OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
i) Offering age and stage appropriate learning opportunities based on children’s interests in order to enhance their development in a safe and secure environment. We also help prepare children for their transition to school;
ii) Supporting staff development and progression through mentoring, coaching and training; and
iii) Working in partnership with parents to ensure they are emotionally supported during the transition.
PUBLIC BENEFIT
The Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE
The company was formed in August 2012 and, after commencing operations in April 2013, the Charity Commission granted registration on 7 January 2014.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Financial Position
The results for the year and the financial position of the charity are as shown in the attached financial statements. The accounts show a net surplus for the year of £2,740 (2024: £4,807), leaving a carry forward of £118,739 (2024: £115,199).
Sustainability
The nursery continues to implement the new opening and closing times introduced last year. They have worked well and also give staff more time at the end of the day to plan and prepare for the following day.
This year, to help the nursery remain sustainable, the decision was made to introduce the new government ratio for two-year-olds. This increased from one practitioner to four two-year-olds to one practitioner to five two-year-olds. Parents have been happy to pay the £2.00 per week snack charge, which has now been altered to 50p per day attended. This was considered a fairer system as some children attend every day and others attend only two sessions. These changes have helped the nursery remain sustainable and ensured that a fee increase has not been implemented this year.
Fundraising has taken place throughout the year. Activities have included book sales and Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day stay-and-play sessions. Parents attend the sessions with their children and make a contribution. This income is then utilised to buy leaving gifts for our preschool children, hold a leavers’ party at Littleland children’s role play area and purchase new resources for the nursery.
Reserves Policy
The charity will monitor its funds on a regular basis and will look to maintain at least six months of its annual running costs in reserve on an ongoing basis.
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
The charity is governed by its Articles of Association and constitutes a company limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.
Recruitment and Appointment of New Trustees
The policy of the charity is to appoint trustees from the following positions within the associated school: Early Years Teacher and Business Manager. The policy also states that there should be at least one representative from parents whose children attend the setting.
Organisational Structure, Leadership and Management
Charlotte continues to be the setting’s Early Years Teacher and Manager. She was also invited by the Local Authority to become the Provider Association Early Years Group Representative for Ashford. She has attended meetings and voiced concerns on behalf of Early Years providers within the Ashford area. This benefits the setting as it enables them to stay ahead of any new legislation or changes the Local Authority is planning to make for early years settings.
This year there has been a change of Deputy Manager and Lily Everest has joined the team. Lily has previous experience as a Room Manager and is looking forward to learning new skills and gaining knowledge while being mentored by both the Manager and Supervisor, Mikala White.
In November 2024, Sam Minett-Monro was recruited to join the directors’ team. Sam has a background in finance and has a child who attends the setting. He joins Jasmine Bundock as a parent director and also supports Vikki Reeves in her role as financial director.
There has also been a change in directorship. James Kilduff stood down as Chair of Directors in August 2024 due to his work commitments. Jasmine Bundock was voted to take on the role of Chair of Directors. She is responsible for carrying out Charlotte’s supervisions, signing off policies and minutes of meetings, as well as overseeing the leadership of the directors.
Jessica Iles also stood down as a director due to a change of job and will no longer be working within the local area. It is hoped that her counterpart, once settled in post, will wish to apply for the position. The setting is keen for this to happen as it supports the historic strong link between the setting and Repton Manor School.
Vikki Reeves, the nursery’s longstanding director, remains in place and is also the Business Director for Repton Manor School. She helps ensure that the nursery and school maintain strong ties and continue to support one another.
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
This year the nursery was approached by Ashford College to offer a joint placement with Repton Manor School for two T Level students. The course is a government initiative that helps train young people over a two-year framework and achieve a Level 3 standard. The students have been doing well and it is hoped that they will remain in place throughout the rest of their qualification.
