Understanding Funding
We know that an outstanding early education can be a big expense for a family. But, there are plenty of ways, since funding has been introduced, to help with that cost.
Private school early education is a fantastic investment in your child's future, setting them up for a lifelong love of learning and success. As Bill Gates said,
"The first 5 years have everything
to do with how the next 80 turn out"
We understand that getting to grips with all the funding options out there can be a bit of a minefield, and the confusing marketing of 'free' 'voluntary' and 'funded' etc! So, we've put together the basics here, to help you understand your options and what financial help there is.
Currently our aim is to remain sustainable and accessible - accepting funding is of course a huge benefit to parents, as before 30 hour funding came in a few years ago, parents were footing the bill entirely on their own.
Unfortunately, as I'm sure you may be aware from recent media reports, the government don't fund early years adequately at all. They simply don't pay enough to sustain such a wonderful setting as ours - and we only wish they funded us better, so we could deliver a 'free' early education to you. But, ultimately, they don't, so ultimately, we can't. There are other settings in our area, who offer a very different start to your child's learning journey, who may be able to give a 'free' placement, but we know you are on this page, because you want to choose the best fit for your child and family, so let's explain what voluntary charges we make, to see if our setting is right for you.
We think it's confusing and can be frustrating for parents who have been thinking there are no costs involved when using funded hours. For clarity, funded hours don't include food/drink, direct tuition, outings, music, dance & drama lessons or consumables.
As a private setting, we don't have to offer funding, it is our choice to accept funded hours, and we very much rely on parents to make their voluntary contributions, to be able to stay offering funding.
If we took the decision to become a private setting that doesn't offerf unded places, we would then just invoice families as any other private school does, just like we used to a few years ago. The power is in the numbers. We can make it work when parents understand and are happy to contribute.
How can I use my funding entitlement to help reduce the costs?
All 3-4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours universal funding or you may be able to apply 30 hours with an extended funding code, we apply funding in 5 hour blocks, currently equating to a half day (5 hours) or a full day session (10 hours.)
(If you have 30 hours to utilise, and you only do 2 full days, we claim for 20 hours funding on your behalf, providing your funding code is valid. We don't receive the full 30 hours funding, unless you actually use it with us.)
We think it's best to be super transparent about the costs to use your funding at Performatots, so here's a little insight. We receive our funding from the Local Authority and this is only paid to us for 38 weeks of the year, not the full academic year of Performatots, which is up to 46 weeks of the year. This isn't helpful to working parents either, as of course,most of us work more than 38 weeks a year!
Whilst this is not the Local Authority's fault (They pass funding from Central Government) the shortfall in funding means we are grossly underfunded, and unfortunately each year with all the increases elsewhere, this is nowhere near enough to cover the natural rise in costs of running such a high-quality provision.
So, for us to explain and understand it better, we prefer to call it 'very welcome financial help' - whilst it's definitely funding that makes a big difference to the costs of childcare for families - it's definitely hugely misleading to call it 'free childcare.'
It is helpful for you to know that there are charges we make for families outside of the 'free' hours. We charge for things like our freshly cooked meals, teaching kitchen activities, snacks, morning milk, all tuition & specialist taught classes, extra activities, science experiments, baking, sports curriculum etc, trips & outings, special events & extra occasions, which change each year but include things such as Graduation Showcase, Artists Gallery Project, Christmas Performance, wipes, suncream and all consumables. This gives us our funded day rate parent contribution and this includes everything we offer, with no other charges made. This is a voluntary charge on funded days, however if you are unable to make this contribution for the full Performatots experience, we do offer a fully funded placement, which doesn't include the items above, but does provide a well-resourced free play environment for your child.
Our graduate-led workforce are committed to professional development, hold excellent qualifications, undertake robust safeguarding training and offer exceptional levels of care. We are so proud of our exacting standards, and for being recognised as a vibrant, early years curriculum that is now NATIONALLY AWARD-WINNING, and OFSTED OUTSTANDING! Having an incredible, spacious environment and so much for our pupils to experience doesn't sadly come for free.
We have to be honest with our families and say that we simply couldn't create the amazing place Performatots is on the funding hourly rate alone. Perhaps if we were hiring a church hall or had a much smaller building, but that is what sets us apart, makes us unique and what we are so proud of offering here.
To give your child an amazing start, there are costs - and we feel you do get what you pay for, when it comes to your child's early years education.
