2024-08-31-accounts - Acacia Pre-School

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Acacia Pre-School (A charitable incorporated organisation)

Receipts and Payment Accounts FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] AUGUST 2024

Charity Number: 1186604

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

		Period start date	Period start date	Period start date			Period end date	Period end date	Period end date
From	1		Sept	2023	To	31		Aug	2024

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Acacia Pre-school

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1186604

Charity's principal address Malden Wanderers Clubhouse

1186604	1186604
Malden Wanderers Clubhouse

Cambridge Avenue
New Malden
Postcode	KT3 4LE

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	Arabella Claire Stewart	Chair of Trustees
	Celine Fenech
	James Robinson	Treasurer
	Leigh Smith	NurseryManager
	James Hughes
	TonyRimbault
	Rose Hughes	Secretary

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name	Dates acted if not for whole year
None

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Charitable Investment Organisation (CIO) Constitution Type of governing document

(eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) How the charity is constituted

(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually at the Annual General Trustee selection methods Meeting held in October (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Policies

Acacia Pre-School has a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and will work with children, parents and the community to ensure the rights and safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Our safeguarding policy is based on the three key commitments of the Preschool Learning Alliance Safeguarding Children Policy. DBS checks are performed on all new employees and Trustees. Acacia also has policies regarding Volunteer Confidentiality and Equality and Diversity. Acacia follows the national curriculum, as laid out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). It is our policy to observe all children in their activities and note their progression accordingly, enabling them be the ‘best they can be’. All observations are made with respect for the child and are non-bias.

Relationships

Acacia Preschool is a member of The Early Years Alliance, which is the largest early years membership organisation and voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England. As educational charity, the Alliance represents the interests of over 14,000 member settings who deliver care and learning to over 800,000 families every.

Trustees

All new trustees receive information focusing in particular on the background, constitution and workings of Acacia Preschool, including the role of a trustee, key safeguarding policies and a copy of the Constitution. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.

Section C Objectives and activities

The objects of Acacia Preschool are set out in our governing document. The charity works for the public benefit having as its objects the development and education of children and young people in particular by: (1) promoting their care and safety; (2) promoting their education and Summary of the objects of the promoting parental involvement; (3) promoting their health and wellbeing; charity set out in its (4) providing services to support them and their families and carers; (5) governing document providing services to individuals holding membership of the cio; and (6) furthering the aims of the pre-school learning alliance.

Acacia Pre-School is run with the ultimate objective of helping children develop through ‘Excellence at Play’

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)	The Trustees of Acacia Preschool have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The main public benefit activity remains the development of a child’s social, emotional and physical skills through positive play. We work to offer a diverse range of learning opportunities for children between 2 and 4 years 10 months. We are a member of the Early Years Alliance and follow the EYFS curriculum to help children with their social, emotional and physical skills and encourage equal opportunities, multi-cultural and special educational needs within our setting.

Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

Once again, this past year was very successful. We began the year with a reduced intake as we were unable to fill all our available places. However, our numbers quickly grew, and we ended up having another busy year. As always, I would like to acknowledge & thank the whole Acacia staff team for their constant support, commitment and hard work, as without them we would not be in the positive situation that we continue to be in.

Admissions 2023-2024

We had 46 children on roll at the start of the year, which grew to 49 by the summer term. At the start of the year, we had between 12 and 16 children who stayed for the whole day. These numbers rose to between 20 and 22 by the end of the summer term.

At the start of the 2024/25 year, we have 32 children on roll (with between 27 and 30 children in attendance each day), with between 7 and 9 children staying for the full day.

Staffing 2023-2024

We had two staff member leave this past year and following a successful recruitment process, we employed a new assistant. We now employed five preschool assistants, two SENCo’s; along with our administrator, deputy and school manager. All staff have completed Level 2 Safeguarding training, which is renewed every two years. In addition some staff have also received Level 3 Safeguarding training.

Extra Activities and purchases

Due to the continued success of Monkey Music, it was decided that this would continue for another year, using our surplus to fund it again. Once again, this proved highly popular and the teacher, Lucy, often commented on how brilliantly behaved our children were. The trustees also authorised for us to have our annual farm visit again, a visit from Wild Science (an animal experience) and two shows from Dantastic Productions, who performed at Christmas and again at Easter. All at no additional cost to parents. We also continue to run our snack café at no extra cost to parents.

