Fees and Free Education at Stone Bay Montessori and Beach School

We charge a fixed hourly fee for privately paid hours or any additional hours over your free entitlement. Subject to increase, our current hourly rates are £7.50 for our two-year-olds and £7.00 for three- and four-year-olds.

Invoices are sent out three times a year, before the beginning of each term. Each term’s invoice amount will differ depending on the number of weeks in the upcoming term. All fees/instalments stipulated on your invoice are to be paid in full by the 1st of every month.

We require proof of payment in the form of a screenshot, or a notification email with the date paid, amount and reference to be sent via email by the 1st of each month to the manager in order for us to keep on top of payments made or outstanding. We accept payment by childcare vouchers, bank transfer, debit and credit cards.

If payment of fees is outstanding for more than 7 days after the 1st of the month then the nursery reserves the right to serve 7 days’ notice in writing to terminate the contract. Fees received after 1st will be subject to a £50 late charge.

A term’s notice of removal must be given in writing or payment of fees in default of such notice will be required.

Non-Attended Days

If your child does not attend due to illness, holidays, family outings etc., we are unable to offer alternative hours as their ratio has been secured for their enrolled sessions. Full payment is still required.

Adjusting Hours

We aim to be as flexible and understanding as possible. Sometimes, work and school schedules or other circumstances may mean that you need or would prefer to use different drop-off and pick-up times, even if you have opted for a funded full day.

If you ever need to drop off later or pick up earlier, this can be arranged, but we ask that you choose one of the allotted drop-off and pick-up times below to limit the disruption to the class.

Drop-Off and Pick-Up Times

• Drop-Off: 8:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., or 1:30 p.m.
• Pick-Up: 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m., or 3:30 p.m.
  

Late Collection Charge

Children must be collected promptly at the agreed time, and the nursery reserves the right to charge £1 for every minute the parent is late.

Please find details of additional charges below – these will automatically be added to your termly invoice.

•  Uniform – £30 per Smock
• Snack – £1 per Session (Mornings)
• Music Classes (Monday Mornings) – £4 per Session
• Yoga Classes (Tuesday Mornings) – £4 per Session
• Art Resources (Wednesday Mornings) – £4 per Term
• Dance Classes (Thursday Mornings) – £4 per Session
• Spanish Classes (Friday Mornings) – £4 per Session
• Beach School (Weekly, Summer Term, 3- to 4-Year-Olds Only) – £10 per Session

All of the above charges are non-compulsory. We are happy to take the additional charges off your invoice. If you would prefer the below alternatives, please contact the manager to inform them.

• You are free to make/source and supply a brown and white smock for your child if you wish.
• You are free to provide a healthy morning snack of fruits and vegetables and one cracker if you prefer. No alternatives are permitted.
• Extracurricular classes are part of our enhanced curriculum – if you don’t wish your child to attend, they can remain in the main classroom, where they can access our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.

Ad-Hoc Extra Hours

If you wish for your child to attend for additional hours on top of their enrolled hours on an ad-hoc basis, please contact the nursery to check availability and book in. This is subject to a cost of £8 per hour, irrespective of age.

Please check availability with the manager before completing the registration pack. We will advise you on the sessions that are available for your chosen start date so that you can fill in your registration pack accurately and make a note of sessions where you would like to be added to the waiting list.

There is a £30 registration fee to secure your child’s place at our nursery. If you choose to terminate your contract with us after submitting the registration pack, this fee is non-refundable. Upon joining, this fee will be deducted from your first invoice.

If you wish to enrol your child, please request a registration pack, sign and fill it in completely, and return it to the nursery's manager by emailing manager@stonebaymontessori.com

When returning the registration pack, please transfer the £30 registration fee to:

• Account Name: Debucare Broadstairs Ltd
• Bank: Barclays
• Sort Code: 20-54-25
• Account Number: 50092487

Before signing and returning your contract to you in confirmation of your child’s place we require either, proof of payment via a screenshot, or written confirmation of payment via email, specifying the amount paid, the date of the transfer and the reference, which we request is your child’s full name. Please send this to the above email address alongside your registration pack.

