Hi everyone.
I have a dd who just turned 2 in December, she only just joined nursery in January so the funding etc is all new to me.
I get 15 hours free a week and I don't work due to having no support and unable to cover the costs of childcare.
So my dd nursery allow her to go once a week on a Monday and she can attend anytime from 8am-6pm however I only send her in for 4 hours from 10am-2pm.
I haven't been asked to pay anything for consumables etc since she has started up until I received an invoice for April which states £61. I contacted the nursery thinking this was an error as on the invoice it says "1x daily rate". I contacted them and they then told me that this was for consumables charge, but it doesn't say this on the invoice nor does it mention it on the fees that they posted for April. It just sounds a lot to me because she has one meal each time she goes and I wasn't made aware of it prior as they didn't make it clear there was any charge for consumables on the fees post. I've attached an image of the fees post and the invoice. I had previously asked them if they could spread her hours across 2 or 3 days a week instead of just one because neither of us are benefitting from one day (i have little support so nursery is the only break i get and the only time dd gets to mic with other toddlers) but they said there would be a daily charge and they spread the hours across 38 weeks through half terms aswell etc, I was told this would be £61 for an extra day. I assumed when seeing the fees from April that they meant £61 for an extra day because of this. Am I wrong for being so annoyed about this? Also my dd has possible learning difficulties and the health visitor who has been watching her at nursery said she would really benefit from going more than once a week. They also told me my dd was doing great etc at nursery each time I picked her up but when the health visitor went to watch her she told me she was struggling to mix with children, eat her dinner, engage without prompting, she wasn't speaking. None of this was brought to my attention by staff and on Monday when I picked her up I was told by her key worker that "she had a nap but we didn't update this on the nursery app feed because we wasn't sure how you felt about her having naps". I told them they should tell me everything regardless, its also helpful to know if she's napped so I know if she will struggle to sleep at her usual time or be tired. Sorry for the rant!!! Very bogged down about it as this nursery seemed great compared to others in the area and I don't want to just find another and unsettle her, the £61 is a lot for me as we struggle massively on what we get too.