Can’t afford the additional charges at nursery for my 3 year old

But they do have to be qualified one teacher one qualified TA therefore that's not minimum wage. In our school nursery the 2 and 3 s are mixed so although 1 to 5 in 2s the 3s are 1 to 13 so often staff are distracted by children not on their ratio. Personally I feel 1 yo 13 for a 3 year old is too high especially as qualified to teach isn't the same as qualified in childcare.

Surprised to read how few people realise many little ones aren't potty trained until developmentally ready which is often 3+.

They provide snacks and drinks, think it works out at like 2.50 a day. We don't use the full funding, we only use 12 hours a week, 2 days at 6 hours a day and it's only during term time.

15 hours is only for 38 weeks a year.

if you use the funding over more than 38 weeks then the number of hours per week drops.

What’s that for? 2 days with 15 hours funded for 51 weeks of the year would be around £350 for me.

That's why I have said eligible.

2 year olds aren’t on a 1:12 ratio. They are on a 1:5 ratio regardless of whether the person looking after them is a qualified teacher or a level 2 or 3 TA.

My clarification of your previous post was to do with your assertion that both members of staff working with 24 x 3 and 4 year olds have to be qualified teachers to retain the 1:13 ratio. They don’t.

Yes and as Qualified they won't be minimum wage. Of course whether a qualified teacher is the better able to offer the care and attention needed by such young children in such a high ratio is debatable in my opinion a young child needs better than 12 other 2 year olds to compete against for one persons attention....but governments are more interested in getting parents off their backs re childcare than the child.

80 quid is fucking appalling! DS gets 15 hours, 2 days a week, costs me 20 quid a month.

@jannier - with 24 3 and 4 year olds, if there is a qualified teacher, the other member of staff can be a qualified TA. The other members of staff come under the same 1:13 ratio as the teacher as long as the teacher is present.

If the teacher is not present (lunchtime for instance, then it reverts to a 1:8 ratio.

@GoldGorillaGums I am going to admit that what I have always known as "school nursery" isn't as standard throughout England as I thought.
However at some point in the last few years it seems the wording around the 15 hours that ALL 3 years old are entitled too has changed from "15 hours of education" to "15 hours of childcare".
The entitlement is based around the academic year though - starts the school term after a child turns 3 and is term time only (unless you opt to stretch the 15 hours so getting less per week). To me 3 hours a day, Mon to Fri, at a school nursery class isn't childcare anymore than full time in Reception upwards isn't childcare.
However I now realise the government are marketing it as 15 hours of "childcare" which I suppose does make it different.
(anyone know when the wording changed??)
I have noticed that the way I write does sometimes sound like I am "stating incorrect facts" when I don't actually mean too. I am going to try and change how I word my comments.
However......I still don't think the OP should be paying anything for a LA nursery class that's part of a primary and I hope she finds out exactly what is going on and gets it sorted.

Same support is available in a non-school setting. I’m involved in just this sort of pre-school, we have support plans just like schools do, can get funding for extra help such as 1-1 support,etc and when children move into school share (with parent permission) all the relevant info so school can get support in place before they start. If your DC gets a diagnosis that leads to DLA they can get extra funded hours. The paperwork is a nightmare though! We don’t charge anything for funded places - though we’re only able to do this because we don’t eg pay rent as part of a church.

A lot of nurseries have to charge extra to keep going as the amount paid by the local authority is too low
A nursery local to us closed down after a parent complained to the local authority about the top up charge
All the parents who had been happy to pay were furious

I think the waters are muddied by things like wearing uniform and going to assembly. Pre-school is not school - it is not compulsory, the majority of schools don't even have a class below reception and nursery children don't have a place at the school after their pre-school year without going through the same application as everyone else.

You can tell yourself what you like about what they're being taught, but an Outstanding private nursery is probably providing better early years education than an RI school nursery. The 15 hours that is intended to give all children the best start is available at private settings too and children are taught exactly the same thing. The fact they have longer hours just means they do activities for longer, not that they don't follow the EYFS for some of the hours as a pp suggested.

I understand why you're annoyed at the top ups OP but I'm not sure why it's any less fair than for a parents whose only choice is to use a private provision, which could also be for 'education not childcare'. The problem is the government underfunding and the fact nowhere should have to charge for top ups.

Sorry but it absolutely is childcare, it can be dressed up however they want but it’s no different to any private day nursery in terms of what they do and do not offer. They both have to follow the EYFS in the same way.

It’s quite common place for children in a pre-school setting to be in nappies and lots of pre-schools do now accept 2 year olds, for no other reason than it makes them more money.

Funding for 2 year olds is nothing to do with benefit or SEN anymore and changed last September, the vast majority of 2 year olds are entitled to 15hrs funding.

You seem to have been misinformed somewhere along the line and are now sharing lots of this misinformation.

I'd respond by reminding them that your child doesn't wear nappies and that, in child's bag, you pack two snacks and water for them to consume. Ask them how much of the fee is payable by you? They should revise the ammount considerably.

@Lilacbluewaters The nursery will have signed a funding agreement with their Local Authority that will contain a section on additional charges as laid out in the statutory guidance by the DfE.

Contact the Early Years team who administer the funding at your local authority who can help you with this. They should look into whether or not the charges are acceptable as per the funding agreement.

This is ridiculous. If he is not in nappies, you are being charged £80 per month for snack.

You absolutely need a break down of what those costs are, and I would say you should be asked in advance.
My boys were in school nursery. We paid £2.25 for lunch, but your child is only doing half days. No cost for snack and milk. Those in nappies provided their own. Any trips that cost money had a letter sent out for you to sign and return and it certainly didn't come to £20 a week!!

It is means tested though. If you earn over the threshold you only get 15 hours from 3 and nothing else.

If you work then claim up to 85% of your childcare costs via UC. It doesn’t matter if they have funded hours, even if you pay less than £100 a month, UC will contribute towards it

Just tell them you don't require the app. Your child is only there for a few hours each morning, I'm sure you can cope without photos. I do think some settings spend more time snapping pics and using these bloody apps than looking after the children.

There was no such things as these silly apps years ago, just tell them you don't need it. They should be giving you a verbal debrief when you collect your child each day.

It’s explicitly stated all over the government website that the purpose of the 30 free hours for working parents* *scheme is to provide childcare to enable parents to return to work. Google “free childcare working parents.”

There is a separate scheme which provides 15hrs of free childcare to all two-year-olds (regardless if parents are working). I think this is what OP is referring to. This may have originally conceived to help prepare children for school. However it is also explicitly referred to on the government website as “free childcare”.

You can’t really say “oh to be fair it’s not meant to be used as free childcare”, because that’s what both government schemes are named. It’s meant to be free, and it’s meant to be used as childcare (eg you can use it for nannies or childminders too, NOT just in school nurseries).

Maybe I @ the wrong person.

Why did you reply to me then?

As it happens, my DD does go to a nursery that’s attached to a primary school
(academy).

You can use the 30hr free childcare scheme at all childcare settings. And it is meant to be used by working parents as free childcare. So I really don’t get your point.