Economy or First-Class Educational Journey for your child? The choice is yours!

As we are sure you are aware, the Early Years sector has recently been in the news regarding the updated guidance about charging parents for meals, snacks, consumables etc. for funded places in preschools. This is nothing new, the government are just making sure all Early Years providers are actually informing their families of any additional charges, we have always sent out an itemised invoice and have on our website what the consumable charge covers.

In a nutshell the government gives Early Years settings funding to provide a basic service, but those of us who want to remain outstanding and give our families the best service we can, need a little more money to do this. We can put your children into ‘first class’ on their educational journey rather than just being in ‘economy.’

In its new guidance the Government states:

‘Government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services.’

Essentially the Government is offering funded childcare sessions but not paying for all that our quality preschool sessions entail. As a private business we are responsible for covering all operational costs and the government funding does not meet the actual costs of delivering high-quality early years education. All children deserve more than a ‘basic’ provision, they deserve high quality early years education.

The guidance emphasises the voluntary nature of the charges for all the things that go alongside your child’s funded place.  Preschool must give parents the option for extra charges to be voluntary or give parents an alternative. We have not made any charges a mandatory requirement for being able to take up a funded place at our preschool, there is always the option to opt-out and provide your own consumables, snacks etc.

We offer children staying a full day the choice of bringing their own packed lunch or paying for a school dinner. We charge a consumable charge as we know that it could end up being more expensive and time consuming for you as parents to buy and provide your own snacks, resources etc. We have always believed charging you per session is the fairest and easiest way for you and for us as a setting. We know most of you are working families and the last thing you want to do is to send in daily snacks, treats at different times of the year, money for farm visitors or parties etc. It certainly would be more time consuming for us too.

There is no way we could provide you with EYLog either without the consumable charge, its either you have it or you don’t. We would still track your child’s learning and development (in the basic package) but there would be no photos, focussed observations or reports given to you.

Your consumable money also goes towards buying new resources for your children which are over and above the basics such as items for gardening, forest school sessions, music, a variety of art etc. We can offer basic painting, glue and dough but we know your children deserve more.

In addition to the early education and childcare places that the Government pays for, our preschool offers French lessons which we also charge you for. This is optional for your child but a great opportunity to boost their learning opportunities and not something we could offer as a staff team as none of us sadly are fluent in French so we have an expert join us.

The Government is requiring us to be open and transparent about these charges and ask you to agree to paying these, which we have always done.  We ask you to please speak with us if you are genuinely going to struggle to pay these. We want what’s best for your child while they are at preschool, but meals, consumables and activities do come at a cost.

Our consumable charges are £1 per session which works out at:

£5 per week for 5 mornings

£10 per week for 5 days 9am to 3pm

£15 per week for 5 days 7.45am to 3pm (includes breakfast cost)

£20 per week for 5 days 7.45am to 4pm/5pm/6pm (includes breakfast and tea costs)

School lunches are currently £3.25 (we haven’t been informed if they are to rise in April yet).

Any hours over your funded hours will be £7 per hour from April 1^st 2025

Other costs are for are late payment charges and late collection of children charges.

The government have put preschools like us in a very difficult position and some organisations like ‘Netmums’ have jumped on the bandwagon and want nurseries to give everything for free. Recent research by the National Day Nurseries Association found that 92% of nurseries in England do not believe the current funding rates cover our operating costs. For three and four-year-old places the average funding shortfall was reported as £2.13 per hour and £1.51 per hour for younger children.

The average staffing costs for nurseries is going to increase by 15% from April this year and for context the average funding rate will increase by 4.6% for the same period. Many settings will face severe financial hardship and potential closure leading to reduced availability of childcare for families. Some providers are opting out of offering funded places, limiting funded places available or restricting the times you can use funding. This will lead to a two-tier childcare and education system available to you as parents, we would never choose to do this

We hope this helps you understand the reasons for and the benefits to you and your child, of the current charges we have in place. The government shouldn’t be promising parents a service and then forcing us to provide that service at a loss making price.

If you would like to discuss these with us and discuss what it would mean to opt-out of these, please let us know and we can discuss this further with you.

