Nursery Terms and Conditions

Age of Admittance
Children can start at nursery at any time after the age of two.

Hours of Opening and dropping off and collecting your child
The nursery is open between 8am and 6pm five days a week (Monday to Friday). Your child will stay for lunch if booked in for a full morning, short day or full day session. All the children booked in for these sessions eat lunch together at 11.50am. Afternoon sessions start at 12.30pm. Full details of the range and cost of sessions are given in the Fees section below.

Parents should accompany their children into the nursery through the main doors. Children will be kept in the building or garden until the parent arrives to collect them. If you bring other children with you when you collect or drop off your nursery child please be aware they are your responsibility whilst on nursery premises. If someone other than yourself is to collect your child, the nursery staff must be informed. Please collect your child promptly, as late collections incur additional charges, and disrupt the nursery day.

Parking and Entering the Nursery
The nursery accepts no responsibility for injury, loss or damage to persons, vehicles or property outside the Nursery area. Do not park in the school car park or on the yellow zigzag lines outside the school. There is usually space in the lay-by or street parking fairly close to the nursery if you avoid the busy times when the majority of the school children arrive and leave (approximately 8.30am and 3.15pm).

Absences
Please telephone the nursery if your child is going to be absent or arrive more than 1 hour later than usual, for whatever reason. There is no reduction in fees if your child is absent or late.

Nursery Holidays
The nursery is closed for Christmas, Easter, Whit and August bank holiday weeks and all other Bank Holidays. During school holidays we operate holiday club.

Fees
Please contact us for a list of current session fees.

Little Owls receives grant funding for 3 and 4 year olds during term time only, this allows for a considerable reduction in fees for all eligible children.

Fees must be paid in full, monthly in advance within 7 days of receipt of the invoice. Please do remember that you are purchasing a place at the nursery, and not merely paying for the sessions that your child attends. Should your child be absent, full fees will be charged. We charge £3.00 per hour if at any time you are more than 10 minutes late collecting your child.  No fees are payable during nursery holidays. One month's notice is required in writing to terminate a nursery place.

If a cheque fails to clear, a charge of £10.00 will be made to cover bank charges.

Food
We ask that you provide a well balanced packed lunch for your child. If at any time you forget to provide a lunch we will ensure that your child gets a meal but there will be an additional charge of £2.00 for this.

Illness
If your child has a rash, sore throat, raised temperature or diarrhoea, please do not bring them to nursery, but keep them at home until they are recovered. Should your child become ill at nursery, we will contact you. In an emergency, our local G.P. will be called out and if necessary, your child will be taken to hospital. The nursery has adopted the Health Authority guidelines on exclusions for infectious illnesses, e.g., chicken pox. Please ask staff for details.

Clothing
Please label your child's coat and shoes. Many clothes worn by the children are identical. Clothes must be easy to get out of to establish independence in the toilet. Aprons are provided for messy work, but we cannot ensure that your child's clothes remain clean! For this reason please send your child in comfortable clothes which are not their best. Mount Nursery polo shirts and sweatshirts are available to buy. Shoes should also be easy to do up, and strong enough to provide good footing outside and on the climbing frame. As your child will spend time outdoors in the winter, they should bring a warm coat with hood or hat and mittens.

Valuables
Please do not bring jewellery, money or other valuables to nursery. Spectacles should be named. We do understand that your child may wish to bring toys to nursery, but these can get lost or damaged. Unless a specific toy is a comforter, which cannot be left at home, please do not bring toys to nursery.  Every effort is made to ensure the safety of your child's belongings, however the nursery cannot be held responsible for any losses.

Medicines
Prescription medicines or other aids should be labelled, together with instructions and handed to nursery staff, who will record these in a medicine book. Staff can give only prescription medicines.

Confidentiality of Notes
Records will be kept of your child's progress and achievements to help plan appropriate activities. They are also required under the terms of our Ofsted registration. These are always available for parents to read and may include a section for parent's contributions about their child's progress. The records are confidential and only accessible to nursery staff, the child's parents and the chair of the management committee while the child is at nursery. Assessment records will be kept and passed on to the child's receiving school. Parents will receive termly reports and a final report when their child leaves nursery.