TERMS & CONDITIONS

At Riverside Nursery we believe that it is in everyone’s best interests to maintain good channels of communication between the Nursery and the Parents/Carers of all children attending. We will endeavour to work in close partnership with yourselves in order to provide the best possible care for your child/children at Riverside Nursery.

Whilst we try to keep our terms and conditions as brief as possible, we are naturally obliged to follow the many rules and regulations as dictated by our Local Council, Ofsted and the Government.  We take our responsibilities very seriously and aim to be as transparent as possible with the families using our setting.

The information contained in this document represents the key elements of our terms and conditions.  However, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is a significant amount of day to day detail which cannot be reasonably contained in one document.  Consequently, you will also be provided with supplementary information via our Policies and Procedures, newsletters and via our Parentzone app.

Your acceptance of our terms and conditions is initiated at the booking stage.  Whilst this agreement naturally has legal implications, we always act with fairness and consider individual circumstances before making any decisions. 

Deposit

• A deposit of £200.00 (for full time places) or £100.00 (for part time places) is required to secure a place for your child at the nursery. This will be refunded when your child leaves the nursery, providing all fees are up to date and the correct notice period has been provided.  When a child is booked onto our system, the place is then reserved until the end of August/beginning of September of the year that the child will leave to go to school.
• The deposit is none refundable if YOU cancel the nursery place before the child’s chosen start date.
• When a place is booked, it may be deferred once.  However, this is at the discretion of the Nursery Manager. 
• Our minimum booking requirement is 2 full days per week.
• 3 month’s notice is required to reduce any sessions booked before the start of the Nursery Place.  If providing less than 3 months, you will be charged the current rate for the sessions booked for the remainder of the notice period.  This is at the discretion of the nursery management.  Once the place has started, we require 4 week’s notice to make any reductions.  Changes to the booking which do not decrease days, including swapping and/or increasing the number of sessions booked will be dependent on our availability.
• We reserve the right to end this agreement with immediate effect if:

1 – you have not paid the agreed fees at the agreed time,

2 – You have breached your obligations under this agreement, and you cannot put that breach right within a reasonable time of being requested to do so,

3 – Your child’s behaviour is unacceptable or endangers the safety and well being of the other children within the Nursery,

4 – Financial, business or commercial reasons compel us to radically change the nature of the Nursery’s operations, including but not limited to permanent closure of the Nursery, change of childcare service, re-registration of child numbers and age groups, changes to the registration and booking policy,

5 – ANY form of violent/abusive conduct directed at ANY of our Nursery employees

our practitioners.

Naturally, we will provide as much notice as possible in the event of any of these extreme situations.

Fees and Charges

• Fees for any sessions booked are charged and payable in accordance with our current fee structure.
• Fees are reviewed annually, with any increases being implemented each January.  One month’s written notice of any increase to fees will be provided.
• Riverside Nursery is open for 51 weeks each year.  We close for all bank holidays and for 1 week over the Christmas Period.  Full fees are payable for bank holidays, however; we do not charge for the week that we are closed at Christmas.
• Full fees are payable for any periods of sickness or absence due to holidays.
• Both parents named on our enrolment forms are responsible for the payment of Nursery fees.  However, only one parent will be required to sign on behalf of the family.
• Children must be collected on time.  For any late collections, a charge of £5.00 per 15 minutes will be added to your next monthly invoice.  If your child is not collected within 30 minutes of closing time and we haven’t been able to make contact with parents/emergency contacts – the relevant authorities will be contacted.
• Fees are payable at the beginning of each month for the month ahead.  We accept payments by standing order, childcare voucher, tax free childcare and debit/credit card.  We DO NOT accept cash. 
• We require 4 week’s notice in writing/email or one month’s nursery fees to cancel a Nursery place.
• Should payment of your Nursery Fees fall behind by more than one week, we will be unable to accommodate your child until fees are brought up to date.  On receipt of your payment, we will confirm whether your child’s place is still available.
• A small reduction may be made to our daily rates to allow for occasions where the Nursery may be forced to close due to circumstances beyond our control.  For example, adverse weather conditions, power failure or in the event of a public health risk such as an infectious disease or virus.  In these circumstances, we may be required to comply with directions from Public Health England or other relevant authorities.  This is at the discretion of the Nursery Directors and Management.
• Any eligible 2 year olds and all 3 and 4 years olds can receive Early Years Funding via Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
• From the start of the first full term after your child’s third birthday, all parents/carers can claim either 15 or 30 hours of funded early years education (this is dependent on personal eligibility) with full access to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.  This funding is paid for a maximum of 38 weeks per year.

