Hagbourne Pre-school Committee Meeting

Monday 13th January 2014

MINUTES

Attendees Present:– Christine Cherrington, Elaine Scarsbrook, Caroline Coles, Melissa Smith, Julie Higgins, Victoria French, Paula Beecham, Andy Heapy, Sheila Bayliss, Felicity Troskie.

Apologies for absence – Joanna Parman, Sue Hanton, Pennie Cooper, Kelly Rance, Rebecca Oldfield, Margaret Emery, Karen Hynds.

Meeting Started: 8pm
AGENDA
  1. MINUTES
The Minutes of the last meeting on the 3rd December were agreed.
  1. MATTERS ARISING
a)OFSTED:
ES confirmed that pre-school were still awaiting OFSTED to visit.
b)Staff Job roles:
Sheila advised that the job titles of the staff need to be amended to:
Sheila Bayliss – Early Years Manager
Julie Higgins – Early Years Deputy Manager
Sue Hanton, Paula Beecham & Andy Heapy – Early Years Assistants
This needs to be amended on website and prospectus.
c)Website:
CC advised that she will be bringing in her camera to take pictures of the committee so that these can be uploaded on to the website. She also needs to obtain some wording from each member to go alongside the photos on the website.
  1. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT
ES welcomed everyone and happy new year to all and that we were to draw a line in the sand with everything that had happened during 2013 and was to start looking at the future for pre-school.
ES CRB check had all gone through and ME to contact OFSTED and change the nominated person for the pre-school. ES had also read the SEF and handed back to ME with amends.
ES confirmed that ME was happy to continue doing the payroll, however ME would be moving soon and so need to start thinking and looking for someone to take this role over within the next 3 months. It is not a time consuming role and the committee are to all have a think of anyone.
ES is going over to the main Primary School at 12:30pm next week. Also the VH committee require a representative from the pre-school to attend their meetings. ES has agreed to attend the next one and then a committee member will take turns to attend so that we aren’t reliant on just one person going. They can then report back any information at the next committee meeting.
The Policies need to be looked at and reviewed this year and so we will start looking at a couple during each committee meeting. This will happen from April 2014. Initially the Admissions Policy needs to be amended to now state that we take children from the age of 2.
ES confirmed that in April the funding will need to increase in line with the council funding rate.
  1. TREASURER REPORT
RO wanted to thank staff for their cost reduction in this last term. We still need to remain careful and have no additional expenditure. However, if funds are raised for specific reasons then we need to spend them on that specific item, but there is to be no extra cost to pre-school.
We need to see how many children are required in order to increase staff working hours without losing money. SB to produce a table of what staff are willing to do if their hours were increased.
It was asked at the meeting, due to recent enquiries, if RO could calculate with the current children we have how many more children we would need for an additional member of staff.
FT reported that we have 5 definite starters in April with 5 more possible.
FT to amend register so that there is no confusion about billing for a lunchtime session. VF raised the issue due to a parent being billed for 4 hours for an afternoon session instead of 3 because on the register they were down for the lunchtime hour session plus the afternoon 3 hour session, however the lunchtime session for an afternoon is actually included within the 3 hours.
SB has emailed to chase up receipts for the Bucklebury Farm trip and the Christmas Tree festival. Events and outings for trips need to be paid for by parents. Maybe the pre-school arrange a fundraising event to pay for a trip.
Any requests for anything further need to be thought about in advance this way the committee can decide on ways to raise funds and afford the expenditure.
SB to do a stock check of what arts and crafts they currently have and to see roughly when pre-school are likely to need more.
Parent buddy’s – some have now left pre-school and new parents need someone to meet them in the mornings, make sure they are alright and answer any questions they have. Parents of groups need to ensure they speak to the new parents, make them feel welcome, etc. Looking at current parents it could be FT, MS, CC, PC and Jamie’s Mum.
  1. REPORT FROM PLAYLEADER
SB reported that it had been a tough week now with minimum staff and maximum children now attending the setting. There have been quite a few new starters in January and still currently taking new ones in.
SB advised that staff are having to change the way they are now carrying out their observations, otherwise the adult:child ratio would have been broken. SB took a whole morning to observe 2 children. Staff will do theirs on a 3 week rota and see how this goes. SB to report back at the next meeting.
ES advised that it was better to telephone around if there were problems as this would allow decisions to be made a lot quicker.
A rota for emergency contacts needs to be produced with 2 people per day, per session to be available to be called upon should they be required. A letter needs to out to parents. Also to emphasise the importance of the parent helper and that this is a very important role and how parents need to ensure they help on their nominated day and if they can’t then they need to ensure they swap and don’t just cross their name out.
The request for help with the allotment needs to go out in the Parish Magazine, School newsletter and Gardeners newsletter (Caroline Hunt).
SB advised that she needs to re do her Safeguarding training. KH has advised that there is one coming up in Feb/Mar time. It is recommended that 2 members of staff have this training and so JH to do this as well. It is on a Saturday but is free. A committee member needs to do this as well.
As a result of the recent redundancies SB has lost the other member of staff SENCO qualified. Therefore another member of staff needs to do this. KH is looking in to this. It is a 3 full day course. SB to also check about staff and their first aid qualifications and when they run out and need retaking.
SB has spent the grant money received from Infinieum and these things should be arriving tomorrow. CColes has volunteered to go to Argos or The Entertainer to spend the Council Grant received.
SB advised that the laptop keyboard had broken again – CC to dig paperwork out from the last time this was repaired to see if we can get this repaired.
  1. FUNDING & GRANTS FOR 2 YEAR OLDS
CColes advised that we had finally got approval for the County Council funding and the paperwork had been submitted.
  1. FUNDRAISING
a)Nearly New Sale:
Advert has gone in the Parish Magazine. This is taking place on the 2nd March. CColes to chase PC.
b)Wine & Cheese Evening:
All agreed that this would be held on Saturday 5th July at ES house. Joanna, Caroline and Pennie to co-ordinate it with regards food, drink, glasses, music/entertainment, etc.
c)Didcot Fayre:
FT advised that she had received an email regarding the Didcot Fayre however it was felt that there was another Fayre within Didcot that is held and would probably suit pre-school better to attend and market ourselves there. FT to look in to this.
  1. AOB
Letter to be sent out to parents advising that we are looking for new committee members to join the committee for pre-school.
Next Committee meeting is on the 10th Feb and people should bring any ideas with them of fundraising events, etc.
Help with refreshments for the Nearly New Sale and also end of term productions is required.
Place a poster on the noticeboard requesting anyone wanting to join the Committee.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 10thFebruary 2014, @ 8pm
Meeting finished: 9:35pm
Signed ______
Date______
Website:
Email: / ALL
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SB / CC
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ES / ME
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SB
RO
FT
FT / VF
SB
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SB
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SB
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SD / CC
KH / SB / JH
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PC / CColes
ES / CColes / JP / PC
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CC