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Stoke Gabriel Pre-school AGM
29th March 2006.
Present: Thomas Goodall, Laura Kies, Kate Peakman, Luke Peakman, Helen Tattersall, Katrena Evans, Emma Yunnie, Sue Stacey, Caroline Ridge, Vicki Porter
Apologies: Alex Dunn
Matters Arising From Previous AGM – nothing outstanding
Chairs Report – see attached Treasurers Report – see attached Supervisors Report – see attached
Voting on the new Committee – see attached table for details.
All committee members duly proposed and seconded and the motion carried.
2005/06 Committee
Review of Staff Wages (Note: Luke declared a vested interest and left the room for the discussions. Vicki took the minutes.)
Helen has produced a salary scale for the Pre-School Supervisor, Deputy, and Assistants each with a five point scale. The scales are based on current rates and PLA wages survey (of 11 pre-schools). The wages are considered to be fair and within the affordability of our current financial situation. Laura felt that it would also help with staff reviews. Thomas and Emma felt that it was important to keep in line with other institutions and important to maintain good staff levels and happy staff. The scale will also give staff targets for reviews – the targets will reflect future pay reviews. Laura will discuss with Kate, Katrena, Caroline and Suzanne as to where they feel they should be on their scale and the committee will confirm the figures. Emma wanted to mention that she felt that there should be some form of sick pay. To be discussed in future meetings. Possible figures for the wages were calculated by Thomas to give an increase in the wage bill of ~10%. This was considered to be affordable to the Pre-School.
Review of Fees
There is going to be a new funding regime introduced by the government this coming year which essentially boils down to the pre-school receiving funding for 38 weeks per year as opposed to the previous figure of 32 weeks per year. This obviously represents a welcome increase in funding and hopefully will prevent the need for the pre-school to subsidise costs with fundraising. To this effect a new account will be set up that is solely for money that has been fundraised and will solely be used for new toys and equipment. It was felt then that at the moment lunch fees should stay the same however, a straw poll will be conducted at the mini-AGM to assess parent’s views on this. Fees proposal – should there be a discount for staff children. Lynette will look into a government scheme that evaluates whether this will be beneficial to staff financially.
Fundraising
A digital camera has been requested by staff and proposed to be fundraised for. Two events are coming up: A pamper evening on the 6th of April at Sam Marney’s house and an Easter bonnets and boaters parade at the Scout Hut on Sat 15th April. Also a Murder Mystery Party could be a good fundraising event possibly in the future. Stacey has offered the pre-school to be a part of her village 5-a-side football competition. We have decided that we would like to support this event and help with the organisation and fundraising of it and take a share of the proceeds. For the Christmas Fayre it was felt that we should stick with the same template as last year and join Mothers and Toddlers. We need to send out letters requesting donations at least 3 months in advance. Templates for request letters and compliments slips will be drawn up. We need to compile a database of local companies to apply to. For future fundraising events we need to approach Heather Boote of the Primary School who will include news of them in the school weekly newsletter. The Pre-School would formally like to thank Julie G for doing a great job in raising the profile of the pre-school. Carnival There has been given to us a time slot for pre-school and FOSS to do events on the Tuesday of Carnival Week. Helen has proposed the topic of planets for the Carnival procession. This was considered to be good promotion for the pre-school – indicating our range of studies.
Refurbishment Update
To recap: National Standards (OFSTED) regulations are – one toilet/10 kids + one toilet for staff. We are one short. We have had a telephone response from OFSTED - read out by Helen - the gist of which is that, given our circumstances at this time, they will not ask us to alter our current level of provision however, they would like us to pursue the remediation of this issue in the long-term. Also we must not increase our numbers beyond 17 per session.
The next meeting will be a mini-AGM held on Friday 29th of April at 1:15pm in the Old School Rooms.
Staff have agreed to stay on and look after the children while the meeting goes ahead. Please try to stay if you possibly can.
CHAIRS REPORT AGM 2006
Staffing What a year of change! Rachael opted not to return to from maternity leave. Claire and Sue were recruited to job share the assistant’s role. Sue decided (at the last minute) not to take the role and Claire kindly did the job full time for us for half a term whilst we recruited Suzanne to job share. In June, Claire left after being offered another job, and we were delighted to welcome Caroline to the team to job share with Suzanne. Both Caroline and Suzanne now have their NVQ3 studies underway.