Health, Safety and Safeguarding

• Thorough checks are carried out on all employees within the setting when a job offer has been made.  These checks include but are not limited to, DBS checks, identity verification, personal and employment references, qualification check, medical checks and where applicable, visa or work permit checks.  In some cases, because of the length of time it can take to carry out these checks, an employee may commence their employment, however they will NOT be left unattended/unsupervised with the children.
• The Nursery observes Ofsted regulations with regards to Staff: Child ratios.  This is currently:

0 – 2 years – 1: 3                                 2 – 3 years 1: 4                   3 – 5 years 1: 8

In practise, our current staffing means that we exceed these ratios.

• Parents/carers MUST understand that the Nursery has an obligation to report to the relevant authorities any incident where we consider a child may have been abused, neglected or harmed in any other way either physically or emotionally.  In accordance with our Safeguarding Policy, referrals may be made without the consent of the parent/carer if it is deemed that the child involved would be at increased risk of serious harm.  Our full Safeguarding policy is available in reception.
• The Nursery is committed to the identification and provision for children with Special Educational Needs/Disability (SEND).  We believe that the potential of every child in our care is maximised irrespective of ability, disability, race, gender and social background and to enable equal access to the curriculum in an environment where every child is valued and respected.  It is the responsibility of the parents/carers to ensure that the Nursery has all of the relevant information regarding the special needs in order for us to care for the child appropriately.
• The Nursery acknowledges its duty of care to uphold the statutory guidance issued under section 29 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015.  The central function of which is to take due regard to our role in assisting the prevention of adults and the children in our care from being drawn into terrorism or radicalisation.
• In fairness to all of our staff, visitors and the children that use our setting, we expect reasonable standards of behaviour at all times.  We therefore reserve the right to exclude any child whose conduct is, in our opinion, disruptive or in any way unacceptable to the safe and efficient running of our Nursery.  Naturally, every effort will be made to avoid this action, including special needs assessment, educational psychologist assessment, referral to other services and the opening of a CAF.  We ask all parents/carers to appreciate this and to understand that in the event of having to exclude a child, all fees/deposit are non-refundable.
• We reserve the right to administer basic first aid and treatment where required.  Parents/carer will be informed of any accidents/incident and will be required to sign the relevant documentation upon collection of the child.  For accidents of a more serious nature involving hospital treatment, all attempts to contact parents/carers/emergency contacts will be made by the Nursery, however, failing this, parents/carers authorise the Nursery staff to act on their behalf to consent to medical treatment from a suitable qualified medical source.  Please see our full Accident, Injury, Illness and Infection Policy and also our Administration of Medication Policy for further information.
• Parents/carers are required to inform the Nursery staff of any existing injuries that a child has when they are dropped off at Nursery.  They will be required to complete an ‘Existing Injury’ form for our records.
• Parents/Carers are required to inform the Nursery of any food, medicine, activity of any other circumstances that may cause the child to have an allergic reaction/allergy.  Parent/Carers must complete an ‘Individual Health Care Plan’ providing as much information as possible about the condition.  Any changes to this MUST be reported to the Nursery by the parent/carer as soon as possible.
• Children who are unwell should not attend Nursery.  Any child suffering from sickness and/or diarrhoea will NOT be allowed back into Nursery until 48 hours after the last bout.  If a child falls ill during the Nursery day, parents/carers will be contacted to arrange collection.  If parents/carers are unavailable, the child’s emergency contacts would be called.  Please see our full Accident, Injury, Illness and Infection Policy and also our Administration of Medication Policy for further information.
• Riverside Nursery operates a strict NO SMOKING policy, including the use of e-cigs.  Smoking (including e-cig’s) is NOT permitted within the Nursery and it grounds.
• Parent’s/Carer’s may ask the Nursery to babysit outside of Nursery hours.  This is a private contract between the parent/carer and the member of staff.  The Nursery takes no responsibility whatsoever for any problems that may arise.

