Hours & Fees
Hours & Fees
Extended hours: 7.30am to 6.30pm
For more information on how Tax-Free Childcare operates and to check your eligibility please refer to Tax-Free Childcare – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Get Tax-Free Childcare: step by step – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Once parents have obtained their FEEE eligibility code from the government and passed this to
Burstead Bears, we will be pleased to offer the above funding. The nursery will alleviate all the burden from our parents having to worry about making time consuming termly contact with government bodies to apply for each terms funding, or the need to complete superfluous amount of paper work, as we will advise you when your child becomes eligible for the free entitlement and provide all the necessary paperwork for you.
The nursery offers 9 month, 2, 3 and 4 year old children the facility to be included in the Free Early Education Entitlement (hereinafter called free entitlement). Children are eligible for the free entitlement from the term after they turn 9 months until they reach compulsory school age. Eligible children will receive up to the maximum entitlement of 30 hours per week with no monetary value, which is effective from September 2025. The nursery offers the free entitlement over 51 weeks a year, taken in 3 x 7.45 hour sessions per week during January to December (3 x 7.45 hours x 51 weeks = 1140 which equates to 30 hours x 38 weeks). Therefore, the free entitlement for eligible children attending the nursery 1 day will receive 7.45 hours, 2 days = 14.9 hours, 3 days = 22.35 hours. There is no additional entitlement for a child attending 4 or 5 days. The full 38 weeks funding will be offered as described above.
Parents should be aware that an eligible child can only take up free entitlement at a maximum of two providers. It is the parent/carer(s) responsibility to ensure that their child’s free entitlement does not exceed their qualifying hour’s entitlement per week collectively between the two providers that the child attends.
It is the sole responsibility of the parent/s to ensure that their designated code to access the extended hours for 3 year olds or the full entitlement for 9 months and 2 year olds is updated regularly and when necessary. Failure to comply will jeopardise access to the funded entitlement.
Each term parent’s will be requested to complete a Parent/Carer Agreement Form, failure to promptly comply with this request will result in the nursery not being able to offer the free entitlement and parents will be liable to pay the monthly fees at the privately funded rate. Parents take full responsibility for correctly and truthfully completing the declaration form; and indemnify Burstead Bears Day Nursery against any claim, financial or otherwise, due to any incorrect or false information provided.
Parents are not charged any deposit or fee for their free entitlement placement or for gaining access to funding. It must be understood that where a child is accessing their free entitlement with Burstead Bears Day Nursery and the parent chooses to purchase additional privately funded hours, these will be charged at the same rate as non-funded children. Any direct charge made by the nursery for a child who is receiving free entitlement is in respect of their privately funded hours and optional daily goods and services provided in support of any 7.45 hour funded period, based on attending a ten hour day. Options comprise of consumables costing six pounds, food and snacks costing twelve pounds, additional services costing six pounds and where applicable access to the nursery’s viewing system as a one-off monthly payment of thirty pounds. These figures have been rounded up/down to the nearest pound. Optional food, snacks, consumables, additional services and viewing system are charged at the discretion of the nursery. It is important to recognize that these charges are not fixed costs and in time are likely to change. The nursery is pleased to offer a discounted rate for two-year-olds food, snacks, consumables and additional services, whereby they will only be charged a cost of four pounds for food and snacks, all other options are non-chargeable. Children receiving the 9 month funding will not be charged for any optional services. However, in both instances, where applicable, the viewing system remains chargeable. In this respect, the nursery reserves the right to withdraw the discounted rates and make increases at any future time. By signing this form I confirm that I am opting in to the charges for additional privately funded hours, food, snacks, consumable and additional services. Once a parent has accepted the terms of this agreement, in particular this section relating to the nursery’s privately funded services outside of the free entitlement, it is not possible to change the payment terms relating to services outside of the free entitlement and therefore unable to dip in and out of paying for such items as and when required.
The nursery’s minimum daily attendance is 10 hours, therefore if a parent only wants to access the free entitlement and refuses the option to pay for the balance of any privately funded hours, they will be required to withdraw their child from the nursery immediately after the nursery’s free entitlement period ends e.g. 7.45 hours. Parents must notify the nursery in writing, prior to the start of each term and no later than signing the Parent Declaration Form, if they only wish to access the free entitlement.
If an eligible child joins the nursery from outset on a free entitlement basis only, with no requirement for privately funded hours, attendance will be based on the nursery’s availability. To be clear, the nursery is unable to offer the same guaranteed days of attendance each term and parents must accept that their child’s attendance could change from term-to-term. When accessing a free entitlement only space it is important that the child is collected from nursery promptly at the end of the session. Failure to collect a child promptly will result in privately funded fees being charged at a rate that will be determined by the nursery.
If a child joins the nursery on a privately funded or partly privately funded and partly on free entitlement basis, and subsequently chooses to only access the free entitlement, with no requirement for privately funded hours, the child’s placement will be based on the nursery’s availability, To be clear, the nursery is unable to offer the same guaranteed days of attendance each term and parents must accept that their child’s attendance could change from term-to-term.
If a child joins the nursery on a privately funded or partly privately funded and partly on free entitlement basis, and subsequently chooses to only access the free entitlement, with no requirement for privately funded hours, the child’s placement will be based on the nursery’s availability, To be clear, the nursery is unable to offer the same guaranteed days of attendance each term and parents must accept that their child’s attendance could change from term-to-term.
If a child moves to another provider before headcount date the new provider would be eligible to receive funding for the whole term. However, in these circumstances whilst the child remains attending Burstead Bears Day Nursery, parents are liable and committed to pay Burstead Bears Day Nursery their prevailing privately funded gross fees, as the Free Entitlement cannot be claimed.
Termination or Cancellation of a Funded Child
If you wish to terminate or reduce your child’s funded placement at the nursery for any reason, it is compulsory to provide written notice at the beginning of the nursery’s funded term for your child to leave at the end of the same term. It is not possible to leave mid-term. See below:
- Spring Term: Notice must be given by the end of December and no later than the 1st working day of the New Year. The leaving date will be 31st March or the closest date your child attends prior to 31st March.
- Summer Term: Notice must be given by the end of March and no later than the 1st working day of April. The leaving date will be 31st August or the closest date your child attends prior to 31st August.
- Autumn Term: Notice must be given by the end of August and no later than the 1st working day of September. The leaving date will be 31st December or the closest date your child attends prior to 31st December.
Attendance Changes
If a parent wants to make any change to the days their child attends the nursery, it is mandatory to place your request in writing. We will endeavour to accommodate any requested changes, but this will be subject to availability and suitability. Please note that if a parent wants to reduce their child’s funded placement at the nursery for any reason, written notice must be given no later than the beginning of the nursery’s funded terms. The change of attendance will then take place at the start of the following term.
Privacy Notice – Data Protection Act 1998
We Burstead Bears Day Nursery are the Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. We collect information about your child and use this personal data to:
- Support your child’s development
- Monitor and report on your child’s progress
- Assess how well the setting as a whole is doing
We are required by law to pass some information to Essex County Council as the Local Authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE) through the annual Early Years Census. This information includes your child’s name, date of birth, home address, the number of free entitlement hours you are accessing for your child, and personal characteristics such as ethnic group and whether your child has special educational needs.
If you want to see a copy of the information we hold and share about you then please contact the nursery manager.
http://www.essex.gov.uk/ and follow the links to Education and Schools / Schools / Delivering education in Essex / Privacy policies for pupil data.
If you are unable to access this website, paper copies of this information can be obtained from the early years setting Burstead Bears Day Nursery, Guildprime Business Centre, Southend Road, Billericay, Essex, CM11 2PZ.