Terms and Conditions
Buttsbury Pre-school Terms and Conditions
The document and the terms and conditions within it govern the basis on which Buttsbury Pre-school (referred to here as ‘we’ / ‘our’ / ‘us’) agree to provide childcare services to parent(s)/guardian(s) (referred to as ‘you’).
Only a parent/guardian with parental responsibility for a child can register that child for a childcare place with us. We will ask to see your child’s birth certificate, or other relevant documentation, to confirm that you have parental responsibility for the child as part of our registration process.
Agreed hours: minimum 2 x 3 hour sessions or all day session/s (one 3 hour session must be an afternoon session).
Offered over 38 weeks per year.
We are closed on bank holidays.
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Terms and conditions
Our obligation to you
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In January/February of the year that your child is due to start pre-school for a two year placement, spaces will be offered to the first 23 children on each of our lists. Our admissions officer will send you an email/letter confirming your place and asking you to return a completed waiting list registration form along with a £45.00 non-refundable registration fee to secure your place. The registration form will ask you to state your preferred sessions, minimum of two – one must be an afternoon (we will do our best to try and accommodate your preferences, but this is not always possible) and the fee also includes a t-shirt and an art bag for when your child starts pre-school. If we haven’t heard from you after 5 working days since the date of our email/letter, we will remove your child from our waiting list.
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We will provide the agreed childcare facilities for your child at the agreed times (subject to any days when we are closed). If we change the opening hours, we will give you as much notice of our decision as possible and, if necessary, will work with you to agree a change to your child’s hours of attendance.
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We will adhere to the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) when collecting and processing information about you and your child. We explain how your data is processed, collected, kept up-to-date in our Privacy Notice which is given to you at the point of registration.
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We will treat your child with the utmost respect and dignity. We will never use or threaten any type of punishment that could adversely affect a child’s wellbeing.
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We will comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and our Ofsted registration in regard to the childcare services we provide for your child.
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We will provide you with details of our policies and procedures, which outline how we satisfy the requirements of the EYFS in our everyday practice. We will be available to discuss or explain our policies and procedures, and/or any relevant changes, at a mutually agreed time.
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We will maintain appropriate insurance to cover our childcare activities.
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We will provide opportunities and encourage your child to do their best.
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We will provide a well-balanced curriculum within the EYFS framework and meet the individual needs of your child.
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We will provide a safe and stimulating environment
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We will provide each child with a key person and keep you informed about general matters and your child’s progress.
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We will be open and welcoming and encourage you to become involved in the life of the pre-school.
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We will achieve high standards of behaviour through building good relationships and developing your child’s sense of independence.
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We will review the fees charged and change these when the trustees agree it is time to do so.
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We will be transparent regarding the ‘consumables and additional services/resources’ fee charged and keep these to a minimum (see our Fees policy).
Your obligation to us
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You will need to complete and return our Waiting list application form and Registration Form to us before your child can start with us.
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You must notify us immediately of any changes to the information you have provided to us and keep us informed of any other necessary information that may affect the childcare that we provide for your child.
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The Registration Form includes an emergency treatment authorisation which you will need to complete prior to your child attending.
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You will read and abide by our policies and procedures.
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You will make yourself available as and when required to discuss the progress of your child or any factor relating to their childcare place with us at mutually agreed times.
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You must immediately inform us if your child is suffering from any contagious disease, or if your child has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner with a notifiable disease. For the benefit of other children attending, you must not allow your child to attend whilst they are contagious and pose a risk to other children during normal daily activities.
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You must keep us informed of the identity of the persons who will be collecting your child. If the person who is due to collect your child is not usually responsible for collecting them, we will require proof of identity using your password. If we are not reasonably satisfied that the person collecting your child is who we were expecting, we will not release your child into their care until we have checked with you.
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You must inform us immediately if you are not able to collect your child by the official collection time. You must make arrangements for another authorised person to collect your child as soon as possible. A late payment charge will be applied; please refer to the Uncollected Child policy for details.
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You will provide us with at least 4 week’s term time notice of your intention to decrease the number of hours your child attends or to withdraw your child (and end this Agreement). If insufficient notice is given, you will be responsible for 4 weeks fees to be paid from the date of notice. If you are ending this Agreement, notice must be given by email to admin@buttsburypreschool.org.uk
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You must inform us if your child is the subject of a court order and provide us with a copy of such order on request.
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You will ensure that your child attends regularly and arrives and is collected at the agreed times.
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You will ensure that you advise the pre-school of any planned absences and non-attendance due to sickness, hospital appointments etc.
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You will encourage your child and work with the staff to support your child positively.
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You must inform the pre-school of any issues or concerns that might affect your child’s behaviour. Should it be deemed necessary that outside specialist help be sought for your child, you will support the pre-school’s decision.
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You will attend consultations and meetings regarding your child, where necessary.
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You will work with the Pre-school to promote high standards and appropriate behaviour.
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You will support and adhere to the Pre-school’s procedures and policies.
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You will support, where possible, the activities of the fundraising team.
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You will adhere to the Pre-school fees policy (to pay all fees, in advance, by the last working day of the preceding term).
