£30 registrations fee is that alot??

[NotInTheMood]

I can't remember having to pay this with my last child when they attended pre-school!! What does this normally go towrds?

The pre-school we are looking at charges a £25 enrolement fee - although you do get a t-shirt and a shoe bag for this.

As far as I know this goes towards administration costs. The pre-school we are looking at is a registered charity and the session fees (£9) barely cover the rent of the hall and staff wages.

Not around here I don't think (London).
I was asked for £30 but decided against a private nursery for other reasons.

If you're talking about preschool for a 3/4 year old, then they're not actually allowed to ask you for a registration fee anymore.

It was included in the new Code of Practice that was introduced at the same time as the entitlement increased to 15 hours.

The gist of it is that a 'free' entitlement really has to be free - preschools can no longer insist on a registration fee, or insist on charging you top-up amounts, or insist that you purchase a uniform.

If I had more time I'd find it for you online, but I'm really sure that's the case. Check with your local authority or Sure Start.

That's interesting

If its a private nursery they are allowed to charge for additional services such as meals, yoga, french and additional childcare hours thoughout the year that the funding does not cover. This means they are well within the code of practice to charge you a reg fee and a deposit (in most cases) for these additional services. Our local authority has agreed this is how they are interpretting the code but stress that parents must have been made aware of the additional costs and hours before the parent signs up their child! There are real problems with the code of practice and many nurseries have already withdrawn from the scheme altogether. Can you imagine a private day nursery in london which operates over 52 weeks of the year and not being allowed to charge for their standard hours and the 14 weeks of the year that are not funded by the government? Most day nurseries are open from 7.30 to 6.30 and their running costs cover these hours over the year including all meals (breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea). If local authorities insisted that this type of daycare couldn't charge for the additionals all day nurseries would be running at a severe loss. I would lose £45,000 per year in fees which would put my long standing nursery out of business. The funding rate that nurseries get is the reasons for all the discrepancies in the code. In london we get the same hourly rate of funding as a maintained pre school in the north of the country. My fees are £6.50 per hour all inclusive of everything (nappies, meals, yoga, french, drama) and I get given by the government £3.70. This is a huge loss. This is why manyt local authorities are struggling to find a solution for nurseries as they don't want us all to pull out of the scheme. I suggest to parents looking for an entirely free place to go to a maintained pre school which is only open term time and offers just the standard free early learning entitlement. Ensure you don't sign up to day a nursery which offers far more additionals. Parents should be able to choose the setting that best suits their requirements (clear on government website). As said I feel from what you are saying that you are looking for a maintained pre school term time. In which case they will not charge you a reg fee. If it is private then check their terms before signing to avoid problems and confusions further along down the line. Good luck.