Review of the year 2006 — Year ended 31 March 2006
Achievements and performance
Learning and quality assurance
13,611 learners attended the charity’s training in the year, completing 389,145 guided learning hours (compared to a target of 452,338 guided learning hours). The target was not met because the amount of support received from the LSC for qualification courses was not has high as requested and there has been increasing difficulty in securing funding from local authorities for professional development training.
The charity’s learners are the staff and volunteers of pre-school settings and parents taking part in the charity’s family learning programmes. 3,510 learners were funded by the Learning and Skills Council.
With funding from the European Social Fund, the charity provided for 293 parents to work towards a qualification ranging from entry level to level 4. (The target was 200 parents).
230 pre-school settings were successfully assessed against the charity’s accreditation scheme, Aiming for Quality and 407 settings signed up to the scheme(compared to a target of 400).
Provision of early years services
The charity provided new childcare in 14 children’s centres, which offer 672 childcare places in areas of need. The target for the year was 20 children’s centres. The charity has also been funded to manage 59 pre-schools and 1,523 parent and toddler groups, drop-in centres and regular crèches. The charity has also delivered 1,135 one-off crèches. The target for children’s centre involvement was not achieved due to more viable opportunities to open provision without children’s centre status. Overall, targets were exceeded.
Through the Expansion Project, an additional 7,987 new childcare places were developed within pre-schools that had signed up to the programme (compared to a target of 8,000). The charity’s model Extended Schools Partnership Pre-school Constitution was approved by the Charity Commission in September 2005 enabling pre-schools to become involved in the Extended Schools Initiative while retaining their charitable status and promoting parental involvement.
Early years development work and projects
The charity is funded in more than 100 local authority areas to provide a range of services, including the employment of 535 pre-school development workers who provide settings with advice, guidance and business support. 486 pre-schools use the charity’s payroll services. The charity runs 55 subsidised toy libraries, targeting both pre-schools and parents in areas of disadvantage. The charity continues to develop its business support tools.
In 2006, new publications were issued (target three new publications). Looking at Learning Together is a six-session course for parents of young children, Making Their Day is for practitioners working with two year olds in mixed-age settings and The Child in Focus provides guidance on observation and record keeping in the early years.
Membership services
The charity provides practical support to its 17,000 members and makes a positive contribution to the care and education of over 500,000 children and their families. Membership benefits include a range of specialist products and services such as free information and advice, a competitive and comprehensive insurance package and access to a legal helpline 24 hours a day.
The charity opened negotiations with a software company to develop management software targeted at the early years sector.
Campaigning and sponsorship
Over 38,000 copies of the charity’s nutritional guidance have been distributed following an unprecedented response to the Feeding Young Imaginations campaign. This included distributing bulk ordered copies from local authorities, EYDCPs and Sure Start local programmes. Over 80 MPs have visited local settings to support the campaign, preparing food with local children. Campaigning on the Workforce Challenge has resulted in 110 MPs signing up to a House of Commons Early Day Motion calling for radical reform of the early years childcare workforce.
Sponsorship income was generated from a range of corporate partnerships including product and service endorsement, research and direct marketing opportunities. In addition, increased revenue was generated from 3rd party ‘goodie bag’ mailings and through an annual supplement magazine, Children First.
Grants payable
The charity appoints a national grants panel of volunteers to provide assurance that the criteria for funding and the paying of grants are met. The charity’s sub-committees have delegated power to award grants to assist pre-schools or subsidise pre-school places. Eleven local authorities have funded the charity to target and distribute grant aid to groups most in need of financial support.
Volunteering
The charity’s volunteering strategy has been relaunched and rolled out across all regions. It has been based on the ten national standards for volunteering issued by Volunteering England and refers to actions that ensure that all volunteers are recruited, inducted and supported appropriately.
During the year, 1,002 volunteers gave an estimated 47,602 hours of their time to the charity. 8,817 of these hours were given to committee work at a local level.
Plans for the future
The charity will continue to work with its strategic partners – parents, families, community-based groups, local authorities and the Sure Start Unit of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) – to provide high quality care and education for children, to improve the sustainability of groups and to promote the involvement of parents in all aspects of their children’s education.
The charity will secure its involvement in 30 children’s centres and nursery settings across the country. We will seek to help to move 35 pre-schools to school sites under the Extended schools Initiative.
The charity will continue to extend its training and learning programme to ensure that staff and volunteers in early years settings have the qualifications and continuing professional development they need to undertake their roles successfully. The guided learning hours target is 400,000. The charity’s national NVQ assessment centre has a target of 150 enrolments for levels 2 and 3 in 2007 for NVQs in children’s care, learning and development, and playwork. A target of 35 assessors will be trained. The charity will broaden the financial support for its training programme, securing funds from the European Social Fund and other grant-giving organisations.
The charity has a target of 350 settings to achieve successful accreditation outcomes with Aiming for Quality.
Four new publications are planned for 2006/7. Members will also be offered the opportunity to purchase management software designed specifically for early years settings that will be provided at a competitive rate as a benefit of membership. We will seek to secure four new corporate sponsorship deals to support the charity financially and to raise awareness of the charity’s work.
Summarised financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2006
| 2006 £'000 |
2005 £'000 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Income and expenditure | ||
| Total incoming resources | 37,845 | 32,876 |
| Total expenditure | 36,074 | 32,659 |
| Net movement of funds | 1,771 | 219 |
| Reserves | ||
| Restricted funds | 3,900 | 3,330 |
| Net movement of funds | 1,771 | 219 |
| Designated funds | 1,737 | 2,512 |
| General unrestricted funds | 6,184 | 4,208 |
| Total funds | 11,821 | 10,050 |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Fixed assets | 4,004 | 4,142 |
| Current assets | 11,353 | 9,683 |
| Creditors – amounts falling due within one year | (3,559) | (3,567) |
| Creditors – amounts falling due after one year | - | (208) |
| Total net assets | 11,821 | 10,050 |
The figures on this page are extracted from the full accounts which have been audited by Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP, who gave an unqualified audit report on 14 September 2006. The auditors have confirmed that the summarised accounts are consistent with the full accounts for the year ended 31 March 2006. The trustees’ annual report and accounts were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf on 14 September 2006 and have been submitted to the Charity Commission and the Registrar of Companies.
These summarised accounts may not contain sufficient information to gain a complete understanding of the financial affairs of the charity. For further information, the full accounts, the auditors’ report on those accounts and the trustees’ annual report should be consulted; copies of these can be obtained from the Director of Finance at 188 York Way, London, N7 9AD.
Approved by the National Executive Committee
Elizabeth Marlow
Honorary Treasurer
The following charts show the charity’s income and expenditure broken down by category.
