Chairperson's Report 2020 Love Lane Preschool
Wow what a year.
As I look back over the past year I reflect on what a very strange year we have all lived through and the challenges we faced and look back on how we have all had to adapt new ways in which preschool can operate.
In December 2019 we said goodbye to our manager Tasha Openshaw. And Val Ransom took over as acting manager which I sincerely thank her for. We were very lucky that Sarah Pullum saw our advert for manager and decided she wanted to join us, and we warmly welcomed her to our team in February 2020.
Poor Sarah was thrown in at the deep end as Coronavirus reared its ugly head, preschool had to close in line with government advice in March 2020 and Sarah and our staff had to come up with ways in which they could support our parents and children at home. Regular phone calls were made to our families and items were posted on Facebook. Sarah was also vital in writing our Coronavirus Policy and risk assessment which I would like to thank her for.
When we reopened our doors in June 2020 we welcomed back 8 children initially.
In July we said goodbye to our school leavers and wished them well in their new adventures, in September we welcomed 8 children back into preschool and numbers have now increased to 12 children. As many children are now attending nurseries attached to schools we have decided to include more 2 year olds into our numbers.
In February 2020 Lisa, our secretary stepped down and Jo kindly took over the role. In September we welcomed Joanne Thomas to the committee.
Fundraising has been a real challenge this year which is so vital for the running and upkeep of preschool, we have managed to do a small amount of online fundraising but need to look for new ways of raising our profile and funding opportunities.
I would like to thank Sarah, Val, Pauline and Carol for their continuous hard work, dedication, support and commitment to Love Lane Preschool, and to the children and their families, we are very lucky to have you all.
I must say a huge thank you to Becky for keeping a close eye on our budgets and always on the lookout for new ways to raise funds, she works tirelessly behind the scenes for the benefit of preschool.
I would also like to thank the committee for their tireless support and hard work in helping with the running of preschool and raising our much needed funds during challenging times. We are a very small and friendly committee and would welcome anyone who would like to join us.
Let's hope the coming year will be better for us all and some normality can be gained.
Abi Clacy was elected chairperson in July 2018, but had to step down in June 2019, when I took over the roll
As you are all aware we had a di�cult start to the year, as just before Christmaswe discovered that are finances were not in good shape, and we were not sure if we would be able to open preschool in January 2019. This resulted in consultations with the sta�, and them agreeing to cut their hours to reduce costs. Sadly Amanda felt this was a good time for her to move forward in her career and took up another position. In January preschool opened with Val as acting manager for a short period and ultimately Tasha took on the role as manager.
To prevent preschool closing we had to make some harsh and di�cult decisions and I would like to thank our sta� for all their hard work as new ideas were implemented and for being very patient with us as we found our way.
The only way we could continue was to throw ourselves into fundraising and advertising our setting. As the treasurer's report will detail we did amazingly well in our fundraising e�orts and the number of children in the role went up putting us in a much better position. We actually started this September in a better position then we have done for a number of years.
It has been my personal privilege this year to work closely with some hardworking people who are enthusiastic about what they do and have the best interests of Love Lane preschool at heart.
I would like to say a huge thank you to Becky for all her hard work as Treasurer and her never ending enthusiasm for fundraising. Thank you to Lisa who took over as secretary at short notice just after joining the committee and to Natasha who has been a committee member for a number of years and has helped tirelessly on our fundraising stalls.
Thank you to all our sta� who have worked extremely hard this past year, it has been very di�cult at times, but you have all contributed in making preschool into a warm and welcoming environment where our children develop and grow into young people as they get ready for school.
A big thank you to our parents who have supported the
committee throughout the year with our endeavour to raise funds for the preschool.
The Committee is conscious that parental involvement needs to be developed and is working to improve this, in terms of encouraging parental support during Pre-School sessions and helping with fundraising events.
I would also like to thank Becky’s husband Darren who gave up his free time to kindly set up a new webpage to advertise preschool, which is absolutely brilliant and to set up a Google drive where all committee and sta� members all have new individual Googlemail email addresses to keep Pre-School communication separate from their personal accounts and to also aid handover to new Committee Members in the future. I would also like to thank Google for the charity day which enabled Darren and a colleague to work on our website to give it a professional look. All Committee and Sta� members have access to Google Drive where all documents are held electronically. The Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary still have Pre-School paper folders to keep documents and information up to date and to aid any handover procedures. Some of our children have accessed the 30 hour funding and in conjunction with Shaw cum Donnington School we have been able to accommodate them, the children attend preschool in the morning and are taken over to the school at 11.30 where they spend the afternoon.
