Clare’s Little Bears Terms and Conditions
Waiting List
A £25 non-refundable waiting list admin fee is required if you would like to be added to our waiting list. Once a space becomes available, you will receive an ‘offer of space’ email which details the sessions available, fees, along with funding form for completion if applicable. On accepting this space, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. To secure the space, the registration deposit/fee is required. (not applicable to supported families).
Pre-School Places and Bookings
Once a registration form has been completed and registration fee/deposit is paid, (not applicable to supported families). a place will be offered. If you are eligible for funding, you must complete a funding form and supply your funding code on registration. A Welcome pack will be sent to include parent forms that must be completed and signed and received before your child begins their first settle session. All full and part time sessions must fit into the settings session times. We recommend children attend for at least 2 sessions per week for 38/48. The first terms payment is due before your child starts; any queries with your invoices should be addressed with the office immediately via email to info@clareslittlebears.co.uk.
Additional Weeks of Care
We offer 38 weeks of funded care (pre school only), and do not stretch funding across the year. For contracted of 48 week, which is outside of funding, private fees apply and you must confirm via Famly permissions that you agree to make payment of these additional weeks on starting. If you wish to reduce to a 38 weeks space, full terms notice is required and is only possible if a 38-week space is available for pre school only.
Baby Room Places and Bookings
Once a registration form has been completed and registration fee is paid; a place will be offered. If you are eligible for funding, you must complete a funding form and supply your funding code on registration. A welcome pack will be sent which will include parent forms, these must be completed, signed and taken to your child’s first settle session. For funded space of 15 hours, this will be 2 days per week 8am – 3:30pm and for 30 hours, 3 days per week 8am – 5pm, 48 weeks per year. These sessions will continue when moving down to preschool at the age of 2 years. The first terms fees is due before your child starts, any queries with your invoices should be addressed to the office immediately.
Registration Fee/Deposit
A non-refundable/non-transferable registration fee/deposit is required to secure your child’s place on the sessions that you require. For fully funded spaces only this deposit is refunded within one month of your child starting with us, unless used as part of the 1st term of voluntary consumables fees or uniform. This fee is not applicable to supported families.
Fees and Invoice
Parents/carers are required to pay all fees for each half term in advance for the duration of your child’s care. You will be invoiced via Famly and this must be paid by the invoice due date. We reserve the right to charge an overdue invoice fee of £50 if payment is not received within three days of your invoice due date. If payment is still not received after a final reminder, your childcare will not be able to resume until all payments have been met. All fees must be paid in advance of your child starting with us and will be invoice every half term thereafter.
The preferred method of payment is Bank Transfer, but Cash, Credit Card, or Childcare vouchers are also accepted. Please be advised that Credit and Debit card payments will incur a 2% charge that will be added to your invoice.
Continual failure to meet payments may result in the termination of your child’s place. In such cases, the parent/carer remains responsible for all outstanding fees. Any extra sessions are to be paid for by the start of that session.
Government Funding:
We are registered with Hertfordshire County Council to offer government-funded childcare places for eligible children. Funding begins the term after your child reaches the appropriate age threshold and includes either 15 or 30 hours per week, for 38 weeks per year. Funded spaces are limited and reviewed on a term-by-term basis. We are open for 38–48 weeks per year. Any weeks your child attends outside the 38 funded weeks will be charged at our standard private fee rates. We strongly encourage all children to attend regularly and make full use of their funded hours, as consistent attendance supports their development and well-being.
If your place is funded and you intend to increase your child’s sessions after the first half term to fully utilise your funded hours, you must confirm this in advanced of the new half term. This allows us to secure the additional sessions and ensure availability.
It is your responsibility to reconfirm your funding code within the required time frame. Failure to do so may result in the loss of your funded place, and you will be liable for full private fees.
For full eligibility criteria and to apply or reconfirm your code, please visit: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
Optional Consumables Fee for Funded Spaces
Families accessing funded places will have the option to opt in or out of our voluntary consumables fee at point of registration. This fee covers items such as snacks, activities and additional resources that are not included in the funding (full list supplied on registration) If you decide that you would like to opt out at a later date, one term's notice is required.
What Opting Out Means
By choosing not to contribute to the consumables fee, your child will not participate in our enrichment activities and will not receive our daily snacks, an email confirming will be sent.
Late Collection of Children
Please note that it is important for the children and staff that children are collected promptly. Whilst we appreciate that delays are sometimes unavoidable, we reserve the right to charge a late collection fee of £20.00 and then £15.00 for every 15 minutes thereafter to cover our costs, as staff may have to be paid overtime.
The Pre-School is open as specified in the Herts Direct school calendar term dates. Any inset days will be informed in our school newsletter and on our website. Should the school need to close due to unforeseen circumstances i.e., adverse weather conditions, fees will be charged as normal.
Payment of Non attendance
Should your child not be able to attend the pre-school for any reason, payment must still to be paid as usual.
All booked sessions will be included in your invoice even if your child misses a session due to various reasons, i.e. illness or holiday. In any event, please notify us if your child will not be attending school within 30 minutes of session start time either on Famly or by phone. If we do not hear from you, we will call you, and this may result in a safeguarding referral.
Changes/Termination of Contract/Cancellation
A full terms notice is required in writing before session changes or withdrawing your child from the pre-school for any reason. Parents remain liable for fees throughout the notice period. We reserve the right to terminate a Pre-School place with immediate effect if fees are not paid by the due date or if a parent or child displays abusive, threatening or otherwise inappropriate behavior. If a start date is postponed or cancelled, we reserve the right to withhold the registration fee.
Liability & Insurance
We have extensive insurance cover. Full details are on display on the notice board in the school.
We cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to children’s property. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure children’s belongings are not lost or damaged. We ask that all personal belongings be clearly labeled. We accept no responsibility for children whilst they are in their parents care on Pre-School premises.
On occasion, there may be circumstances beyond our control (for instance weather conditions, flooding, medical emergencies) that means the decision has to be taken to close the setting. If the setting is obliged on these occasions to pay the staff, then the Pre-school reserves the right to charge for any session which your child would have attended if the Pre-school had not been closed due to circumstances beyond its control.
Security
Under no circumstance will a child be allowed to leave the setting with anyone unknown to Pre-School staff. Only responsible adults who are authorised to collect their child with prior arrangement, using our password and photo system, will be allowed to collect your child. Parents/carers must choose a collection password, add this to Famly and paperwork on starting the Pre-School. Please also upload a photo of all persons authorised to collect on Famly with their permission.
Social Media
As part of our duty to safeguard children it is essential to maintain the privacy and security of all our families including staff on all social media. We will not tolerate negative comments about the school, staff, parents or children. We ask that you do not share information on other children at the setting on social media without agreement from their parent.
Policies and Procedures
Our Policies and Procedures can be found on our website. Parents are required to adhere to these at all times. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of these, this should be discussed with the Pre-School Manager/Owner.
General Information
Parents are required to complete all forms within our welcome pack, and on Famly, as well as confirm all permissions, before your child starts at the setting.
Parents are required to inform us of any change in circumstances, medication, and all contact details in case of emergency. Please update information as soon as possible on our Famly App and in person.
We are a school who wishes to promote ‘working in partnership with parents’ and feel if we are all actively involved in sharing information about your child’s learning and development your child can only benefit more as they grow.
We are a nut free school.
School Agreement
We reserve the right to update/amend these Terms and Conditions at any time with one month’s written notice.
On accepting a space at Clare’s Little Bears the above Terms and Conditions apply with immediate effect.
Terms and Conditions can be found on Famly under permissions.