2025-07-31-annual-report - Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup

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Trustees' Report and Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2025

CCNI Charity Registration number: NIC107105

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup Contents For the year ended 31 July 2025

	Page
Trustees’ Annual Report	3 - 6
Statement of trustees’ responsibilities	6
Independent Examiner's Report	7
Statement of Financial Activities	8
Balance Sheet	9
Notes to the financial statements	10 - 16

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup Trustees' Annual Report For the year ended 31 July 2025

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ending 31 July 2025.

Other Names

The charity is at times referred to as various other names relevant to its registered charity name:

Rainbow Corner Pre-School & Playgroup Moira
Rainbow Corner Moira
Rainbow Corner Pre-School
Rainbow Corner Playgroup
the acronym RCPP

Reference and Administrative Details

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup

Registered Charity in Northern Ireland - NIC107105

2 Main Street Moira Craigavon BT67 0LE

Charity Trustees

The charity trustees who served during the year or who were trustees at the date of this report were:

Owen Gawith Chairperson Natalie Beggs Secretary Samantha Martin Treasurer Caroline Henderson Rachael Stoddart Daniela Mediondo de Lima Janet Morris (appointed 23 September 2024) (resigned 13 April 2026)

Structure, Governance and Management

Those charged with governance of the charity are the trustees also known as the Committee, as elected annually by the staff and family members of pupils, are charged with the management of the charity. The charity staff organise the day to day running of the pre-school and playgroup. The charity's governing document is the Constitution.

To be elected as a trustee of the charity a person must be a member. The committee is re-elected each year at the AGM. Nominations for elections to the committee may be made by any family member of the students and seconded by another. Well-wishers of the charity who, in the opinion of the committee, have special knowledge or experience to offer to the charity, may also be nominated for election to the commitee. Members of staff cannot be committee members.

The committee must hold at least two meetings every term.

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup Trustees' Annual Report For the year ended 31 July 2025

Purpose

The trustees seek to promote play based learning environments and advance education for all children aged between 2 years and 10 months to 4 years in the Moira locality and its surrounding areas within County Armagh / Down 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.

This is achieved by the provision of safe and satisfying group play, with the right of parents/carers to take responsibility for and to become involved in the activities of the pre-school and playgroup and to promote the preservation of health of the children. The charity supports the values and principles of Early Years.

The property and funds of the charity must only be used to fulfill the purposes.

Objectives and Activities

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup will deliver the benefits detailed in our Public Benefit statement through a curriculum that will be planned to ensure that the children learn and develop within the six areas of the curriculum, the arts; language development; early mathematical experiences; personal, social and emotional development, physical development and movement and the world around us. Observations and assessments of each child's development will take place, relevant planning will be carried out to ensure the provision is sufficient to further advance this evidential learning.

Through a continuous process of evaluation, the trustees will carry out plans necessary for improvement of the children's educational provision. This process will include regular staff meetings, ongoing training, support from local primary schools and the Early Years organisation. We also seek feedback from parental interviews and questionnaires, inspections carried out, recommendations and support given by Social Services and the Education and Training Inspectorate.

Achievements

During the year the pre-school received grants from the Education Authority which were primarily used to pay the wages and salaries of the charity, rent, running costs, etc. The staff also organised the annual sponsored cycle to raise funds for the charity and collected termly contributions from parents. These funds were used for the daily snacks for the children and to purchase equipment and resources for the preschool.

The staff and committee also organised other fundraising activities throughout the year for the pre-school and playgroup children and their families. These included raffles and the summer fair. A new event for this year was our Christmas Fun Night with Santa's Grotto. The evening proved very popular and we look forward to holding the event again in the future. We are very grateful to the Rainbow Corner families for their continued support.

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup Trustees' Annual Report For the year ended 31 July 2025

Financial Review

The total income for the charity for the year was £67,714 (2024 - £64,201). The charity's main source of income each year is from the Education Authority which was £40,800 in respect of PEGS funding. This was a drop of 20% from the prior year due to a one off drop in our pupil intake as a result of a low birth rate year. The charity also received multiple grants throughout the year which were primarily used for equipment and wages amounting to £8,780.

The main grants were £4,500 from the Education Authority for Pre-School Inclusion Support, £2,000 from the Education Authority for outdoor play equipment and activities and the John Moores Foundation also generously awarded us a grant of £2,000 to support our playgroup provision within the local community.

Playgroup fees vary each year and this year amounted to £8,711 (2024 - £3,526) the increase is as a result of having 14 children in the year compared to a small class of seven children last year. The termly preschool voluntary contributions amounted to £2,115 and our annual sponsored cycle and other fundraising activities achieved a total of £3,421.

The expenses for the year amounted to £65,693 (2024 - £73,437). The main costs of the charity are staff salaries and rent which together make up 89% of the annual costs. The majority of this portion of costs is covered by our Education Authority PEGS funding.

The remaining running costs and governance costs are kept to a minimum to facilitate investing all available funds into the pre-school and playgroup for the sole benefit of the children using the facility.

The surplus for the year was £2,021 (2024 - deficit of £9,236). The deficit last year was due to some exceptional items and circumstances. The committee has worked hard throughout this year to reduce costs and our leader's excellent reputation and continued efforts meant that our playgroup was almost full which greatly contributed to covering running costs.

The charity's reserves at the year end are £10,641 (all unrestricted) which is in line with our reserves policy.

Reserves

The trustees assess the level of reserves on a continual basis to ensure that they are able to meet any commitments that could easily arise. The committee consider it appropriate to hold a minimum of two months' salary costs as unrestricted reserves.

Public benefit statement

The public benefit requirement is defined in the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and states that purposes must be for the public benefit to be charitable. The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty to have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland under section 4(b) of the Charities Act (the public benefit requirement statutory guidance). The trustees are confident that the activities have helped to achieve the charity’s purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries.

Rainbow Corner Pre-School and Playgroup Trustees' Annual Report For the year ended 31 July 2025

The trustees present their financial statements for the charity for the year ended 31 July 2025. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) preparing their financial statements.

Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

The charity trustees (who are known as the members of committee) are responsible for preparing a trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in Northern Ireland requires the charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departu disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to pressume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Approved by the trustees on 15 September 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Mr O. Gawith Chairperson

Mrs S. Martin Treasurer