Frequently Asked Questions

The Nursery fees for Year-Round have been calculated to take into consideration the closures as noted in Section 1 and have been divided in such a way as to facilitate ease of payment and enable equally spread payments, both weekly and monthly.

Term-Time Paid Sessions are payable for 38 weeks a year as a weekly fee. The monthly fee equals the total of the 38 weeks divided by 12, and is payable for 12 months of the year, even if the child is not in attendance in a particular month.

Nursery fee rates are directly linked to staff ratio. When your Child moves to a different Group, their fee rate will change accordingly. Group movements occur three times per year – in January, April, and September, and are based on your Child’s age and/or readiness to move up to the next Group.

Within the Caterpillars Group, Wrigglers will move up to Walkers once they can confidently walk independently, irrespective of the Group movement arrangements mentioned above.

Fees are payable irrespective of the Child(ren)’s sickness, absence and/or holidays taken. This is non-negotiable as their nursery place cannot be offered to another child in their absence.

A non-refundable one-off payment of £60.00 per Child is required upon completion of registration for booking, registration, and insurance fees.

A non-refundable fee deposit, equivalent to one weeks’ fee (per Child) is required prior to your Child(ren) starting. This deposit will be deducted from the final payment once your Child has been withdrawn from the Nursery, provided that all necessary notices are given (see withdrawal section below) and all fees paid to date. All notices must be submitted in writing.

The first week or month must be paid in advance, depending on your chosen payment frequency. Advance payments for any additional services for the initial period will also be invoiced at this time.

Consumables, including, but not limited to, nappies, pull-ups, and wipes: All children must provide their own nappy-changing supplies. Alternatively, parents can opt in to pay for nursery-provided nappies and wipes at the rate outlined in the Sessions & Pricing List. Consumables are charged weekly based on the length of the sessions booked and usage rate. Once agreed, such fees only cease to be payable upon 1) the termination or withdrawal of the Nursery place, or 2) the submission of a written request to cease providing the consumables. Please note: The Nursery only uses Pampers brand nappies and wipes. Any other brand that Parents wish to use must be brought in by the Parents.
Nursery Meals: Nursery meals, including but not limited to Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack and Tea, are not included in Childcare fees. Except for Breakfast, if a child will be in attendance during these mealtimes, Parents must either provide meals or pay for nursery-provided meals at the rates outlined in the Sessions & Pricing List. Breakfast is optional; Parents can choose to provide this at home, provide this to eat at Nursery, or opt-in to pay for nursery-provided breakfast. Mealtimes are as follows:

Breakfast is between 8:00am – 9:00am
Morning Snack is between 10:00am – 10:30am
Lunch is between 11:30am – 12:00pm
Afternoon Snack is between 3:10pm – 3:40pm
Tea is between 4:30pm – 5:00pm

Meals are charged weekly per days booked and are payable irrespective of attendance excepting nursery closures. Once agreed, such fees only cease to become payable upon 1) the termination or withdrawal of the Nursery place, or 2) the submission of a written request to cease providing the nursery meals submitted at least one week prior to the desired end date.

Extra hours may be booked on top of the Contracted hours agreed subject to availability, and will be charged at the standard rate, as stated on the Sessions & Pricing List. However, this needs to be arranged with management at least 48hrs in advance. Fees for additional hours are charged weekly per session booked and are payable irrespective of attendance excepting nursery closures.

Once agreed, such fees only cease to become payable upon 1) the termination or withdrawal of the Nursery place, 2) the starting of a Session that includes said additional hours in the price, or 3) the submission of a written request to cancel at least 24 hours prior to the start of the booked session/ hours.

There are several schemes available to help families access financial support for childcare spaces.
These include:

If your child is aged two, three or four you might be able to get free early education and childcare. How much you get, depends on the age of your child and your circumstances.

The Free Early Education Entitlement scheme provides:

The Nursery Education Grant (NEG2) entitles your child to up to 15 hours per week of free childcare for eligible 2 year olds.

Your 2-year-old can get free childcare if you live in England and get one of the following benefits:

The Free Extended Entitlement provides eligible children aged 3-4 years with an additional 15 hours on top of the NEG 3/4.

You may be able to get 30 hours free childcare if:

You may be able to claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs if you’re eligible for Universal Credit.

You (and your partner if you live with them) will usually need to either be working or have a job offer.

For more information, click What is tax-free childcare?

You can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).

If you get Tax-Free Childcare, you’ll set up an online childcare account for your child. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider.

You can get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both.

Your eligibility depends on:

If you already claim tax credits, you can add an extra amount of Working Tax Credit to help cover the cost of childcare.

Both of the following must apply:

Different schemes are available depending on the level of your study, from school/ sixth form through to higher education.

For more information, click here.

Childcare vouchers are a scheme that takes up to £55 a week from your wages tax and national insurance-free to pay for childcare.

New applications for childcare vouchers and directly contracted childcare are closed. If you joined one of these schemes on or before 4 October 2018 you might be able to keep getting vouchers or directly contracted childcare.

For more information, click here.

All three and four-year-olds in England can get up to 15 hours of free early education each week for 38 weeks of the year (equivalent to the school term time).

The free early education and childcare stops when your child starts in reception class (or reaches compulsory school age, if later).

Some children are eligible for an additional 15 hours per week.(Free Early Education Entitlement)

You will have to pay for extra costs like meals, nappies or trips.

You can claim the free hours from the beginning of the school term, following your child’s third birthday.

If your child is born between:

Children benefit from being taken out of the setting to go on visits or trips to local parks or other suitable venues for activities which enhance their learning experiences. As part of our activities, children may be taken out either to park or to local places (including, but not exclusive to, the shops and library). On other occasions we may organise trips at key group, class or whole-nursery level, so everyone can enjoy the experience.

For our local outings (or walking trips), the children visit the following places throughout the course of their attendance: the playground on Lawrence Avenue, the playground in Bramshill Road Open Space, Harlesden Library, the shops and businesses in the Craven Park and Harlesden area, the Tesco Express in Stonebridge, and the shops on Winchelsea Road.

Permission for walking trips in the local area is requested on the registration form, and you may be requested to dress them appropriately in advance if necessary.

Any trips that require travel via transportation, or that are further afield than previously mentioned require additional consent. Parents/ Carers will be informed prior to any such outing taking place, and such additional consent and any parent helpers will be sought as necessary.

Each year, we plan a whole nursery trip with two aims; to broaden the children’s horizons and to give our families a chance to meet and build friendships. With these aims in mind, we try to ensure that the trips are diverse and engaging, whilst being accessible to as many of our families as possible. These trips traditionally take us away from our locality for the whole day, often requiring arranged transportation and a packed lunch. Parents, siblings, and other family members and friends are usually invited to attend, so the whole family can enjoy the day out.

Parents and family members are always invited to our annual nursery trip. For any other trips, we inform parents in the consent letter if we are looking for parent helpers.