THE BORING STUFF 2025/26 (Financial terms and conditions)

PAYING NURSERY FEES:

  • The nursery is a charity, please help us stay in business by paying childcare fees up front, or during the week/month that they are incurred.

  • We will send parents an invoice once a month by email, it will cover all nursery costs to the last Friday of each month.

  • Payment can be made in cash, by cheque, bacs, voucher, or Tax credit payment. The bank account details are on your invoice. Alternatively, we can calculate a regular monthly standing order amount.

  • If you receive a text or email reminder for an amount outstanding that you have paid, or you think your invoice is not showing the amount you expect, please contact us on nursery.alverbridge@gmail.com .

  • Your child’s place may be in jeopardy if you fail to pay on time. Please contact a manager asap if you need to discuss payments

  • 4 weeks written notice is required if you no longer require a place or wish to reduce sessions, fees are payable during the whole of this notice.

    NURSERY FEES FROM w/c 1st September 2025

    Definitions:
    FULL TIME children attend 51 weeks a year
    TERM TIME children attend 38 weeks a year (term time dates are not the same as Hampshire)
    Start and finish times are agreed prior to joining, or annually each Spring for the following school year

    Meals and Snack – Early Years Funding does not cover the cost of food at nursery, children will be charged dependent on the session times attended for snack, lunch and tea.

    We believe in the importance of tasting and accessing regular healthy food, as a result discounts are provided to make this more affordable to all, including free hot meals and tea for disadvantaged 2 year olds and families receiving Universal Credits.

    To help disadvantaged parents or parents with no funding we only charge £5 per term for snack. Funded session snack fees are 55p for AM/PM session, £1.10 for day session.

    FULL TIME Children with NO funding – nappies, hot lunch and tea are included in the price. Minimum booking 1 day or 2 half day sessions per week. Cygnet room children must attend Full Time.

    Morning session 8-1am: £28.80 Afternoon session 1-6pm: £28.80 All day 8-6pm: £57.60 Additional hours £ 5.76

    FULL TIME FUNDED Children – nappies included while in Cygnet room, start and finish times agreed annually.

    4-4.30pm Session Tea time 60p
    11.30-12.00 Session discounted hot lunch £1.75 (optional pack lunch if booked in advance)
    All sessions not covered by funding will be charged at £5.76 plus relevant meal/snack costs for the session.

    TERM TIME Children (minimum 2 sessions of 3 hours or more per week)

    11.30-12 Session Lunch £2.90 4-4.30pm Session Tea time £1.75

    All sessions not covered by funding will be charged at £5.76 per hour plus meal/snack costs for the session.

    BREAKFAST sessions are available to both term time and full time children at the same cost.
    7.30-8.00am £4.60 (this session is not currently available as a funded session)
    To ensure our staff ratios are respected we will not allow any children other than those attending breakfast to enter the nursery prior to 8.00am. Breakfast will only be served prior to 8am.

OTHER DISCOUNTS

Children attending Full Time (51 weeks per year) receive holiday entitlement

Up to 2 weeks of the normal unfunded hours (of the child’s usual sessions can be taken as holiday entitlement – at no charge). Our holiday year runs from the 1st September to 31st August. (Children joining the nursery prior Feb half term will get full entitlement, pro- rata entitlement will be applied if you join later in the year)
Remaining Holiday entitlement is printed at the top of your invoice.

Please give as much notice of holiday as possible, to enable us to plan ratios and activities.

A 10% discount is available for siblings attending full time 5 days a week. A 20% staff discount is available for all staff members.

Please note hospital/medical appointments will need to be taken from holiday entitlement or will be charged. We do not charge for time off in the event of a child staying in hospital.

FUNDING

All children are entitled to 570 hours funding per year from the term following their 3rd birthday (the cut off dates for funding the following term are 31st August, 30th December, 31st March). The nursery will ask you to sign a form authorising the nursery to apply for standard 3 to 4 year “15 hour” funding on your behalf.

Children over 9 months old by the cut off dates with legal guardians who work, and have returned from maternity in time, may be entitled to an extra 570 hours funding per year. Please use www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to check if your child is entitled to the “working parents funding”. Children entitled to extra funding will receive a reference number covering a set time period, please ensure you renew your application every 3 months to avoid being charged for these hours. Note if you receive a last minute reminder from the nursery to renew, this means our system is showing you as still not yet renewed, please do not ignore our email as this may result in you missing out on funding for a whole term! Check your account or ring the HMRC to renew to avoid being charged for these hours. This type of extra funding MUST be applied for PRIOR to the beginning of term.

Due to funding application dates, it is not always possible to claim additional funding within a term if you increase the amount of hours per week at the nursery.

Some children may be entitled to claim 570 hours funding from the term following their 2nd birthday for economic reasons (please speak to a Manager if you think you may be entitled). As this funding is paid at a higher rate, children receiving 2 year funding will not be charged for lunch or tea.

Funding will be applied term time (15 hours a week) or stretched (11 hours a week +9 spare asap) for full time children. Term time funding cannot be transferred between days/weeks.

Children receiving funding with parents who receive benefits such as Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Child Tax Credit (with an income less than £16190) or Universal Credit (with an income less than £7400) may receive EYPP funding, this is an extra 53p an hour we can spend on your child at nursery. Please complete the section on the funding form to try and claim this valuable funding.

OTHER BORING STUFF

The nursery will invoice any bank charges incurred if a cheque bounces.

Please could we ask parents NOT to try to drop off their children any earlier than 8am if their children are not attending our special breakfast session (we want the breakfast children to receive our staff’s attention and respect staff ratios during this half hour).

The Nursery is managed by a committee of Parent Volunteers (Trustees), without their support, time and energy, the nursery cannot stay open. If you would like to support your nursery by getting involved as a trustee or have a fund- raising idea please get in touch with one of our managers for more information. All help is gratefully accepted and much appreciated.

Please attend our AGM, it is 30 minutes long, we need your attendance once a year to meet our charitable obligations. Hourly rates and information on 30 hour funding for the following September will also be given at this meeting.

Your child’s place at the nursery will be in jeopardy if invoices are not paid on time, the nursery will instruct a debt collection agency to collect unpaid debts.

Funding/Invoice/Holiday queries please contact Nicole nursery.alverbridge@gmail.com

Other queries please contact the nursery managers on alver.bridge@gmail.com