These Terms and Conditions Govern the Basis on Which We Agree to Provide Childcare Services

These terms and conditions govern the basis on which we agree to provide childcare services to you.

Waiting List We operate on a very strict first come, first served basis. If you are interested in registering your child (ren) you first need to be very specific about the sessions required and the required start date. We will then check our availability and advise you if a place is available. If a place is not available you can go onto our waiting list which will include details about your requirements. You will be advised where you are on the waiting list. The order of the waiting list is maintained and places are offered to you as they become available based on your original requirement.

Registration To register for a place, a fee of £75 per child is payable and must be accompanied by a completed and signed Registration Form. This non-refundable fee secures the place in the nursery. Where a child does not subsequently take up their place the registration fee is not refundable. You will also need to sign a Nursery Contract which details the sessions booked. The registration fee entitles you to our ‘Registration pack’ which also includes 2 x 2hr free sessions prior to a child’s registered sessions commencing.

Sessions & Fees Details of our session times and fees are documented separately. All fees are fully explained during the registration process. No fee will be charged should a session fall on a Bank or Public Holiday or when the nursery is closed (in between Christmas and New Year). Fees will be calculated monthly. If for any reason you postpone a start date, we reserve the right to charge from the original start date stated on the registration form. Fees are reviewed annually, 1 months’ notice will be given for any changes to fees.

Payments Nursery fees are payable monthly in advance by direct debit on the 1st of the month. Invoices are issued within 10 days of the month end of the previous month.

If you wish to take advantage of the childcare voucher system, please inform our Finance office at [email protected]

In exceptional cases we may agree to payment by cash or cheque, but it is your responsibility to obtain a receipt from the setting as proof of payment.

For any payments over and above the invoiced amount (e.g. for additional sessions or late collection fees), you will be charged in arrears at the 1st working day of the next month. We will amend the amount of your direct debit accordingly.

All sessions booked must be paid for regardless of whether the child attends. No refunds will be given for sessions missed due to holidays or sickness. Where a session falls on a Public or Bank Holiday or in between Christmas and New Year (when we are closed), the session is not charged. If you fail to make payment in full by the due date we will charge a £25 late payment fee and will enforce an interest charge of 2% above the base rate of our bank on the fee outstanding for every day the payment is not made. Children may be excluded from the nursery if fees remain outstanding their registration could be terminated.

Local Authority Funded Hours for 3 & 4 year olds & qualifying 2 year olds. Local authority funding is available for all 3 & 4 year old children and for eligible 2 year olds. Extended funding is available for ELIGIBLE 3 & 4 year olds (see separate Policy 4.7 for more detailed information). All places are subject to availability. Please refer to our Admission Policy for

1 | P a g e S u / P o l i c y N o 4 . 7 a / v e r s i o n 3 / 2 1 / 8 / 1 7 further details of Local Authority Funding.

Red Bus Nursery & Pre-School Operating times Core operating hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Where parent demand deems the service operable we also offer an early start (7.30am-8am) and a late finish (6pm-6.30pm), both are charged separately.

It is very important that you pick your child up prior to the end of a session as we do not have staff cover arranged beyond that time. If you think you are going to be late you should contact the setting as soon as possible. A late collection charge of £5 for every 15 minutes will be applied.

The setting is open all year round except for all Bank and Public Holidays and the days in between Christmas and New Year.

Force Majeure (Disruption to service) The setting cannot be held liable for withdrawal of a child’s place due to action outside control of the setting e.g’s include closure due to extreme weather or third parties outside of the nursery’s control including disruptions to highways, public transport, utilities and industrial action.

Notice of termination, change to sessions. A calendar months’ notice in writing or a month’s fees in lieu of notice is required from the parent/carer to terminate a child’s place in the nursery or reduce the number of sessions normally taken by the child.

Parent/carers should email the admin office at the setting one month in advance. During the one month notice period fees still apply and will be charged for all sessions. Should you wish to increase the number of sessions taken at the setting, or book an ad hoc session, every effort will be made to accommodate the request but this is subject to availability of sessions.

Sessions cannot be swapped on an ad hoc basis unless in exceptional circumstances the Nursery Manager agrees to do so.

