## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** **From** 1 September 2022 **To** 31 August 2023 **Charity name:** Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre (subsequently referred to as ESS) **Charity Address:** The Old Winery, Grindsbrook Booth, Edale, S33 7ZA ## **Charity registration number:** 1190027 **OFSTED registration number** : 2600983 ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To advance the education and development
of children aged 1-11 for the public benefit
by the provision of a nursery pre-school,
daycare facilities and out of school provision
as set out in the Constitution.
The principal purpose in establishing ESS is
to provide a much needed safe and high
quality childcare and early learning
opportunity for young children in Edale and
the surrounding area who would benefit from
these opportunities. To fulfil its purpose,
ESS has to be both affordable and
accessible.
The activities of the Trustees are guided by
a series of governance documents covering
such areas as meetings, decision making,
trustee appointment, conflict of interest etc.| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|Objectives set continued into 2023 including
increasing the number of children attending,
developing staff and continuing to forge links
with the local primary school and the
community.
The Nursery was embedded in the local
community and received a useful boost to
our finances from the village’s charitable car
parking fund. A summer fayre was held.| 1 ||||The nursery provided employment for 3 local
young people. The nursery supported their
professional development with one gaining a
level 3 forest school qualification and
supporting a staff member with their PGCE
There were members of the wider Edale
community who volunteered their time and
energy to help support ESS in its day to day
running and with upkeep of the premises
and supporting special fundraising events.
We were very grateful for this support.
The Trustees tried to expand the team but
had no success in recruiting an additional
level 3 childcare practitioner, a cleaner and a
cook.
There then followed some staff resignations
which proved very difficult as it was such a
small team.
With the difficulty recruiting suitable staff into
the various vacant posts including
managerial roles the difficult decision was
made by the trustees to close the nursery
provision. This was initially on a temporary
basis while the Trustees explored various
options to reopen a nursery in Edale. All
stakeholders were kept informed of
developments.
The nursery closed to children on
28/07/2023 and to employed staff on
08/09/2023
Public benefit:
In order to ensure the principles of public
benefit are at the forefront of Trustees'
actions, this is maintained as a standing
agenda item for all formal trustee meetings.
Prior to closing the provision the Trustees
are satisfied that no harm has arisen from
the purposes outlined in the ESS objectives;
the main beneficiaries remain the local
community, the general public and that no
private benefit has arisen from any of the
purposes or activities of ESS.| |---|---|---|---| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public|Para 1.18||The Trustees have had due regard for all
guidance from the Charity Commission with
regard to all our work to date and will
continue to have regard for the guidance as
we continue our work to close the nursery| 2 benefit provision and the charity. ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|Prior to the decision to close the nursery
provision ESS continued to be a popular
nursery with competitive level of fees.
Having a childcare provision in the heart of
the village saved parents and children
having to travel long distances to access
childcare facilities and many families were
able to walk to ESS.
There was collaboration with the local school
to further develop the afterschool provision.
This was moved to the school and staffed
jointly, it proved very popular.
There was a waiting list for babies hoping to
attend the nursery, with priority given to
those living in Edale. This was an indicator
of the quality of service provision on offer
and also an indicator of the unmet need for
childcare services in the village and wider
Hope Valley community.
The new management team made various
changes. The implementation of Tapestry
online learning portal to aid communication
with parents/carers which the local school
then implemented too.
They changed the layout of the classroom to
create a calmer environment with neutral
colours and more natural furnishings,
materials and resources.
These changes helped make the centre
more accessible and comfortable for all
children, but particularly those with SEND.
The outdoor environment was developed
with the help of the staff member doing the
forest school training.
The children attended Forest
School/Woodland adventure sessions.
The children attended the monthly coffee
morning to support intergenerational| 4 relationships and provide children with opportunities to meet and converse with local residents. Despite this being a much needed facility the recruitment of staff, including managerial roles was unsuccessful. This recruitment problem is a national problem but also made more difficult by the remote rural location of the nursery. 5 ## **Financial Review** ||Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|**FINANCIAL REPORT**
The Trustees present the charity’s Receipts and
Payment Account for the year to 31 August
2023.
