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

Yes, he wears a uniform , I don't comprehend why this is so hard to understand 😂

@Nollybolly6 I get what you mean . Ppl call it nursery (as in day care, what I call ‘private day nursery’ ) but then there’s what ppl also call nursery but I’d call ‘preschool nursery’ as in it’s almost just like another class in a primary school usually in a little flat roof building in the grounds of a primary school. THEN you get weirdness like schools that have a small nursery in their grounds that’s called something RELATED to the school - so St John’s Primary with ‘Johnnie’s Nursery’ in the grounds. Or Wood Road Primary with ‘Little Wood Nursery’ . You think they’re the same entity. But they aren’t. So frigging confusing! Often the nursery provision is the same one who runs the before and after school club provision and is a separate business with separate ofsteds.

1 qualified teacher and 1 level 3 nursery nurse - but agree the teacher won't be on minimum wage.

But, schools can run nursery provision in all kinds of ways. Some will have a 'nursery class' with a teacher, and others run preschool or daycare type nurseries in their buildings.

2 adults for 24 three year olds is not the normal ratio unless the staff are 2 qualified teachers....raising the ratio to 1 to 13 children....who then won't be earning minimum wage.
How do you know that the rate is £5? In my area the rate is not the same for every provider despite the published rate paid to the la by the government the la takes off it's admin percentage then applies it's funding formula so even 2 providers of the same type won't necessarily get the same rate.

Yeah so anyrhing run by nursery staff isn’t a pre school nursery as part of a school. The whole point is it’s run by school teachers and the ratios are much lower etc. there IS a difference between daycare and preschool nurseries like the poster I quoted was trying to point out

Or no uniforms, 9am-3pm, kids from 2 years, rooms run by nursery nurses.

If they have not been upfront with you about these costs you shouldnt pay. They dont have a leg to stand on.

this is not that uncommon, school nursery but you can pay for morning and afternoon sessions on same day, pay for a lunch and pay for wraparound, so it’s basically a full day. The school nursery near me offers all this, so you can technically attend 7.30am-6pm 5 days a week if you want, but it costs more than private nursery in the end . My dd’s private nursery have figured this out and now offer a separate 3-4year old room with a uniform, book bags and home learning. They’ve definitely figured out that for some people staying at a 7.30am-6pm environment is more convenient and are getting more and more kids attending instead of dropping off at 3 for school nursery

My DCs nursery doesn't charge any extra on top of the funded hours. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and 2 snacks included, lovely setting with lots of facilities and great staff. The owner had recently opened up another nursery in the next town so clearly the nursery is financially viable. I do wonder how much the nurseries insistent on top up fees actually require it, I suspect some may just be greedy and exploiting the uproar in the media when the free childcare for working parents was announced.

it’s called consumables charge at my dd’s nursery and it’s like £10 a day to make up what they say is a shortfall, it’s a private nursery though so for every person who says they can’t afford that there’s someone on the waiting list who will pay, 30 hours is only actually 3 full days there so many people are still paying £120 for the extra two days plus £50 a week consumables so paying hundreds a month for ‘free hours’, luckily we only need 3 days. If you need less than the hours you’re using can you just use 10 hours and use 5 hours to cover the shortfall.

Back in around 2003 when I used to take my nephew to school nursery, so the one you attend the term after you turn 3 (year before reception) it truly was ‘free’… my sister would not have been paying for anything and would have been highly affronted if asked. You either did 9-12, 5 days a week, or 12.30-3.30 5 days a week. No flexibility or changing from morning to afternoon. No option for lunches or breakfast club. Now the school nursery near me you can do breakfast club (£7), after school club (£7), pay £5 for a lunch hour to bridge the gap between the morning and afternoon session, and add sessions ad-hoc for £25. Essentially you can do 7.30am-6pm if you pay for all the add-ons. Financially it’s actually cheaper to stay at expensive private nursery, the state school nurseries are trying to keep up with demands of working families but it’s just meaning everything is super expensive .

So the kids wear uniform but go 8am -6pm? Bizarre.

But evidently not everywhere. My son's school nursery is the same as the private one except that it's closed during school holidays and inset days.

i agree with all your posts on this thread. It works exactly as you have described in my local area.
my son was at daycare 1-3 years old. Then he moved to a school nursery with uniform, classroom teacher, all children must be toilet trained. Follows school day and school term.
It IS different. They are different things

You absolutely can fight this.

Quote the Early Education and Childcare guidance for local authorities. Here is the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-applies-from-1-april-2024

This section
A1.31 Ensure that providers are aware that they can charge for meals and snacks as part of a free entitlement place and that they can also charge for consumables, such as nappies or sun cream, and for services such as trips and specialist tuition. Local authorities should ensure that providers are mindful of the impact of additional charges on parents, especially the most disadvantaged. Providers, who choose to offer the free entitlements, are responsible for setting their own policy on providing parents with options for alternatives to additional charges, including allowing parents to supply their own meals or nappies, or waiving or reducing the cost of meals and snacks.

And
A1.35 Ensure that providers are completely transparent about any additional charges when a parent first takes up their child’s free place, for example, for those parents opting to purchase additional hours or additional services.

A1.36 Work with providers and parents to ensure that all parents, including disadvantaged families, have fair access to a free place, which must be delivered completely free of charge. Ensure that providers do not:

• charge parents “top-up” fees (any difference between a provider’s normal charge to parents and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver free places).
• require parents to pay a registration fee as a condition of taking up their child’s free place

A1.38 Ensure that providers publish their admissions criteria and any fees for consumables, additional hours and services and make these easily available to parents to enable parents to make an informed choice of provider.

They have fallen foul of each of these sections. Your child does not wear nappies, you’re not paying extra for nappies not used. You will provide a snack. No where have they advertised the app as an extra charge, in any event it’s a business decision to purchase in the app and not necessary. They cannot pass this cost on any more than if they said “we have a music teacher coming in for an hour on Wednesdays so you have to pay an extra £5”.

Your child’s education is supposed to be free.

Read the op posts

her child isn’t in nappies

Can you send your own nappies and snacks?

It seems a lot. Does your child use nappies? If so surely you send them in with that plus wipes. And snacks? That can't be more than about three quid a week. I'd say others may be similar but they should've made it plain that was the case before enrollment.
I think the funding isn't really enough and they need to recoup some of it somehow. But it should be transparent. Presumably if you knew this you wouldn't have had your child join?

I’m a bit unclear on what your set up is, but assuming you are doing 3 hours per day, it works out as £4 extra each day. That’s £1.33 per hour you have to pay.

if that is genuinely too much for you, go back and say so, and suggest what you can pay that is manageable (e.g., £40 pcm).

where I am, all state nursery places are charged on a sliding scale according to income so contributions are pre-determined. They might have something similar where you are.

You'll be entitled to get up to 80% of these costs back if you get UC

I would definitely challenge the school if you didn't get information about the additional fees before enrolling.

I’ve never heard of a school nursery charging! Very strange.
Id say well he doesn’t use nappies or wipes and I’m happy to send in a snack.

Our preschool used to ask parent to donate snacks so they didn’t need to charge any money. It worked really well.

Ones on private grounds often have high over heads but not ones on a school site. I wouldn’t be paying. They have to offer for you to provide things like nappies so you don’t have to pay. They can’t make it compulsory.

I'm afraid your comments are wrong in many cases. You are presenting them as facts when they are simply not true.