Basic Educational Journey vs First Class Educational Journey

Basic

Food

• Packed lunch
• Provide your own snack daily
• Breakfast at home

Art, Messy and Creative Resources

• Paint (basic colours)
• Glue
• Plain Dough
• Paper
• Mark making
• Water and basic filling pouring toys
• Sand and basic tools
• Books
• Music

Outdoor Play

• Nothing specific but children must be allowed to play outside.

Others

• Some staff with level 3 childcare training
• 1 to 13 ratio
• Monitoring Child development
• 50% of staff first aid trained and minimum first aid equipment.
• A place to rest
• Basic cleaning

First Class

Food

• Freshly cooked lunch
• Snacks and breakfast provided
• Condiments, ketchup, mayo, herbs etc.
• Allergies and intolerances catered for
• Baking and food activities and resources
• Staff time spent shopping

Art, Messy and Creative Resources

• Painting aprons and cloths
• Variety of coloured and types of paint
• Paint palettes, ink pads etc.
• Brushes different sizes, rollers, stamps, pads,
• Glue, glitter and coloured glue, pritt sticks
• Paper, sugar paper, tissue, card, etc.
• Pens, pencils, whiteboard pens crayons, chalk
• Stencils, rulers, clip boards, white boards
• Collage materials, fabric, sequins, feathers, pom poms, glitter, foam shapes, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, natural objects, junk modelling.
• Coloured, textured or scented dough
• Clay, tools, hammers etc.
• Designated water area with aprons and mop
• Funnels, scoops, float and sink materials, jugs, sponges, mixing spoons, colour, scents etc.
• Designated sand area regularly topped up.
• Buckets, scoops, trowels, pulleys, natural resources, ice cream cones, moulds etc.
• Shaving foam
• Tweezers, pipettes
• Loose parts play
• Celebration resources such as Christmas, Diwali, Mothers Day, Easter, Halloween etc.
• Outdoor Chalk
• Large scale outdoor painting and crafts
• Rice, pasta, gloop, flour
• Ice cubes, frozen objects,
• Story props and dressing up and book buddies
• A variety of musical instruments and world wide music
• A huge amount of fiction and non fiction books

Outdoor Play

• An enhanced and extensive outdoor environment
• Tree house, climbing frame and slide
• Digging area, tools and vehicles
• Loose parts for children to decide how they are used
• Beach House, books, home corner resources
• Music area with large pentatonic instruments and others.
• Mud kitchen, equipment, table and chairs, natural resources
• Seats, tables, benches, picnic rugs, mats, safety flooring
• Bikes, trikes, scooters, loopy bikes.
• Gazebo, role play resources, dressing up outfits
• Nature garden, bug houses, bird boxes, orchard
• Outdoor Classroom, information books and posters, magnifying glasses,
• Allotment, trowels, spades, forks, water butts, watering cans, planting, compost, gloves, twine, seeds, sticks etc.
• Outdoor and nature crafts (bird feeders, stick men etc)
• High vis jackets for independent exploring.
• Snow suits to enable warmth in snow and ice play.
• Spare coats if a child’s gets wet or not appropriate.
• Forest school trained staff for forest school activities
• Large field and woodland area for free play

Others

• All staff with a minimum level 3 childcare qualification including at least 1 Early Years Teacher, Forest School Leader, risky and outdoor play training, visits to other settings to gain more experience, over and above basic safeguarding training.
• 1 to 8 ratio majority of the time, plus one to one or small group interventions (non Send related)
• EYLog, photos and focused observations, parents comments and observations, reports and enhanced development feedback, open door policy for parents.
• 100% of staff are first aid trained, first aid equipment, outdoor first aid resources, de-choker, training to ensure all children’s needs are met such as diabetes and adrenalin pens administrating, emergency grab bag.
• A quiet place to sleep, sleep mats, blankets.
• Enhanced cleaning and materials such as urine neutraliser, disinfectant spray, air fresheners.
• Educational games, dance and yoga, interactive stories, cultural celebrations, gifts, party decorations, food and treats.
• The list continues… you get the picture!