For all enquires regarding fee and fee information please email: admin@sunshinemontessori.com
Fees from 1 September 2023
Our standard opening hours are 8am-6pm
Standard Day Rate - £78 (8am-6pm)
Half Day Rate - £44 (8am-1pm or 1pm-6pm)
Early drop-off: 7.30am-8.00am - £5 (48 hrs notice is required)
Hourly rate for ad hoc sessions - £10 (subject to availability)
We offer a 5% discount for NHS and military workers (proof of employment is required)**
We offer a 10% discount for one sibling (applied to the eldest sibling)**
You will be offered only one discount per child, and one discount type per family. The highest value discount will be applied. Please discuss your situation with us and we will ensure you can access the best option for your family.
Fees include all meals, drinks and snacks.
We apply an additional enrichment fee for food and consumables for children accessing government funding. These charges include the cost of meals, snacks, resources, and activities not covered by the funding that the nursery receives from the Local Authority. These charges are included in the fees quoted below and will be detailed separately on invoices. Funded entitlements are stretched over the 51 weeks that the nursery is open, therefore the consumables charges apply to the 51 funded weeks. Charges from 1 April 2023 are £60 per week for children accessing the full Extended “30 hours” funding, and £30 per week for children accessing the full Universal “15 hours” funding. Please refer to our Funding Guide for more information on how we offer funding.
Indicative weekly fees for funded or non-funded places are set out below*
* Weekly fees are quoted based on an annual total cost divided by 51 weeks. Actual invoices for funded places may vary monthly due to the way the Local Authority funding is allocated between terms and depending on when your funding entitlement commences. Please refer to our Funding Guide for further information.
**For children accessing government funded hours, discounts will be applied to the charge for the cost of hours attended that are not funded by the Local Authority. Discounts are not applied to the consumables charges that are included in the fee summary above. If you qualify for a discount, we will discuss this with you and set out the discounted fees for your specific situation.
Childcare Funding at Sunshine Montessori
As an Ofsted registered early years provider we are legally bound to meet the requirements of the Ofsted regulations and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework published by the Department for Education.
If you are new to childcare funding, it can be a struggle to get to grips with the different terminology and how it all works. We have put together this guide to help explain how we offer the childcare funding at Sunshine Montessori. As always, if you have any questions regarding your specific circumstances, please speak to us and we will go through how the funding rules apply in your case. This document forms part of our fee policy, the terms of which must be accepted prior to you accepting a funded place.
All funded sessions are in line with the flexible arrangement as specified by the Government. When you register your child for their funded place we will discuss your needs and, as far as possible with availability and staffing arrangements, we will accommodate your wishes. We reserve the right to limit and/or have specific funded sessions, according to our business requirements.
Universal 15 hours of funded childcare
Key Information
· The government provides funding for all 3 and 4 year olds to access 15 hours of childcare for 38 weeks of the year. This equates to 570 funded hours per academic year.
· All 3- and 4-year-olds are eligible for this funding, regardless of parent employment status or earnings. A child becomes eligible for funding in the term that starts following their third birthday. There are particular cut off dates for qualifying, we can discuss this with you when your child approaches their third birthday.
· At Sunshine Montessori we spread the 570 hours equally over the 51 weeks that we are open. For most families accessing the universal hours, this works out at approximately 11.17 funded hours per week.
· If you are wanting to access the full Universal Funded Entitlement hours, we ask that your child attends for a minimum of 3 sessions of 5 hours each. Our session times are 8am-1pm and 1pm-6pm. Your child’s schedule could either be one full day plus one half-day, or a combination of 3 morning or afternoon sessions, subject to availability. If you plan for your child to attend for the minimum hours per week, that would be 15 hours per week, of which approximately 11.17 would be funded with no cost to the family (when spreading the full entitlement across the academic year). We provide childcare by the session, not by the hour, therefore parents will need to pay for the additional 3.83 hours per week at the hourly rate in place at the time. Any additional sessions, over and above the 3 x 5 hours, will be charged at our standard session rates.
· We operate an equally spread invoicing method, therefore if your child qualifies for 570 funded hours from the autumn term, the deduction from your invoice would be 570 hours/12 months = 47.5 hours free of charge per month. The funding allocation from the Local Authority is made per academic year, with an unequal number of hours allocated to each term. Therefore, if your child qualifies for funding for the Spring or Summer term, your monthly deduction of hours may be different. We can discuss this with you at the relevant time. We will ensure that you receive the full deduction that you are entitled to under the Local Authority rules.
· Government funding is intended to deliver free, high quality, flexible childcare for a set number of hours. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional activities. We therefore ask families to pay a contribution towards the cost of meals, activities and equipment that are provided alongside the funded entitlement. We call this our Consumables charge, and it covers all meals, snacks, extra activities on your chosen sessions (for example , yoga, French lessons, etc). The rate for consumables charges are included in the fee sheet that is provided to you and updated from time to time*. If you anticipate any difficulty paying these charges, please discuss this with us.
What do I have to do to access my Universal Funded Entitlement?
· You will need to complete a Parent-Provider Agreement (PPA) which sets out the funded hours that you want Sunshine Montessori to claim on your behalf, and which days they will be used on. You will need to provide proof of your child’s date of birth (passport or birth certificate). We will then claim the funding entitlement from the Local Authority and deduct the funded hours from your invoice.
*Discounts that we offer for sibling places and NHS or Military employees do not apply to Consumables charges.
Extended Funded Entitlement – 30 hours funding
Key information
· Some families may be entitled to additional childcare funding. If you meet the eligibility criteria, the maximum funding is 30 hours per week for 38 weeks, (15 hours of Universal funding plus 15 hours of Extended). This equates to a maximum of 1,140 hours per year.
