## **Trustee Report** **Financial year:** 01 August 2022 – 31 July 2023. **Name of the Charity** : Benburb Community Playgroup **Charity Number:** NIC102462 **Address:** 3 Drumgose Road Benburb Dungannon County Tyrone BT71 7JT ## **Main activities to further our purposes for the public benefit** Our public benefits are: - 1> The promotion of a play-based pre-school environment to all children in the area, without, distinction of age, gender, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic identity, political or religious opinion. This is achieved in partnership with statutory authorities, community and voluntary organisations and the users of the setting in a common effort to provide advance education. - 2> To be of benefit to the public the organisation needs to be accessible to the public to which we aim to benefit. As we are a cross-community organisation with an open-door policy and an equal opportunities policy for committee members, staff, volunteers and children we are very accessible to the community. Our inclusion policy is adequate to guarantee that every child regardless of religion, gender, political opinion, ethnicity or ability or social or economic background has equal opportunities within our setting. 3> The Advancement of education of the children. This is achieved by ensuring the provision of safe and satisfying group play, while upholding the rights of parents/carers to be involved in the activities of the group and therefore the education of their children. The advancement of education can be demonstrated by our reports. We have been inspected by the Educational and training inspectorate ETI for Northern Ireland and found to be "outstanding" in all areas, this is testament to the effective way in which we meet our purpose. As we have also received an accredited by "Early Years" (The organisation for young children) an umbrella group for playgroups and childcare setting all over Ireland also proved that we meet the purpose very effectively and therefore are of good public benefit. However, the biggest indicator of our public benefit is our waiting list in which some children have been on from birth. We work very hard as an organisation to ensure the quality of the pre-school education we provide is consistently of a high standard. 4> Supporting the Values and principles of Early Years. Ensuring staff are professionally trained to deliver the curriculum and ensure the preservation of health of all the children. The Playgroup is able to offer funded places through the Government's Pre-school Education Expansion Programme. The playgroup has provided a safe learning environment for 26 children between the ages of 3 and 5 that will prepare them for moving forward into primary school and key stage1. There is a one adult for every eight children ratio within the playgroup, there are currently 3 full time staff, 1 one to one staff member and one temporary staff member to meet this obligation. All full-time staff have a minimum level 3 childcare qualification. The group leader has QCF level 5 Diploma in Children’s Care Learning and Development (Management.) ## **Main achievements of the year:-** Over subscription again this year, whereby we received more applications for places than we could accept and remaining applicants were placed on the waiting list. Excellent annual report following our Social Services inspection. Feedback from the inspector included: ‘Benburb Community Playgroup was observed to be a calm, bright and welcoming setting with various designated play areas … A wide range of play resources were available to support the children’s learning and development in meeting the pre-school curriculum … The children presented as happy and relaxed in their environment … A staff member supported the children and promoted politeness, independence and social skills. Warm and caring interactions were observed between the staff and the children.” Lovely comments from parents following the circulation of questionnaires to gauge satisfaction with provision e.g “I am very happy with the service the playgroup provides, my son is settled in very well and enjoys going. The girls are really friendly”; “I am more than happy with the care my child receives at Benburb Playgroup. Staff are always kind, welcoming and professional”. Staff have all updated child protection/ designated officer training and have also attended training on self-evaluation and reflective practice, first aid and voice control. ## **A statement to confirm that trustees have regard to the Commission’s public benefit requirement statutory guidance.** “In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year the trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity’s purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries.” ## **Review of the Charity’s financial position at the end of the year** The accounts for 2023 showed an income of £76,414 versus outgoings of £72,991. The main difference between the accounts in the prior year show an increase in fundraising to the value of £5,327. ## **Name of Trustees on the date the report was approved and who served as charity trustees during the year** Chairperson – Lynette Donnelly Treasurers- Suzanne Martin Secretary- Claire Conroy Committee Member – Patricia McKillion Committee Member – Niamh Fanning ## **How the Charity is constituted and its governing document:** Benburb Community Playgroup has a constitution which is a governing and legal document which represents the rule book for the way in which our charity will operate. The constitution contains information about: - Our Vision - Early years Values - what we are set up to achieve (purposes) - how we go about achieving these purposes (powers) - who is involved in the strategic oversight of our charity (membership) - what happens if changes to the administrative provisions or purposes need to be made (Alterations) - what happens if the charity wishes to wind up (Dissolution) It also contains administrative provisions relating to: - governance of our charity - internal arrangements for meetings, voting and finance - membership to our charity ## **Summary description of the Purposes of the charity:** The Group is established to promote play based learning environments for all children under statutory school age (hereinafter referred to as the beneficiaries) of the Benburb area and its surrounding environs in County Tyrone (hereinafter called the “area of benefit”) without distinction of age, gender, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic identity, political or religious opinion, by associating the statutory authorities, community and voluntary organisations and the inhabitants in a common effort to advance education, and in particular, to advance the education of the beneficiaries by the provision of safe and satisfying group play, with the right of parents/carers to take involved in the activities of the group; and to promote the preservation of health of the beneficiaries, in addition to supporting the values and principles of Early Years. ## **The name of any person, or body of persons, permitted by the trusts of the charity to appoint one or more new charity trustees and a description of the method used to make such appointments.** ## Trustees The Trustees shall meet not less than twice a term and shall consist of not less than five members of the Group and no more than twelve members, elected at an Annual General Meeting. - a) Nominations from Family Members of the Group for new trustees must preferably be in writing, and must be in the hands of the Honorary Secretary of the Group at least 2 days before the Annual General Meeting hereinafter mentioned. - b) If the number of nominations exceeds the number of vacancies, election shall be by secret ballot of the members of the Group present and voting at an Annual General Meeting. - c) If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, further oral nominations may with the approval of the Annual General Meeting be invited from members present and voting at the said Annual General Meeting. - d) Nominees must consent in person or in writing to their nomination prior to election. A Trustee shall hold office until the next AGM following his/her appointment. Trustees may hold office for a period of up to 3 years and shall retire in rotation with the longest serving one third to retire at each AGM. Or, if it is not possible to determine that, then the third to retire shall be determined by drawing lots. On retirement, members will be eligible for re-nomination and election. Trustees elected at an Annual General Meeting shall have the power to co-opt further members to fill any casual vacancy arising on the Committee, who shall be Family Members (Associate Members) and who shall serve until the conclusion of the next following Annual General Meeting, PROVIDED that the number of co-opted members shall not exceed one-third of the total number of Trustees. Co-opted members shall have the right to vote. The Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be the Honorary Officers of the Group, shall be full Family Members (Associate Members) of the Group, and shall be elected annually by and from the members of the Committee at their first meeting following the Annual General Meeting. (The office of Chairperson shall not be held by any one person for more than three consecutive years.) The Committee/trustees shall consist of: a) 3 Officers (Chair, Secretary and Treasurer); and b) additionally not less than 2 nor more than nine elected members; and c) if the Committee so decides, not more than 3 members co-opted by the committee; and d) no husband/wife, partner or close relative of a paid member of staff can be on the management committee. e) no husband/wife or partner of another committee member can be on the management committee. Any trustee who fails to attend (three) consecutive Committee meetings without reasonable excuse shall lose her/his place on the Committee. ## **Include details of any funds held by the charity as a custodian trustee** N/A **Signature: (Chair) Date: 29-5-24 Signature: (Secretary) Date: 29-5-24**