Performatots is simply incomparable to any other setting in the area, but despite offering so much more, we have always tried to stay roughly in line with other chain nursery fees, to ensure accessibility (which is one of our core values.)
3 & 4 YEAR OLD FUNDING
Your child is eligible for 15 hours funding from the term AFTER they turn 3. There are only up to 38 weeks each year that are called 'funded'. We are open for 45 weeks of the year.
There is a charge for funded days, which covers your child's breakfast/lunch/tea, mid-session snacks and milk, all consumables, all tuition classes in the day, special school events and visitors, all clubs and adventure afternoon outings and all taught afternoon activities, such as football or yoga. Basically, any fees are pretty much all-inclusive. We won't be billing you for any extra charges.
For non-funded days we charge our usual session rate. This is then added up together and divided across 11 months of the year. There is no payment due in August at Performatots, unless you would like August care, through our summer school programme.
HOW MUCH WILL I CONTRIBUTE ON FUNDED SESSIONS?
You can book sessions and apply your available funded hours. When applying funding to your tuition fee bill, your contribution to your child's time for an enhanced curriculum option (everything included) at Performatots would currently be:
Full Day Sessions: £26.80 per session
Half Day Sessions: £18.50 per session
To make invoicing and budgeting easier, we add up all funded and unfunded sessions in the year and divide across the months, to give you one rolling monthly amount that stays the same each month. This can help you budget financially and makes it easy to pay in advance on the 1st of each month via automated payment.
You get the best value from your funding by booking in for the full day, but half days, or a before tea-time pick up are an option for you, no problem at all, when booking in for enhanced curriculum options.
If you would like to receive a personalised quote to see what your costs would be, over your funded hours, please just get in touch.
Please note that if you are eligible you can access a fully funded place at Performatots.
We also offer a zero-cost funded place for eligible 2-4 year olds, term-time only. Please contact us to discuss available scholarship options, if you feel this applies to your family.
2 Year Old Funding
2 year funding is currently only available to low-income families. Although the government pledged to introduce funding for all 2 year olds from September 2024. 15 hours is the total that can be claimed for.
To see if you are eligible, click below.
3 and 4 Year Old Funding Entitlement
3 and 4 year old funding is available to ALL families and you don't need to do anything other than fill in a parental agreement form from us, to access this. 15 hours is the total that can be claimed for. To see if you are eligible, click below. It's not quite as straightforward as the day your child turns 3, your childcare bill goes down! The term AFTER your child turns 3 is when you can use this. So, if your child turns 3 on the 5th January, you will be eligible to utilise funding from the beginning of the Summer term, after Easter.
30 Hour Extended Funding
30 hour funding is available to working families. If you both work and earn the equivalent of 16 hours at minimum wage, you should be eligible to apply for the additional 15 hours. You will need to apply on the HMRC website for this additional 15 extra hours and then 30 is the total that can be claimed for. There are eligibility criteria, so to see if you are eligible, click below.
Universal Credit Childcare Element
Up to 85% of your residual childcare costs may be paid for by Universal Credit - ask your UC case worker to see if you are eligible and what you are entitled to claim back costs for.
Government Tax-Free Childcare
Using the governments own Tax Free Childcare (TFC) Scheme also saves you 20% on your fees at Performatots. This is similar to a childcare voucher scheme, but it's open to everyone - self employed families included. For example, you put in £100 to your tax free childcare account online and the government tops your account up with an additional £20!
Please note, that we do not allow the splitting of funding between us and another group setting, as part of a number of our policies and procedures, including our infection control, well-being and attendance policies.
We do authorise shared care with private nannys and childminders, but we don't split funding with other maintained school, private school or independent group provision.
You can learn more about that policy and the child-centered reasons behind it HERE.
You can use funding from 20 months old at Performatots, if you are entitled to it.
How Could I Save More?
On top of being able to use funded hours with us, if you apply for and pay via the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme (or your workplace may operate a Childcare Voucher scheme) you save 20% off your bill, essentially by paying in this way - a fantastic saving over the year. The government will top up your childcare account by 20%. Ie. When you put in £100, they put in an extra £20. It's a great benefit for working families.
If you are on Universal Credit, you could be entitled to be reimbursed up to 85% of your bill on unfunded care, but not likely for enhanced curriculum contributions. You will need to speak to your UC coach to find out if you are eligible and if you need any receipts/letters to support your application for reimbursement, just let us know, we are happy to help provide evidence of payment/attendance where we can.