A child’s place may be terminated by the nursery due to non-payment of fees or other disputes, a breach of your obligations within these terms and conditions; you behave unacceptably, or your child’s behaviour is unacceptable or endangers the safety and wellbeing of any other children at the setting; we take a decision to close the setting for future business.

Liability We accept no responsibility for any loss suffered by parents, arising directly or indirectly, as a result of the setting being temporarily closed or the non-admittance of your child to the setting for any reason, this applies to absence due to sickness, holidays Public and Bank Holidays

We accept no responsibility for children whilst in their parents care on setting premises, i.e. prior to arrival or after collection.

We will not be liable to parents and / or children for any economic loss of any kind, for damage to the child's or parents property, for any loss resulting from a claim made by any third party or for any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage of any kind.

Medical For more information please see Management of children with Allergies or who are sick or Infectious & Exclusion Policy No. 1.16.

2 | P a g e S u / P o l i c y N o 4 . 7 a / v e r s i o n 3 / 2 1 / 8 / 1 7 Any child who is ill should be kept at home. Fees are payable at the full rate during periods of sickness absence from the nursery.

A health record must be completed at the point of registration and you should immediately inform us of any change to the information provided thereafter. This should include any allergy information we should be aware of with respect to your child.

Should your child develop a high temperature whilst at nursery you will be contacted by a member of staff and asked to give permission for your child to have liquid paracetamol (Calpol) and you will need to collect your child from nursery preferably within an hour or as soon as practical.

You will be informed of any accidents and will be required to sign an accident form.

Up to date information It is your responsibility to inform the setting immediately of any changes to information previously supplied to us and especially the following: contact details; approved persons to collect a child from the setting (including removal of individuals from the approved list); if the child becomes the subject of a court order (and provide us with a copy of such order if requested); changes to the child’s medical health record.

Security Under no circumstances will a child be allowed to leave the setting with anyone not on the approval list for that child. Should we receive a telephone call asking us to allow a child to leave with anyone other than on the approved list for that child, we will require you to state a prior agreed password and then advise us of the name, address, description and contact number of the person collecting. On arrival they will be expected to provide photographic proof of identification, match the description given and also state the password.

Policies & Procedures The setting works to strict policies and procedures, made available to you and accessible at all times and explained to you through the registration process. It is your responsibility to read the Synopsis of policies, the full copy for the Policy Manual is available in the hallway by the entrance. If further clarification is required the Nursery Manager and/or Deputy Manager will arrange a convenient time to go through this with you.

Information Sharing (Data Protection Act 1998) Any information shared with the setting will be regarded as confidential. You will receive information about our information sharing policy when registering your child. Information will only be shared when it is a matter of safeguarding a child.

Photographs are taken during the nursery day by staff as support evidence of their development under the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). All other uses of photographs is subject to approval by the parent/carer via our permissions list completed at the time of registration.

General We have an obligation to report any instances where we consider a child to have been neglected or abused to the relevant authorities.

If the setting has to close, or we take a decision to close due to circumstances outside of our control, we shall be under no obligation to provide alternative childcare arrangements. If the closure exceeds 3 normal working days, we will credit you for any days beyond the 3 working days we were closed.

Children may bring their own personal belongings to the setting (e.g. soothers, favorite teddy or 3 | P a g e S u / P o l i c y N o 4 . 7 a / v e r s i o n 3 / 2 1 / 8 / 1 7 toy) however the setting cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to a child’s property.

You should provide a complete change of clothes for your child to be kept at nursery or in their day bag. These must be clearly labeled. Suitable outdoor coats must be brought every day. We require children to wear no shoes or slippers whilst in the Nursery suite and wellies or outdoor shoes for outdoor play.

If you have any concerns regarding the service provided, please discuss this with the Nursery Manager or Deputy Manager.

Agreement These Terms and Conditions represent the entire agreement and understanding between the parents and the setting. Any other understandings, agreements, warranties, conditions, terms or representations, whether verbal or written, expressed or implied are excluded to the fullest extent, permitted by law. We reserve the right to update / amend these Terms and Conditions at any time with notice at the discretion of the company.

This policy was reviewed at a meeting Red Bus Nursery & Pre- of School Held on 21/8/17 (date) Date to be reviewed 21/8/18 (date) Signed on behalf of company Name of signatory Su Walter Role of signatory Manager

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