Terms & Conditions

Our obligation to you

We will inform you as soon as possible whether your application for a place has been successful. You must confirm within one week of receiving notification that you still wish to take up a place. If you do not then the offer of a place may be withdrawn. Once you have confirmed the place, a deposit and administrations payment of £15.00 will be required to hold the place for your child. This fee will also cover the cost of 1 x Little Chestnuts Pre-school T-shirt. We will provide the agreed childcare facilities for your child at the agreed times (subject to any days when we are closed). If we change the opening hours, we will give you as much notice of our decision as possible and, if necessary, will work with you to agree a change to your child’s hours of attendance.
We will try to accommodate any requests you may make for additional or extended hours of childcare.
We adhere to the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) when collecting and processing information about you and your child. We explain how your data is processed, collected, kept up-to-date in our Privacy Notice which is given to you at the point of registration.
We will notify you as soon as possible of any days we will be closed.
We will treat your child with the utmost respect and dignity. We will never use or threaten any type of punishment that could adversely affect a child’s wellbeing.
We will provide you with regular verbal and written updates as to your child’s progress and we will agree times to discuss with you the progress of your child or any other aspects of our childcare services as and when required.
We will comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and our Ofsted registration in regards to the childcare services we provide for your child.
We will provide you with details of our policies and procedures, which outline how we satisfy the requirements of the EYFS in our everyday practice; and we will notify you as and when any changes are made to our policies and procedures. We will be available to discuss or explain our policies and procedures, and/or any relevant changes, at a mutually agreed time.
We will maintain appropriate insurance to cover our childcare activities.
We will try to make a place available to any of your other children. However, we cannot guarantee that a place will be available.

Your obligation to us

You will need to complete and return our to us before your child can start with us.
You must notify us immediately of any changes to the information you have provided to us and keep us informed of any other necessary information that may affect the childcare that we provide for your child.
The includes medicine consent and emergency treatment authorisations which you will need to complete prior to your child attending.
You will read and abide by our policies and procedures, available on request.
You will make yourself available as and when required to discuss the progress of your child or any factor relating to their childcare place with us at mutually agreed times.
You must immediately inform us if your child is suffering from any contagious disease, or if your child has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner with a notifiable disease. For the benefit of other children attending you must not allow your child to attend whilst they are contagious and pose a risk to other children during normal daily activities.
You must keep us informed of the identity of the persons who will be collecting your child. If the person who is due to collect your child is not usually responsible for collecting them we will require proof of identity. If we are not reasonably satisfied that the person collecting your child is who we were expecting, we will not release your child into their care until we have checked with you.
You must inform us immediately if you are not able to collect your child by the official collection time. You must make arrangements for another authorised person to collect your child as soon as possible. A late payment charge will be applied; please refer to the current fee schedule for details.
You will inform us as far in advance as possible of any dates on which your child will not be attending.
You will provide us with at least one half term notice of your intention to decrease the number of hours your child attends or to withdraw your child (and end this Agreement). If insufficient notice is given you will be responsible for the full fees for your child for the remaining half term from the date of notice
You must inform us if your child is the subject of a court order and provide us with a copy of such order on request.
You must inform us within 24 hours of reasons for absence from booked Pre-school hours for the purpose of safeguarding.

Payment of fees

Our fees are based on an hourly rate that shall be notified to you in advance of your child starting. We may review these fees at any time but shall inform you of the revised amount at least one month before it takes effect. If you do not wish to pay the revised fee, you may end this Agreement by giving us one month’s notice before the new half term/term begins, in writing. Our full ‘payment policy’ can be seen on request.
Fees must be paid on a half termly basis, in advance. We calculate the amount payable by you each term by asking you to complete our ‘booking form’ which details your pre-booked hours. For parents/carers claiming 15 or 30 hour funding; it is your responsibility to claim funding for the term by completing the relevant forms, which will be given to you or are available on request.
All payments made under the Agreement should be by electronic payment, or cash. We do not accept cheques. Details of how to pay can be found on your half termly invoice. All payment, regardless of method, shall be made by you in advance. If payment is made by cash, it is your responsibility to obtain a receipt as proof of payment. If the payment of fees referred to in 3.3 is outstanding for more than 28 days then we may terminate this Agreement by giving you 14 days’ notice in writing. Upon termination of this contract the child shall cease forthwith to be admitted, and the notice to so terminate shall be regarded as a formal demand for outstanding monies.
If you have requested additional hours, these must be pre-arranged with the Manager at least 24 hours in advance. Payment for additional ‘ad hock’ hours must be made on the day by cash.
No refund will be given for periods where the place is unfulfilled due to illness or holidays on the part of either party. We are closed for occasional staff training days to support our continuing professional development for the benefit of children and families; no refund is given for this closure as this has already been taken into account when calculating your child’s fees. We accept no liability for other costs which you incur if we are unable to provide childcare for any reason.
In the event of late collection of your child, we reserve the right to charge for each additional 15 minutes, or part thereof, on a pro-rata basis