**The period closed with a bank balance of**
**£7116.86 (2022 £42k) of unrestricted reserves.**
**The detailed fnances show the difculty in**
**balancing income and with increased stafng**
**costs (previous management were voluntary).**
The income derived from fees, charged to
parents of children atending and claimed from
the local authority (Derbyshire County Council)
for eligible childcare hours amounted to £101k
(2022 £98k).
The charity also benefted from £10k (2022 £6k)
of donatons, from individual giving and local
organisatons.
There were £3.5k grant funding receipts this
year (2022 £0k). This for for EYTS employer
incentve programme
Refunds and re-imbursements of expenditure
amounted to £217 (2022 £1k).
**The total income from all sources was £115k**
**(2022 £106k).**
The total paid stafng expenditure was £107k
(2022 £54k). This increase represents a full year
of paid managerial staf. As per previous reports
the Manager and Deputy Manager were unpaid
volunteers, so when they stepped down the
nursery had to employ a paid Manager and
Deputy Manager. This meant an increase in
stafng expenditure.
Premises costs amounted to £19k (2022 £20k).
The cost of providing meals, and cleaning the
Centre, was £10k (2022 £10k). This included
using an outside nursery catering company.
Resources amounted to £5k (2022 £3k).
Primarily this was to buy materials for the
children to use in their learning and play, but
also to create a calmer environment with neutral
colours and more natural furnishings,materials|| |---|---|---|---|---| 6 |||and resources.
Insurance, subscriptons to professional bodies
and IT hardware / sofware servicing cost just
under £6k (2022 £3k). This included professional
support to manage staf redundancy.
The outdoor resource delivered through the
year by the Forest School, at £1.5k (2022 £2k)
**The total expenditure was £150k (2022 £92k).**| |---|---|---| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|N/Aas provision has now closed
Any funds lef at point of closing the charity will
be dealt with as per the consttuton| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|**£7k**| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|N/A| |Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|N/A| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|N/A Due to the nursery provision closing| 7 **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|"Foundation " Model Constitution dated
19/06/2020.| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated
Organisation (CIO) whose only voting
members are the Trustees.
The management of ESS is overseen by a
Board of Trustees made up of six volunteers
as detailed later.| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|There is no formal recruitment policy,
prospective trustees being identified based
on their areas of expertise.
The trustees follow relevant governance
policies covering such areas as role of
trustees, conflict of interest, safeguarding,
correct use of funds, terms of reference for
meetings and decision making, contracts of
staff employment etc. The policies are
reviewed as required.
Each trustee has a set term of office and any
new trustee is provided with the necessary
policy documents following a period as an
observer.
Specific roles include Chair, Vice Chair,
Treasurer, Secretary.| ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|N/a| |Registered charity number|1190027| |Charity’s principal address|The Old Winery, Grindsbrook Booth, Edale, S33 7ZA| ||| 8 ## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |**1**
**2**
**3**
**4**
**5**
**6**
**7**
**8**
**9**
**10**
**11**|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted**
**if not for**
**whole year**|**Name of person**
**(or body) entitled**
**to appoint**
**trustee(if any)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**Anita**
**Critchlow**|**Chair of**
**Trustees**||| ||**Sam Keating**|**Vice Chair of**
**Trustees**||| ||**Liam Gilligan**|**Treasurer**||| ||**Jane Acty**|**Secretary**||| ||**Cathy**
**Spingys**|||| ||**Nigel Lawford**|||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved ## **Director name** N/a 9 Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity |**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|| |---|---|---| |N/a||| |||| |||| 10 ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** Description of the assets N/A held in this capacity Name and objects of the N/A charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for N/A safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details