2023-03-31-annual-report

RASCALS ‘N’ RUFFIANS PLAYGROUP TRUSTEE REPORT For the year to 31 March 2023

Reference and Administrative Details

Charity name Rascals & Ruffians Playgroup, Principal Address 10 Bettys Hill Road, Newry, County Down, BT34 2LY Email [e-mail] Tel [phone]

Charity Commission Number 100443 Date Registered 11/11/2014 Trustees

Trustees April 2022 – March 2023 Siobhan Rooney nee McAlinden (Chairperson) Fiona Mullholland (Secretary) Cathy Murtagh (Treasurer) Adele McAteer Nadine McAteer Shauna Heaney Mary Beth Duffy Charlene McCourt Triona McAnulty Marie Curren

Bank Danske Bank, 58 Hill Street, Newry, BT34 1AR

Accountant Liam Quinn Chartered Accountant, 11 Billys Road, Ballyholland, Newry, BT34 2NA

The Trustees’ are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Structure, Governance and management

Rascals ‘N’ Ruffians is a voluntary organisation established in 1989. It is managed by Trustees (Management Committee). The Trustees are elected annually at the AGM by means of a public vote. They meet on a monthly basis. It is a constituted group; the constitution was most recently adopted on 22 October 2014 by trustees in a committee meeting.

The day-to-day operations of the Playgroup for the year are managed by the Playgroup Leader, Teresa Campbell. She has delegated authority, within terms of delegated approval, for operational matters including management of the other three staff members, delivery of Playgroup activities and budgetary management.

Charitable Objects

The object of the Playgroup as set out in our constitution is to provide a play based learning environment for pre-school children in the Ballyholland area.

The aim is to advance the education of the children by providing them with safe and satisfying group play, promote the preservation of health of the children and for the parents/carers to take responsibility for and to become involved in the activities of the playgroup.

Summary of main activities

The core activities of Rascals ‘N’ Ruffians are to provide the children with a variety of challenging age-appropriate play based activities and other experiences in a stimulating environment. The focus is to allow children to learn at their own pace, be able to cope with uncertainty and to learn through trial and error. All planned activities are designed to address the 6 areas of the curriculum as follows:

• Personal, social and emotional development

• Language development

• Physical development and movement

• The arts

• Early mathematical experiences

• The world around us

Achievements and performance

Numbers

• The playgroup is permitted to have a maximum of 26 children attend playgroup on a daily basis. These 26 places are currently funded by the Education Authority Pre-School Education Group (PEG). For the academic year ending June 2022 there were 21 children and the academic year commencing September 2022, we had 25 preschool children in our playgroup, with an additional 2 non funded pre-preschool children that attended on separate days during the week.

• The pre-school education was provided to the pupils from Monday to Friday (9am to 12Noon)

A high-quality learning experience

Rascals ‘N’ Ruffians have provided a consistently high-quality learning experience for the students.

• We are inspected by Southern Health and Social Care Trust – Early Years Team on an annual basis. In the most recent inspection in June 2021, the setting was commended in how they utilise the outdoor space and resources for play activities. It was also recognised how the setting had done it's upmost to risk assess and implement necessary practices to keep children safe during COVID 19 pandemic without their learning experiences being effected.

• In our most recent Education Training Inspectorate (ETI) report in 2014, our performance was deemed outstanding in all categories.

• We provide a varied weekly plan for age-appropriate play-based activities for all children to address the 6 areas of the curriculum

• In normal times we employ one part-time playgroup leader, one part-time playgroup deputy leader and two part-time playgroup assistants with the appropriate childcare qualifications.

• In the academic year 2022 to 2023 we employed one part-time playgroup leader, one parttime playgroup deputy leader and two part-time playgroup assistants. We employed on an occasional basis until March 2023 an additional assistant who provided one-to-one support to a child with additional needs through our Engage funding.

• We have two temporary staff who can provide cover on an ad hoc basis.

Events

• A trip for the children to Tiddly Town, Newry

• Trip to Kilbroney Park Rostrevor

• A visit to Sleigh Bell Cottage, Burren, to meet Santa

• Santa also visited before the Christmas holidays

• Sponsored walk in May 2022

• To enable the pupils to learn about the world we live in, the playgroup invited a range of guest visitors, such as the Police Road Safety team, Fire m

• Boogie Beat music and movement class in the setting every fortnight

• A librarian visited every fortnight

• A pupil trip to the local primary school and visits from the primary school Principal and primary 1 Teacher throughout the year to develop relationships with staff and introduce themselves to children to ease the transition to primary school.

• We held a licensed street collection in October 2022 for the setting.

• We held a quiz in March 2023 to raise funds for the setting.

• We were awarded a grant from the Child Care Partnership for heating oil in autumn 2022.

• We we awarded funding from DAERA in December 2022 for a new home corner.

• Tesco donated a printer in 2023.

Public Benefit Statement

As demonstrated above, the trustees believe that our purpose and activities satisfy both elements of the public benefit requirement. We have complied with our duty to have due regard to the commission's public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. Our purpose and beneficiaries are set out below:

Purpose 1: To promote play based learning environments

The direct benefits which flow from this purpose include raising awareness of age appropriate play based learning among parents and carers and the provision of early education for children under statutory school age in Ballyholland.

The beneficiaries of the purpose are children under statutory school age in the Ballyholland and its surrounding area. They also include parent and carers of children under statutory school age in Ballyholland and its surrounding area.

Purpose 2: To advance the education of the beneficiaries by the provision of safe and satisfying group play

The direct benefits which flow from this purpose include improved social, emotional, physical and intellectual development through age appropriate play based learning among parents and carers and the provision of early education for children under statutory school age in the Ballyholland village.

The beneficiaries of the purpose are children under statutory school age living in the Ballyholland and surrounding area.

Purpose 3: To support the values and principles of Early Years

The playgroup’s vision is all children are strong, competent and visible in their communities; all children are physically and psychologically healthy, eager to learn and respect those that are different. Early Years Values are:

• Early Childhood in its own right; as well being the foundation for later life

• Play as the primary vehicle to promote the development of young children

• A culture of listening to children

• Parents/ carers as first educators

• Inclusion through diversity and respect for others

• Support education and development opportunities for families

• Quality and innovation in early years care and education

• The professionalism and commitment of all staff and volunteers working with young children

Private benefits

• Trustees: from our programme of ongoing training in good governance, finance etc; which are transferable to other settings.

• Staff: in the form of a) payment of wages and b) training and development opportunities which could be transferrable to another setting.

Both staff and trustee benefits are incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is provided to our beneficiaries.

Harm mitigation

No harm flows from Rascals ‘N’ Ruffians purposes. Premises are subject to annual safety inspections. All electrical equipment has been PAC tested and we are expected annually by the Fire authority. All staffing and education related matters meet the requirements of the Education Authority, Health and Social Care Trust Minimum Standards and The Early Years Organisation.

Financial position

• Total incoming resources for the year were £71,428.06 of which £59,152,21 was generated from grants, £9,732 from weekly parental contributions and £2,543.85 from fundraising and milk rebate.

• Total resources expended for the Playgroup were £66,698.92.

• The deficit of income over expenditure was £4,729.14

• The balance of main account at the year end was £27,169.32.

• The balance of our savings account at year end was £12,331.26.

Signed by

Siobhan Rooney nee McAlinden (on behalf of the Trustees at a committee meeting) Chairperson