Other Information

• Children should attend Nursery in normal day clothes.  Please avoid ‘designer’ clothes as accidents can happen.  Please ensure that all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled to prevent them from becoming lost or misplaced.  Although we take very good care of the children’s belongings, we do NOT take responsibility for accidents/loss of property whilst in the Nursery.
• Under NO circumstances will a child be allowed to leave the Nursery with anyone unknown to the Nursery staff unless the parent/carer has previously arranged this.  In this situation, the person coming to collect must able to confirm the password provided by the parent on the initial enrolment forms.  Failure to confirm the password will result in the child not being handed over to the person.  A list of people authorised to collect the child should be given to the Nursery Manager.
• We observe the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018.  This is a statutory act of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  The act defines what types of data are allowed to be collected, how they should be stored and what can and cannot be done with that information.  The act states that personal data relating to individuals must be stored securely and only be used for legitimate purpose.
• We may change the terms and conditions where the need arises for regulatory purposes or changes in legislation affecting us, proposed changes in our invoicing procedure, or in our opinion where it is in the best interests of the children attending the Nursery.

FULL acceptance of this agreement is implicit when you sign our enrolment documents and applies to all parties named on the enrolment forms, irrespective of whether secondary parties have signed the form.  We would respectfully ask that if parents/carers experience difficulties in fulfilling any of the conditions of this agreement, they contact the Nursery Manager as soon as possible.  We will do our very best to resolve the issue with you.  Thank you for your understanding.

The following points are part of our Enrolment Form that you will be expected to complete upon starting the setting:

Childhood Paracetamol (Calpol)

In the unlikely event that your child suddenly develops a high temperature (over 100 oF/38 oC) and we are unable to speak to any of the nominated emergency contacts, we request your authorisation to administer Childhood Paracetamol (Calpol).

Sun Cream

In hot weather, we request your authorisation to apply sun cream to your child.  Please select from the following:  Nursery’s Sun cream (Hypo allergenic), Child’s Own Sun Cream (sun cream provided from home MUST be clearly labelled with your child’s name) or NONE.  ANY child who does NOT have consent to use nursery sun cream or who does not have any sun cream from home will not be able to play outside in the sunshine and warm weather.

Hospital Consent

In the unlikely event that we are unable to contact you in an emergency, we ask that you provide consent for a qualified member of staff from Riverside Nursery to take/accompany your child to hospital.

Unwell Children

Please do not bring your child into Nursery if they are unwell.  It is unfair on the child and also on the other children and staff attending the setting.  Any child suffering from a doubtful rash that has not been seen by a GP, a sore throat, sticky eyes, sickness and diarrhoea will NOT be admitted to the Nursery.

If we feel that your child is not well enough to cope with the busy Nursery day due to illness, we may ask you to collect them early or refrain from bringing them in at all.  Our setting works on ratios of staff: children which very rarely allows for 1: 1 care.  If we feel that this is what a child requires, we will again ask to collect.  Please be aware that we will NOT administer ANY medicines without prior parental consent.  You are required to provide any medication required.

GDPR

To comply with GDPR, we confirm that we will only use your personal information in relation to our childcare service.  We would like you to keep receiving information about our Nursery by email, Facebook, phone, iConnect and Parentzone, but we need to be sure we have your permission to do so.  We keep your information so that you can receive important updates about our Nursery.  We will keep your information secure and will never share it unless we are required to do so by law.

Photographs

We are continually taking photographs of the children whilst they are in nursery as a record of their progress and achievements.  These may also be displayed throughout the nursery for parents/visitors to see.  We request your authorisation for the following use of photographs:

1) To be displayed throughout Riverside Nursery

2) To be used in my child’s OWN learning journey 

3) To be use in Riverside Nursery Brochures

4) To be used on the Nursery website/TV

5) To be used on the Nursery’s social media account (Facebook/Twitter)

6) To be used in the local paper

A full copy of our policies and procedures are available in the Nursery reception area.  Please spend time familiarising yourself with them as you will be required to sign to say that you have done so.

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