## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
Period start date Period end date 01 April 2023 31 March 2024
**From**
**To**
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any)** 1187967
LITTLE CHICKS NURSERY PLUS
**Charity's principal address** Gwersyllt Community Primary School Dodds Lane Gwersyllt, Wrexham **Postcode** LL11 4NT
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
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7
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9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Karen Davies|Chair|Took over role in
December 2023||
||Jenni-Lee Vietri|Chair|Resigned December
2023||
||Sian Wilson|Secretary|||
||Linda Jones|Treasurer|||
||Siobahn Price||||
||Karen Doore||Resigned December
2023||
||Janice Craig||||
||Christopher
Griffiths||||
||Joel Moore||||
||Linzi Powell||||
||Andrew Holmes||||
||StaceyJones||||
||Gemma Randles||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
**TAR**
March **2012**
1
**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Type of adviser Name Address Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
## **Section B Structure, governance and management**
**Description of the charity’s trusts** CIO - ASSOCIATION Registered 14 Feb 2020 Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Association How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Elected by trustees Trustee selection methods (eg. appointed by, elected by)
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
Little Chicks is registered by Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) under part 2 You **may choose** to include of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 to provide day care. additional information, where relevant, about: Little Chicks is registered for 20 places. • policies and procedures The appointment and induction of the trustees is governed by the adopted for the induction and constitution. The charity trustees are responsible for the overall training of trustees; management and control of Little Chicks Nursery Plus Charity and meet a • the charity’s organisational minimum of four times a year, plus an Annual General Meeting (AGM) structure and any wider held in the Autumn term. Trustees and members are recruited at the AGM. network with which the charity Recruitment of trustees continues to be a challenge due to the provision works; only applying to most potential members for the Nursery class academic • relationship with any related year of nine months.
- relationship with any related parties;
The day-to-day operational management of the Little Chicks provision is undertaken by the staff employed by Little Chicks Nursery Plus.
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
**TAR**
March **2012**
2
The object of the Charity is to enhance the development and education of children in Wales, for the public benefit, by encouraging parents to understand and provide for their needs though high quality childcare.
## **Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document**
- **The aims of Little Chicks are to** • Provide high quality day care that enhances the development, care and education of pre-school children in a safe and stimulating environment, where they can learn through play in partnership with parents/carers
- • Welcome parents/carers who want to become directly involved in the activities of the provision and provide opportunities to do so
- • Encourage parents/carers to understand and provide for the needs of their children
- • Embrace the ethos and principles of Wales Pre-School Providers Association
- **and our more specific recent objectives:** • To maintain a safe and secure environment for nursery age pupils of Gwersyllt CP School.
- **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the** • To support Gwersyllt Community Primary Schools’ whole school **public benefit in relation to** incentive of encouraging all young children to learn an additional
- **these objects (include within** language by developing and promoting our use of Makaton Sign
- **this section the statutory** Language.
- **declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance** • Continue working alongside Gwersyllt Community Primary School **issued by the Charity** as they embrace the new Welsh Curriculum by adopting similar
- **Commission on public** structure and planning to our learning environment and activities.
- **benefit)** • To successfully transition into our own space within the school and develop our area to include all natural resources and create a calming environment for the children.
In meeting these, the trustees have due regard to the Charities Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.
