Terms and Conditions
Fees
Fees are payable monthly in advance, by standing order. Extra sessions are payable in advance by cheque or cash. Fees not collected by s/o could be subject to a £50.00 administration charge.
Fees are reviewed annually in April but may be revised with one months written notice.
The 2-5 year old rate applies from the month following your child’s second birthday.
Full fees are payable for all booked sessions even if these should fall on bank holidays or inset days over the Christmas period when the nursery is closed, the dates of closure will be displayed on the notice board.
In the case of late payments/cheques being returned unpaid, an administration fee of £25 plus bank charges may be charged.
For further information regarding fees please see our fees policy.
Enrolment
Parents/guardians wishing to secure a place for their child can do so by completing an enrolment form. Where the
nursery is full your child’s name will be placed on a waiting list.
It is the responsibility of the parent /carer to supply and update the information required of the parent/carer to
supply and update the information required on the enrolment form. First Steps cannot be held responsible for any
incidents resulting from inaccurate or incomplete details supplied on the form. This includes a change of job, moving house, new mobile phone or landline phone numbers.
In the term following your child’s Second birthday you may be entitled to two year old funding, please ask for a funding application form. Following your child’s third birthday, they will be entitled to Early Years Funding, to access this funding Somerset Early years require a copy of your child’s birth certificate. It is therefore a condition of registration that that you provide us with a copy.
Advanced bookings
To secure your child a place, a non-refundable administration fee of £50.00 is payable upon registration (unless you are claiming the EYE Government funded hours only). To secure a place for more than one month in advance, and in addition to the administration fee, one months expected income will be required which will constitute your first months payment. This amount will be forfeit if you fail to take up the please as per the agreement. If you decide to decrease or terminate your child’s attendance we require one months notice in writing.
Once the above administration fee/first months bill has been paid, your place will be offered and confirmed by a member of staff in writing providing there is availability for the sessions required.
Setting opening times are Monday-Friday 8.30am-5.30pm (limited places from 8-8.30am –5.30-6.00pm). Children will not be admitted before 8.30am and must be collected by 5.30pm unless prior arrangements have been agreed. We do not allow any swapping of sessions but we do provide extra sessions on an ad-hoc basis if we have availability within the room. Failure to collect your child on time will incur a charge of £7.50 per every 15 minutes. Please ensure you have read the full fees policy on our website.
Payments
Payments must be paid on the 1st of each month; if this is not recieved then a £50.00 charge will be automatically added by the system to your account.
Payment Details
Online Banking
Payment must be made to: First Steps Childcare LTD
Sort Code: 40-41-22
Account Number: 31420836
Ref: Childs Name
We accept, cash, cheques (please make cheques payable to First Steps Childcare LTD) and card payments via the office.
Funding
Children aged 3 and above are entitled to 570 hours of funded per year annum and can claim it the term after the child's 3rd birthday. Early years funding is only paid for 38 weeks of the year, however First Steps is a setting that is open all year round. Therefore all invoices will be shown over 52 weeks to comply with the entitlement that is split evenly throughout the year. (i.e. no discount for holidays). To claim the EYE funding, the following information is required:
- Copy of the child's birth certificate or passport (on registration, a copy needs to be sent to EYE funding team)
- EYE funding parent declaration form (completed each term by parents) these will be issued by First Steps termly and prior to a new child starting.
It is the parents’/carers responsibility to provide the above documentation. If a child’s legal documentation are not provided, then parents/carers will be charged the settings normal fees as they will be unable to claim EYE funding.
Funded hours are between 8.30-12:30 and 13:30-5.30, therefore 8.00-8.30, 12:30-13:30 and 5.30-6.00 will be charged at the normal hourly rate. Any additional hours that are not funded will be charged alongside additional fees such as lunch and the ARS (additional resources & services) charge. All chargable fees relate to hours or additional charges such as the ARS that are not funded by the EYE funding. Funded hours are subject to our ARS charge see below for full details.
