Hanwell Bunnies Pre-School Playgroup

Just to remind everyone who may be interested that the next Hanwell Bunnies Committee Meeting is on Friday 29th February at 9.30am at Hanwell Bunnies.

Please get in touch if you would like to add an agenda item, or have something you would like to raise.

Sarah our Financial Manager has very kindly taken the Census off my hands this year - a lot more data needs to be collected than before and we have been planning for this by collecting that data for all children since September.

We are only required to head-count children at our setting receiving NEG on a certain day of January - all settings including schools have to do the same.

We have submitted our data electronically using a secure system. The penalty for not submitting the data is withdrawal of the Nursery Education Grant to help parents of over 3s.

Our constitution is almost identical to the pdf document above, I'd like to propose we adopt the new constitution at the next AGM primarily because this one's in digital format so that I can email it across when grants agencies request it!

Charles
We are really keen to know the levels of NEG from April 08 so that we can effectively plan for the future. It was my understanding that you were having a big meeting in Jan 08 to discuss NEG amongst other things.
I'd be really grateful if you could let me know when the levels of NEG will be decided, and how and when that will be communicated to us.
Kind regards
Liz Russell
Hanwell Bunnies

The current level of £8.21 per session is in place until the end of this financial year. Letters will go out to all providers in receipt of NEG ahead of the summer term updating everyone of any planned changes to the rate.
Kind regards
Charles

I went on a Early Years Foundation Stage briefing last week for Childminders, and found out that from September we will be expected to collect ethnic data in the following format:

White
- British
- Irish
- Traveller of Irish Heritage
- Gypsy/Roma
- Any other white background

Mixed
- White and Black Caribbean
- White and Black African
- White and Asian
- Any other mixed background

Asian or Asian British
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Bangladeshi
- Any other Asian background

Black or Black British
- Caribbean
- African
- Any other Black background

Chinese

Any other ethnic background

We were intending to change our ethnic monitoring form to reflect our community, but we may be able to do that by adapting this form slightly so that everyone is satisfied.

Over the last few months we have re-police checked all our paid staff, and all their police checks have now been returned - all are clear.

The Committee also need to be police-checked - I have had a hard time trying to get Ofsted to send me a batch of their forms so that I can put pressure on committee members to complete a CRB form, but I finally have them. In the meantime, Ofsted have been writing to committee members telling them they can't make a decision about their suitability, so we really need to sort this problem out fast and get all the forms filled in.

It's a time-consuming and labourious process... although I understand why it's necessary it's yet another thing that is required of me as Chair, and it may be something that I have to delegate to the Playleader in the future, as committee members are more likely to see her on a daily basis so that the forms can be filled in.

On Tuesday 5th February I attended my 2nd 'Area Board Meeting' chaired by Claire Welsby, head of Ealing's Children's Centres.

We are now seen as a satellite to the Copley Close Children's Centre, and are taking on children referred to us by Outreach Workers where possible, up to a maximum of 4 sessions per week. I found out at this meeting that we can claim the cost of this back through the Ealing's 'Children in Need' fund.

Once again we find ourselves in the position where we are struggling to find staff to take on a temporary contract to enhance our adult:child ratios while we look after children with Special Needs. Ealing re-imburse the cost of an extra member of staff, but finding someone who is willing to do 2 and a half hours a day, 5 days a week on a temporary basis is hard.

Today I spoke to Jane Smith, our area SENCO, who is very understanding, and she will be speaking to her manager, Vina Mistry, to see if we can use agency staff to cover SEN staffing. Previously we have been told Ealing has a policy not to cover this... however, we are being encouraged as a voluntary setting to do a 'Full Cost Recovery' when charging outside agencies - and this means taking into account our Financial Manager's time for setting up pay arrangements, as well as my time (given free) for drawing up contracts etc. Using agency staff is quite possibly a cheaper option if all our employment costs were taken into account.

We are an inclusive playgroup committed to Equal Opportunities, and yet providing for Special Needs children is very difficult for us currently when financial margins are so tight.

I did Cristina our Playleader's supervision with her today. Cristina is currently on a Level 4 course, paid for by the 'Transformation Fund'. I find the supervision process really useful, we aim to meet every 6 weeks and it gives us a chance to talk to each other about what's working and what's not.