Castle Kindergarten

Funding and Fees

Funded childcare

Children receiving 15 hours of funded childcare can take the hours in a range of flexible ways and can stretch them across the school holiday periods. Additional ‘charged’ hours can be arranged with the manager at registration or on an ‘ad hoc’ basis where there is a place available.

Children receiving 30 hours of funded childcare can take the hours in a range of flexible ways to suit parents’ or carers’ working arrangements.

Children receiving the full 30 hours of funded childcare with us can buy a cooked lunch each day.

Additional hours of childcare can be bought by arrangement with the manager.

Children spending 15 hours of their 30 hours funded childcare with us and 15 hours with the neighbouring primary school can receive additional daily lunchtime care after their morning session at the primary school or before their afternoon session at the primary school. The care package can be taken with or without lunch - the costs are stated in our full fees list that is available from the kindergarten.

Alternatively, where the kindergarten is in close proximity to the local primary school, the 15 funded hours with us can be taken ‘back to back’ with the primary school without any additional childcare time then being needed.

Fees

Fees are charged per half day or per full day although you may bring and collect your child within these times to suit family requirements. Fees quoted are per child and include breakfast, snacks and light tea depending upon your child’s arrival and departure time. Children attending for a whole day have a cooked lunch included within their fee. Children attending for a morning can pay for a cooked lunch if they wish.

Our fees explained…

The kindergartens are closed for 3 ‘working’ weekdays each year – these days fall between Christmas and New Year along with the 3 bank holidays and the 2 ‘weekend’ days that fall between the 25th December and the 1st January. Additionally, the kindergartens are closed on the 5 bank holidays that fall outside of the Christmas period.

Our fees are based on a 51-week structure for families who wish their child to attend for the full year. For children attending for 5 full days each week, all our closure days have been deducted to arrive at the fees shown on our list.

Children who attend part-time are charged for the number of days or half days that are booked for them to attend each week.

We allow a 100% fees concession for up to two weeks of holiday each year, with children who attend part time having a pro rata allowance. The holiday year runs from the child’s start date. For further holidays outside the allowance period, full fees will be payable.

We offer ‘term time only’ attendance of 38 weeks a year. We follow the local authority term dates to determine when ‘term time only’ children will attend/not attend. For children attending term time only, any holidays taken in term time will require full fees to be paid.

A sibling discount of 10% will be applied to the eldest child. For twins the 10% discount will be applied to one of the children’s invoices. For triplets the discount will be applied to two of the children’s invoices.

The kindergarten is closed for all bank holidays. We do not make a charge for bank holidays.

Adjustments are not made for children attending medical appointments or who are absent due to illness or for any reason. In the event of a long-term illness, individual circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

There are certain rare events which could result in Castle Kindergarten having to close for a limited time. We aim to rectify any closure as soon as possible and keep all parents/carers informed of the situation. In the event of bad weather such as heavy snowfall which would make it hazardous for both staff and parents/carers to travel, the kindergarten may be closed. Staff will inform parents /carers at the earliest opportunity. Parents/carers will be informed at the end of each day about the situation and the likelihood of opening on the following day. No compensation will be paid or refund given if the kindergarten has to be closed due to any reason beyond its control, such as power failure or bad weather conditions. We cannot accept any consequential liability sustained by parents / carers, due for example, to loss of earnings or costs associated with alternative childcare. Dependent on the nature of the closure we may be able to seek compensation through our insurance policy and if successful we will make reimbursements accordingly. Every effort will be made to minimise the disruption to service and the cost to parents or carers. This approach is necessary so that the kindergarten can properly budget for its own expenditure. 

If the kindergarten is open but it is your choice that your child does not attend the session/s booked, for any reason, fees will still apply.