Fees and funding

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Whilst we try to keep our terms and conditions as brief as possible, nonetheless, because we are caring for very young children, we are naturally obligated to many rules, regulations and also a good deal of legislation. We take our responsibilities very seriously and in that regard we have to be very clear to our parents and carers about the framework within which we operate. Please take time to read the following pages as it will help us provide and maintain the highest standards of care.

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The terms and conditions detailed in this document represent the key elements of our booking agreement. However, as you can appreciate there is a significant amount of day to day detail which cannot be reasonably contained in one document. Consequently, you are also provided with supplementary information on our website as well as the day to day exchange and communication of documentation (hard copy and email), policies, procedures and reports.

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Your acceptance of our terms is initiated at the booking and registration stage. Whilst this agreement naturally has legal implications, we always act with fairness and take into account specific circumstances before making decisions. The success of your child’s time here at Ladybirds is dependent on the partnership between the Nursery and our parents and carers. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you wish to discuss the terms further. 

The “Nursery” is defined here as Ladybirds Nursery.

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1  Booking and Registration

1.1   The booking is not complete until the relevant booking and registration forms have been signed and returned to the Nursery along with the registration fee. This registration fee is non refundable, in certain circumstances we are able to negotiate a lower fee particularly if you are booking more than one child into the Nursery.

1.2  Changes to your booking after the start date – Swapping or increasing sessions can be considered. If we cannot accommodate your request to increase or change sessions, then we can put you on our waiting list or you may wish to terminate the booking giving 4 weeks notice. Decreases to your booking require 4 weeks notice. We reserve the right to cancel your booking.

1.3  Prior to making your booking we can provide sufficient settling in sessions free of charge. In the unlikely event that a child does not settle at the Nursery, (1) the parent / carer may terminate the booking without notice. (2) the Nursery reserves the right to terminate the booking giving 2 weeks notice if we feel we have acted with all due care to settle a child and in our opinion it has been unsuccessful. Before taking such action, we will investigate any additional needs resource that might be available to help settle the child.

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2  Fees and Financial

2.1 All ongoing fees are payable in advance by direct bank transfer or with childcare vouchers on the first day of the invoice period to which they relate and by the following week at the latest before charges may be incurred. Responsibility for paying fees resides with the parents or legal guardians of the child. Other forms of payment can be accepted for the first month’s fees and the initial booking deposit. In exceptional circumstances, the Nursery can also accept payment by cash, credit card and / or debit card. This should be agreed at the beginning of your booking with the Nursery Manager.

2.2  Fees are calculated fortnightly and payable on a fortnightly basis.

2.3 The Nursery is closed at weekends, Bank Holidays and between Christmas and New Year and our fees are structured accordingly.

2.4 Further discounts for Nursery closure may be offered in exceptional circumstances and assuming the closure is within our control.

2.5 Fees can be paid weekly by standing order if this helps with cash flow.

2.6 Fees are reviewed once per year normally in September. Any changes to the fee rates will be notified to you at least 8 weeks in advance.

2.7 Extra sessions are payable in arrears upon next invoice. 

2.8 We are unable to refund fees for sessions not taken due to illness, absence or where the Nursery is forced to close due to circumstances beyond our control. See section 3 of this agreement.

2.9 The Nursery reserves the right to charge interest on late fees at the rate of 2% above the Bank of England base rate. The booking may be withdrawn if fees remain outstanding beyond 14 days from their due date. Any outstanding account balances will be forwarded to a debt collection agency to pursue upon our behalf, this may incur further charges to your account.

2.10 There is a minimum booking commitment of either one full day or two afternoon or morning sessions per week. Bookings must be for the same session(s) each week. It is not possible to swap days, so that for example, a normally booked Thursday is swapped for a Friday on a one off or temporary basis. Additional days can be accepted as a chargeable extra and are strictly subject to availability.

2.11 Our fees apply to normal opening hours of 7.45 a.m. to 5.45 p.m. for a full day and 7.45a.m. to 1.00 p.m. or 1.00 p.m. to 5.45 p.m. for a half day.

2.12 Because of the staffing and resource requirements as laid down by Ofsted, children who are collected after the agreed time (1.00 p.m. or 5.45 p.m.) will incur a late collection charge. The current charges are 4x our current age related hourly rate, charged per part quarter hour in full.

2.13 Discounts are available for siblings in the Nursery. The discount is provided to the older child and remains in place until the older child leaves. The rate of this discount will be 10% for each additional child. Holiday retention discount of 25% is available for 5.6 weeks per year, 4 weeks notice of your intention to take holiday is required to secure this discount.

