Chair’s Report - 14.09.16 (Kerri Westlake)
Staff
We finished the end of the academic year with five staff members. We have had some staff changes during the year; Vicky left her employment with Chestnut Playgroup to concentrate on her university course, and Amy has joined our team Tuesday to Friday each week in June. Amy is a level 3 early years practitioner. I am pleased to confirm that Louise also completed her Level 2 qualification at the end of the year, and is in the process of commencing courses to support her Level 3. The committee are supportive of staff training, whether this be though attaining further childcare qualifications or training in specific areas. This continuous development enables our staff to provide a high standard of care and education for the children who attend this playgroup and acquire skills and knowledge on current best practice.
Michelle has done an amazing job over the last year as Pre-School Leader. She has lead by example and ensured that staff moral remain positive, even in the more challenging of months. We would like to say thank you to all of our staffing team for their hard work over the past year, or for the time that they have been with us; we truly value each of you and all that you give in caring and educating our children.
Playgroup
Over the last academic year we have continued to offer playgroup sessions each Tuesday to Friday between 9am and 2.30pm, and it was agreed that fees should remain at current rate of £3.80 per hour. We were fortunate to end our year with 32 children enrolled, with 14 of whom leaving for their journey to big school. Almost all of our sessions were at maximum capacity for the second part of the year. We have started this academic year with a fantastic 18 children enrolled, and a further two new children are due to start this month. We truly believe this reflects the quality of our staff and setting, and the improvements made even over the last 12 months.
Due to the growing demand of sessions, it has been agreed this year that from September 2016 we will be also open on a Monday offering playgroup sessions. Sadly that has meant that we are having to say goodbye to our Toddler group sessions which have ran for many years on a Monday morning. The decision for this change was made following positive feedback from the families of Chestnut Playgroup, and it is believed to be in the best interests of the playgroup. Going forward, the committee will actively consider the possibility of starting or taking over a local Toddler group to allow us to offer this service to our local families. We would like to very much thank Wendy Hine for her excellent work and dedication to the Toddler group over the last twelve months.
Ofsted attended our setting on 30th June 2016, as just over three years had passed since the previous report had been undertaken on 14th June 2013 with a satisfactory awarding. We are very proud to confirm that we have achieved a GOOD, and received some very positive feedback from the inspector.
Committee
We commenced the year with six committee members, being Chris, Rob, Philippa, Yasmin, Barnaby and Julia, with a view to the latter three taking a step back as their children no longer attended the setting.
In October, I myself joined as a general member, before taking on the role of Co-Chair from November. Lucy then also joined as a General Member in January. Thereafter there continued to be five active members of the committee, holding the main official positions of between us. Together, we covered all the necessary duties of the committee but this is a stretch with only five of us. Going forward, it is proposed that only three of these committee members will continue, and we would therefore really like to see new members joining tonight to help spread out the duties and responsibilities, and also welcome new ideas and views on how we run the setting.
I would like to thank all the committee for their dedication, hard work and unfailing determination in their roles. We are all volunteer parents, who are committed to ensuring this playgroup continues to provide the best childcare for all the children who attend and will attend in the future. I also want to say a special thank you to Chris Hine and Rob Linsdell, who will be stepping down this year. We will very much miss you.
We have made the decision from September this year to employee a Pre-School Administrator, Wendy Hine, who will support Michelle and the committee going forward. It is envisaged that the load of the committee will be easier managed with this support.
Fundraising
Fundraising is important to Chestnut Playgroup as we are a charitable not-for-profit organisation. The grant funding and fees go towards staff pay, and any training they may require, our rent and utilities. However, we rely on fundraising to enable us to buy the extra things like new equipment, arts supplies, food for snack and make improvements to our outside space. Fundraising this year included our Christmas Event, the Quiz Night, the Easter Challenges, a Cake and Book Stall, Bounce Week and of course the Family Fun Day. We are very grateful to all the families who supported playgroup at each of these events and we would like to encourage parents to continue to support us to enable us to reach our fundraising target of £2000, which we set each year. We are delighted to confirm that we marginally exceeded our target this year.
End Statement
Being a committee member can be challenging, by giving your own time, and it can be hard work. But it is also very rewarding, especially when you see what we have achieved this past year. It’s also a great way to meet new people and be involved in your child’s early education. We do have fun and we try to get together socially every now and then.
Without a management committee, the playgroup cannot run so we are really hoping that some of you are interested in joining.
As a committee member, you will need to be DBS checked, agree to abide by our constitution and sign to confirm that you will keep any information discussed during committee meetings or learnt during your time as a committee member, strictly confidential.