2020. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity's trustees, you ar¢ re5pon5ible for the preparation of the ae¢ouuts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). report in respect of my ¢xamination of the Trust's accounts CA￿]¢d out under section 145 of the 201 l Act and in carrying out my ¢xamination, I have followed all the applicable Direetions given by thc Charity Commission under section 145{5}(b) of ihe Act. Independent ex*miner'5 Statement I r¢port in respect of my examination of th¢ Trust's account5 carried out under section 145 of the 201 l Act and in carrying out my examination, I hav¢ follow¢d all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5){b) ofthe Act. I hav¢ completed my examination. l Confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with th¢ ¢xamination which gives me cause to beli¢v¢ that in, any material respect.. th¢ accounting records were not kept in aceordanc¢ with section 130 of the Charities Act: or the accounts did not accord with the accounting record5; or the accounts did not comply with th¢ applicable requirements concerning the form and ¢ontcnt of accounts set out in the Chariiies (Accounts and R¢ports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that th¢ accounts give a 'true and fair. view whi¢h is not a matter considered as part of an independent ¢xamination. I have no ¢oncems and have come across no other matter5 in ¢onne¢tion with the examination to which attention should b¢ drawn in this report in order to enable a prop¢r und¢rstsnding of the accounts to be reached. 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