· At Sunshine Montessori we spread the 1,140 hours equally over the 51 weeks that we are open. For most families accessing the extended hours, this works out at approximately 22.35 funded hours per week.
· If you are wanting to access the full Extended Funded Entitlement hours, we ask that your child attends for a minimum of 3 full days of 10 hours each. Our full day is 8am-6pm. If you plan for your child to attend for the minimum hours per week, that would be 30 hours per week, of which approximately 22.35 would be funded with no cost to the family (when spreading the full entitlement across the academic year). We provide childcare by the session, not by the hour, therefore parents will need to pay for the additional 7.65 hours per week at the hourly rate in place at the time. Any additional sessions attended, over and above the 3 days, will be charged at our standard session rates.
· We operate an equally spread invoicing method, therefore if your child qualifies for 1,140 funded hours from the autumn term, the deduction from your invoice would be 1,140 hours/12 months = 95 hours free of charge per month. The funding allocation from the Local Authority is made per academic year, with an unequal number of hours allocated to each term. Therefore, if your child qualifies for funding for the Spring or Summer term, your monthly deduction of hours may be different. We can discuss this with you at the relevant time. We will ensure that you receive the full deduction that you are entitled to under the Local Authority rules.
· Government funding is intended to deliver free, high quality, flexible childcare for a set number of hours. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours, or additional activities. We therefore ask families to pay a contribution towards the cost of meals, activities and equipment that are provided alongside the funded entitlement. We call this our Consumables charge, and it covers all meals, snacks, extra activities on your chosen sessions (for example, yoga, French lessons, etc). The rates for consumables charges are included in the fee sheet that is provided to you and updated from time to time*. If you anticipate any difficulty paying these charges, please discuss this with us.
What do I have to do to access my Extended Funded Entitlement?
· To access the additional Extended Funded Entitlement, you must apply for it through the HMRC website. If you are eligible, you will receive an 11 digit code from HMRC, which you need to provide to us so that we can make the claim on your behalf. It is your responsibility to re-validate your code every 3 months, HMRC will prompt you to do this. If you do fall out of eligibilty please be aware you will be charged full nursery fees. An example HMRC application timetable is shown below.
· You will need to complete a Parent-Provider Agreement (PPA) which sets out the hours that you want Sunshine Montessori to claim on your behalf, and which days they will be used on. We can guide you through this. You will need to provide proof of your child’s date of birth (passport or birth certificate), your National Insurance number, and the code that HMRC give you. We will then claim the funding entitlement from the Local Authority and deduct the funded hours from your invoice.
More information on the claim process can be found here:
How to apply for 30 hours free childcare | Childcare choices
*Discounts that we offer for sibling places and NHS or Military employees do not apply to Consumables charges.
15 hours of funded childcare for 9m-2y olds
Key Information
· The government provides funding for eligible 9m old – 2 year olds to access 15 hours of childcare for 38 weeks of the year. This equates to 570 funded hours per academic year.
· This funding is at a higher rate than for 3-4 year olds and therefore no consumables charge is required for these sessions.
What do I have to do to access my 9m-2y old Funded Entitlement?
· To access the additional 9m-2y Funded Entitlement, you must apply for it through the HMRC website. If you are eligible, you will receive an 11 digit code from HMRC, which you need to provide to us so that we can make the claim on your behalf. It is your responsibility to re-validate your code every 3 months, HMRC will prompt you to do this.
· Click on this link to access the HMRC application process for your eligibility code.
· Please note that the new funding entitlement is being staggered. Families of 2 year olds will be able to access this from April 2024. It then becomes available for 9 month olds as well from September 2024.
· An example HMRC application timetable is shown below.
2 year old Funding for Disadvantaged Children who receive additional government support
We have a limited number of places for 2 year olds who receive the 2 year old funding for disadvantaged children. If you have received a code from Buckinghamshire Council to confirm your funding entitlement, please discuss the availability of 2 year old funded places with us.
Funded-Only places.
· We offer a limited number of fully-funded places, where your child will only attend for hours that are funded and there will be no charge to you for the hours of care provided. Consumables charges will still apply for funded-only places for 3-4 year olds
· Funded-only places for 2 year olds with early years funding are only available on a Monday and Friday afternoon, with the session times from 1pm-6.30pm.
· Funded-only places for 3-4 year olds accessing Universal Funded Entitlement are only available on a Monday and Friday afternoon, with the session from 1pm-6.30pm.
· Funded-only places for 3-4 year olds accessing Extended Funded Entitlement are only available during afternoon sessions, with 4 sessions during the week from 1pm-6.30pm being the maximum for accessing the Extended funding.
· Fully-funded places are limited and are subject to availability. We allocate places on a first come, first served basis, whilst following the order of priority set in our Admissions Policy, where relevant:
1. Looked after children
2. A child known by the local authority to have special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND) and whose needs can be best met at the preferred nursery
3. A vulnerable child with either a Child Protection or a Child in Need Plan, or in receipt of other local authority support
4. Children who have siblings who are already with us
5. Children whose parents live within the area.
· We operate an inclusion and equality policy and ensure that all children have access to nursery places and services irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation of parents. We are flexible as far as is reasonably practicable regarding attendance patterns therefore accommodating the needs of individual children and families.
Conditions in relation to all types of funding
· All children eligible for Early Education Funding must attend their regular sessions in order for us to claim their funding. Attendance is not optional.
· Normal holiday and sickness absences are acceptable; a form must be completed by the parent on the child’s return to the nursery confirming the reason for absence. This is required for auditing purposes.
· A maximum of three providers can claim funding for each child. Therefore, it is extremely important that details of any subsequent provider(s) are declared when completing the claim forms.
· Our standard Terms & Conditions in relation to Fees also apply to funded places, please refer to the current fee sheet and attached T&Cs.