We currently offer Free Early Education places for eligible children. For more information about eligibility and applying/accessing funding, please view the Childcare Choices website at the link below.

Childcare Choices

Please Note

If you are eligible for any type of free education, it is your responsibility to do the following:

• Inform the Nursery of What Funding You Are Eligible to Receive a Term in Advance
• Fill in the Online Application Form for Your Funding a Term in Advance (within Term Time) to Obtain Your Code
• Fill in and Return Our Funding Info Form the Term before Your Funding Is Due to Start
• This is so we can submit this to the borough, authorise the code, and assign it to our nursery – this must be completed the term before so that you can claim funding.
• Reconfirm Your Details with HMRC to Keep Your Code Valid (Must Be Completed Every 3 Months)
• Inform the Nursery If You Are Eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) or Disability Access Funding (DAF) – We Will Make This Claim on Your Behalf

Failure to do the above will result in your funding code not being approved by the borough which will mean the nursery cannot claim for your funding and will invoice you privately.

Maximum Entitlement

Please be aware that the free funded education only covers your child’s hours, up to your maximum entitlement, it does not cover any hours enrolled over that entitlement or anything outlined in the above ‘Additional Charges’ section as these are extras we provide on top of our Montessori and EYFS curriculum.

If you are eligible for funded education, you have access to an entirely free education, as long as you stay within the funded delivery patterns, within your funded hours, and opt out of the additional charges, choosing the alternative options instead. Please notify the manager if you wish to opt out of any additional charges and have an entirely free education.

If you are accessing your Free Early Education sessions and have enrolled your child for additional hours, we reserve the right to reduce you to your Free Early Education sessions only if payment for the additional hours is not paid by the 1st of the month.

Delivery Patterns for Free Early Education

If you are eligible and wish to access funded hours these are only offered within our funded delivery patterns which you can find below. You are still able to utilise later drop off or earlier pick up times as specified above.

15 Hours of Funded Education per Week

Pattern 1a: 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. 2 Days per Week
Pattern 2a: 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. 5 Days per Week

30 Hours of Funded Education per Week

Pattern 1b: 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. 4 Days per Week
Pattern 2b 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. 3 Days a Week (If You Only Claim 22.5 Hours)

Please note that delivery patterns are NOT enforced for privately paid hours, only funded hours.

Required Funding Information

If you are eligible for:

• The Working Parents Entitlement (15 Hours)
• The Working Parents Entitlement (30 Hours)

Please fill out and return our ‘Free Funding Information Form’, which can be found in our registration pack. As outlined above, this needs to be sent to the nursery the term before you wish to receive the free funding, within term time, not during the school holidays.

If you are eligible for:

• Free Early Education for Two-Year-Olds, Also Known as the ‘Free for Two’ or ‘FF2’ (For Families Receiving Certain Benefits)

Please forward the nursery the email you received confirming your eligibility, start date and voucher code. In addition, fill out and return our ‘Free Funding Information form’ which can be found in our registration pack. As outlined above, this needs to be sent to the nursery the term before you wish to receive the free funding, within term time, not during the school holidays.

If you are eligible for:

•  Universal 15 Hours of Free Education for Three- and Four-Year-Olds

You do not need to fill out a ‘Free Funding Information’ form.

If you wish to terminate your contract/agreement with the nursery, you must give three months’ notice. This notice must be given to the nursery in writing via email or payment in default of such notice will be required for one full term.

We do not tolerate any abusive and/or aggressive behaviour towards our staff. Therefore, we reserve the right to terminate your child’s place with immediate effect if any such incidents occur.

In the event we cannot meet a child’s needs, we will issue one month’s notice to terminate the nursery place.

In the unlikely event that we don’t have enough staff to meet ratio guidelines, we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible before terminating your nursery place. Your registration fee will also be refunded.

If payment of fees is outstanding from more than 7 days past the date stipulated on your invoice, the nursery reserves the right to serve 7 days’ notice in writing to terminate the contract.