Chair’s report 2022
First and foremost, I would like to thank the entire Little Oaks team for their continued hard work and dedication to the children of the PreSchool. Without them, working under the expert guidance of Jill, preschool care in the area would be a different story.
In our first full year after the pandemic, the Pre-School has faced a challenging year yet again.
One of the major changes that the Pre-School has faced is the loss of a long-standing staff member, Lauren Brace. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lauren for her many years of dedication and hard work which has definitely contributed massively to the Pre-School being an integral part of the children’s passage into the school system. She will be missed and the committee & staff all wish her the very best of luck in this new chapter of her career.
We would like to welcome Cynnoe who has filled the hole left by Laurens departure. The wealth of experience that Cynnoe has in this type of setting has already enabled her to settle in quickly and become a valued member of the team.
The continually increasing cost of living has been hard on the PreSchool with supplies and incidentals etc. increasing our cost base as well as the energy hikes that we are all familiar with. The knock-on effect of this is that the fundraising activities that the committee conduct throughout the year have been even more important to the Pre-School than ever before in recent times.
Fundraising activities and events have been held with the same cadence as previous years, hitting all of the relevant points in the event calendar (i.e. Christmas, Easter, May Fayre etc) however it is clear that there is less disposable income in the area which has adversely affected the ability to raise as much funding as we would like.
Considering the challenges above, during the period of this report, the Pre-School has managed to deliver the usually high standard of learning and care to its children offering a safe and fun environment for the children to develop key skills with fun learning games and activities. This is accomplished by leveraging all of the tools and educational resources available to the children’s key workers such as the Tapestry tool as well as the supplies purchased on behalf of the school from the fundraising efforts.
The pre-school has continued to embrace and encourage outdoor learning and play which was something that was especially important during the COVID pandemic and has remained a popular part of the children’s time spent at Little Oaks.
Jill Brace (the Manager) and her team of staff members all contribute to a learning environment which allows the children to realise their own personal learning goals by really getting to know and understand each child individually. This is reflected in the way that the staff tailor activities specifically to the interests of the children whilst staying within guidelines of knowing what it is that the children will need in terms of both education fundamentals and life skills when they enter full time education at their chosen primary school.
The quality of relationships that all staff forge with their pupils can be seen very clearly when the various fundraising events occur throughout the year and the children, parents and staff are all together, there is a strong family atmosphere, and it is a joy to watch.
The pre-school operates as a non-profit making organisation that is also a registered charity. Therefore, funding for maintaining, developing, improving and running the Pre-School on a day-to-day basis comes from 3 main sources:
1. Government funding for statutory hours of attendance.
2. Extra attendance hours that are non-government funded, therefore paid by parents/guardians.
3. Fundraising events organised by the committee. This typically incudes a May Fayre, a Christmas market event and several other smaller fundraising initiatives throughout the pre-school year and holidays.
This fundraising enables the committee to remove the financial burden of running such an establishment as much as possible from the staff to allow them to focus all of their attention and energy on the children and their development.
The committee members meet regularly to liaise with and plan how to support Jill and her staff members. The committee are continually looking to replace leaving parents and also asking for more members to help ensure that the Pre-School continues to operate as best it can.
The Pre-School is in a generally good state of repair, with a number of new facilities having been added over the last few years and there are no major planned expenditures that can be foreseen.
Objectives that the committee are aware of, which need attention are as follows:
1. Organise and finalise the renewal of the lease for the grounds on which Little Oaks resides. The lease has now ended and negotiations are underway with The Kite Academy to resolve this.
2. Refurbish the toilet facilities within the building.
3. Replace or recondition the access ramp to the building.
The above objectives are only able to be met by leveraging the much needed funds that result from the events that we hold. The committee recognise the need to hold further fundraising efforts to be able to achieve against these stated objectives, however it is regretful that in the current economic climate fundraising is an increasingly hard activity with disposable incomes being at an all-time low for the majority of households in the area.
One of the Pre-Schools most successful events in the fundraising calendar is the May Fayre which is held every year. The weather was well and truly with us this year and the community supported us in their usual way with both current and past children turning up with their parents. With the usual array of stalls and activities that the staff and committee work so hard to pull together on the day, we managed to raise a respectable £1691 with everyone involved having a wonderful day.
Nicola Younger Little Oaks Chair
Little Oaks Pre-School (Frimley)
**DRAFT**
Statement of Financial Activities
Year to 31 July 2022
|Income and endowments from
Donations
Gifts and donations
Charitable activities
Pre-School fees including Surrey CC funding
Grants - other
Note 6
Other trading activities
Fundraising
Other income
Late payment fees
Sundry income
Gross interest
Expenditure on
Raising funds
Fundraising
Charitable activities
Salaries
Note 7
Premises costs
Training
Materials, equipment, uniform
Insurance
Professional fees
Administrative costs
Other
Bad debts
Bank charges and sundry costs
Net (expenditure)/income
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward|Unrestricted
Restricted
Endowment
Total
Funds
Funds
Funds
Funds
£
£
£
£
1,577
0
0
1,577
69,435
0
0
69,435
2,374
600
0
2,974
2,687
0
0
2,687
110
0
0
110
0
0
0
0
0
0
76,183
600
0
76,783
454
0
0
454
68,478
0
0
68,478
9,282
0
0
9,282
12
0
0
12
575
600
0
1,175
1,414
0
0
1,414
1,387
0
0
1,387
1,204
0
0
1,204
170
0
0
170
85
0
0
85
83,061
600
0
83,661
-6,878
0
0
-6,878
0
0
0
0
-6,878
0
0
-6,878
80,190
0
0
80,190
73,312
0
0
73,312|Prior Year
Funds
£
4,613
49,771
3,373
1,409
20
60
0|
|---|---|---|
|||59,246
97
71,987
9,132
710
1,277
0
2,490
895
2
95|
|||86,685
-27,439
0|
|||-27,439
107,629
80,190|
Restricted Funds: £150 and £350 donations re bathroom
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
membern of
Little Oaks Pre-school
On accounts ft>r the yoar
ended
31°Juty 2022
Chaiity no
{tt any
802781
Sot out on pages
1-6
I report to the trustees <)n my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended
R•8ponslbllftles and AS charity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation
basls of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act
2011 (Ihe ).
I report in respe of my examination of the Trust'8 accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Ad and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed the applicable Dire(*ions given by the Chanty Commission
under section 14515)(b) of ts Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
come to my attention {other than that disclosed below ') in connection with
the examination whith gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect:
accounting r8cord8 were not kept in aco)rdance with section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not acMrd with th8 accounting records
Independent
oxamlnorfg 8latement
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
oper understanding of the a¢¢ounts to be reached.
' Please delete the in the brackets rfthey do not apply.
Slgnod:
15th May 2023
Nam•:
Mrs Sheemul Fahim
Relevant prof•8slonal
qualification($) or body
(il any):
Association of Accounting TechnKians (AAT) Level 2
Address:
39 Firwood Drive
Camberley
Surrey GU15 3QD
IER
October 2018