## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**From** 1 September 2023 **To** 31 August 2024
**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|As highlighted in the 2022-2023 report due
to difficulty recruiting staff, including
management the difficult decision was made
to close the nursery provision. This was
initially temporary while other options were
investigated by the trustees. This included
approaching other local nurseries and the
local primary school. Despite these contacts
there were no positive leads to follow and
therefore the trustees decided nursery
provision in Edale was not viable.|
1
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|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.||
2
## **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|The main work of the trustees during this
period was closing the nursery provision
taking account of our legal responsibilities
and duties. Stakeholders were kept
informed.
Two remaining members of staff were made
redundant and we sought specialist legal
advice on this matter.
All professional, educational and local
authority contacts were informed.
All refunds and debts were paid and the
lease for the building was terminated, with
some decorating required.
Resources were offered to the local primary
school whose teachers were grateful and
came and took a lot. Any resources not
wanted by the local school was either sold or
given to a charity shop or taken to the school
jumble sale to raise funds for the school.
Along with redundancies there was a staffing
matter that needed resolving prior to closing
the charity down.
17thMay 2024 two trustees (one was the
treasurer) resigned. Shortly after one
further trustee resigned, leaving 3
remaining trustees.After reviewing the
ESS decision making, resolutions and voting
document the Board of Trustees is quorum
at 3 trustees as this is more than 2 and more
than a third of the total number of trustees as
stated in the document.
Due to the treasurer resigning and
subsequent inadequate handover of financial
documents the remaining trustees had no
access to the charity accounts. This took
time to resolve.
In addition the trustees were managing a
subject access request requiring support
from a Data specialist legal team. This
process was concluded August 2024|
3
## **Financial Review**
|**Financial Review**|||
|---|---|---|
|Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|**FINANCIAL REPORT**
The trustees are pleased to present the charity’s
Receipts and Payment Account for the year to 31
August 2024.
**The period closed with a bank balance of £ 917**
**(2023 £7665) of unrestricted reserves.**
The Charity nursery provision was closed in July
2023, therefore there was no income generated.
Expenditure included fnal payroll and
redundancies and included HR legal advice.
Along with fnal premises payments and some
refunds to parents.|
|Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|N/A as nursery has closed|
|Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|N/A|
|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|As the nursery provision has closed, the charity
is in the process of closing|
5
**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|
|||
6
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Anita Critchlow|Chair of Trustees|||
||Sam Keating|Vice Chair of Trustees
and Treasurer|Treasurer from 19th
May2024||
||Liam Gilligan|Treasurer|Resigned 17thMay
2024||
||Jane Acty|Secretary|Resigned 19thMay
2024||
||Cathy Spingys|Secretary|Secretary from 19th
May||
||Nigel Lawford||Resigned 17thMay
2024||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** N/a
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
|**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**||
|---|---|---|
|N/a|||
||||
||||
||||
||||
||||
7
## **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(s)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary,**
**Chair, etc)**
**Date**|_Anita Critchlow_|_Sam Keating_|
|---|---|---|
||||
||Anita Critchlow|Samuel Michael Keating|
||||
||Chair of Trustees|Vice Chair of Trustees|
||11/04/2026||
||11/04/2026||
9
## **Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre**
|**Fees Direct**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Fees-LA**|||||||||||
|**Donatons-organisatons**|||||||||||
|**Donatons-**|||||||||||
|**individ**|||||||||||
|**Grants**|||||||||||
|**Refunds**|1085|379.98|||||||**Total**|**1464.98**|
|**Expenditure**|||||||||||
|**Stafng**|398.28|274|486.66|542.16|729.4|64.19|395.96|||**2890.65**|
|**Premises**|59.55|357.31|1772.46|||||||**2189.32**|
|**Fee refund**|451|62|71.75|165|264|363|99|2|32.5|**1510.25**|
|**Professional**|938.4|35||||||||**973.4**|
|**amazon no inv**|||||||||||
|**Resources**|||||||||||
## **Edale Stepping Stones Nursery and Childcare Centre**
|**Food/clean**
101.06|||**101.06**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**Sept 23-Aug 24**|**Total**|**7664.68**|
|**Sept 2023 to Aug 24**||||
|**Income**||||
|**Bank balance 1/9/2023 £7116.86 plus income £1464.98 = £8581.84**||||
|**Minus expenditure £ 7664.68**||||
|**Bank balance 31/08/24 = £917.16**||||