The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 27 June 2024.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016)
The charity's objectives are to enhance the development and education of the children primarily under statutory school age by:
encouraging parents to understand and provide for the needs of their children through community groups.
offering appropriate play facilities and training courses, together with the right of parents to take responsibility for and to become involved in the activities of such groups.
ensuring that such groups offer opportunities for all children regardless of race, culture, religion or means.
encouraging the study of the needs of such children and their families and promoting public interest in and recognition of such needs in the local areas.
instigating and adhering to and furthering the aim of the pre-school learning alliance.
Intent
At Trench Tots Nursery our vision for the curriculum is to develop each individual child’s holistic development in a safe, stimulating, and caring environment. We use the Birth to Five document to relate each child to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. We aim for every child to become confident, resilient, and happy individuals who feel empowered and ready for the next stage in their lives.
Implementation
Planning is based around the children’s interests as well as linking with children’s next steps in their development to ensure that the learning opportunities and experiences provided are meaningful. Learning opportunities are differentiated to meet the needs of all individual children.
The Curriculum we create is responsive to individual children and their families. We as a team form positive relationships with all our children and their families. This enables us to have strong knowledge and understanding of all our children, their capabilities, and their needs.
Each child will have a key person. The key person is chosen by the child, based on which member of staff they form a close bond with. Each key person also has a key buddy, which is responsible for their buddy’s key group of children in their absence.
We provide rich learning opportunities which inspire children’s 7 areas of learning and development. Our aim is to provide safe spaces for children to explore, experiment, develop their own ideas and test their theories. We promote children’s physical development by providing experiences both indoors and outdoors which has a positive impact on their health and wellbeing. We celebrate different cultures and faiths as we encourage children to learn about others’ beliefs.
Impact
At Trench Tots Nursery, we understand that the experiences children enjoy during their early years has a huge impact later in life. The impact of our pedagogy has been to strengthen children’s communication and language by delivering a curriculum that is language rich and will support children to develop an extensive vocabulary. Children are offered a varied approach to learning, and they are encouraged to lead their own learning.
Through our curriculum we can see that each child is happy and ready to move on to the next stage of their lives whether that be transitions within our setting or if they are leaving to go on to a new setting or school.
Our commitment to each child enables them to thrive and to be confident within themselves. High quality early years education will have huge benefits which will enable children to achieve their next milestones and succeed throughout their lifetime.
All our children leave the setting as resilient, confident, and ambitious learners having enjoyed their experiences with us.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake in relation to public benefit.
Trench Tots continues to maintain high numbers across all 4 childcare rooms. With the new Government Funding that has been released the last few places we had have been taken up. As it stands we are unable to take any new children 2 years and up until 2027.
Although fees have had to increase due to the minimum wage increase from April 2025, we have kept the increase as minimal as possible to allow us to remain affordable to our users. This is reflected in the number of children we have enrolled at present. No families have left following the increase in fees.
We continue working on developing our outdoor areas to enhance the children’s learning opportunities whilst playing outside. This is an ongoing project and we are looking into funding.
We are looking into having canopies in the three outdoor gardens, so will be reviewing finances to see if this is affordable. Hopefully grants available will help this project.
We continue to invest money in staff training to continue to keep them up to date and enhance their CPD.
We now have a new committee formed who are very positive and have a clear vision for the nursery's future moving forward.
We receive government funding for children 9 months – 2 years old and 3 & 4 years old. As of September 2025 working families will be entitled to 30 hours funding. This is topped up by parents to cover food and other resources.
For staff that are qualified to a level 3, we decided to give them a small hourly increase as recognition of completing the higher qualification.
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.
The charity trustees aim to have sufficient funds available to continue the charity for at least three months should funding sources cease, to allow time to apply for further funding.
Unfortunately, rising costs and relaying all flooring throughout the setting as well as redecorating has been a big outlay, this has left the Charity short of that target at the year end.
Whilst the Trustees remain confident that the level of reserves held remains sufficient for the Charity to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, we have taken steps during 2024/25 to cover further increases in staff costs by increasing fees, securing increased core funding and generating new income streams through grant applications for the wraparound club for school children to attend before and after school.
We are regularly reviewing staffing needs and structures, this will be ongoing to try and streamline staffing where possible.
The Committee regularly reviews current finances to see where they are at and if we can source resources elsewhere.
The charity is controlled by its governing document, the memorandum and articles of association incorporated 19 July 2003, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
People who are interested in the charity are recruited by word of mouth or through other trustees. Their interest in the charity is discussed with all parties. Appointments are made if new trustees are required and the perspective candidate is deemed suitable.
The Trustees report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Trench Tots Neighbourhood Nursery Ltd (the charity) for the year ended 27 June 2024.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ACCA, which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Trench Tots Neighbourhood Nursery Ltd is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Gibbons Road, Trench, Telford, Shropshire, TF2 7JR, United Kingdom.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Income, including core funding from local authority, is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Grants received are recognised on receipt. All grants received have not been performance related, restricted in terms of the use of the funds. All grants received in the year relate to the JRS scheme.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objectives of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
All funds held within Trench Tots Neighbourhood Nursery are unrestricted funds.
Government grants
Government grants are recognised at the fair value of the asset received or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.
A grant that specifies performance conditions is recognised in income when the performance conditions are met. Where a grant does not specify performance conditions it is recognised in income when the proceeds are received or receivable. A grant received before the recognition criteria are satisfied is recognised as a liability.
Charitable activities
Rent and rates
Insurance
Light and heat
Telephone
Post and stationery
Uniforms
Property repairs and maintenance
Staff training
Sundry expenses
Travel and entertainment
Equipment, repairs and renewals
Cleaning supplies and hygiene
Activity costs
Food
Bank charges
None of the trustees received remuneration from the company during the period. There were also no reimbursements of expenses for the trustees.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
There were no employees whose annual remuneration was £60,000 or more.
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxationof Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
Land and buildings comprises the cost of a purpose built nursery on Gibbons Road. The total cost of this build was £719,149, of which £652,380 were covered by grants and subsidies. The total cost to the company was £66,769.
Financial assets measured at amortised cost consists of trade debtors and other debtors, which includes the wages control account.
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost consists of bank loans, deferred income, trade creditors, amounts due to employees, other creditors and accruals.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).