TERMS AND CONDITIONS
(Updated 1 December 2025)

Below are our standard Terms and Conditions which form the basis of the contract between the Nursery and the parent/carer, in respect of the provision of nursery services for their child.

Opening Hours

We are open from 7.30am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays and the working days between Christmas and New Year.

Your Booking

Once you have been offered a place, you will be asked to complete the online registration process through our Nursery in a Box system. This includes submitting a fully completed registration form and agreeing to these Terms and Conditions.

A booking fee of £100 is required to secure your child’s place. This should be paid by BACS transfer. For families using any private hours (eg, any hours after a part-funded day, or an additional private day), the deposit is non-refundable. For families accessing funded-only hours, the £100 booking fee is refundable once the child has taken up their place. If the place is not taken up, the deposit is not refundable.

Once both the registration form and the booking fee payment has been received, you will receive confirmation by email and the contract will come into effect.

Fee Calculation

Fees are calculated based on your child’s agreed booked days each month and are payable year-round, regardless of attendance. This includes periods of illness, family holidays, or any planned or unplanned absence.

We do not offer reductions, refunds, or fee suspensions for temporary changes in attendance (including extended holidays eg. 4–6 week breaks). Your child’s place remains staffed and reserved during any absence, and fees remain payable in full.

If a parent chooses to temporarily withdraw their child and rejoin at a later date, a new place must be requested. A further £100 non-refundable booking fee will be required and availability cannot be guaranteed.

No charge will be made for Bank Holidays or the working days between Christmas and New Year, even if these fall on your child’s usual days.

Any extra sessions booked after invoices have been issued will be added to the following month’s invoice.

Variations and Amendments

Parents/carers whose children have commenced care must give 4 weeks’ written notice of any required reduction in contracted services.

If a parent wishes to increase contracted services, written notice should be given. The nursery will try to accommodate requests but cannot guarantee availability.

The nursery may close without prior notice due to adverse weather or other circumstances beyond the nursery’s control. The nursery may implement planned early closures (eg. the final working day before a seasonal shutdown). These do not attract reductions or refunds. In such cases, the nursery is under no obligation to provide contracted services or alternative care, and no refund will be due.

Our annual fee review takes place in February, with any increases applied from April. Families will receive prior written notice.

Fee Payment

• Invoices are issued on the 25th of the month for the following month’s fees.
• Payment must be made in full in advance, by the 1st of the month.
• Payment methods: BACS (Sort code 40-27-33, Account 81530224), tax-free childcare, childcare vouchers, or a combination.
• Non- or late payment is a material breach of contract. Written notice requiring payment within 7 days will be issued.
• A £25 late payment fee may be charged if fees remain unpaid after the due date.
• Continued late or non-payment may result in the child’s place being withdrawn.

FEEE Funding

Funded hours are subject to eligibility and availability and are offered in line with Leeds City Council’s funding rules and the nursery’s own policies.

Eligibility:

• Working parents who meet the Government criteria may access up to 30 funded hours from the beginning of the term after their child turns 9 months (January, April or September).
• All children are entitled to the universal 15 funded hours from the beginning of the term after their 3rd birthday, whether parents work or not.

In our setting, funding is offered on a stretched basis over 51 weeks (rather than 38) and therefore the weekly equivalent is:
• 30 hours → 22.35 hours per week
• 15 hours → 11.18 hours per week

There is no minimum-day attendance requirement for funded children. Families may use their funded hours across 1, 2 or 3 days per week, subject to the Local Authority maximum of 10 funded hours per day.

Funding hours are applied as follows each week:
• 1st funded day: up to 10 hours
• 2nd funded day: up to 10 hours
• 3rd funded day: up to 2.35 hours
• 4th and 5th days: no funding

Families attending for 1 or 2 days per week will not use all of their weekly stretched funded hours. Any unused hours automatically lapse and cannot be carried over, saved, or rolled forward.

Remaining stretched hours may be applied to ad hoc additional days if the extra session is booked with at least 4 weeks’ notice and does not exceed the 10-hour daily funding limit.

Extra sessions booked with less than 4 weeks’ notice are charged at the full daily rate; unused stretched hours cannot be applied.

The standard nursery day runs from 7.30am to 6.00pm. The period 5.30pm–6.00pm sits outside the funded entitlement and is charged at the standard published rate. This is the default attendance pattern unless families request the funded-core-hours option.

Funded Core Hours:

The funded entitlement covers a maximum of 10 hours per day. In our setting, the core funded hours are: 7.30am to 5.30pm. The funded-core-hours pattern (7.30am to 5.30pm) applies only on days where up to 10 funded hours are available. On all other days, including days with fewer funded hours or no funding allocation, the standard daily session of 7.30am to 6.00pm applies.

Families wishing to use core funded-only hours may collect any time up to 5.30pm.
Collections after 5.30pm fall into the chargeable part of the day. When a child is booked for a core funded day, but collection occurs after 5.30 pm, a £20 late collection fee will apply. This will be added to the next invoice.

The Core Funded Day is available only to families who are using funded hours exclusively and are not accessing any private hours within their weekly booking. If a family requires childcare outside the funded hours on any day, or attends for more days than their weekly funded hours allow, the booking will be charged at our standard full day rate with the appropriate funded hours deducted.

Families may choose either the fully-funded Core Day pattern or the Standard Full Day pattern with funded hours deducted. It is not possible to mix core funded days with full-day bookings within the same week, as each delivery model operates separately.

Any change to the attendance pattern or allocation of funding hours, requires at least 4 weeks’ written notice.

Inclusive Provision

Our nursery is fully inclusive of consumables. We do not charge separately for meals, snacks, nappies, wipes, sun cream or activities.

Termination of Contract

Either party may terminate this contract with 4 full weeks’ written notice.

All outstanding fees must be settled before the child’s final day.

Verbal or physical abuse towards staff will result in immediate termination of the contract without notice.

Conduct with Staff

Parents/carers must not employ or attempt to employ any nursery staff member during this contract or for 6 months after it ends.

Parents are asked not to make or accept social media friend requests to staff.

Staff are not permitted to discuss nursery matters outside working hours or via personal social media.

Child Illnesses and Medication

The nursery may refuse admission or suspend care in line with our Illnesses and Medication Policy.

Children must remain at home for exclusion periods to prevent the spread of infection.

If a child becomes unwell while at nursery, parents will be contacted and may be asked to collect promptly.

Prescription medication must be labelled and handed directly to staff with a signed consent form.
Non-prescription medication may be administered with prior written consent and, where possible, after contacting the parent.

Child Absences and Safeguarding

We follow EYFS 2025 requirements for monitoring absence.

Two emergency contacts must be provided in addition to parents/carers.

We will make prompt contact if a child is absent without explanation. If parents or emergency contacts cannot be reached, or if concerns arise, we may refer to children’s services or the police.

We also monitor longer-term absence patterns and may discuss these with families when needed.

Dropping Off and Collecting Your Child

Please notify us if someone different will collect your child. Our password system will be used for safety.

We may refuse to release a child where safeguarding concerns exist or identity cannot be verified.

Please give as much notice as possible of any late collection.