30 hours childcare Parent of three and four year old will need to meet the government criteria in order to be eligible for 30 hours entitlement. This can be found at www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator once you have confirmed your eligibility please provide the setting with the eleven digit eligibility code in order for us to access your funding when you receive your 11 digit code you will need to bring this into First Steps, and fill out a consent form for all of the information required for HMRC. This means a total of 1,140 hours will be spread over a maximum of 52 weeks which includes five inset days. There is a charge for ARS (additional services & resources) per session. Our charges include (but is not limited to) snacks and drinks, breakfast, mid-morning snack, wet wipes, seasonal sun tan lotion as required. This ARS charge of £4.00 will also guarantee your child’s place at the nursery until he or she leaves for school. As First Steps is open throughout the year you will be charged across the whole year including the inset days between Christmas and new year. As First Steps is open throughout the year, the funded hours for the whole year would be spread over 52 weeks which equals to 21.92 funded hours per week. The 2 course lunch meal will be invoiced separately at £5.00 per lunch session. If your child’s session includes lunch this is invoiced regardless of your child attending as the food is budgeted for the number of children attending on each day and the employment of a cook.
Communication
First Steps Childcare regulary communicate with parents/carers via email, it is therefore complusary that at least one parent or carer has an active email address that is checked regulary. First Step childcare will not be held responsible for any updates or messages that have been missed due to unread emails.
Dress
We recommend that you dress your child to take into account the wide and varied activities of the day. Please clearly label all of your children's belongings. We regret that ‘First Steps’ and its staff or other children cannot be held responsible for the loss or damage to your child's belongings however caused.
Illness and Exclusion
For the welfare and health of the other children who attend the setting we request that you do not send your child if they are ill or may have an infectious disease. ‘First Steps’ reserves the right not to accept any child(ren) it considers unfit to attend the setting. Fees are still payable in full.
If your child is on medication which has to be administered whilst attending the setting you must complete a medical consent form giving instructions on times and dosage for each course. Written consent must also be given for the application of creams and lotions. We can only act ‘in loco parentis’ in your absence. For further information please see our medical guidelines policies.
Special Circumstances
First Steps reserves the right to refuse admission, cancel sessions and alter opening times without notice should events occur beyond it’s control. In these circumstances fees are non-returnable for up to a maximum of five consecutive days.
Staff
All staff members are checked for criminal offences under the Disclosure and Barring Service prior to appointment and are part of the Update Service.
Parental Agreement
Parents, Carers and visitors will:
Work together with staff for the benefit of the child/ren
Set a good example using appropiate respectful speech and behaviour towards all members of staff at First Steps Childcare.
First Steps will not tolerate parents, carer and visitors who acted aggressively, using inappropiate manner towards, staff, children, or parents on the premises or over the telephone.
Children’s Welfare
It is the responsibility of the parents/carers to provide the following items for your child: A bag with spare changes of clothing should your child have an accident or dirty their clothing during messy play activities, sufficient change of nappies (if required. Failure to provide nappies may result in you being charged for ones provided by the nursery). If necessary, a clearly labelled barrier/nappy rash cream should be provided.
Parents and carers should be aware that the nursery has a duty to take reasonable action to ensure the welfare and safety of the children in it’s care. In cases where the staff have a cause to be concerned that a child in their care may be subject to ill treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, a senior member of staff will follow the Child Protection/Safeguarding Children policy and may inform social services of their concerns.
We will only release children to parents/guardians or have been informed of an alternate carer collecting their child. The alternate carer must have possession of the correct password stated on your child's booking form before we can let your child leave our care. We are also unable to provide information to unauthorised persons not stated on enrolment forms, unless we have been given permission from the ‘main’ parent/carer.
Out of Hours Care
First Steps understands that staff outside normal working hours may undertake childcare for clients of ‘First Steps ’ if this involves transport of the child ‘First Steps’ would bring to your attention that this is a purely private arrangement and ‘First Steps’ will not accept responsibility for the child out of hours and away from the setting.
Policies and Procedures
All company policies and procedures are available on a PDF format.
Notice
One months written notification is required should you wish to terminate this agreement ,change or cancel any sessions.
Holidays
Children that are not receiving Early Years Funding are entitled to two weeks holiday a year, at half fees. For absence above this level fees are charged in full.
I can confirm that I accept the terms and conditions of the setting and have read the fees policy.