Nursery charging extra for early pick up?

[Northtosouth]

I’ve recently put my DS’s name down at a local nursery to start when he is 1 for 2 days a week. The nursery day is 8.00am - 600pm which I understand is needed for parents working however I’m able to either drop off later or pick my child up earlier than this but the nursery want to charge me extra for this.
Am I missing something here? What is the added cost involved? Is this normal practice at a nursery?

The only thing I can think of , is do they do daily trips off the premises around that time? Which means that a member of staff would have to stay behind with your daughter which can mess up the ratios.

I'd email them to confirm in writing that this is what they expect and why. Just to make sure there are no crossed wires.Also check your contract , and see what it says about early pickups and if this policy exists in the contract. If it's not, they can just make it up on the spot.

How does it work at 6 oclock?

That is odd.

Even if they're factoring in snacks etc that includes your daughter, then I can't see a problem if you are paying for a full day.

But how does that work at any time or the day?

There's always someone who's got to bring them out?

That's what I was thinking. Maybe the days the OP wants her child to go there, they do a regular outing or something. Very odd.

So weird, I drop off and pick up whenever.

Unless in the contract they can take a long walk.

No that's not normal. You pay for whatever session AM/PM/FULL DAY and collect when you like.

Seems pretty odd. I’ve always paid 8-6 but never had a set arrival time or finish within that. Most of the time I’m running in at 6 but there are plenty of people who pick up after they’ve done the school run with older kids and a steady stream from 5-6. Like others have said, the only thing I can think of is if they do regular outings around the time you pick up and would need an extra staff member but it seems a bit strange.

Charging a day rate of say £55 per day is normal - even if you use less hours.

But you mean paying the day rate of £55 plus an additional charge for early pick up - that is highly unusual!

The only thing I can think of is that do lots of outings so would need your child to stay with additional staff to facilitate different collections?? Though this is unusual for a nursery.

I can’t imagine the billing hassles. Some days baby might be later in or leave early. That’s life. As long as you pay for slot it’s up to you. You might finish a meeting near nursery and be able to pick up at 4pm not 6pm or baby might have dr apt etc

Are you sure? It would be very unusual to charge extra to use the nursery less. My nursery loved to get shot of kids early or better still if they didn't come in at all

I'd be very suspicious that means 'as we'll actually have to pay somebody to be here earlier because of the ratios, rather than scoot everybody outside when the owner's strolled in for the last half hour'.

That is mad and I wouldnt do it. I pay for 9-4 but actually pick up at 330ish after I collect ny eldest from school. No way I would entertain an 'early fee'

That’s weird!

Most nurseries have a morning and afternoon session but I guess it’s not that normal if you want to do pick up during mid afternoon. Surely they can’t charge you extra though? If you want to pick up earlier than the time that you’ve paid for then clearly that’s your loss?! Weird

That is odd. Ours is open 7am-6pm, I used to tell them if we would be arriving late or picking up early (we also pay full days but don't use all the hours), but they said it's fine to just turn up whenever. The only thing I bear in mind is if they arrive after a certain time, I'll need to give them breakfast.

Are nursery staff not allowed to leave the room nowadays? How do they manage going to the loo?

That's so weird. Are you sure that's what they meant? If so, check the contract. I'm bemused! My kids' nursery is 8-6 but I usually pick up between 4:30 and 5. Can't imagine being charged for taking them early!

Are you sure you aren't misunderstanding them? If this is for real I have NEVER heard of something like this.

I think you've misunderstood?

It would be normal practice in most nurseries to charge for a full session rather than charge you for, say, 2 hours out of a 5 hour session but this isn't common practice at all.

No, absolutely not normal. I pay for 8 - 6 but do 8 - 3.30. I wouldn't have it. You can take your child when you want! Please ask them what their 'logic' is and update us!

This can't be real surely? DD is in 8-6pm. Sometimes I pick her up as early as 4pm and we're not charged for that. The workers are usually delighted that the children are picked up earlier as they've got more chance of getting home on time! The only thing ours won't do is let you mix sessions, so you're either 8-4pm or 8-6pm.

That’s ridiculous. I’m in scotland and I’ve not heard of any nurseries here doing that! They’re normally pleased if you do an early pickup.

This isn’t normal, everyone I know pays for a full day but picks their child up from nursery at different times. I would ask them to clarify and explain what the reasoning is. Maybe someone has gotten mixed up.

Many moons ago we booked DD1 into a nursery that advertised 0830 - 1800. Once they had taken our money, they informed us that although they had to advertise that the nursery was open until 1800, in reality they closed at 1630. Which was lovely for us working full time. We worked around this for a term and then found her a better nursery.