Nursery and Reception (Early Years)

Our Nursery and Reception Building

• Acorns Nursery Information Booklet 2024-2025
• Acorns Reception Information Booklet 2024-2025

Acorns School Nursery

Ages

Children can start in Acorns School Nursery when they are 3 years old.  

Nursery Timings

The  Nursery is open term time only and is not open on school INSET days.

Session times

• Morning session times: 8.45am - 11.45am not including lunch.          
• Afternoon session times: 12.15pm - 3.15pm lunch to be eaten prior to arrival.
• Full day 8.45am-3.15pm
• Children may attend a morning session, an afternoon session, or a full day session.
• A charge of £4 will be made for the 30 minutes between the morning and afternoon session for children who are booked in for a full day funded by Early Years Government Funded entitlements.

Nursery Government Funded Hours

• Government Nursery funding: 3-4 year old entitlements are available the term after a child turns 3.
• With the exception of 3-4 year old Universal 15 hour entitlements, which all families are able to access for their child, the term after they turn 3, Parents/Carers must apply in order to access 2 year old 15 hour working families entitlement (for the term they turn 3, before they are eligible for 3-4 year old funding), and 3-4 year old additional 15 hours working families entitlements (30 hour code).
• A funding declaration form needs to be completed and signed by school and families before the start of each term for all families claiming any Early Years Government Funding entitlements.

How to apply 2, 3 and 4 year old working families entitlement Government Funding

Parents must apply online to HMRC’s digital childcare service at: https:// childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow

Families will be given an 11 digit eligibility code for their child when they apply if they are eligible. Once an eligibility code has been given, please give this to the school so that we can confirm eligibility before your child starts. This must be done the term BEFORE you wish your child to start claiming 2, 3 and 4 year old working families funding entitlement. Codes must be re-validated by families every 3 months with HMRC.

Parents are advised to contact the Childcare Service Customer Interaction Centre at HMRC on 0300 1234097 should they encounter any problems regarding 3-4 year old entitlements and 2 year old working parents entitlements.

Early Years Government Funded Hours are for 38 weeks of the year, for a set number of weeks each term. The school year is 39 weeks. Consequently 1 week is not covered by Government Funded hours and will be charged for.

Parents can split their Early Years entitlement funding between multiple providers, although no more than 2 sites in one day. Where parents choose to split their child’s free entitlement between providers, they will need to distinguish between the 15 hours universal entitlement for 3- and 4-year-olds and the 15 hours working parent entitlement for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds on the PDF funding form each term.

Additional Sessions

Additional sessions, not covered by Government Funded Hours, are charged at the cost of £18 for a morning or afternoon and £40.00 for a full day. (This includes the cost of £4.00 for the 30 minutes between the morning and afternoon sessions.)

For the time before a 3-4 year old child is eligible for 3-4 year old Government Funding and when a family is not eligible to 2 year old 15 hours working families entitlement in the term that they turn 3, morning sessions cost £18 or £40.00 for a full day (8.45am-3.15pm).

Admissions

Application for a nursery place is by application form directly to the school. Children’s names are added to an open waiting list and a nursery place and sessions will be confirmed to families 3 months prior to the child starting nursery.

Having a place at Acorns Nursery does not automatically guarantee a place in Reception as all applications from Reception to Year 6 are dealt with by Warwickshire Local Authority Admissions. Parents will have to apply to their home local authority for a school place, e.g. Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire.

Breakfast Club

At an additional cost of £4.50 per day, children can attend the school Breakfast Club which runs from 8am-8.45am for Nursery children. Government funding cannot be used to pay for Breakfast Club sessions.

Notice

A minimum of 6 weeks’ notice must be given in writing to the school if the nursery place is no longer required.

Payment

All fees not covered by Nursery Government Funded Hours will be invoiced termly at the start of each term. Invoices not paid fully within 14 days will incur a late payment charge of 10% of the invoice. If payment of an invoice is a month overdue, the child will no longer be able to attend nursery sessions which are not Government Funded. School Dinners

The cost of hot school dinners, available as an option for children who are booked in for a full day, need to be ordered and paid via ParentPay. Menus are available. The cost is £2.50 per school meal.

Childcare Vouchers

The school is registered to accept Edenred, Kiddivouchers, Computershare childcare vouchers and most other voucher providers can be set up to accept.

The school is registered to accept Tax Free Childcare (TFC).