The setting also welcomed its first volunteer, Nanny Chris, to the team. She previously had a grandchild attend the setting and felt so supported that she wanted to volunteer her time. So far, Nanny Chris has spent time with the children sewing, gardening and cooking. We can already see the benefits the children have gained from spending time with someone with a wealth of life experience. Parents have also shared that they feel it is a lovely experience for the children to have Nanny Chris at nursery.
As required by the Early Years Statutory Framework, staff continue to complete two-year-old checks and starting points for children once they have attended the setting for six weeks. Staff also completed home visits in June this year. The key person visited alongside the Manager, enabling the child to get to know their key person while allowing information to be gathered from parents to support the child’s starting point.
In addition to the statutory assessments that the setting completes, transition reports continue to be prepared for every school leaver. A copy is given to parents and the child’s prospective primary school. The reports include attainment levels, attendance, information to support school transition, favourite areas of learning, strengths and areas that may require further development. This year photographs have also been included within the report to be used as a talking point with the child’s new Early Years Teacher.
The setting continues to implement planning based on children’s interests, ages and abilities, offering a wide range of learning opportunities including celebrating the many different cultures represented within the nursery community. Children have learnt about Eid, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Diwali. Families have supported the nursery by sharing photographs of their celebrations and bringing in food for children and staff to try.
Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare
Staff training remains a priority and all staff members attended a Basic Safeguarding Training refresher course. Charlotte updated her Designated Safeguarding Lead training and Lily also attended as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Our administrator, Rosie, completed both a Cyber Security course and GDPR course. Staff continue to refresh safeguarding training annually through Kent Safeguarding Board online. Courses include Prevent, Witchcraft, County Lines and Human Trafficking.
This year we found that lots of children have been slightly later with toilet training. To help them feel more comfortable in our toileting area, we updated the area through redecoration and refurbishment of the sink area. Parents also helped make the area more inviting by sending in photographs of the children brushing their teeth. The children enjoy finding their photographs and the newly decorated area has encouraged them to use the toilets.
We used £700 of the £900 received from the Collaboration to update our mud kitchen area in the garden. The previous mud kitchen was too low for many children and staff to use comfortably. A contractor was engaged to add new sleepers and raise the area. Bark chips and new resources including pots, spoons and mud kitchen recipes were also introduced. The children then added their own imagination to create mud pies, castles and leaf stew. This area has helped develop many aspects of children’s learning including physical development, mathematics, language and social interaction.
The remaining £200 was utilised for home learning bags. These included story sacks such as The Colour Monster to help children explore and understand their feelings, a dentist bag to promote toothbrushing, a toileting bag and a song bag to promote language development. Children have enjoyed taking the bags home and exploring them with their families.
Outcomes for Children
This year has seen an increased number of SEND children placed on the register. From attending local collaboration meetings, it is understood that this increase is being experienced across the sector. The Local Authority is aware and has provided additional training to help support settings. We have engaged with all training offered.
The Manager refreshed her SENCO training and the Deputy Manager attended both the Prime Importance of Communication and Language course and A Practical Guide to Visual Support Strategies in the Early Years.
The children continue to take part in I Can Early Talk sessions. Sessions comprise a story, two activities and a song. Each session helps children develop language, sentence building, listening and attention skills, positive relationships and social cues. The sessions have had a very positive impact on our children. We have seen them grow in confidence, follow instructions, listen more carefully and develop their language skills.
Our Leader of Learning attended a course on Understanding the World – Global Goals. This has helped ensure that we include the natural world and the impact humans have upon it. We have explored how we can help today’s children become more aware of initiatives such as recycling, celebrating World Earth Day and looking after green spaces, including the nursery garden.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
The nursery was last inspected by Ofsted in November 2022 and retained its GOOD grading across all inspection areas. The next inspection is expected within six years due to changes in the statutory framework.
In order to help maintain progress, the Local Authority offers an annual visit from an Early Years and Childcare Improvement and Standards Adviser.
Induction and Training of New Trustees
New trustees are trained by existing trustees. All trustees are expected to complete Basic Safeguarding training and attend the Successfully Running a Charity course provided by Kent County Council.