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3 Termination and Suspension of Childcare Services

3.1 You may end this agreement by giving four weeks’ written notice. No specific reason for ending the agreement needs to be given, although naturally we would wish to understand the reason for the termination.

3.2 Specifically, you may end this agreement with immediate effect if (1) we have breached any of our obligations under this agreement and we have not or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period of being requested to do so (2) we change any of the terms and conditions in an unreasonable manner.

3.3 Specifically, we reserve the right to end this agreement with immediate effect if (1) you have not paid the agreed fees (2) you have breached your obligations under this agreement and you have or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period of being requested to do so (3) your child endangers the safety and well-being of any of the other children, staff members, students or other agency employees in the Nursery (4) financial, business or commercial reasons compel us to radically change the nature of the Nursery’s operations, including but not limited to permanent closure of the Nursery, change of childcare service, re-registration of child numbers and age groups, changes to the registration and bookings policy. Naturally, we will provide as much notice as possible given any of these events.

3.4  We may suspend the provision of childcare for any of the above reasons and in addition

(1) if your child is suffering from an infectious or contagious disease or illness which may easily be passed onto others at the Nursery. The suspension will continue whilst we try to resolve the problem in conjunction with the parent / carer. (2) where forces beyond our control compel us to either close the Nursery or reduce the available hours, such as an outbreak of disease that involves the intervention of outside agencies such as Environmental Health, severe weather such as snow or ice which significantly impairs safe travel to and from the Nursery, industrial action affecting travel to and from the Nursery, an Ofsted investigation or any other reasonable incident not in our control. In the event that the Nursery is compelled to close in reasonable circumstances beyond our control we are not able to refund fees or organise alternative childcare, nor can we accept any consequential liability sustained by parents / carers due for example to loss of earnings or costs associated with alternative childcare. Dependent on the nature of the closure we may be able to seek compensation through our insurance policy and every effort will be made to minimise the disruption to service and cost to parents or carers. None of the above compromises your statutory rights if the Nursery has been negligent. 

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4 Staffing

4.1 Staff are checked upon their contract commencement with the Nursery through the Disclosure and Barring Service to ensure there are no safeguarding issues of which we need to be aware. Suitable person checks also include but are not limited to identity verification, qualification checks, personal and employment references, medical checks and where applicable visas or permits to work in the UK. In some cases, because of the length of time that this process takes, a person may start work pending clearance provided they are at no time left looking after children on their own.

4.2 The Nursery observes the Ofsted regulations relating to staff and child ratios, currently 0-2 years 1:3, 2-3 years 1:4 and 3 to 5 years 1:8. In practice our ratios exceed the minima. There are occasions where our Qualified Teacher Status Ratios may be 1:13 for 3-5 years

4.3 Where a member of staff, within 3 months of leaving the employment of the Nursery, is employed by a parent/carer to care for their child, who was previously registered at the Nursery, then the parent / carer will be liable to pay a sum equivalent to three month’s salary for the employee at the time their employment with the Nursery terminated.

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5 Health, Safety and Absence

5.1 It is understood that the Nursery is under an obligation to report to the appropriate authorities any incident where we consider a child may have been abused, neglected or in some other way harmed either physically or emotionally. This may be done without informing the parent or carer, in accordance with our Safeguarding Children Policy.

5.2 Intimate care can be provided by a male or female member of our staff and can include feeding, washing, dressing, toileting and nappy changing. In instances where a parent or carer has requested that a particular member of staff perform certain activities, other members of staff will be informed and a full explanation given. Naturally, any confidentiality will be observed. Furthermore, the Nursery will ensure that practitioners’ employment rights are not infringed.

5.3 The Nursery is committed to the identification of and provision for children with Special Educational Needs.  We believe that the potential of every child in our care is maximised, irrespective of ability, disability, race, gender and social background and to enable equal access to the curriculum in an environment where every child is valued and respected. Parents and carers must ensure we have all the relevant information regarding special needs to enable us to appropriately care for your child.

5.4 All Nursery meals are prepared on site with consideration to provide a well balanced diet. Vegetarians and special dietary requirements are catered for. A copy of the weekly menu is available upon request. Please ensure you keep us notified about your child’s dietary needs and preferences.

5.5 We reserve the right to administer basic first aid and treatment when necessary. Parents will be informed of all accidents and will be required to sign an accident form. For accidents of a more serious nature, involving hospital treatment, all attempts will be made by Nursery to contact the parents but failing this, we are hereby authorised to act on behalf of parents to consent to necessary treatment from a suitably qualified medical source. We will administer prescribed medicines if parents complete a ‘Medicine Consent’ form; however, the first dose of medicine must be given at home and parents must take all medicines home at the end of each day unless otherwise agreed.

