Independent fee-paying school & the 30 free hours ....

[Clemfandango95]

Just wondering if someone can clarify / explain something to me.
I'm looking at schools for my first child, and considering a local private school.

Having spoken to the school, unlike state school she would be able to enrol in the pre-prep on her 3rd birthday - she is born in April.

My parents seem to think that you can utilise the 30 free hours of childcare to subsidise part of the fees before she becomes of mandatory school age.....

Is this correct? I've tried to research but there's no clear answer.

When DD was at a private nursery school she was eligible for 15 “free hours” from the term after her 3rd birthday (this was before the 30 free hours). The nursery however charged a hefty top up on top of this - I think they said it was for extra staff, extra food, trips etc, but we all knew it was because the govt hourly rate in no way covered their costs let alone profit. Plus she did more than 15 hours. In the end the 15 free hours amounted to about a 20% discount for a couple of terms.

In short it should be worth something but not necessarily as much as you might hope. Ask the school? (I assume both parents work and neither earns over the £100k income limit.)

I think it will depend on the institution, they are under no obligation to participate in the scheme so you need to check with them. Depending on the fees you might also find it makes little difference as the government funding is very low compared to what they actually charge.

Well yes it's up to the school if they accept it, ask them.

We did this when DC were small. The private nursery at the local independent did accept the hours and we paid the difference.

It also extends to qualifying children in reception year. That was a nice surprise!

It depends on the school, the prep school near me accept the 15 hours funding everyone gets but not that additional 15 (if that makes sense!) plus a top up fee for various bits that is quite substantial.

Mine is starting at a private prep school next week in pre school we receive the gov funding but it is heavily subsidised