We have tried to give you an overview of our Nursery and the various childcare options – we recommend that you speak through this with a member of staff in order to discuss your individual needs – a general guide is detailed below.
- We work hard to offer flexible childcare at Sunflowers and our fee structure and various attendance options reflect this.
- We offer a discretionary 5% discount for siblings and spend time making sure that you are getting the best deal in terms of your booked sessions and how we invoice you for them.
- We are always open and honest with our fee structure and inform you in advance if we need to review our fee structure to continue to meet the needs of the business.
- If your child is attending Sunflowers for their Government Funded hours, please see our fee structure below. Funding is available from the term after a child turns 9 months old if your family meets certain criteria.
- Eligible parents of 3 and 4 year olds can claim up to 30 funded hours per term time week. We ask parents to pay an optional Sunflowers Supplement of 80p per hour for 3&4 year old funded hours.** There are also charges for additional services such as meals and external activities such as swimming – but these are optional and your funded hours can be taken at times to suit you which avoids paying for these costs.
- Most parents are eligible to get help with their childcare costs through the Government scheme ‘Tax Free Childcare’ or through Universal Credits – please look on www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
- We are able to accept Childcare Vouchers through various companies and also can work with University Bursaries, Care2Learn and other training providers to help cover costs of childcare.
- If you would like further information, please contact Heather in the office and we can go through what will work best for you.
- ** Accessing Funding for children from the term after their 3rd birthday:
- The funding rate we receive for the children the term AFTER they turn 3 is a lot lower and does not cover our costs. We are categorically not allowed to ask for a top up fee or to deduct the monetary funding amount we receive from your invoice. Last year we developed a Sustainability Supplement which was built into the cost of providing a full day’s childcare incorporating 10 or 5 hours of funding. Again, we need to change this as we can no longer call this supplement a ‘Sustainability Supplement’. At the same time, we can’t afford to operate without it. We will now call this a ‘Sunflowers Supplement’. This helps us provide all the things that makes Sunflowers Sunflowers and includes (but is not limited to)….
- Our magnificent staff team – committing to paying them a fair wage which is above the NMW, investing in their training, having regular staff meetings and training sessions.
- Having 5 Nursery SENCO trained staff to enable us to identify any areas for support quickly and put in place plans to ensure the best outcomes.
- Supporting each member of our childcare team to achieve a childcare qualification.
- Employing a cleaner and a housekeeping team to enable the staff to spend more time with the children and less time cleaning.
- Offering Free settling in sessions for new children.
- Providing nappies, baby wipes, suncream
- Our Family Christmas party and Christmas presents for the children and their siblings
- Mothers’ day/Father’s day gifts and activities
- Special activities and celebrations – eg Pancake Shack, Easter Egg hunts, etc etc
- Having a well-resourced and maintained outdoor area
- Our leavers celebration, leavers bears and end of year trip
- Parents evenings, parents chats and an open-door policy
- Extra staffing for trips out to the library, park, Millenium Green etc
- Paper based folders with photos and memories to keep forever.
- Additional admin time – eg letters to Universal Credit, passport checks, and advice and signposting.
- Flexibility
- High levels of care and support when you need it the most.
- Higher than required adult:child ratios – eg working at 1:4 and 1:8 instead of 1:5 and 1:13 – we always make sure we have additional spare hands to cuddle and soothe.
- As I said this list isn’t everything, but hopefully shows you a little bit about the extra costs we incur to do it right, not just at the bare minimum required to meet the rules of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This commitment to quality and making sure we do it right for your child is why you choose us. We already build the costs of offering these things into our daily Private Fees.
- This supplement covers all consumables – as described above it also allows us to provide all the things which make Sunflowers Sunflowers. Without having a charge like this we would struggle to viably continue to run in the way we want to and to provide the type of childcare and education your children deserve.
- If your personal circumstances mean that the Sunflowers Supplement proves to be unaffordable or if your child receives EYPP (Early Years Pupil Premium) we may be able to waive this supplement. Please speak to me for more information.