Suspension of a child

We may suspend the provision of childcare to your child at any time if you have failed to pay any fees due.
If the period of suspension for non-payment of fees exceeds one month, either of us may terminate this Agreement by giving written notice, which will take effect on receipt of the notice.
We do not support the exclusion of any child on the grounds of behaviour. However, if your child’s behaviour is deemed by us to endanger the safety and well-being of your child and/or other children and adults, it may be necessary to suspend the provision of childcare whilst we try to address these issues with you and external agencies as appropriate.
During any period of suspension for behaviour-related issues we will work with the local authority and where appropriate other welfare agencies to identify appropriate provision or services for your child.
If your child is suspended part way through the term, under the conditions stated in clause 4.3 we shall give you a credit for any fees you have already paid for the remaining part of that term, calculated on a pro rata basis. This sum may be offset against any sums payable by you to us.

Termination of the Agreement

You may end this Agreement at any time, giving us at least one half term notice by informing us in writing.
We may immediately end this Agreement if:

2.1 You have failed to pay your fees;

2.2 You have breached any of your obligations under this Agreement and you have not or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period of time after we have drawn it to your attention;

2.3 You behave unacceptably, as we do not tolerate any physical or verbal abuse or threats towards our Managers, Staff or Committee.

2.4 We take the decision to close. We will give you as much notice as possible in the event of such a decision, however it may be beyond our control.

It may become apparent that the support we are able to offer your child is not sufficient to meet his/her needs. In these circumstances we will work with you, the local authority and other welfare agencies as per our procedures to identify appropriate support, at which point we may end this Agreement.
You may end this Agreement if we have breached any of our obligations under this Agreement and we have not or cannot put right that breach within a reasonable period after you have drawn it to our attention.

General

If we have to close or we take the decision to close due to events or circumstances beyond our control (e.g. extreme weather conditions) the half termly Fees will continue to be payable in full and we shall be under no obligation to provide alternative childcare to you. If you have any concerns regarding the services we provide, please discuss them with the setting Manager. If these concerns are not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact our Committee Chairperson. Customer satisfaction is paramount and any concerns/complaints will be dealt with in line with our Making a Complaint Policy.
From time to time we will take photographs and video recordings of the children who attend. These photographs are used for on-going recording of our curriculum and for children’s individual development records. They are stored on computer whilst your child is with us.The photographs are used for display and for your child’s records within the setting. If we wished to use any image of your child for training, publicity or marketing purposes, we would always seek your written consent for any image we intend to use.
We reserve the right to refuse to admit your child if they have
Whilst food and drink is provided on the premises, we are not a commercial kitchen and may not be able to cater for the individual needs of every child. As cross contamination cannot be ruled out, a risk assessment is conducted for children with any known allergies. It is our usual practice to provide both a meat and vegetarian option. We hold a 5 Star Hygiene rating from Braintree District Council and every effort is made to follow recommended food preparation guidance and to ensure that all staff involved in the preparation and serving of food are suitably trained.
Any personal information you supply to us will be collected, stored and used in accordance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (2018) and our .We will always seek your consent where we need to share information about your child with any other professional or agency. We are required by law to override your refusal to give consent only in specific circumstances where the child or someone in the family may be in danger if we do not share that information.

This Agreement

We reserve the right to vary the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement
This Agreement contains the full and complete understanding between the parties and supersedes all prior arrangements and understanding whether written or oral relating to the subject of this Agreement except to the extent that we vary terms from time to time.
Acceptance of a place will be deemed as acceptance by you of these terms and conditions.