Fees
Fees are payable monthly in advance, by standing order. Extra sessions are payable in advance by bank transfer, 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.
Nursery rate is £9.78 for under 2 years old, £7.25 for 2-3 year olds & 3years old onwards is £7.00. Hourly rates will apply from the month following your child’s 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 our booking form on our website.
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 booking 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, change of email address, moving house, new mobile phone or landline phone numbers.
In the term following your child’s second birthday you may be entitled to working parent two year old funding, this funding is the parents responsibility to apply for and inform the setting. Following your child’s third birthday, they will be entitled to Early Years Funding, to access this funding the entitlements team require a copy of your child’s birth certificate or passport. It is therefore a condition of registration that that you email us a clear copy.
Staff
All our staff are checked for criminal offences under the Disclosure and Barring Service prior to appointment and registered on the update service portal.
Parental Agreement
Parents, Carers and Visitors will:
· Work together with staff for the benefit of the children.
· Set a good example in their own speech and behaviour towards all members of staff at First Steps Childcare.
First Steps will not tolerate Parents, Carers and Visitors:
· Acting aggressively, using inappropriate language, displaying temper or acting in a threatening manner towards, staff, children or parents on the premises or over the telephone.
Dress
We recommend that you dress your child to take into account the wide and varied activities of the day. Please clearly label your child's clothing, toys etc. 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.
Advanced bookings -To secure nursery place a non-returnable administration fee of £50.00 is payable upon registration. Unless your child is only claiming EYE hours. To secure a place for more than one month in advance and in addition to the registration fee, one months expected income will be required this will constitute your first months payment. This amount will be forfeit if you fail to take up the place as per the agreement. If you decide to decrease or terminate your child’s attendance we require one terms notice e.g. notice given in April to leave or decrease sessions in September, notice give in September to leave or decrease sessions in December and notice given in January to leave or decrease sessions in March. This has to be given in writing. Setting opening times 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 £10.00 per 15min. Please ensure you have read the fees policy.
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.
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.
Children’s Welfare
It is the responsibility of the parents/carers to provide the following items for your child. For babies clearly labelled bottles, and a sufficient change of nappies. Failure to
provide nappies may result in you being charged for ones provided by the nursery. If necessary clearly labelled
barrier/nappy rash cream should be provided and a
permission slip signed to enable ‘First Steps’ to apply it as per parent wishes.
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 provide information to authorised persons stated on booking forms unless we have been given permission from the ‘main’ parent/carer and that person is in possession of the correct password. The person with legal responsibility for:
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 our website.
Notice
A terms notice e.g. notice given in April to leave or decrease sessions in September, notice give in September to leave or decrease sessions in December and notice given in January to leave or decrease sessions in March. This has to be given in writing
Breakfast session
Breakfast will only be offered between 8.00am to 8.30am in the morning. If you wish your child to attend for the breakfast session then please book this session in advanced.
The nursery cannot tolerate parents, carers and visitors or siblings exhibiting the following:
• Disruptive behaviour which interferes or threatens to interfere within the operation of the nursery grounds, including outings or events.
• Using loud/or offensive language, swearing, cursing, using profane language or displaying temper.
• Threatening to do actual bodily harm to a member of nursery staff, visitor, fellow parent/carer, or student regardless of whether or not the behaviour constitutes a criminal offence.
• Damaging or destroying nursery property.
The term after a child’s third birthday (and also working parents of 2 year olds which need to apply for this funding via the childcare choices website) they are entitled to 570 hours of funded per year annum. Early years funding is only paid for 38 weeks of the year, however First Steps is a setting that is open all year and uses the starched offer, therefore all invoices will be shown over 52 weeks this is 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 needed:
– birth certificate, passport (on registration, a copy needs to be sent to EYE funding team) EYE funding parent declaration form - completed every term by parents these will be issued by First Steps. It is the parents’/carers responsibility to provide this documentation, if child’s legal documentation is not produced 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 an hourly rate. All fees charged relate to hours or addition charges identified overleaf 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 £5.50 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, 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 £7.00 per lunch sessio and for the children under 2 £2.50 lunch service charge will be applied. I 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.
Date when fees are to be paid.
On the 1st day of each calendar month.
Payment options
Standing order (standing order forms can be found in the prospectus).
Setting bank details
HSBC
Name: First Steps Childcare Ltd
Sort code: 40-41-22
a/c no: 31420836
Non-payment of fees procedure:
Invoices are sent out at the end of each month for the next month; payment should be made within the first week of receipt. Failure to pay by the end of the month a letter will be issued reminding parents that fees should be paid in advance. The letter will suggest that if the parents are experiencing any difficulties with payment, they should come in to the setting and meet with the accounts manager [Samantha Ware] to try to arrange a payment plan (explaining that this is only for the debt, all other fees need to be paid on time. Minutes of the meeting will be noted, and a letter sent to parents stating timeline for the debt recovery). If parents miss a payment, First Steps reserves the right to reduce the sessions until debt is cleared or the place withdrawn, a second letter will be sent to parents and another meeting requested).
If parents do not keep to the payment plan, the child will then only be permitted to attend EYE funded hours, then with a month notice the place will be withdrawn.
Recovery of outstanding debt, the setting will send a letter stating that they are proceeding to recover the outstanding debt through the small claims court. Each month the fees are not paid a £50.00 late payment charge will be added.
Rates
Changes to fee rates apply from the month following your child’s birthday.
EYE apply in the term following your child’s second or third birthday.
From September 1st 2024 First Steps hourly rates will be-
Under 2’s £9.78
2 year olds- £7.25
3 years old + £7.00