Parent/carer contract

Little Doves Christian Pre-School Terms and Conditions 2024

1. Little Doves Christian Pre-School agrees to:

1.1  Inform you as soon as possible whether your application for a place has been successful. You must confirm within one week of receiving notification that you still wish to take up a place. If you do not then the offer of a place may be withdrawn.

1.2 Provide the agreed childcare facilities for your child at the agreed times (subject to any days when we are closed). If we change the opening hours, we will give you as much notice of our decision as possible and, if necessary, will work with you to agree a change to your child’s hours of attendance.

1.3 Notify you as soon as possible of any days we will be closed.

1.4 We will adhere to the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) when collecting and processing information about you and your child. We explain how your data is processed, collected, kept up-to-date in our Data Protection and Privacy Notice which is available to read in our Policies and Procedures File and on our website.

1.5 Try to accommodate any requests you may make for additional sessions and/or extended hours of childcare, if space allows.

1.6 Treat your child with the utmost respect and dignity. We will never use or threaten any type of punishment that could adversely affect a child’s wellbeing.

1.7 Provide you with regular verbal updates as to your child’s progress and we will agree times to discuss with you the progress of your child or any other aspects of our childcare services as and when required.

1.8 Comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and our Ofsted registration in regard to the childcare services we provide for your child.

1.9 Provide details of our policies and procedures within our ‘Policies and Procedures File’ kept in the main room, and on the ‘Policies’ tab on our website which is available here, which outline how we satisfy the requirements of the EYFS in our everyday practice; and we will notify you as and when any changes are made to our policies and procedures. Photocopies of any of the policies are available upon request. We will be available to discuss or explain our policies and procedures, and/or any relevant changes, at a mutually agreed time.

1.10 Maintain appropriate insurance to cover our childcare activities.

1.11 Try to make a place available to any of your other children. However, we cannot guarantee that a place will be available.

2. Your obligation to us:

2.1  You will need to fully complete and return our Registration, Sessions Requested and Permission Form 2023 (which includes medicine consent and emergency treatment authorisations) either before, or on the day your child has their build up session. You will not be able to leave your child with us until the forms has been signed and returned.

2.2 You must notify us immediately of any changes to the information you have provided to us and keep us informed of any other necessary information that may affect the childcare that we provide for your child.

2.3 You will be aware of and abide by our policies and procedures.

2.4 You will make yourself available as and when required to discuss the progress of your child or any factor relating to their childcare place with us at mutually agreed times.

2.5 You must immediately inform us if your child is suffering from any contagious disease, or if your child has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner with a notifiable disease. For the benefit of other children attending you must not allow your child to attend whilst they are contagious and pose a risk to other children during normal daily activities. This will include all the government’s latest information on Coronavirus. Please also inform us of positive or negative Coronavirus test results and if you are isolating due to a track and trace or similar alert. 

2.6 You must keep us informed of the identity of the persons who will be collecting your child. If the person who is due to collect your child is not usually responsible for collecting them we will require proof of identity. If we are not reasonably satisfied that the person collecting your child is who we were expecting, we will not release your child into their care until we have checked with you.

2.7 You must inform us immediately if you are not able to collect your child by the official collection time. You must make arrangements for another authorised person (recorded on your Registration, Sessions Requested and Permissions Form 2023) to collect your child as soon as possible. and confirm who they are. A late collection charge may be applied. If you fail to collect your child by the official collection time and we have reason to be concerned about your child's welfare we will contact the local authority.

2..8 You must inform us if your child is the subject of a court order and provide us with a copy of such order on request.

2.9 You will inform us in advance if possible of any dates on which your child will not be attending.

2.10 You will provide us with as much notice as possible (minimum of 2 weeks) of your intention to decrease the number of hours your child attends or to withdraw your child (and end this Agreement). If insufficient notice is given you will be responsible for the full fees for your child for 2 weeks from the date of notice. If you are ending this Agreement, notice must be given by completing our Notification of Leaving Date form which is available on request.

3. Payment of fees

3.1 Our fees are based on an hourly fee which is avialable upon request and will be notified to you in advance of your child starting. We may review these fees at any time but shall inform you of the revised amount at least half a term before it takes effect. If you do not wish to pay the revised fee, you may end this Agreement by giving us 2 weeks’ notice, by completing our Notification of Leaving Date form which can be obtained from our setting manager.