In the Summer, with Sarah’s maternity leave looming, we advertised for a new deputy supervisor and were lucky enough to find Katrena who started in November.
Kate took on the role of acting supervisor in November when Sarah’s leave began.
Under staffing, I also want to express my gratitude to the many parents who stepped in during our awful periods of staff sickness and injury this year. Without you, the pre-school would, on many days, have to have closed.
All in all it has been a year of transformation for our team and I find it remarkable that throughout all the changes, our pre-school has remained a safe, calm, happy environment. I would like to thank Sarah and Kate for their huge efforts in planning this smooth transition, and thank you also to Katrena, Suzanne and Caroline for the contribution that each of them has shown since joining us. We have a really fantastic team who I hope will be in place for a long time to come.
CommitteeDue to the transient nature of pre-school, this AGM marks the time for a new generation of committee to take posts. Thomas, Sue and myself are standing down from our respective positions of Treasurer, Health & Safety and Chair. I would like to thank Thomas and Sue for their enormous contribution to the pre-school. Both are leaving their posts in good order, with comprehensive records to handover.
Our secretary and now longest serving committee member, Luke has agreed to stay on for a further year which is fantastic news for the new committee. Many thanks Luke for your ongoing work and enthusiasm.
As Vice-chair, Laura has consistently supported me and the staff over the year. I feel confident that if Laura is appointed to Chair this evening, the pre-school will be in very secure hands. I hope that the new Vice-chair will support her equally.
Fundraising Big, big thanks to our fundraising team, Alex and Vicky (hopefully to be officially appointed?), plus the many parents who have been involved in numerous fundraising events this year: - In June, there was a successful coffee morning. - At the Carnival our Peter Pan theme gained us a first prize, whilst Claire, Sam and Bryony organised pre-school’s other Carnival activities. - FOSS chose not to run a Christmas Bazaar this year, and passed the event to us. We ran a Christmas Fair jointly with toddlers. Thanks to all involved. - We are very grateful to the many therapists who offered their time freely to enable us to hold two pamper events – thank you Alex, Amanda, Caroline, Gordon, Margaret, Becky and also Katie and Laura who contributed from their respective card and make-up stalls, and also Sam for hosting both delightful events.
In Summary My 15 months as Chair have at times been stressful, but overall I have found it a pleasure to be associated with such a progressive, creative pre-school. The parents, the committee and the staff do work together well. The children are delightful. If you ever have the opportunity to spend a couple of hours there helping out, I would thoroughly recommend it, it’s a lovely place to be!
Helen Tattersall
Supervisors report
So much has happened over the last year it is hard to talk about it all but I will summarize the main points.
September and October were nightmare months for the pre-school with Sarah being off with a broken bone in her foot and two new members of staff trying to learn the new ways of a new job. I thank all of the parents who stood in and helped keep the pre-school operational, especially Bryony Saffery who did more than her fair share.
In November Sarah, Helen and I interviewed for the role of Deputy Supervisor and felt lucky when Katrena applied and then accepted the role. Katrena started in December and as I am sure everyone will agree has been from the start a tremendous asset to the pre-school. Everyone must have noticed the quality of the displays within the pre-school and this is down to Katrena’s expertise. Her ideas amaze us all. I stepped up from deputy supervisor to acting supervisor a role which I find both exciting and rewarding. I have a lot of enthusiasm and will strive to move the pre-school forward in a positive way. However, this would not be possible if I did not have such a dedicated team of staff working with me. Suzanne and Caroline have settled in really well and have both now started their NVQ 3’s. I feel we all work well as a team but at the same time all have our specalised areas as well. We now have a staff meeting every half term to discuss the long term plan for the following half term and also any other matters arising. This is valuable to all of us. The whole team now share the duty of the weekly planning. This is done a week in advance. By doing this I feel the plans are used more by all members of staff rather than just being a useless document on the wall that is just done because it has to be done and not because it is useful.