Our Fees – from April 2024
| Fee Description – Fee Band one for children attending 51 weeks a year (prices include all meals and snacks) | New rate | With Tax free childcare* |
| Full week | £325.00 | £260.00 |
| Full day 7.30am–6.00pm | £70.00 | £56.00 |
| Morning 8.00am – 1.00pm. | £49.50 | £39.60 |
| Short day 9.00am – 3.00pm. | £59.00 | £47.20 |
| Fee Description – Fee band two for children attending 38 weeks a year TERM TIME ONLY (prices include all meals and snacks) | ||
| Full week | £356.50 | £285.20 |
| Full day 7.30am–6.00pm | £76.00 | £60.80 |
| Morning 8.00am – 1.00pm. | £53.00 | £42.40 |
| Short day 9.00am – 3.00pm. | £62.00 | £49.60 |
| Additional items & Poppins Out of School Care (reception+) | ||
| Swimming – per session – optional extra for 3 & 4 year olds | £8.00 | – |
| Poppins – EVENING inc pick up from school, tea and activities | £20.50 | £16.40 |
| Poppins – Full Day including all meals, snacks and activities | £62.00 | £49.60 |
| Poppins – Short Day (9-3) including lunch, snacks and activities | £48.50 | £38.80 |
| Using Government Funded hours at SunflowersThe Government pays for 15 or 30 funded hours for eligible children. More information is available on www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. The funding covers 38 weeks a year. During none funded periods our usual Fee band one prices (above) will apply. At Sunflowers you can use blocks of 10 hours funding or 5 hours funding as outlined below. We have endeavored to keep our funded sessions as simple as possible and as cost effective for you as parents as we can. | ||
| Sessions using funded hours. Under 3’s | Daily cost | With Tax free childcare* |
| 3 hour funded session – no meals 1.00pm – 4.00pm funded hours only. | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Full day using 10 hours funding (8.00am – 6.00pm) Full day meals and snacks | £0.00 £7.50 | £6.00 |
| Full day using 5 hours funding (8.00am-6.00pm) inc meals and snacks Fee band 1 Fee band 2 | £42.00 £45.00 | £33.60 £33.60 |
| Morning using 5 hours funding (8.00am – 1.00pm) Short day meals and snacks | £0.00 £5.00 | £4.00 |
| Short day 9.00am–3.00pm including 5 hours funding and food. Fee band 1 Fee band 2 | £16.75 £18.90 | £13.40 £15.12 |
| Sessions using funded hours – from the term after 3rd birthday | Daily Cost | |
| 3 hour funded session – no meals 1.00pm – 4.00pm funded hours only. 3 hours Sunflowers Supplement | £2.40 | £1.92 |
| Full day using 10 hours funding (8.00am – 6.00pm) Full day meals and snacks 10 hours Sunflowers Supplement (for 3&4 yr olds) | £7.50 £8.00 £15.50 total | £12.40 |
| Full day using 5 hours funding (8.00am-6.00pm) inc meals and snacks Fee band 1 5 hours sunflowers supplement (for 3 & 4 year olds) Fee band 2 5 hours sunflowers supplement (for 3 & 4 year olds) | £42.00 £4.00 £46.00 total £45.00 £4.00 £49.00 total | £36.80 £39.20 |
| Morning using 5 hours funding (8.00am – 1.00pm) Short day meals and snacks 5 hours Sunflowers Supplement (for 3 & 4 year olds) | £0.00 £5.00 £4.00 £9.00 total | £6.80 |
| Short day 9.00am–3.00pm including 5 hours funding and food. Fee band 1 Fee band 2 | £16.75 £18.90 | £13.40 £15.12 |
Our Terms and Conditions
Nursery places are offered on a full and part time basis. There is a minimum booking of 1 half day session per week.
Fees are charged monthly in arrears and can be paid by cheque or Direct Bank Transfer.
We reserve the right to charge a late payment fee – this has a sliding scale – from £5 per month to £30 per month depending on amount owed.
Days missed due to holidays, illness and sickness are still charged at the normal rate however, it may be possible to ‘swap’ your day – this will incur an admin fee of £5.00. There is a limit to how many days you can swap in one year.
We are able to accept Childcare Vouchers & Tax Free Childcare payments —please ask Heather for more information.
We require 1 months written notice of your intention to withdraw your child from our Nursery.
