The Learning Tree Kindergarten
Terms and Conditions
Effective from 1st September 2025
Parents should ensure they have read the following Terms and Conditions along with our separate Nursery fee and funding documents carefully. Application for a place at The Learning Tree Kindergarten indicates acceptance of all of these.
Admissions
Where applications exceed the number of places available, a waiting list is created and the following criteria apply in priority order:
• Babies and children of parents who work at The Learning Tree Kindergarten
• Siblings of children who are attending The Learning Tree Kindergarten at the time of admission.
• Siblings of children who have previously attended The Learning Tree Kindergarten.
• Babies and children who require full time places.
• Full day spaces will be given priority over half day sessions.
The date of the application will also be considered when allocating places.
Minimum attendance
All children must attend at least four sessions a week, for example, four half days or two full days. This is to ensure that they settle well and gain the most from The Learning Tree Kindergarten. We believe this is in the best interests of the child, staff, and parents/ carers. An exception is made for ‘funded only’ places as per our Funding guide.
Securing a place
Once your application request has been received, the Nursery will contact you to confirm the offer of a place for your child and the available sessions. To accept and reserve your child’s place, you will need to complete and return our Parental Declaration form accepting our Terms & Conditions, Nursery Fee Sheet and Funding guide (where applicable).
To secure a place, a deposit and administration fee of £150 is required. The £50 registration fee is non-refundable. The £100 deposit is returned when your child leaves the Nursery, providing they have been in attendance for a minimum of three months, at least one month’s notice is given in writing and your account is paid in full.
For families choosing our ‘funded only’ nursery place (see separate funding guide) there is no registration fee. £100 deposit is taken to secure the place, which is refunded after the first 4 weeks if the place is taken up. If, for any reason, you cancel your booking after you have paid your deposit or amend the start date and/or the number of days attending, and we cannot accommodate these changes, then the deposit will not be refunded.
Both the registration fee and deposit are non-refundable should you wish to remove the child from the waiting list and not take up an offered place.
Monthly fees
The Nursery fees are dependent on your child’s age and booking patterns. Our Nursery fees are provided to all parents before signing up to a nursery place and are available at any time upon request. Our invoices are calculated in full weeks, which means some months fees are for 4 weeks and others are for 5 weeks.
All fees are invoiced before the beginning of the month and due by the 15th of the month. Fees are payable by bank transfer to the account below or in cash payments. Cheques payments are only accepted by prior arrangement.
Payments to Barclays Bank PLC
Account Name: The Learning Tree Kindergarten Limited
Sort Code: 20-67-37
Account Number: 83536246
Any account balances still outstanding after the 30th of the month, and without prior written/email agreement, will incur a Late Payment Charge of £20, followed by interest added at 5% of the total outstanding balance for every additional 7 days after this point. The management reserve the right to withdraw childcare and offer the sessions to those on our waiting list for anyone whose fees are more than 6 weeks overdue.
Parents are jointly liable for nursery fees in full. Any agreement involving payment of fees by a third party does not release the Parents from liability if the third party defaults and does not affect the operation of any other of these Terms and Conditions.
Nursery fees are reviewed at least annually. If they are subject to increase, a minimum of 1 month’s written notice will be given.
Changes to sessions and Ad hoc sessions
Occasional ad hoc additional session requests can be catered for subject to availability and will be added to the next available invoice. Please note, a minimum of 48hours notice is needed to cancel booked additional sessions otherwise associated fees will still be charged. Permanent changes in your session requirements must be notified in writing and allow one month's
notice to come into effect. All sessions previously booked within that notice period must be paid for in full. All permanent session change requests are also subject to availability.
Disclosures
Prior to your child starting or as soon as known, parents must disclose to The Learning Tree Kindergarten in writing or electronically:
• any known medical condition, health problem or allergy affecting the child.
• any history of a learning difficulty on the part of the child or any member of his / her immediate family
• Any disability, special educational need or any behavioural, emotional difficulty and / or social difficulty of the child.
• Any family circumstances, court proceedings or court order which might affect the child’s welfare or happiness.
• Any concerns about the child’s safety.
• Any significant change in the financial circumstances of the Parents.
It is your continual responsibility to notify the Nursery of any changes or additions to this information on an on-going basis.
Safeguarding
As a nursery, we have a responsibility in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and 2004, The Early Years Foundation Stage, Sections 40 Childcare Act 2006 and related guidance to protect all children and families in our care. As such, we have a Safeguarding policy, which is available to view at the Nursery at any time.
Opening Hours
The Learning Tree Kindergarten operates all year round with core hours between 8am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank holidays and Nursery Christmas closures). We do not offer term time only places or varied weekly sessions to match shift patterns.
For 3-4 year old preschool children who are in receipt of Government Funding the opening hours are 7.45am-5.45pm. This applies only to these children when attending a full day. We offer a 7.45am early bird drop off at an additional cost. This must be pre-booked in advance with limited places subject to availability.
Collection
All children must be collected promptly before the end of their Nursery session. Whilst we are sympathetic to occasional occurrences due to unforeseen circumstances, it is helpful to let us know if you are running late.
When late collection becomes a concern, the Nursery reserves the right to charge £20 for every 15 minutes or part thereof where a child is not collected at the end of his/her session.
