To ask will 30 hours funding cover school nursery fees completely?

[Nurseryquestions86]

DD just turned 3 is currently in a private nursery and we receive the 15 hours funding. She is entitled to 30 hours from September.

We have secured a full time term time place for her in the local school nursery. Will the 30 hours fully cover this? Or will there be fees to pay?

Nursery have said they will answer any questions in the coming weeks but I'm just curious of others experience?

They're actually not allowed to do that. They have to provide continuous provision through the day. Because, as you say, no-one is going to pick their child up and take them away, then bring them back. The new guidance has tightened it all up and settings will be breaking the law if they do that. There are several settings in our county that were doing that and they have been told that they can no longer do it. (I manage a pre-school and have sat through several local authority meetings recently, being horrified by the way nurseries try to get more money out of parents).

They can't do that either. If you only want to attend for 30 hours then they cannot make you pay the additional hours to the end of the day.

I'm probably out of date, thanks for clarifying for OP

Yes, in my experience there is lunch (not optional), plus an extra fee for the time over the 30 hours, plus a 'donation' for resources.

School nurseries that are term time only are free. Usually they can either go mornings or afternoons 5 days a week from when they turn 3. Some areas do full time too but it depends where you live.

Same here. We also had to supply nappies if the child wasn’t toilet trained. Tax free childcare could be used to reduce the lunch cover charge.

Our school nursery was completely free apart from school dinners (mine had packed lunch most days). There were no wrap around options for nursery age at the school - strictly 8.45-3.15.

Yes our school nursery is free, and if you attend both sessions you take a packed lunch. I actively wanted to pay for some school nursery hours in order to use my funded hours on other days at private nursery but the school nursery didn't have a system to do that, could only use the 30 funded hours and not pay

The reason where you live is relevant is because you’ve got a much better chance of it being covered / nearly covered if you don’t live in an expensive part of the country. I’ve had my DS in a nursery in London and the funded hours barely made any difference. In a town in south West Yorkshire it’s nearly all covered.

No. Talk to the nursery. I can't believe you think it is. It's funded hours not free .. you will need to pay something..

North West England

In a private nursery yes, a term time only SCHOOL nursery no.

If your child only attends for 30 hours then the bill is £0. The nursery absolutely cannot charge you for additional hours if you don't want to access them.
They can issue an optional charge for meals, snacks, nappies etc but cannot stop you from providing a packed lunch and your own nappies.
Any optional charges must be listed on their website and itemised but it must state that this is optional.
And as for charging for paper etc for drawing - that's not allowed either. Nurseries are not allowed to charge for any resources that are necessary for them to deliver the EYFS. So paper, paint, pencils, all of that is not chargeable. And if they do, it's breaking the law and they need reporting.

I think this depends on the area. I'm in Lancashire and most don't charge any top up fees.

To be clear it is a school nursery so only open school hours and term time.

If you are entitled to 30 hour funding, and your child only attends for 30 hours for 38 weeks of the year, any other charges will be optional. The school year may be slightly longer by a couple of weeks, in which case you will be charged for those extra weeks.

Ours is £3 for a full day to cover lunch assistant to watch them.

That is still not allowed. You should challenge that. (Although I do need to point out that this is the law in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland may be slightly different).

It depends on the nursery so you'll have to wait and see what they say.

There are two nurseries opening in schools here from September. One is charging £7.50 for lunch if you want your child to be there for the full day. The other isn't charging anything.

The one charging £7.50 is steadfastly ignoring people pointing out that they're not meant to do that. That's their charge and if you just want morning and afternoon they'll see what they can do

(The manager is well aware that they have 30 places and the other new one has 30 places, but the three private nurseries that have closed in the last two years had 120 places between them so isn't giving a shit about rules)

Our school nursery is free with the 30 hours. Can pay for a school lunch if you wish but most send packed lunch. There's no additional fees.

I pay £385 for 3 days.

Thats all year around not just term time included lunch and consumables and is 7.30 til 6 although she isn’t there those hours

depends on a lot of factors really like the non funded day rate whether it’s term time only etc

Schools get higher funding rates than private nurseries and are only generally open 9-3 (ish) term time so they will probably offer it free aside from any meal cost. It is the wraparound care that costs.

Our nursery offers completely funded preschool 9-3 (meals extra) but the majority of parents need full days.

It would do where I work but I know many that would charge extra. Some used to charge for lunch cover but due to recent changes funding would cover first 6 hours of the day and then a charge for the gap until pickup. That’s my local authority rules, funded hours need to be in blocks.

I’d say you’ve got a good chance at it being free or a few quid a day.