Tiggers Playgroup Balcombe

Minutes of Annual General Meeting

9^th October 2006

Parish Rooms, Balcombe

1. Present

Charlie Arnold, Chris Napper, Alina Greentham, Sandra Kirkman, Mandy Skinner, Vanessa Oecken, Sarah Francis, Jackie Burke, Neville Ashcroft, James Peck, Annette Wilkinson, Natalie Witt, Sharen Hilton, David Hilton, Jo Cottell, Jo Cordeschi, Andrea Drury, Sarah Manthorpe, Emma Fortescue, Tracy Roberts, Tim Sayers, Georgina Sayers

2. Apologies

Heather Cox and Nancy Towers were both unwell and unable to attend.

3. Chair’s Report

Charlie Arnold opened the AGM by thanking everyone for coming. She said that her year as Chair had been thoroughly enjoyable, even though it had been a daunting task as a new parent to Tiggers.

Staff. New staff this year included Claire Clarke-Jones and Barbara Milne. Claire had just started her NVQ training and Charlie asked that we all lend our support to her during her studies. Barbara would be working two mornings each week.

Sarah Manthorpe received a round of applause for completing her NVQ level 3 and having had such positive feedback from her training.

Kitemark / Ofsted. All staff had been working very hard on Tiggers’ Kitemark assessment, however there was still a lot of work to do. Tiggers was also due an Ofsted inspection and Tiggers were trying to achieve a higher recognition this year (see below). As an addition to the curriculum, children under the age of 3 were now assessed by ‘Early Years’.

Purchases this year. Following the funds raised by last year’s Ladies Night In, Tiggers had managed to buy new toys and equipment. Tesco and Sainsbury vouchers had also been great and meant that Tiggers received some new equipment – please could all parents keep collecting.

Action - Parents

Uniforms. Staff t-shirts / sweatshirts were going to be purple. If any parent knew of a good local t-shirt supplier or printer, please could they let the secretary know. Georgina Sayers already had collected some quotes.

Action – Parents/Secretary

Sale board. A new fundraising idea was that a small portion of the notice board could be used for parents to sell items. Parents would make a small financial contribution to Tiggers for this service.

Action – Staff

Policies and Procedures. These needed updating. For example, the ‘developing social skills’ section, needed to be amended to include Tiggers’ policy for discipline. Tracy Roberts explained that when behaviour became inappropriate, a child would be asked to sit in a time-out chair for a short period of time within the room (probably in the reading corner), where he/she would be asked to reflect on what they had done wrong. As soon as the Policies and Procedures were complete updated copies would be available to parents.

Action – Chair/Secretary

Fundraising. Fundraising had been very successful this year, thanks to the Ladies Night In, organised by Jackie Burke and Sarah Francis. Thanks were also given to Chris Napper for allowing Tiggers to use her house for the sponsored walk.

Jackie Burke and Sarah Francis were asked to say a few words on their fundraising plans for this November. There would be a repeat of last year’s Ladies Night In, which was booked for 10^th November 2006 in the Victory Hall. The price of tickets had gone up due to a fish supper being included. Jackie explained that parents could buy tickets after 19^th October from her at Tiggers on Monday and Thursday mornings, as well as at Balcombe Primary School. Telephone bookings could also be made with her (Tel # 01444 819290).

Action – Fund Raising Subcommittee

Garden Project. Sarah Manthorpe had kindly offered to share this project with Caroline Rix. Plans for the new garden had been approved by the Parish Rooms Committee and were awaiting further approval from the Rifle Club and Balcombe Estate. Sarah talked through the beautiful drawings explaining the plans for the new garden and asked parents to volunteer their time for both planting and painting. The children would also be encouraged to help with painting as it was their garden.

Future plans. A sufficient number of children were to attend Tiggers in the coming year to warrant continuing the Playgroup.

Tiggers would hold a nativity play for the children which the staff were planning. The nativity would take place at the Christmas party. It was agreed that the Victory Hall was the best place for the play, even though some parents and staff expressed concern that the children might be a little daunted by the large hall. It was agreed to arrange a practice at the Victory Hall to help the children feel more comfortable.

Action - Staff

Ofsted Planning. An Ofsted inspection was due at any time. An inspection typically took two days which limited what the inspectors could see. Parents were asked to contact a member of staff if they were willing to help collect evidence to show the inspectors proof of the curriculum. For example, any photographs of outings would show excursions took place. As the curriculum was diverse, Tiggers had a great deal of evidence to collect.

Action – Parents / Staff

4. Treasurer’s Report

James Peck presented a good outlook for Tiggers, and after last years doom and gloom the expected income was surpassed by £4,000. £3,500 of this had been thanks to fundraising, which was roughly £2,500 more than Tiggers had ever made before, and an additional £500 because Tiggers had more children attending.

There was £12,000 in the bank and James did not foresee any problems going forward for next year.

5. Constitution

In the rare event that not enough staff could cover a Tiggers session, emergency helpers were sometimes used. The list of emergency helpers comprised of parents who had been police-checked. Charlie Arnold explained Tiggers needed more people to be police-checked so that they could be placed on the emergency list. Any parent wanting to volunteer to be an emergency helper should contact a committee member.

Action – Parents

If an emergency helper was used, they were paid a standard fee for their work. However, as Tiggers was a charitable organisation, no payments were allowed for helpers if they also served on the committee. This was thought unfair and Caroline Rix had written to the Charity Commission asking for clarification. In response the Charity Commission said that the Tiggers’ constitution needed to be altered. Charlie explained that this could only occur at a general meeting. Everyone present agreed the constitution should be changed so that committee members could be paid on those rare occasions.

6. Committee Nominations

The following nominations took place and each nominee was voted into office unanimously:

Committee Post	Nominee	Nominated by	Seconded by
Chair	Neville Ashcroft	Tim Sayers	Alina Greentham
Secretary	Georgina Sayers	Sandra Kirkman	Jo Cottell
Treasurer	Emma Fortescue	Georgina Sayers	Neville Ashcroft
Deputy Chair	Vanessa Oecken	Sarah Francis	Jackie Burke
SENCO/Child Protection	Chris Napper	Sarah Francis	James Peck
Committee Shopper and Health and Safety Officer	Sandra Kirkman	Vanessa Oecken	Charlie Arnold
Fundraising	Jackie Burke Sarah Francis	James Peck Cathy Sampson	Sarah Francis Charlie Arnold

7. Any Other Business

Everyone thanked those people leaving the committee, especially Charlie Arnold, Nancy Towers and James Peck. Gifts were presented to them and both Charlie and James received a round of applause for all their much appreciated hard work.