3.2 As part of you signing up your child to attend the pre-school, we ask for a non-refundable registration fee - this covers your child’s “build up” visit and administrative set up prior to starting and your child’s learning folder which is passed onto when they leave. 

Non-refundable registration fee explained:

2 year old self-paying children                                                                                            fee required

2 year old funded children (FEEE2)                                                                                       no fee

3 and 4 year old universal funded children using only their funded hours (FEEE)                         no fee

3 and 4 year old funded children with additional self-paying hours (FEEE)                                  fee required

Working Parents Funding 2 year old children using only their funded hours (FEEE2W)                 no fee

Working Parents Funding 2 year old children with additional self-paying hours (FEEE2W)            fee required

Working Parents Funding 3 and 4 year old children using only their funded hours (FEEE 30 hrs)    no fee

(additional self-paying hours i.e. extra hours/lunch club)

3.3 In addition we also ask for voluntary donations to enable us to keep the pre-school financially viable. These are:

• Optional extra healthy snack voluntary contribution (if preferred you can provide your child with their own healthy snack)
• Consumables voluntary contribution (towards consumables that we use in the day to day activities of the pre-school to provide your child with an enhanced pre-school learning experience, for example, sand, soil and mud kitchen supplies, shaving foam, plants and seeds, lentils, pasta, rice, bubbles etc.) Due to Coronavirus adjustments, a lot of these sensory experience materials can now only be used once.
• Optional extra contribution towards our external educator (Shining Stars) who visits the pre-school each week. (Photos of these sessions are available to view on the ‘About - External Educators’ tab on the website).  

3.4 As part of you signing up your child to attend the pre-school, we ask you to sign a parent payment agreement form. This form is given to you when you first visit the pre-school with the hourly fees, lunch club fees and the amounts for each optional extra and voluntary contribution being clearly displayed on the form.

3.5 In addition we also encourage a suggested half termly voluntary donation towards the running of the pre-school.

3.6 Fees and optional extras/voluntary contributions are paid on a half termly or weekly basis. We calculate the amount payable by you each half term by multiplying the hourly rate with the number of hours your child does per week and then by the number of weeks in the half term including any lunch club fees.

3.7 For healthy snack and consumables the ptional extra/voluntary contributions are calculated for each day your child attends and for the external educator the optional extra is calculated per half term.

3.8 Payments can be made by bank transfer, cheque or cash and can be made daily, weekly or half termly. The date that payment must be received by is written on your invoice and we reserve the right to charge interest on the overdue amount 2% above the base rate at the bank if late payment or non-payment persists.

3.9 Little Doves CP is set up to receive payments via childcare voucher schemes (e.g. Edenred) and HMRC Tax Free Childcare accounts.    

3.10 If you have failed to pay any fees that are due or are having difficulty paying the fees then the manager will look to negotiate a payment plan and/or reduce the hours your child attends the setting to stop the bill accumulating.

3.11 If you have requested additional sessions or have repeatedly been unable to collect your child by the official collection time and we have as a result provided you with additional childcare facilities (see 3.7), we will raise the applicable charges under a separate invoice for payment.

3.12 No refund will be given for periods where the place is unfulfilled due to illness or holidays on the part of either party. We are closed on bank holidays and for 3 training days per year to support our continuing professional development for the benefit of children and families. There is no charge for these days. We accept no liability for other costs which you incur if we are unable to provide childcare for any reason.

3.13 In the event of persistent late collection of your child, we reserve the right to charge for each additional 15 minutes, or part thereof, on a pro-rata basis.

3.14 If the pre-school must close due to local lockdown restrictions during the Coronavirus pandemic for a prolonged period of time, parents/carers will be asked if they would like a refund for any hours paid for and not received. This is typically taken off the next invoice, however, repayment can be made via bank transfer into the bank account details provided by the parent/carer. Bank account details are kept for 6 months after the child leaves (in line with the Data Retention Document for Little Doves Christian Pre-School) in case further repayments are necessary.

4. Explaining Essex County Council Funded Places

4.1 Universal Funded Early Years Entitlement (FEEE) is available at Little Doves for 3 and 4 year old children, starting the term after their third birthday. This is up to 15 funded hours per week each term, totalling 38 weeks a year. When your child is eligible for FEEE funding, it is a requirement of Essex County Council that we see proof of the date of birth of your child and the address where they live so, please bring in your child’s birth certificate and proof of address if you have not already done so.

