Childcare Funding Information for Charles Booth Pre-school

The Free Early Education Entitlement Funding (FEEE) is allocated by the DFE for 38 term-time weeks per year. If your child attends all year round (51 weeks), you can stretch your funding. This means you can spread the total number of free funded hours per week over the whole year, provided you attend less than the maximum of 30 hours per week.

This arrangement helps you avoid larger bills during the school holidays. We calculate the funding yearly, from September through to August, and average the monthly cost over 12 months (for all-year attendance) or 10 months (for term-time only). This way, you will know your monthly bill for the entire year.

To claim funding, we will need a copy of your child’s birth certificate and a completed parental statement of undertaking form, which we will provide before any funding is claimed.

Funded Childcare Sessions at Charles Booth Pre-school

To access a fully funded “free” place during term time only, we offer a choice of:

• 5 x Mornings: 9 am - 12 noon

• 5 x Afternoons: 1 pm - 4 pm

  
  

These sessions can be used as a block of 5 or tailored to suit your needs, such as 3 mornings per week. No extra hours can be added to these fully funded sessions, but snacks are included at no extra cost. If a trip or optional activity occurs during your child’s normal session, you will be asked to make a voluntary contribution towards the cost.

Additional Charges for Funded Sessions

Parents accessing funded sessions with additional hours may incur extra charges. Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours per week of free, high-quality, flexible early education and childcare. It does not cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional services.

We can charge parents for extras in connection with the free hours, and these charges are considered voluntary. If you do not wish to opt into any additional charges, please refer to the unwilling/unable to pay policy attached at Appendix 1.

• Additional private paid hours of childcare beyond the “free hours” are chargeable at £7.50 per hour or part thereof.

• Food charges include breakfast, tea, and snacks.

• Non-food consumables include online journals, nappies, sun cream, and spare clothes.

• Additional activities charges may apply for yoga, dance, drama, football, forest school, and multi-sports.

  
  

The following sessions are available with additional costs, charged at £10 per session (see Appendix 1):

• Full day: 8 am – 6 pm (10 hours – 10 hours FEEE claimed)

• Morning: 8 am – 1 pm (5 hours - 5 hours FEEE claimed)

• Afternoon: 1 pm – 6 pm (5 hours - 5 hours FEEE claimed)

• School day: 9 am – 3 pm (6-hour session - 6 hours FEEE claimed)

  
  

Enabling Utilisation of Childcare Funding at Charles Booth Pre-school

We offer various options for utilising your childcare funding:

• 3 x full days (30 hours)

• 5 x school days (30 hours)

• 5 x morning/afternoon sessions per week (25 hours)

  
  

Some stretching of hours across the year can be arranged if the full amount of allocated funding is not used each week. Additional hours on shorter days or a mixture of sessions can also be accommodated.

Disability Access Fund

This fund is designed to support children with disabilities or special educational needs (SEN). To be eligible, your child must be in receipt of child disability living allowance (DLA).

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

The EYPP is extra government money to boost learning in eligible children from the age of 9 months onwards. We will work with you to decide how best to spend the money to ensure your child benefits. You may qualify for this extra payment if you receive certain benefits. Please ask for further details.

Appendix 1 - Cost Breakdown per Sessions

Full day funded session
10 hours	Funded hours	-	NIL
	Meals and snacks	-	£2.50
	Consumables / Tapestry	-	£2.00
	Extra activities	-	£5.50
	TOTAL		£10.00
Funded School Day Sessions
6 hours	Funded hours	-	NIL
	Meals and snacks	-	£2.50
	Consumables / Tapestry	-	£2.00
	Extra activities	-	£5.50
	TOTAL		£10.00
Funded Half day session
3 hrs	Funded hours	-	NIL
	Meals and snacks	-	£2.50
	Consumables / Tapestry	-	£2.00
	Extra activities	-	£5.50
			£10.00

Appendix 2 - Unwilling / Unable to Pay Policy

At Charles Booth Pre-school, parents/carers can claim the Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for their children. Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high-quality, flexible childcare. The 15 or 30 hours must be accessible free of charge to parents/carers. There should not be any mandatory charges related to the free hours. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional services.

This policy outlines the options available to parents and carers who are unable or unwilling to pay for the additional services provided by Charles Booth Pre-school.

Charles Booth offers a number of fully free spaces, which come at no cost to parents/carers. If these are all full, parents/carers may request to join the waiting list for a fully free space. The fully free spaces will operate in accordance with the admissions policy and will prioritise families with disadvantaged children.

If parents/carers who are unable or unwilling to pay choose to access a fully free space, they must understand and agree to provide the following, which are not covered by FEEE and are classed as an additional service. Our standard model of delivering the funded hours includes everything in our private package. As stated above, FEEE is not expected to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional services.

To access a fully free space, parents/carers agree to provide the following for every session their children attend (if you are bringing in your own food, please provide ice packs in lunch boxes labelled with your child’s name, as there is no space to store food in our fridge). Due to some children’s severe allergies, please ensure that any food containing nuts is not brought into the setting. Please note that we cannot reheat food, so please ensure that any food brought in can be eaten at room temperature. If you choose not to do this, children will not be able to attend. This is imperative as we want to ensure that children accessing FEEE receive the same quality and access to provision as those using private paid hours:

Breakfast	Cereal / Bread and butter for toast
AM Snack	Fruit / Vegetable Sticks
Lunch	Packed Lunch, including sandwiches (no jam or chocolate spread), crackers or rice cakes. Vegetable sticks, fruit, cereal bars. Please do not send crisps or chocolate products.
Tea	Packed Lunch, including sandwiches (no jam or chocolate spread), crackers or rice cakes. Vegetable sticks, fruit, cereal bars. Please do not send crisps or chocolate products.
Water bottle	A refillable water bottle
Children in Nappies	Nappies, wipes, and nappy bags
Medication	Calpol and Piriton
Toiletries	Toothbrush and toothpaste
Spare Clothes	All Year Round
Wellies	All Year Round
Winter Months	Waterproof all in one / hat / scarf / gloves / warm clothing to be worn
Summer months	Summer cap / Suncream

By utilising a fully funded free space, parents/carers understand that they will not receive the following:

1	Access to an online learning journey or care diary. Statutory documentation, such as the 2-year check will be provided. Any other progress reports will be passed on verbally.
2	Weekly update photos of their child/ren either via an online learning journey or WhatsApp.
3	Children will not be able to participate in any additional activity, such as yoga / forest school / sporting activities / park visits / trips.
4	Children will not be able to attend certain events, such as Christmas, Halloween or graduation.
5	Children will not receive any gifts.