30 Hours Free for School Fees & Eligibility

[kmini]

Appreciate that this may seem like a privileged question, so apologies if this does infuriate some.

My DS's school seems to have deducted the equivalent of a terms fee from his reception annual fees invoice. The only reason I can construct this is something to do the 30 hours free childcare? Does anyone know if this can be counted towards private school fees?

This then leads to my second question. When I did his last eligibility update on the gov.uk website - they said he was no longer eligible for 30 hours free which can only be because of his age. I understood from other parents that their children were eligible but they would be younger. My DS turned 5 in the 1st week of September. Note as well we also missed out on the 1st term he turned 3 because he turned 3 after the school term started by a matter of days ( so couldn't apply until the 2nd term he was 3).

Any help very appreciated

It seems likely this is what they have done- our school did this for our DS, though it was 15 hours then! I overpaid during this period to offset the fee jump for reception!

Make the most of it before comrade Corbyn abolished them! I am
hiding newspapers from DS at the moment iso he doesn’t fret!

You can receive the 4 year old funding for a place in reception class in an independent school as the child will not be receiving state funding.
The last term you can have this funding is the term in which they turn 5. So this would be the last term you could have that funding if your dc was 5 in September.
If you were previously eligible for 30 hours you would have been given a grace period end date. If you have received 30 hours funding last term at this setting this funding can continue to that grace period end date even if you were unable to reconfirm.
Hope that all makes sense.