Children will only be permitted to leave the premises with a person over 18 years old. Only named adults pre-authorised to collect your child will be allowed to do so. Parents are required to submit photographs and contact details of all authorised adults before their child starts nursery and ensure any changes to contact details are provided. Please note, your child will note be permitted to start until we have received these details.
Cancellation/change
One month’s written notice is required when a child is leaving The Learning Tree Kindergarten. If a child is withdrawn during any notice period, then the full fees remain payable.
Fees & closures
The Nursery is closed on all Public Bank Holidays. Full fees are payable on these days, and we cannot offer refunds or alternative sessions for any of these closures.
In the event of extreme weather conditions, or Force Majeure, for the safety of all children, families and staff, the Nursery may make the decision not to open or to close early. Fees are still payable for children normally attending Nursery on the above days.
The Nursery shall not be liable for any closure which is due to events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control.
Christmas closure 2025
The Nursery will close for the three working days during the Christmas week. (22nd, 23rd and 24th December). No fees will be applicable for children normally attending Nursery on the above days.
Childcare Vouchers, Tax Free Childcare
The Nursery accepts payment/part-payment of fees in childcare vouchers from a wide variety of providers. Please contact the Nursery with details of your employer’s provider scheme.
We are also registered to accept payments through the ‘Tax free Childcare’ scheme. Please check
www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for further details.
Upon leaving the nursery, please ensure you cancel any standing orders relating to tax free childcare payments or childcare vouchers as we may not be able to refund any payments made in error.
Government Childcare Funding
Government funding is available for all 3 and 4 year olds. All children are eligible for the ‘Universal Offer’ of 15 hours per week from the term after they turn 3 years old. A further 15 hours (totalling 30hours) is available for eligible working parents only.
Working parent entitlement of 30 funded hours for children over 9 months is also available, but only to those families who meet the Government eligibility criteria.
At The Learning Tree we use the stretched offer, so the funding is spread across the whole year. 30 hours funding becomes 22hours per week and 15 hours becomes 11 hours per week all year round. Visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to see if you are eligible.
For parental choice and in accordance with DFE and Local Authority guidance we offer funding in one of two ways. Please see our separate Childcare funding guide for more details on funding options at The Learning Tree. Please note that parents are still fully liable without exception for the payment of all fees. If the nursery does not, for any reason receive the necessary funding or childcare voucher for your child then the full fees remain payable by the parent at all times.
Absenteeism
Sickness, holidays and any other absences are charged at the full rate.
We would appreciate as much notice as possible of holiday arrangements to aid with our forward planning. When a child is unexpectedly absent due to illness etc, a phone call, email or notification on FAMLY should be sent to the Nursery to inform us, in line with safeguarding procedures. Where a child misses two consecutive sessions without notification, the Nursery will make contact to ensure the well-being of the child.
Illness
The Nursery will regularly take advice from local GP’s, Public Health England, or NHS for recommendations regarding exclusion and incubation periods for common illnesses. If your child has any contagious illness e.g. diarrhoea or sickness they should be kept at home for 48 HOURS after the last episode. There are exclusions in place for other infectious conditions such as chicken pox and these should be clarified with the Nursery as they arise.
We reserve the right to refuse a child admission to the Nursery if it is felt that he/she is not well enough to attend.
Medicines
Parents must sign the medicine form if medication needs to be administered by staff. Only medicine prescribed by a doctor, and which has a clearly labelled prescription on the bottle/box, can be administered by staff.
At The Learning Tree Kindergarten, we operate a ‘no Calpol policy’. Any paracetamol or ibuprofen-based medicines must not be given to children within the 4 hours before they attend nursery. Please refer to our sickness policy for more information.
Accidents and Injuries
Parents will be asked to sign an accident form if a child has an accident whilst at nursery. In the event of a serious accident, the nursery reserves the right to take any child to the doctor or hospital. Parental contact will be sought but will not delay the necessary action for the best interest of the child.
In line with safeguarding requirements, parents must inform the nursery if a child arrives with an
existing injury. As standard practice, parents will be asked to complete an ‘Existing Injuries’ form with an explanation of how the injury occurred.
Mobile phones
As part of our Safeguarding policy, we have a strict ‘No mobile phone’ policy in place. The staff must keep their mobile phones or similar devices in a secure locker during the day and in order to use them, must be well outside and away from the Nursery building. Likewise, we ask parents not to use their mobile phones or similar devices within the Nursery building or grounds.
Communication with parents/carers
All parents/ carers must agree to the use of FAMLY - this is an online journal and an integral part of our communication with parents. You will be able to download an app and will be given a secure and private FAMLY login, where you can go online to see observations of your child’s learning and development and receive communication and updates from the nursery. You are also able to post your own photos on there for your Child’s Key Person to see. More information is provided upon securing a place.
Data protection
We process personal data, including special category data, for our colleagues, parents and children.
We do not retain personal data for longer than necessary, and only in accordance with our contractual and legal obligations. Full details of how we meet our data protection obligations and how you can exercise your rights, is set out in our Privacy Policy. Parents must read the privacy notice in full before signing acceptance of our Terms and Conditions.
Changes to Terms and Conditions
Applying for a place at The Learning Tree Kindergarten means you accept that reasonable changes may be made from time to time to both these Terms and Conditions and our Nursery fee and funding documents. Notice of changes will be made to parents. Continuing to take up a place at The Learning Tree Kindergarten will be considered as acceptance of any changes to our Terms and Conditions and Nursery fees.