Fees added to funded places?

[jerin]

My children attend a preschool 2 days and 1 day a week. Their sessions are from 9- 14.30.

So ds1 attends 5.5 hrs a week. ( He attends another setting where he'll enter school for the other hours)
Ds2 and dd go two days a week- 5.5 hours a day. They are all funded.

Each week I have to pay £1 per child registration fee regardless of whether that child attends that week or not.

Does this sound right? I'm sure ive read somewhere that there should be no hidden fees.

There was no registration fee when ds1 first started there.

We are asked to pay a voluntary contribution and help with fundraising. It has been made clear to us that without that the preschool couldn't exist, and having seen the numbers for rent etc it sounds true. As far as I know hidden fees/ must-top-ups are not allowed unless it's a private setting or children are not yet funded.

You should not have to pay any fees at all for your 15 hours. No registration fees, no top-ups, no "money for snack", nothing at all. You could talk to your local authority about it. But the amount that the local authority gives settings is a paltry amount and in many cases doesn't cover costs. Lots of settings are having to close as a result of this. It is a truly crappy state of affairs where places have to break the rules just to stay open.

Thanks- that's as I thought.

There's only a few weeks of term left and so I'm not going to do anything I just wanted to know. They are very quiet with not many children and have begged me to up my children's hours.

The children love going and it's great for socialising them but I'm not really that keen on the setting itself. The children come back aggressive. One leader there in particular seems to have a less than positive influence over them. My ds this morning didnt want to wear 'those trousers in case xxxxx laughed at him'. The children are often sent to the sin bin and I've heard staff apologising to parents for swearing in front of kids. My children often come home with their names spelt incorrectly by staff on their drawings. And the drawing paper being used now is company's advertising flyers.

It sounds like there is far more to be worrying about there than the £1.00 registration.

No they can't ad anything on, and it sounds like a godawful place? Are they starting school in Sept? Otherwise I think I'd move somewhere else... Can't believe they have a sin bin in preschool?!?