The committee has purchased a new ChromeBook for Tasha to use, as the old laptop ceased working.
We have Stay and Play mornings on one day every half term which has helped to bring some new children into preschool, so it is something which we will be continuing.
We have purchased the use of a company called Croner, who have helped us by producing a new handbook, writing new contracts for our sta� and giving the committee some general HR and legal advice. They have also visited preschool and completed a health and safety check and we are in the process of implementing their findings. Legal advice should we need it is free and they will provide legal letters and would represent us in any legal disputes
At the end of my short time as chairperson, and my year as a committee member I look back over this time with an overall sense of satisfaction and pride for what we have achieved.
Sylvia Giles 20th September 2019
Love Lane Preschool AGM Chairperson's report
Abi Clacy was elected chairperson in July 2018, but had to step down in June 2019, when I took over the roll
As you are all aware we had a di�cult start to the year, as just before Christmaswe discovered that our finances were not in good shape, and we were not sure if we would be able to open preschool in January 2019. This resulted in consultations with the sta�, and them agreeing to cut their hours to reduce costs. Sadly Amanda felt this was a good time for her to move forward in her career and took up another position. In January preschool opened with Val as acting manager for a short period and ultimately Tasha took on the role as manager.
To prevent preschool closing we had to make some harsh and di�cult decisions and I would like to thank our sta� for all their hard work as new ideas were implemented and for being very patient with us as we found our way.
The only way we could continue was to throw ourselves into fundraising and advertising our setting. As the treasurer's report will detail we did amazingly well in our fundraising e�orts and the number of children in the role went up putting us in a much better position. We actually started this September in a better position then we have done for a number of years.
It has been my personal privilege this year to work closely with some hardworking people who are enthusiastic about what they do and have the best interests of Love Lane preschool at heart.
I would like to say a huge thank you to Becky for all her hard work as Treasurer and her never ending enthusiasm for fundraising. Thank you to Lisa who took over as secretary at short notice just after joining the committee and to Natasha who has been a committee member for a number of years and has helped tirelessly on our fundraising stalls.
Thank you to all our sta� who have worked extremely hard this past year, it has been very di�cult at times, but you have all contributed in making preschool into a warm and welcoming environment where our children develop and grow into young people as they get ready for school.
A big thank you to our parents who have supported the committee throughout the year with our endeavour to raise funds
for the preschool.
The Committee is conscious that parental involvement needs to be developed and is working to improve this, in terms of encouraging parental support during Pre-School sessions and helping with fundraising events.
I would also like to thank Becky’s husband Darren who gave up his free time to kindly set up a new webpage to advertise preschool, which is absolutely brilliant and to set up a Google drive where all committee and sta� members all have new individual Googlemail email addresses to keep Pre-School communication separate from their personal accounts and to also aid handover to new Committee Members in the future. I would also like to thank Google for the charity day which enabled Darren and a colleague to work on our website to give it a professional look. All Committee and Sta� members have access to Google Drive where all documents are held electronically. The Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary still have Pre-School paper folders to keep documents and information up to date and to aid any handover procedures. Some of our children have accessed the 30 hour funding and in conjunction with Shaw cum Donnington School we have been able to accommodate them, the children attend preschool in the morning and are taken over to the school at 11.30 where they spend the afternoon.
The committee has purchased a new ChromeBook for Tasha to use, as the old laptop ceased working.
We have Stay and Play mornings on one day every half term which has helped to bring some new children into preschool, so it is something which we will be continuing.
We have purchased the use of a company called Croner, who have helped us by producing a new handbook, writing new contracts for our sta� and giving the committee some general HR and legal advice. They have also visited preschool and completed a health and safety check and we are in the process of implementing their findings. Legal advice should we need it is free and they will provide legal letters and would represent us in any legal disputes
At the end of my short time as chairperson, and my year as a committee member I look back over this time with an overall sense of satisfaction and pride for what we have achieved.
Sylvia Giles 20th September 2019
97 Westfield Road
Thatcham Berkshire RG18 3BT
29[th] June 2021
Dear Sirs,
I have reviewed the accounts for Lovelane Pre-school, Shaw cum Donnington Village Hall, Donnington, Newbury. I confirm that the figures prepared and submitted are correct and that there are no anomalies.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs S Brennan