Present: Cindy, Viv, Diane, Ronnie, Phil, Liz, Ruth, Poppy, Heather and Laura.
1. Apologies for absence: none – all present
2. Confirm minutes of last meeting:
Actions from last meeting:
Cindy has checked which fire extinguishers we have and has added information to the induction
pack.
Poppy has written a blurb about the committee for the new starters pack and given this to Cindy. Cindy spoke to Rob about the sandpit cover before lockdown and he suggested looking online at
various other covers. Cindy has now delegated this job to Diane and Laura.
Phil has worked out that he expects the increase in minimum wage, together with a 5.7% general
increase, to raise the salary bill by between 6k and 7k per year.
Poppy looked into session fees at other similar settings and emailed around her findings; The Lawns,
Biggleswade charge £4.60 per hour, Rainbow in Gamlingay charge £4.60 per hour and Wooden tops in Potton have an hourly rate of £5.55. Current rate for our playgroup is £6.00 per hour.
Discussed having a form for parents where they can make a voluntary contribution for “enrichment activities”.
Liz looked into using survey monkey for the parent questionnaire and this is possible. Heather shared her resources from the World Health Organisation.
Ongoing Actions:
Diane to look into a sandpit cover which is porous and has a weighted edge. Laura offered to make something out of fabric. Cindy is going to take measurements of the sandpit to email to Diane and Laura who will liaise with each other regarding what to do next.
Cindy will email the link for the advertising poster to Poppy, Heather and Laura who will all share on various Facebook pages.
Heather to use survey monkey to create the parental questionnaire after the parents VMC have given any feedback. Aim to send the questionnaire out before the end of July. Lockdown has meant the following actions will have to be picked up again another time:
Revisit lights in the main room
Fundraising ideas to help recoup the shortfall from the salary bill
Suggestion of price increase per session
Cindy to give Heather dates for training course
Cindy to speak to parents regarding painting of blackboards in outside area. Minutes are passed.
3. Matters arising:
a) Covid 19 update – we re-opened from the 1st June. Risk assessments are all in place, children and staff are in either team A (Monday, Tuesday) or team B (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) and parents have been made aware of safety and changes to our procedures. Staff meetings have been held, the setting has been reviewed and the environment changed where necessary, PPE has been sourced and lots and
lots of cleaning has taken place. The preparation was hard work however now we are back open children are adapting well and feedback from staff and parents has been positive.
4. Manager’s report: We had a zoom staff meeting yesterday for staff feedback after the first week, to see what worked well and if anything didn’t work so well. All feedback was positive, with just a few minor tweaks; it continues to be a work in progress. We are finishing at 2.30 which is allowing time to clean at the end of the day. We currently have 6 fee paying children attending now which is helping to boost the grant received – this is on top of what Sharon has forecast for the next few months expenses. Sessions are more relaxed; we have space for 16 children max per session and currently our busiest session is 14 children. We started back with 8/9 children on Monday and Tuesday and 12/13 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The numbers are slowly increasing over the weeks. Sharon has sent out session requests for September and we still have a few outstanding. We are continuing as normal, however, if things don’t change then we may need to review sessions and limits on numbers etc. We have 29 children leaving in July, potentially 19 existing who will remain and 7 new starters (4 deferred from Easter), which gives 26. A few new parents have contacted and asked to see the setting. Action: Cindy to create a video to show prospective parents which will include pictures from the old set up as well as videos from the current set up. Tea towels for leavers have been tricky to organise remotely, however this has now been done and the proof arrived today. Order forms will be emailed out tomorrow £5 per tea towel and £3 per coaster, with parents paying by BACS. Children who are attending will have a party on a Tuesday / Friday afternoon and children who are not attending will have a visit from their key worker or Cindy at home.
5. Treasurer’s report:
We are currently £7,500 under budget and there are 3 reasons for this:
1) We paid £4,000 for the garden
2) Property repairs on the lighting and boiler
3) We are £5,000 over budget on salaries due to the % increase agreed after last time we met and additional staff hours to cope we the numbers we have.
Some concern regarding numbers going forward. We currently have 60 children, with 35 of those proposed for September, and therefore we will have a lot less government money coming in and as a result, staff may have to reduce dramatically. Cindy is aware we have had a large number of pre-schoolers this year. The key is...we need more children!
Cash savings and bank account are good, with £67,000+ in savings deposits and £23,000 in bank account.
I will be retiring after Christmas so we will need a new treasurer. This has traditionally been a parent with a financial background.
Action: Cindy to look at parents and see if there is anyone she could approach regarding the treasurer role.
6. Finding a chair: Action: Cindy will look at parents and see if there is anyone she can have a chat with.
7. AOB: None.
8. Date of next meeting: Tuesday 7th July 8pm. Proposed AGM date: Tuesday 15th September.
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