Ofsted

In October 2022, we had our Ofsted inspection, which we were expecting as it had been almost 6 years since our previous one. We achieved a rating of ‘Good’ overall. We were extremely pleased with this as we were, once again, inspected under a new framework. This was due to the dedication & hard work of all the staff. We aim to continue this high level throughout this academic year and look forward to our next full inspection.

RBK EYC

As an ‘Early Years Provider’ we come under the Governments EYFS & all its specific legalities regarding performance, curriculum, planning etc… We continue to work with the Early Years Inclusion and Improvement Advisors, who are there to offer support as and when required.

We also continue to work closely with other outside agencies, i.e. the area SENCo, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists etc… as and when required. We regularly attend networks for SEND, and managers and leaders.

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The minimum target reserves policy adopted by the trustees continues retain cash reserves equal to 3 months salaries and one-year rent, should the preschool need to suddenly cease operation. This equates to £89k. The reserves of at the end of FY24 were £122k, which is above our minimum reserves target. The trustees are conscious of ongoing challenges in the overall environment related to school place demand and cost of living, so whilst our reserves are above a minimum target levels, the trustees are cognisant that there will be challenges ahead where these reserves will provide assurance that we can meet these challenges.

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Acacia Preschools funding is broken down by type in the accounts presented. The main source of funding continues to be from Achieving for Children (AfC) which is a community interest company (a not-for-profit social enterprise) created in 2014 by the Royal Borough of Kingston and the London Borough of Richmond to provide their children’s services. Acacia Preschool also receives fees paid directly from parent of Children not currently entitled to statutory funding.

The trustees continue to use some of our reserves in excess of our reserve policy for the benefit of the charity users. This includes additional activities for our children at no additional charge such as Monkey Music interactive sessions, visits of animals from local farms and spend on additional interactive equipment.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Arabella Milne Full name(s)[James Robinson ] Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Treasurer Chair of Trustees etc) Date 27/06/2025

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Acacia Preschool Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘the CIO’)

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 31 August 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed:

Name: Paul Hickson FCA (ICAEW): Address: 16 Blakeden Drive Claygate Surrey KT10 0JR

Date: 27/06/2025

	ACACIA PRE-SCHOOL	ACACIA PRE-SCHOOL	ACACIA PRE-SCHOOL	1186604
	Receipts andpayments accounts					CC16a
	For the period from	01-Sep-23	To	31-Aug-24

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 28,927 1,883 144,207 54,049 - 1,646 2,100 938 233,750	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - 5,433 - - - 5,433	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £ 28,927 1,883 144,207 54,049 5,433 1,646 2,100 938 239,183 178,223 1,476 6,068 111 928 639 2,805 1,985 1,121 27,011 798 147 87 3,750 - 225,149 14,034	Last year to the nearest £ 17,539 1,573 128,284 63,641 11,192 2,797 2,815 367 228,208 166,048 3,118 6,455 58 665 496 5,616 1,335 1,042 26,280 951 2,049 88 1,500 215,702 12,506 - 95,937 108,443 Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - -
AFC - 2 Yr Funding	28,927		-	28,927
AFC - EYPP	1,883		-	1,883
AFC 3&4 Yr Funding	144,207		-	144,207
Fees	54,049		-	54,049
Grants	-		-	5,433
Donations & Fundrasing	1,646		-	1,646
Deposits Received	2,100		-	2,100
Interest Earned	938		-	938
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
			-	239,183

SalaryExpense	174,260	3,963		178,223
Professional Fees	1,476			1,476
General Expenses	6,068			6,068
Telephone	111			111
Subscriptions	928			928
Cleaning	639			639
Equipment	1,335	1,470		2,805
Craft Materials	1,985			1,985
Food	1,121			1,121
Premises	27,011			27,011
Postage,Printing& Stationery	798			798
Staff Training	147			147
Bank Charges	87			87
Return of deposits	3,750			3,750
*Total payments*				-
	219,716	5,433	-	225,149
*Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end* Categories Cash funds
	14,034	-	-	14,034	12,506
	-	-	-	-	-
	108,443	-	-	108,443	95,937
	122,477	-	-	122,477	108,443
			Unrestricted funds to nearest £
			46,025	-	-
			1,750	-	-
			74,500	-	-
			202	-	-
			122,477	-	-
Funds Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees Liabilities	7 *Total Liabilities* Unrestricted Funds Signature Details Deferred Income Holding Deposits Payroll Taxes Payable		Fund to which liability relates	Amount due (optional)	When due (optional) - - - - Date of approval 27/06/2025 27/06/2025
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-

			122,477