Another new thing we have started this term is the progress records. We introduced these under the advice of our foundation advisory teacher. They are still in a teething period and they have proved hard work for all members of staff. Each child has their own record and for the purpose of this their own key worker. If you would like to know who your child’s key worker is please see me. Within the progress books are observations and where appropriate evidence showing which stepping stone each child is on within the National foundation curriculum Guidelines. This information then gets fed back into the planning to ensure that each child’s individual needs are being met. These records will be passed onto parents when the child leaves pre-school. I am currently doing a first review on the record books and am pleased that some common themes are coming through that show us areas that do need working on and areas that the children are doing well on. Very soon we will be having a table outside pre-school at the end of a session or two with all the children’s books on so that you can see what they have been doing. Also if anyone would like to have an informal or formal chat about their child or anything concerning the pre-school please feel free to come and see me. Our topics in pre-school have now become more prominent within the day to day activities we do. I feel this is very beneficial to the children and they all seem to enjoy the topics we cover. They are interested and inquisitive and so therefore motivated and learn a great deal without even being aware of it. We aim to provide a happy environment in which children can grow and flourish as individuals.
The numbers in pre-school are quite high at present. After Easter we will be full on a Wed AM and have only one place available on both a Mon and Wed AM. If you would like to book your child in for any more sessions after Easter please let me know ASAP to avoid disappointment.
After a request, by letter, from the PCC we have spent two afternoons clearing and tidying our equipment within the pre-school. I feel this was overdue and would like to suggest to the committee that we the staff spend at least 1 afternoon a term cleaning, tidying and sorting our toys and equipment. On top of this I feel we need to set a side an hour or two at the end of each half term to ensure that the equipment and the room itself is left in a clean and tidy state. The team are willing to do this so I am just ensuring this is O.K with the committee.
We now have strong links with the school which can only be beneficial to the children. Mrs Witcher and myself have met up a few times to discuss transition matters. Shortly we are going to visit other pre schools and reception classes to get ideas on how other settings run. This will be great professional development for both of us. Children going to school in September will start their visits in June.
Hopefully as parents you are all happy with your child’s life within the pre school if anyone has any ideas, suggestions or comments please feel free to share them with us.
I will finish by saying a few Thank Yous. Thank you most importantly to all of the children for being great and making me laugh. Thank you, to the parents for bringing the children and for all the help and support they give. And finally thank you to the committee who give up their time and energy without which the pre-school would not be able to run.
Annual Treasurer’s report 29th March 2006
2004-05 2005-06 Opening Balance £3723.77 £3576.38 Income £6658.4 £8460.59 fees Note 1 £15007.4 £16927.41 funding £1199.26 £1053.14 fundraising and donations £- £4056.61 maternity funding Total Income £22865.06 £30497.75 Payments (£19481.43) (£23510.07) wages (£2799.84) (£3424.27) expenses Note 2 (£359.96) (£1268.90) equipment Note 3 (£371.22) (£121.97) exceptional Note 4 Total Payments (£23012.45) (£28325.21) Profit/Loss (£147.39) £2172.54 Closing Balance £3576.38 £5748.92 Note 1: Fees from parents. Note 2: Expenses include stationary, consumables, phone bills, rent, insurance etc. Note 3: Includes £505.66 funded from 2004-05. Current order for approximately £550 not included. Note 4: £371.22 was Tax/NI payment for 2003-04 paid for in 2004-05. £121.97 was for an advert for a staff position.
Current bank balance: £8198.23 (27th March 2006) of which: £2617.54 approx is the cash reserve (including current order for equipment) £1000 is reserved for toilets remainder is for normal running costs (wages, consumables etc)
Comments We have had a very successful year. We have also achieved one of my main aims to establish a £2500 cash reserve that is required to provide financial security for the Pre-School.
Thanks to the fantastic Pre-School staff and in particular, Sarah and Kate for running the Pre-School so well.
I am standing down this year after 2 years as treasurer. It has been a privilege to support the Pre-School and been great to work with such a committed and enthusiastic committee. In particular, I would like to mention Helen’s role as chair. She has been invaluable in moving the Pre-School to the positive position it is in today. . I am pleased to announce Lynnette and Emma are willing to take over my role. Both are accountants so the Pre-School is in good hands!
Thomas Goodall Treasurer
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