The term after your child’s 3rd birthday you will be given and asked to complete a FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form for that term (an example of this form can be found here). You will also be asked to read an email with additional information regarding the FEEE process and data retention periods. The FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement form must be completed and returned to Little Doves as soon as possible so that the information provided can be entered onto the Essex Provider Portal during the headcount period to apply for funding for your child for that term. Please ensure you read the form carefully and complete it fully. The form asks for your child’s ethnicity; this is to allow Essex County Council to highlight inequalities, investigate their underlying causes and remove any unfairness or disadvantage. To help you complete this box there is a link here to the ethnic category options.

Applications for FEEE funding are submitted every term so you will receive a FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form to complete every term. Please note, Little Doves cannot apply for FEEE funding for your child without a signed FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form for that term.

We do not operate a sole provider policy and the funding can be shared across two settings or with a childminder.

You cannot increase the hours you have claimed on your FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form for that term after headcount submission.

If your child joins after the headcount submission period and FEEE funding has not been claimed at another setting for that term, a late claim can be submitted up until three weeks before the end of the term.

If your child joins during the last three weeks of term, funding cannot be applied for and you will be required to pay for the hours your child attends the pre-school.

If your child leaves the pre-school partway through the term, an arrangement may be made between Little Doves and your child’s new setting to transfer any remaining funding for that term.

If your child joins Little Doves from another setting partway through the term, we would like the remaining funding for that term to be transferred to us. If your child’s old setting is not in agreement with this then you will be required to pay for the hours your child attends Little Doves for the remainder of that term.  

4.2 Funded Early Years Entitlement for eligible 2 year olds (FEEE2) is available at Little Doves. Your 2 year old can get funded childcare if you get any of these benefits:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
• child tax credits, and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

2 year olds can also get funded childcare if they:

• are looked after by a local authority
• have a statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• get Disability Allowance
• have left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order

In addition to this criteria, Essex County Council will also consider applications for children where the council has received a Section 23 notification from Health.

You can apply online for FEEE2 on this link www.essex.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs. Once FEEE2 funding for your child has been approved, you will receive a Placement Notification code which you need to provide on your FEEE2 Parent/Carer Agreement Form that you will be given by Little Doves (an example of this form can be found here).

4.3 Working Parents Funding for 2-year-olds (FEEE2W) available from April 2024.

For the eligibility criteria and more details please go to:

Apply for free childcare if you're working - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator

You will need to apply in the term before you wish to take up the funding. You cannot receive funding mid term and so any application must be made and confirmed before the cut off dates in the previous term. If eligible, you will receive an 11-digit code. Please provide this code along with your National Insurance number in the appropriate boxes on the FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form. Essex County Council require the pre-school to check the eligibility of the code on the Provider Portal and therefore we ask you to tick a box on the FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form to give permission for us to do this.

It is your responsibility to ensure you continue to provide the information required to HMRC/Childcare Choices when it is requested (usually every 3 months) to keep the code valid. Little Doves cannot do this for you. If you do not reconfirm your details with HMRC/ Childcare Choices and your eligibility expires, you have one term’s grace period where you will continue to receive the Working Parents Funding for 2-year-olds, however, if you do not reconfirm during that term, you will no longer receive the funding.

The code you receive from Childcare Choices will remain as your child’s code until they go to school.

4.2 Working Parents Funding for 3 and 4 year olds Extended Funded Early Years Entitlement (FEEE 30 hours), where an additional 15 hours to the universal FEEE 15 hours is available for qualifying families, can be used at Little Doves. The most hours that can be claimed at Little Doves is 22 due to our opening hours, however the funding can be shared across two settings. For the eligibility criteria and more details please go to:

www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator.

You will need to apply in the term before you wish to take up the funding. If eligible, you will receive an 11-digit code. Please provide this code along with your National Insurance number in the appropriate boxes on the FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form. Essex County Council require the pre-school to check the eligibility of the code on the Provider Portal and therefore we ask you to tick a box on the FEEE Parent/Carer Agreement Form to give permission for us to do this.

It is your responsibility to ensure you continue to provide the information required to HMRC when it is requested (usually every 3 months) to keep the code valid. Little Doves cannot do this for you. If you do not reconfirm your details with HMRC/Childcare Choices and your eligibility expires, you have one term’s grace period where you will continue to receive the Extended Funded Early Years Entitlement (30 hours). However, if you do not reconfirm during that term, you will no longer receive the 30 hours, only the universal 15 hours in subsequent terms.