Fees & Funding

Children will receive 15 hours of universal funding from the term following their 3rd birthday. Please note that you will be asked to complete a government funding form in order for us to process your funding claim. The additional 15 hours funding is applied for by the parents via their Government Gateway account, this must be done the term before funding is to start.

Some 1 and 2 year old children may be eligible for 30 hours of funded childcare. This will depend on whether certain criteria are met. Please see the Childcare Choices Government website for more details on funding information.

Please note we offer funded hours between the hours of 7:30am – 5:00pm. For bookings until 6:00pm, the last hour is charged at an hourly rate. (please see the fees list at the bottom of this page).

Our fee structure is affective as of April 2026. 

Please note that we have charges for meals for government funded children, the fees are as follows;

£2.75 lunch charge for government funded children (unless a packed lunch is provided)

£3.30 dinner fee for children staying after 5pm (only applicable to government funded children, as per funding guidelines).

We have a consumables charge in place for Government funding children the price is; £3 per session (9.15-11.45am or 12.30-3.00pm) meaning £6 per full day. This fee is in place because under Essex County Council guidelines, Government funding is intended to cover early education and childcare only and does not include additional consumables or additional services. This means providers are permitted to charge for extras that are not covered by the government funding entitlement.

We have worked hard to keep our fees as low as we can while still ensuring we provide the children with enriching experiences while they are in our care.

The Consumables charge helps to cover;

• Healthy selection of snacks for both the AM & PM sessions
• Tiny Mites music & movement sessions
• Iconnect/ParentZone (electronic communication via app)
• End of term parties/celebrations (including gifts from Santa, Birthday crowns/certificates, prizes
• Food tasting experiences i.e. various cultural celebrations, Shrove Tuesday, Chinese New Year
• Parents evening, twice a year
• Stay and play sessions
• Enrichment faith-based activities weekly
• Cooking & baking activities
• Mother’s Day & Father’s Day gifts
• Special events held for Easter & Christmas
• Children’s Paracetamol & Piriton
• Face wipes/baby wipes, tissues, sanitiser & nappy sacks
• Wet weather ‘All in one’ suits provided for younger children
• Bedding for nap time – sheets & blankets (washed in house)
• Outings in the local area.

If you decide to ‘opt out’ this means that you will be required to provide all of the above items for each session that your child attends. Your child would be restricted from the enhanced activities and services which are on offer. Parents would no longer have access to the online ParentZone app. We hope that our families see the true value of our consumable charge so that we can continue to deliver the high quality provision, as we have always done. We hope parents support us in this decision to ensure our young people are offered the best start in their early education.

If you have any concerns or wish to opt out, please speak to a member of the management team at the childcare office as there is a declaration form you will need to sign. 

Please see our Sessions & Fees listed below.