Not applicable ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** |**Signature**|**_Anita Critchlow_**|**_Samuel Keating_**| |---|---|---| |**Full name**|**Anita Critchlow**|**Samuel Keating**| 11 **Chair of Trustees** **Vice Chair of Trustees** **Position** ## **Date __11/04/2026** 12 ## **Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre** |**Income 22-23**||**Sep-22**|**Sep-22**|**Oct**|**Oct**|**Nov**||**Dec**||**Jan-23**|**Jan-23**|**Feb**||**March**|**March**|**Apr**||**May**||**June**||**July**||**Aug**|**Total**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Fees Direct**||9352.5||7352.5||7660.75||4428||7801.5||8351||6698.53||6486.32||7474.74||6254.02||2474.5||428.5|**74762.86**| |**Fees-LA**||2472.5||1165.3||1978||2451||||4106.5||3151.9||||5627.73||3379.32||2011.5|||**26343.75**| |**Donatons-organisat**||||||800||||||3489.02||1000||||||||2896.1|||**8185.12**| |**Donatons-individ**||200||200||200||313.28||200||50||350||50||350||200||50|||**2163.28**| |**Grants**||||||||||1750||||1750|||||||||||**3500**| |**Refunds**||||||||76||||||||5||17.97||||||118.87|**217.84**| |||||||**10638.7**||||||**15996.5**||**12950.4**||||**13470.4**|||||||**115172.8**| |**Total**||**12025**||**8717.8**||**5**||**7268.28**||**9751.5**||**2**||**3**||**6541.32**|||**4**|**9833.34**||**7432.1**||**547.37**|**5**| |**Payments**|**Sep-22**|||**Oct**|**Nov**||**Dec**||**Jan-23**||**Feb**||**March**||**Apr**||**May**||**June**||**July**|||**Aug**
|**Total**| |**Stafng**|8303.13|||8748.29|11424.76||8985.11||9467.47||9182.67||11140.35||7169.86||9780.26||9635.7||7831.61|||6062.17|**107731.38**| |**Premises**|1533.33|||1553.33|1533.33||1533.33||1553.33||1533.33|||1533||1535||1533|1592.55|||1652.1||1652.1|**18737.73**| |**Fee refund**|||||||||||||||||||||||||| |**Professional**||||1170.03||||||||179.5||220|||118.39|||185||||4186.08|**6059**| |**amazon no inv**||147.21||418.68|165.36||104.78||180.31|||128.43|147.15|||10.49|||||||||**1302.41**| |**Resources**||871.11||238.17|1269.06||430.73|||118||383.4|998.84||249.81||152.51||143.88|||78.95|||**4934.46**| |**Food/clean**||290.78||1318.97|716.39||735.64||926.37|||977.52|913.97||861.02||719.46||2022.11|||434.43|||**9916.66**| |**Forest**||||400||||400||||||||400||100||||200|||**1500**| ||||||||**12189.5**||||**12384.8**||||||||||**10197.0**||||| |**Total**|**11145.56**||**13847.47**||**15108.9**|||**9**|**12245.48**|||**5**|**14953.31**||**10226.18**||**12403.62**||**13579.24**|||**9**|**11900.35**||**150181.64**| |**Balance**|**+879.44**||**-5129.67**||**-4470.15**||**-4921.31**||**-2493.98**||**+3611.67**||**-2002.88**||**-3684.86**||**+1066.82**||**-3745.9**||**-2764.99**||**-11352.98**||| **Bank balance 1/9/2022 £42125.65 plus income £115172.85 = £157298.50 Minus expenditure £150181.64** **Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre** **Bank balance 31/08/23 = £7116.86** CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner'5 Report Report to the trustees Edaie Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre 3110812023 On accounts for the year ended Charity no (if any) 119L1027 I report lo the tTustees on my examination of the accounts of the above Charity (llhe Trust.) for the year ended . 1 1 ot% r 2UI.J. Responslbllltles and basis of r•port As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the a¢Gounls in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (°the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Ttust's accounts ￿rrIed out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I h8ve followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under sedion 145{5){b) of the Act. Indopondont I have completed my examination. I confimi thal no material matters have examinar's statement come to my attention in connedion with the examination which gives me cause to believe thal in, any material re5pecl= the accounting records vRre not kept in accordance with section 130 of the charities Act. 01 the a￿ount$ did not accord with the accounting records.. or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and conlent cf accounts set out in the Charilies (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a YTue and fairf view which is not a matter considered as part of an independenl examination. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which attentiori should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: Date: 1181202 Name: Alice Wood Relevant profosslonal qualificatlonls) or body (if any): Member of ICAEW Address: Hall Fami, Green Lane Cutthorpe Chesterfield, S42 7AR IER Oct 2018