Harrietsham Pre-School
Harrietsham Pre-School is a registered Charity No. 1021287


Ofsted Registration No. EY340143 Chair’s Report

Annual General Meeting
Monday 19th October 2011

It’s been a busy year for the Pre-School!

We started last September being quite low on numbers after losing 22 children to Reception. This had had an impact on our financial budget for the year, especially with an increase in our rent. Our forecast showed that we had a deficit of over £5,000. After lots of financial planning/brainstorming meetings, we reduced this by:
Having the sad task of making our administration assistant redundant
Reducing staff’s core hours by two mornings each per term
Reducing the Deputy’s admin hours
Negotiating the rent with the primary school to £3 per hour rather than the suggested £5!

Numbers increased and by December 2010 we were back to staff having their contractual core hours back.

In June, our previous manager, Janet Bellamy, handed in her resignation after having been with the Pre-School for 11 years. Jan’s new role gives her the opportunity to fulfill her own personal development plan and respect for her decision is without question.

This was, of course, a blow to such a small, charitable organization and it was quite a strain with only having 5 weeks to recruit a new manager for September. My thanks particularly go to Sarah Hill for the time and effort she put into helping me with this recruitment, she was an enormous help, particularly on the employment law side!

I am delighted with the appointment of Sam Bragg who brings an enormous wealth of experience to us. With ten years of child minding under her belt and having managed other staff plus gaining Outstanding with Ofsted, we are inundated with her knowledge and early years expertise. Her enthusiasm is infectious and we will be looking at ways to enhance what we currently offer over the course of the next year. In particular, I am keen that in the short-term we work with Sam to review our Business Development Plan, Admissions Policy and our hourly rate.

Ofsted have just been in and have given Sam the thumbs up in respect of her “Suitable Person” interview. We need to be aware that Ofsted will be coming in in the near future for a proper inspection and it is likely that recommendations/implications will come out of this – particularly in respect of extending our opening hours. Sam and I will be meeting with the Head teacher of the Primary School in early November to see whether this is going to be an option.

We have had some pro-active committee members looking at ideas for fundraising over the next year and with the cut back of available grants, this is going to be more important than ever so your support at these events is really vital!

Lastly, I would like to thank the existing team, Jayne, Sara, Su, Katharine and Paula for their commitment to the Pre-School and their support to Sam over the last six weeks. I feel that the children we look after here are truly in the best of hands.

Sam Oliver

Chair