|**Initiatives**|**Initiatives**|
|---|---|
|•|30 hour free childcare offer|
|•|Seven areas of learning – planning activities to enhance|
||development|
|•|Tiny Tums healthy eating initiative and encourage healthy eating|
||with the snack provision|
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
**TAR**
March **2012**
3
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
Section D Achievements and performance
**TAR**
March **2012**
4
## Section D Achievements and erformance p
**Overview of provision Summary of the main** Little Chicks Nursery Plus is open to nursery pupils between the ages of **achievements of the charity** 3-4 years, registered to attend the Early Years unit at Gwersyllt **during the year** Community Primary School, Wrexham. Little Chicks operates during school term time, Monday – Friday 11:20 – 14:50 Children are supervised by qualified, experienced staff. Little Chicks is a predominantly English medium setting with some use of Welsh. A wide range of activities are offered within a fun, relaxed atmosphere. They are planned to suit the children’s age, stage and individual need, meet our aims and objectives, and reflect Welsh Government current strategy www.wales.gov.uk/childrenyoungpeople/. Children are encouraged to explore and learn through their play and small focus tasks. Daily activities include sand, water, small world, painting, role play and craft. Each week activities are planned around a different topic. Some of the favourites are Dinosaur week, Chinese New Year, Exploring the North Pole and Minibeasts. Outside play is always encouraged when weather permits and there is direct access to an enclosed playground. At lunchtime, children can either bring a packed lunch from home or purchase a school dinner. A mid-afternoon drink and snack are provided as part of the healthy eating initiative. Little Chicks works with the support of Early Years Wales to invest in our staff’s commitment to their continuous provisional development through reliably endorsed courses, events and training pathways, and parents/carers are kept informed of these. Little Chicks has produced a pack of policies and procedures that describe arrangements for dealing with routine operational practice, complaints, concerns and any emergency that may occur during operational hours. They are designed to ensure effective and safe management of our service and to offer the best possible environment and experience for the children and families who use it. The policies and procedures are developed and maintained in line with and/or exceed national minimum standards and regulations. They are reviewed regularly (at least annually) and updated (and CIW informed of any changes) as necessary. The policy pack is available for all who visit, work in or use Little Chicks to see them. The pack is available from the setting. **Communicating with our parents/carers** Little Chicks maintains a website with up-to-date information. The Facebook page continues to be used by staff to share the upcoming topics to be covered, photos of the activities being undertaken and also links to other sites that support other learning activities for parents/carers to try at home. It is great to receive instant feedback via the comments on the posts from the parents. Many parents use the Facebook Messenger as a way to contact the staff so we no longer have the mobile phone. We also continue to promote Little Chicks and the upcoming topics via
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March **2012**
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Section D Achievements and erformance p
the school e-newsletter that is distributed by email every Friday during the school term, and through the Gwersyllt C.P. School blog and Notice Board on the school Yard.
We also continue to promote Little Chicks and the upcoming topics via the school e-newsletter that is distributed by email every Friday during the school term, and through the Gwersyllt C.P. School blog and Notice Board on the school Yard.
## **Overview of the Year**
In the Summer of 2023 it was confirmed by the school that a new Early Years teacher was due to work in our shared space who was keen to adapt the classroom to make it more of a natural, calming environment for the children. This approach and the adaptations made to the classroom were greatly received by the Little Chicks staff as it was felt it would also have a positive impact on the students in the afternoon.
In June we applied for and received a very generous grant from the Moondance Foundation. This was to build up our reserves and to ensure we could provide the children with some additional experiences from external agencies as last years cohort had missed out due to limited reserves.
For the Kings Coronation we celebrated with crafts and activities with a royal theme and organised for every child to receive a Key Ring.
Our Open Afternoon combined with Early Years for the new September cohort was very successful this year with twice as many parents attending from the previous year and 12 families already registered an interest for Little Chicks.
We booked a Children’s entertainer and Animal Experience for the children to enjoy in the Christmas term. We also held some sessions with Diddy Dance through the Autumn term which were thoroughly enjoyed by all. The Spring Term saw the children enjoy a tour of the school kitchen and a visit by an ambulance and paramedics during the ‘People who help us’ topic. Forest School / Little Hobbits are booked in for the Summer once the owner returns from Maternity Leave.
As well as renewing current qualifications, both full time members of staff have undergone First Aid training, and Food Hygiene courses. They have also had regular liaisons with a Family Support Worker regarding one child attending which has been very positive.
Financially this year, Little Chicks has gradually returned to be in a much healthier position after difficulties last year due to supply costs. We are slowly building our reserves back up whilst also ensuring the children don’t miss out on experiences and resources. We have begun to replace all our resources with natural materials and sustainable materials, and the learning space is looking really special.
## **Future Plans**
Little Chicks has thrived again this year with strong attendance figures every term. We intend to operate with three members of staff into the next academic year, although possibly on a part time basis for Sue as we currently have no children with 1:1 needs. Our staff will continue their
**TAR**
March **2012**
6
Section D Achievements and erformance p
training and are looking forward to further develop the learning space using sustainable materials and natural resources.
