Trustees Reports (Chairs & Preschool Leader)
Chairpersons Report 2019-2020
This year has been a strange one for all, as such the chairpersons report cannot be full of all the wonderful achievements we would have love to have been reporting. Instead we have had to put all our focus into Making Treehouse the safe and fun environment we have grown to love but with the added essential safety restrictions imposed on us.
I would like to extend our gratitude to all of our Treehouse families who have made this transition to the new normal so much easier. Your support has been essential to this transition.
The other people integral to the running of Treehouse are our fabulous Treehouse ladies. In particular the amazing job that both Sarah and Zena have done in ensuring Treehouse is still the wonderful place we know and love. So thankyou from all of us. Seeing Treehouse from this side during the pandemic has been a real eye opener but not for the bad things, it has shown me what a wonderful team we have here. Always ready to jump in when needed, support each other when times feel tough. The Team worked in small bubbles to create a safe space and make it as covid secure as it could possibly be. Without this strength and determination of this fantastic team head by an even more fantastic leader, who knows what could have happened to our wonderful PreSchool. So a huge thankyou goes to the staff for going above and beyond by providing their time, commitment and effort in making this happen.
The committee this year have had to continue keeping a tight rein on the finances, the funding in which can be applied for has been either reduced or stretched further than ever before meaning criteria has also increased. We have had to put up wages again in line with minimum wage, yet government schemes have not increased to reflect this and therefore the deficit continues to widen. It is imperative now more than ever that all funding and fundraising is our main focus. Sadly our usual cake sales and other fundraising favourites have had to be put on hold due to current restrictions but we hope to be able to put together a fundraising calendar together as soon as we are able to.
We have just recently been able to reconnect with other organisations within Winslow from our donation support. Thanks to Sarah the Lions are willing to match fund a £500 donation to replace the shed in the garden that has sadly become dilapidated. The other funding in the pipeline being the Co-op local community fund for this year and reapplication pending successful application will continue to bring in a small amount of funding to top up our fundraising pot. Tesco Buckingham who run their bags for help scheme have begun new rounds of fundraising of which I hope we will be successful. Other fundraising ideas are to be discussed at the next Committee meeting, of which I hope we may see some new faces to add ideas to the pot.
One idea we are hoping to bring back once restrictions are lifted is the donation tree. In the past the tree in Treehouse entrance once housed leaves which contained an item that we were in need of to supplement our play. This proved invaluable providing resources for things like our homemade play dough, pasta for arts and crafts and other things to top up the creation station. In time we hope that parents will jump on board and add extra things to their shopping trolleys when out and about and when restrictions allow.
We are determined more than ever this year to develop the land to the side of the building that we have acquired. We have already secured the funding for fencing to be put along the side but now need funding to develop this area into a fantastic forest area where the children will be able to explore, learn and grow from. Its going to be a big task but with a great committee with great ideas behind it Treehouse can do it.
And finally I just wanted to say that although the last year may feel like it has set us back, we will continue to strive to continue our Repeat Ofsted status and make the preschool feel like a home from home for not only the children but all of our treehouse families too.
Debra Penn
Chairperson
15/06/21
Leaders Report June 2021
Hello everyone, thank you for coming.
I would like to thank you all for your ongoing support over this unprecedented past year. The children have all been amazing at adapting to the new systems in place and have astounded us with their resilience and ability to adapt.
Despite the various lockdowns and restrictions it delights me to inform you that as a staff team we have completed the ICAN accreditation, this is a nationally recognised Early Years award which endorses that a setting has the ability to support the Communication and Language needs of its children. The accreditation process develops a practitioner’s awareness and skills in the area of Early Years communication and language.
We continue to work with other professionals such as health visitors and salt to ensure that all children continue to thrive and reach their full potential. The well-being Your children is at the heart of everything we do and will continue to be so.
Looking forward we will be adapting aspects of our provision in line with the revised Early years foundation stage, further information regarding this will be sent out over coming few weeks.
We are looking forward to the coming year and hopefully having you all back in the setting for drop off and collection, We have missed you.
I would like to once again thankyou all for your patience this past year and also a massive thankyou to the staff for doing an amazing job under what has at times been extraordinary circumstances.
