Our Committee

The Pre-school is a Registered Charity, run by a voluntary parent committee of trustees. All parents have a right to join the Committee if they wish and are formally appointed or reappointed at the AGM held in November. The committee fulfills, amongst others, the following roles and responsibilities for the Pre-school:

Responsible to Ofsted, the Charity Commission and Kent County Council to ensure that all statutory obligations are met.
Works with the staff team to ensure the Pre-school's Policies and Procedures and Prospectus are updated as necessary.
Appoints new staff, and decide on changes to pay and other contractual terms and conditions.
Manages the Pre-school's finances, setting an annual budget and monitoring income and expenditure against the annual budget.
Responsible for payroll, ensuring the staff are paid on time and all tax and NI responsibilities are met.
Runs the Pre-school website.
Publicises the Pre-school through productions of posters, flyers and press releases.
Coordinates the volunteer helpers including CRB checks and references.
Writes grant applications as appropriate
Organises fundraising events to generate capital for new resources, equipment, and to pay for staff overtime for special events. A great example is the Quiz Night held in Kilndown Village Hall in September 2011 which raised over £1000.

The Committee carries out all these roles in a purely voluntary capacity. The Early Years Entitlement grant that we receive for each child provides enough funding for staff salaries, Hall hire, insurance and some consumable resources such as paint, paper etc, but there is not enough surplus funds to pay for administrative support and all the improvements, equipment and process wise we would like. We are not allowed to charge a surcharge on top of the grant for the free hours, so in return for free Pre-school for your child we simply ask for parental help either as a committee member, parent volunteer helper at Pre-school sessions or at fundraising events.

Our current committee members and trustees are:

Chair: Mark Roberts - 01892 891122

Secretary: Kellee MacGregor

Treasurer: Darrell Edon

Alicia Martineau

Gail Brassley

Portia Woods

Ruth David

Sian Warr

Suzi Gerety

We are extremely grateful to the following individuals who provide essential services for the Pre-school whilst not being committee members or trustees.

Treasurers Assistant: Mandy Brush

Payroll: Barbara Whiddett

Little Squirrels

all children feel welcome and included