We have plans now to maintain our links with Little Hobbits Forest School and other local providers, such as Diddy Dance, to offer more practical learning opportunities for the children going forward. We are also looking forward to experimenting with and developing Pupil Led Learning as one of our new objectives.
**TAR**
March **2012**
7
## **Section E Financial review**
## **Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves**
The charity aims to hold 3 months of operational costs in the event of a loss of income and to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur. The reserve is built up from the unrestricted income and the level of reserves required is reviewed by the Trustees to ensure it remains appropriate
## **Details of any funds materially**
**in deficit**
## **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;
Key Expenditures this year have been nothing more than staff wages and pension contributions with no major outgoings.
In March, the committee agreed to the proposal to increase staff pay in line with the National Minimum Wage increase from April 2024.
No fundraising took place during this financial year.
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
## **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)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**
**etc)**
**Date**|_Karen Davies_|_Sian Wilson_|
|---|---|---|
||Karen Davies|Sian Wilson|
||
Chair|Secretary|
||09/12/2024||
||09/12/2024||
**TAR**
March **2012**
8
**Charity Name No (if any) LITTLE CHICKS NURSERY PLUS 1187967 Receipts and payments accounts**
**CC16a**
**For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 01/04/2023 31/03/2024
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**29,035**
**5,933**
**-**
**1,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**23,668**
**2,958**
**1,347**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**7,995**
**-**
**7,725**
**15,720**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**29,035**
**5,933**
**-**
**1,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**23,668**
**2,958**
**1,347**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**7,995**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**29,035**
**5,933**
**-**
**1,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,968**
**23,668**
**2,958**
**1,347**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,973**
**7,995**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Childcare offer funding|**29,035**|||||**25,133**|
|Self-funding payments|**5,933**|||||**7,380**|
|Donations|**-**|||||**200**|
|Grants|**1,000**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**35,968**|||||**32,713**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**
**table).**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||
|||||||**32,713**|
||||||||
|Wages costs|**23,668**|||||**29,195**|
|Direct costs|**2,958**|||||**2,490**|
|Othercosts|**1,347**|||||**4,415**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**27,973**|||||**36,100**|
||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment purchases,**
**(see table)**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||
|||||||**36,100**|
||||||||
||**7,995**|**-**|**-**|**7,995**||**- 3,387**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
||**7,725**|**-**|**-**|**7,725**||**-**|
||**15,720**|**-**|**-**|**15,720**||**- 3,387**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
12/12/2024
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the**|**end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of
all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
HSBC current account
**Details**
_Sian Wilson_
Signature
_Karen Davies_|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**15,720**
**-**
**-**
**15,720**
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
Print|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
||_Karen Davies_|Karen Davies|09/12/2024|
||_Sian Wilson_|Sian Wilson|09/12/2024|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
12/12/2024
2
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Indijpendent examiner's
reriort on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examinerfs Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
LIThLE CHICKS NURSERY PLUS
On accounts for the year
ended
31 MARCH 2024
Charity no
{if any)
1187967
Set out on pages
1 to 2 and pages 1 to 7 of the Trustees. Annual Report
lumbers of addrtional shÈelsi
I report to the trustees on my examinclion of the accounts of the above
charity {"the Trust") for the year endecl 31103 12024.
Responslbilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordance with thE: requirements of the Charitie.* Ac.,
2011 ("the Act").
I pOrt in resped of my examination cf the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed the applicable DirectionL> given by the Charity Commission
under section 145{5)Ibl of the Act.
I have completed my examination. l ¢i)nfim that no material matters have
ome to my attention (other than that cisclosed below ') in connection with
the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect..
accounting records were not keFIt in accordance with section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
Independent
examiner's ststement
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connedion
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts Ii) be reached.
Please delete the words in Ihe brackets if they do nol apply.
Signed:
Date:
Name:
BRUCE ROBERTS
Relevant professional
qualificationls) or body
lif any):
FCA
Address:
UNIT 10, EDISON COURT
ELLICE WAY, WREXHAM TECHNOLOGY PARK
WREXHAM LL13 7YT
IER
October 2018
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32,
Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for
examiners).
Give here brief details of
any items that the
examiner wishes to
IER
October 2018