5.6 We may require parents to withdraw their child from Nursery, in the event that they require special medical care or attention or it is considered that the child is not well enough to attend Nursery. We may also ask parents to withdraw their child from Nursery, if we have reasonable cause to believe that they are or maybe suffering from or have suffered from any contagious disease/infection and there remains a danger that other children at the Nursery may contract such a disease/infection. We accept no responsibility for children contracting contagious diseases/infections whilst at Nursery; however, we will publish infection notices in the Nursery to keep you informed. Parents are requested to inform the Nursery if their child is suffering from any illness or sickness before attending Nursery.

5.7 Parents are requested to inform the Nursery of any food, medicine, activity or any other circumstances that may cause the child to have an allergic reaction/ allergy. Parents must provide details, in writing, of the severity of the reaction/ allergy and must continue to inform the Nursery of any changes/progress to the condition, in writing, when they become aware. Parents are requested to inform the Nursery of any changes to key information.

5.8 Children who are unwell should not attend the Nursery. Children who have suffered from sickness or diarrhoea will not be admitted back to Nursery within 48 hours after the last bout. If children fall ill during the day parents will be contacted to arrange to collect them. If the parents are unavailable other emergency contacts will be called.

5.9 We suggest that all personal toys, books or other equipment are left at home. Comforters can be brought into the nursery.

5.10 Children should come in normal day clothes, please be aware that during activities clothes can get very messy. Two changes of clothes should be provided, in a labelled bag. Please label your child’s clothes to help avoid items going missing or being misplaced. The Nursery does not accept responsibility for accidental damage or loss of property.

5.11 The Nursery does maintain those insurances required by law. Certificates are posted in the foyer.

5.12 The Nursery acknowledges its duty of care to uphold the Statutory Guidance issued under section 29 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, the central function of which is to take due regard to our role in assisting the prevention of adults and children in our care from being drawn into terrorism or radicalisation. 

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6  Security and Publicity

6.1 As part of the nursery’s fulfilment of the Early Years Foundation Stage we regularly photograph and sometimes video the children taking part in their activities.  Imagery is never published without the consent of the parent or carer. Our guidelines are as follows (1) Photographs in the Nursery are only taken with Nursery cameras or authorised devices such as Tablet computers. (2) Staff mobile phones with or without cameras are not allowed in the playrooms or the garden. (3) Photographs taken of the children are stored on the Nursery computer and are password protected. (4) Photographs are vetted for suitability before being printed or published. (5) All children are dressed appropriately before pictures are taken. (6) No photographs are taken in sensitive areas such as toilets or nappy changing rooms. (7) Parents are requested not to use their mobile phones within the Nursery premises unless absolutely necessary. If you do not wish your child to be photographed or recorded please inform the Nursery in writing.

6.2 Under no circumstances will the child be allowed to leave Nursery with anyone unknown to Nursery staff unless the parent or carer has previously arranged this. If the parent / carer has made alternative arrangements by telephone, the Nursery will require the name, address and telephone number of the person permitted to collect the child and proof of identity will be required upon arrival at the Nursery. A list of responsible adults who are authorised to collect the child should be given to the Nursery Manager. The Nursery does also use a password system for entry to the building.

6.3 We observe The Data Protection Act 1998 which is a statutory act of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Act defines what types of data are allowed to be collected, how they should be stored and what can and cannot be done with that information. In particular The Act states that personal data relating to individuals must be stored securely and only used for legitimate purpose.

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 7 Other

7.1 If you have any complaints about the service that we are offering, can you please in the first instance contact your child’s keyworker, then the Nursery Manager, if we are unable to resolve your complaint you may wish to contact Ofsted.

7.2 We may change the terms and conditions where such change arises from regulatory issues or changes in legislation affecting us, proposed changes in invoicing procedures, or in our reasonable opinion it is in the interests of children attending the Nursery. We will give you at least one month’s written notice of such change.

7.3 We will not be in breach of these terms or otherwise liable to you by reason of any delay in performance or non-performance of its obligations due to an event outside its reasonable control including ‘acts of God’, fire, flood, snow, lightning, war, act of terrorism, strikes or other industrial action. See section 3 for more information.

7.4 Acceptance of this agreement is implicit when you sign our booking document and applies to all parties noted on the booking form, irrespective of whether the secondary parties have signed the form. We would respectfully request that if parents / carers experience difficulty in fulfilling any of the conditions of this agreement, that they contact the Nursery Manager as soon as possible. Ladybirds Nursery will do its very best to resolve the issue.

 

Thank you.

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