Payment of fees
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Our fees are based on a sessional fee that shall be notified to you in advance of your child starting. We may review these fees at any time but shall inform you of the revised amount at least one month before it takes effect. If you do not wish to pay the revised fee, you may end this Agreement by giving us 4 weeks’ term time notice, by email to admin@buttsburypreschool.org.uk
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Fees must be paid on a termly basis. We calculate the amount payable by you each term by multiplying the sessional fee by the number of weeks we are open during the term and we will include the fee for lunch club, should you child attend. Fees apply 38 weeks of the year.
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All payments made under the Agreement should be by direct payment to our bank account with your child’s name as a reference. All payment shall be made by you, by the last working day of the preceding term. Late payments after this date will incur a late payment fee of £5.00 per day even during the holidays.
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If the payment of fees referred to in 3.3 is outstanding for more than 10 working days, then we may terminate this Agreement by giving you 10 days’ notice in writing. Upon termination of this contract, the child shall cease forthwith to be admitted, and the notice to terminate shall be regarded as a formal demand for outstanding monies.
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If you have requested additional sessions or have been unable to collect your child by the official collection time and we have as a result provided you with additional childcare facilities, we will raise the applicable charges under a separate invoice for payment.
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In the event of late collection of your child, we reserve the right to charge for each additional 10 minutes, or part thereof, on a pro-rata basis.
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No refund will be given for periods where the place is unfulfilled due to illness or holidays on the part of either party. We are closed on school and bank holidays and we accept no liability for other costs which you incur if we are unable to provide childcare for any reason.
Suspension of a child
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We may suspend the provision of childcare to your child at any time if you have failed to pay any fees due.
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If the period of suspension for non-payment of fees exceeds one month, either of us may terminate this Agreement by giving written notice, which will take effect on receipt of the notice.
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We do not support the exclusion of any child on the grounds of behaviour. However, if your child’s behaviour is deemed by us to endanger the safety and well-being of your child and/or other children and adults, it may be necessary to suspend the provision of childcare whilst we try to address these issues with you and external agencies as appropriate.
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During any period of suspension for behaviour-related issues we will work with the local authority and where appropriate other welfare agencies to identify appropriate provision or services for your child.
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If your child is suspended part way through the month, under the conditions stated in clause 4.3 we shall give you a credit for any fees you have already paid for the remaining part of that month, calculated on a pro rata basis. This sum may be offset against any sums payable by you to us.
Termination of the Agreement
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You may end this Agreement at any time, giving us at least 4 weeks’ term time notice by email to admin@buttsburypreschool.org.uk
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We may immediately end this Agreement if:
5.2.1 You have failed to pay your fees;
5.2.2 You have breached any of your obligations under this Agreement and you have not or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period of time after we have drawn it to your attention;
5.2.3 You behave unacceptably, as we do not tolerate any physical or verbal abuse or threats towards our staff;
5.2.4 We take the decision to close. We will give you as much notice as possible in the event of such a decision.
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It may become apparent that the support we are able to offer your child is not sufficient to meet his/her needs. In these circumstances we will work with you, the local authority and other welfare agencies as per our procedures to identify appropriate support, at which point we may end this Agreement.
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You may end this Agreement if we have breached any of our obligations under this Agreement and we have not or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period after you have drawn it to our attention.
General
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Parents claiming up to 15 hours Funded Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for their child – Please note: if you have requested to access your child’s FEEE on Mondays, you will not be able to access this entitlement on Bank Holidays. Therefore, you will not receive your full entitlement where there are bank holidays within the funded weeks as these days cannot be taken elsewhere.
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If we have to close or we take the decision to close due to events or circumstances beyond our control (e.g. extreme weather conditions, health pandemic) the sessional fee will continue to be payable in full and we shall be under no obligation to provide alternative childcare to you.
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If you have any concerns regarding the services we provide, please discuss them with your child’s key person. If these concerns are not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact our Playroom or Business manager. Customer satisfaction is paramount and any concerns/complaints will be dealt with in line with our Making a Complaint Policy.
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From time to time, we will take photographs of the children who attend. These photographs are used for on-going recording of our curriculum and for children’s individual development records. They are stored on our pre-school computers and our online learning journey software whilst your child is with us. The photographs are used for your child’s records within the pre-school. If we wished to use any image of your child for training or publicity purposes, we would always seek your written consent for each image we intend to use, as indicated on our Registration Form.
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We reserve the right to refuse to admit your child if they have a temperature, sickness and diarrhoea or a contagious infection or disease on arrival at our pre-school, or to ask you to collect your child if they become unwell whilst in our care, in line with our Managing Children who are Sick, Infectious or with Allergies Policy.
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Whilst a snack and drink is provided on the premises, we are not a commercial kitchen and may not be able to cater for the individual needs of every child. As cross contamination cannot be ruled out, a risk assessment is conducted for children with any known allergies. It is our usual practice to provide a vegetarian option. Every effort is made to follow recommended food preparation guidance and to ensure that all staff involved in the preparation and serving of food are suitably trained.
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Any personal information you supply to us will be collected, stored and used in accordance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (2018) and our Confidentiality and Client Access to Records Policy. We will always seek your consent where we need to share information about your child with any other professional or agency. We are required by law to override your refusal to give consent only in specific circumstances where the child or someone in the family may be in danger if we do not share that information.
This Agreement
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We reserve the right to vary the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement.
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This Agreement contains the full and complete understanding between the parties and supersedes all prior arrangements and understanding whether written or oral relating to the subject of this Agreement except to the extent that we vary terms from time to time.
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Acceptance of a place will be deemed as acceptance by you of these terms and conditions.