N.A. NORMAN & CO. Chartered Accountant. 31 Hlgh Street, Winslow, Bu¢kinghaTh,MK18 3HE Ttl: (01296) 714939 Fax: (01296) 715025 E.mail: na.Dorman@vir8in.net VAT NO: 478 0339 26 NANISMC 4 May 2021 Mrs Z Birch 4 Beech Leys steeple Claydon Bucks MK18 2RP Dear Zena Please find enclosed three copies of the Treehouse P-sChool a¢¢ounts for the year ended 31 August 2020. With kind ds. NANORM Enc
TREEHOUSE PRE-SCHOOL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2020 INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT INCOME EXPENDITURE Funding Fees Received 126,213 15,950 26 Salaries (inc. pension costs) Payroll Costs Rent and Rates 119,285 971 Interest Received 10,802 99 Donations 1,660 579 Books and Publications Fundraising Income Cleaning Materia15 Craft Materials and Toys Theme Activities and SFecial Events Equipment Insurances 395 885 16 850 918 Telephone and Intemet stationery and Postages Catering Repairs and Maintenance Registration and Affiliation Fees Tee Shirvsweatshirt Purchases 552 1,442 19 70 429 Health and Safety Costs Training Accountancy Fees MislIaneOUS Expenses 524 535 588 205 Excess of Income over Expenditure 5,856 144,428 144,428
TREEHOUSE PRE-SCHOOL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2020 CAPITAL ACCOUNT ital Fund as at 1 Sè tember 2019 24,823 5,856 Less Excess of Expenditure over Income for the year ital Fund as at 31 Au ust 2020 30,679 BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 AUGUST 2020 ASSETS Bank Accounts Fundraising Ajc Surplus Alc Redundancy Al Treasurers Alc 137 81 12,841 14,668 3,230 98 Resources Alc Deprivation Alc 31,055 Petty Cash 31 Stock on Hand 181 31,267 Less LIABILITIES Sundry Creditors 588 NET ASSETS PER CAPITAL ACCOUNT 30,679 The foregoing accounts have been prepared from Informat therewith. n sup and ar ordance 4 May 2021 Winslow N A NORMAN & CO CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Finance Report
Period September 2019 to August 2020
The accounts for the year to 31 August 2020 have been audited by N.A. Norman & Co. They show an excess of income over expenditure in the period of £5856
It is important to note that a provisional payment of £14,496 for Early Years Funding covering the Autumn 2020 term (Sept 2020) was received in this period. The true reflection of income and expenditure for 2019-2020 would mean that for this accounting period we had an excess of expenditure over income of £8640
In September 2019, following several years of careful planning with our budget we had hoped and planned that by the end of this accounting year we would in a break even position. However, March 2020 saw the start of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. As a preschool the government asked us to stayed open to look after vulnerable children and those of keyworkers. Initially our contracted staff worked with Winslow C of E School to provide Early Years Learning and support children alongside the staff at the school. By pooling our resources together with the school both setting where able to keep staff on site to a minimum and maintain smaller class bubbles. Therefore, from late March to early June the pre-school building remained closed. In June we noticed an increase in keyworker parents who had previously made alternative arrangements for childcare request that their child return to the setting. Due to this increase the preschool building was reopened in June. With the reopening we had to ensure that the building was covid safe and that our staff were always protected. We noticed a significant pricing increase for certain ‘in demand’ items that we now needed in order to reopen, this put an extra unexpected strain on our finances.
Our income was heavy effected in this financial year due to the pandemic, Early Educational Funding (EEF) was received based on our spring provisional claim. This provisional claim did not include children that were due to start with us in the summer term, which is one of our biggest intakes of children. We would have also received an income from private fees, although once again these fees where not received as the setting was closed. We investigated how we could reduce our expenditure for this period. Our landlord Buckinghamshire County Council advised that our rent must still be paid even though the building was closed. Also, as we receive EEF the government had stated that certain contracts must be upheld to safeguard and protect the service industry, in our case this was PHS who are contracted for the waste disposal of nappy bins. We investigated the furlough scheme being provided by the government, however as we receive government funding in the form of EEF we were unable to furlough our contracted staff for this period. However, we were able to furlough our zero-hour staff from May until July as we could prove that these staff members would have been paid from our private fee’s income.
We investigated the governments different grant schemes available during the pandemic, but unfortunately were not eligible for any of these. Because of the EEF we receive we were not entitled to the charity grant. As a registered charity we do not pay business rates, so were not eligible for the small business grant. We were however advised by Buckinghamshire County Council that should we get in a position that all our reserves had been used and we had no other source of income to continue operating then they would look into helping us out.
TreeHouse successfully applied to the Buckinghamshire SEN Inclusion fund in January 2020. This resulted in receiving a payment of £6723 in February. Although the money was initially received to support SEN children in the setting for the summer term, as the setting was closed during this period the money was put towards the general running costs of the preschool and subsequently topped up by monies transferred from our reserves accounts to ensure that the business remained operational.
Looking forward, TreeHouse is working hard to increase the number of children attending the setting, so that our potential for income is at it’s greatest. We are aware that due to the pandemic parents now have different work commitments and that these can change at short notice, we are therefore trying to be as flexible as possible for parents who are looking for placements at TreeHouse. With several training courses being cancelled because of Covid we are working hard to bring all our staff training requirements back up to date and we are already looking at group bookings for Safeguarding and First Aid courses. We continue to invest and apply for grants so that the equipment within the setting (both indoors and outdoors) can be replaced, ensuring that the provision continues to be of the highest quality. We are also looking at developing our outside area further and the school has gifted us a piece of land for us to develop. Specific grants will be applied for to cover this project. With careful planning and good use of funds we hope to be able to break even at the end of the next account year.
Prepared by Zena Birch (Admin Officer) Approved by Debra Penn (Chair)