PARWICH.ORG

Minutes of the Stepping Stones Pre-School, Parwich Open meeting held on
Thursday 9th February 2012 Sycamore Pub, Parwich at 7.30pm.

Present
Emma Dickinson, Gill Harrison, Tracey Fentem, Jennifer Barker, Vicky Yeomans, Janet Gosling, Nicky Edge, Sam Lomas, Felicity Watkins, Katy and Andy Wayne.

Apologies
None

As this is an open meeting there was no Agenda.

Gill Harrison, Treasurer welcomed all to the meeting and gave a rough scenario of were we are at because of our Ofsted report. We might be thrown a lifeline Derbyshire County Council are visiting tomorrow (Friday 10 February 2012) to see how we have progressed since the Ofsted report and if they are happy we will get funding for 6 children (3 more than we were) from Easter. If we don’t then we can only run until May 2012. We currently have 10 children on the books and 6 leave this July for School. In September that leaves only 4 children this would only bring in £150 and it costs £411.61 a week to run at the moment. There is £500 in the cash flow and £900 in Reserve account to cover Redundancy if required. At the moment we are not viable to run in September 2012. Last year we had a lot of children funded so that’s what kept us going. We need to cut down on costs and push the Pre School.

We need to do all we can to try our very best to keep the pre school open. We need to advertise in/on papers, radio, page on blog – Jane Bennett will help flyers and leaflets. We will have to make a decision June/early July as to whether the Pre School will open in September 2012.

Questions asked:-
Do we have any old record books? No, it goes up and down and one year they had no money.

Would the school take us on? Could we ask? It was felt that the school would only take children from 3 yrs of age. Also, there maybe various issues and with the local council. Could we explore the option?

We are a feeder in to the school and the Hall’s biggest user the Hall would also lose a lot from us. Would the Hall lessen our fees? Everything needs to be tightened. We currently save £13 a week by going into school on a Friday. Could we cut down? Could we go to school another day? Could an all day session run from 9am – 3pm, Helen likes this idea however the children would need a packed lunch. We would need to register for all day sessions.

Ideas of how to get in new children
Taster Sessions – ‘Free session’ advertise in the papers. More posters need to be printed off.
People may come from Ashbourne to a smaller setting or Village School.

Do we need to do a questionnaire to ask what the need is?

Outdoor planning – Eco School.

Would any of the local community help?
 Amanda Johnson, Ofsted inspector
 Where does the Panoramic 5 money go? To the Hall
 Jane Bennett – Blog
 Dianne Turnbull?
 Sue Hughes – French
 Mrs Wayne – Painting
 First Aid

We need to put things into practice what we have talked about tonight. We need to allocate jobs to people.
Posters – Jennifer Barker Ask Amanda to help us – Emma Dickinson
School another day –Tracey Fentem Helen and staff about Holiday clubs – Gill Harrison
Writing for the blog – Gill Harrison

Could we run a summer school? We need half the staff qualified to level 2. Nicky Edge offered to help with anything. Other parents offered to help but don’t hold any qualifications. Ideas – Art, Cooking (Val), Messy Craft, etc. Sam Lomas will not be qualified to level 3 until July. Could we run a taster at Easter?

We would be restricted on the age it would have to be 2 to 5 years. Hold it one day once a week we would need to speak to staff. Advertise that we are in Queen Elizabeth Grammar School catchment area, new hall and out side area.

It was suggested to ask Pennie from Derbyshire County Council and Sarah Wynn–Jones about running a holiday club. Gill Harrison to speak to Helen and Sarah. Sam Lomas said she was happy to do the holiday club and Nicky Edge also offered to help. Could we run with one member of staff and a volunteer?

It was reported that people may be asked to be more economical with the Hall i.e. lights and turn down the heating

Fundraising ideas
It was suggested that we hold small events the previous Darts and Dominos night raised £140.

Janet Gosling very kindly offered to run us a Quiz and a Darts and Dominos Night.
 Darts and Dominos night – Saturday 24 March 2012 at 8pm, Janet said she would do some posters and email them to Gill.

 Quiz night – please would people come. Janet will ask Val and Nick for a date in April.

 Barn Dance Jennifer to explore however it may be rather expensive as a caller is around £300 to £500. Event in the hall – bar, tickets, stocks, karaoke.

Other suggestions were:-
Pantomime
Talent show
Could Oddfellows help us?
Calendar
Car Wash and Car Boot
Make up night – Joanne
Ladies evening
5 v 5 football how would it make money
Wine tasting
Could we something with the children?
 We decided a car wash and car boot on the pub car park in one Sunday afternoon in June – Katy Wayne and Jennifer Barker to organise.

Publicity
 Notice board outside hall – Emma asked Felicity if she would do it with the children
 Christmas cards
 Open day with an activity for the children
 Advert in Matlock Mercury, Ashbourne Telegraph and Peak Advertiser
 Blog
 Facebook page
 If we hold a Taster session before the Easter holidays we could have an Easter egg hunt and raffle.
 Newsletter – We need to check with Helen regarding names and photos if we put any on. Newsletter to go on the blog – Jennifer Barker to do this.

We also need to ask Helen if she has any ideas as she is not present at the meeting.

The date and time for the next meeting Monday 5 March 2012 at 7.30pm

As there was no other business the meeting was closed at 9.20pm

Signed:……………………………………… Date:………………………………………………..