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Terms & Conditions
Revised January 2026
Nursery Opening Times
The nursery operates from 8 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday, and is closed during the Christmas period, all Bank Holidays, and three Inset Days. Early morning sessions are available at Brighton, Hove, and Steyning starting at 7.30 am. Parents should be aware that a fee of £5.00 per 15 minutes or part thereof will be charged for children collected after the end of their session. For children collected after 6 pm, a fee of £10 per 15 minutes or part thereof will apply.
Admission procedure
Nursery admission is organised depending on the sessions available. However, siblings of children already attending will be given priority.
The minimum booking per child is two full days for babies and two short or full days per week for children two years and above. This is to ensure that your child has the opportunity to settle in, enjoy their time at nursery, and maintain a routine. No minimum booking is required if your child is accessing a fully funded space.
Spaces are allocated when the specific days and times requested become available. Once you have decided to place your child at Pumpkin Patch, you will be sent a link to our Nursery Management System called Famly. We would ask you to add your child’s information and your parent contacts. You must also accept our Terms and Conditions before we can secure your place. You can set up your banking details to pay fees. A £100.00 deposit is due when your sessions are confirmed (approximately one month before the date your child will start.) The deposit will be offset against your last month’s fees. However, failure to give the required notice (1 month) will result in loss of deposit. You will also be invoiced for a one-off registration fee (non-refundable.) of £20.00. You will receive an invoice from Famly for £120.00 before confirming your place. If your child is accessing a funded-only space, no deposit or registration fee is required.
Before your child begins, please complete the "About" section on Famly, which provides information regarding your child’s health. We must receive as much information as possible to support your child when they start with us. Not informing us about any health conditions, including special educational needs, may delay your child’s start date.
Payment of Fees
Fees are payable one month in advance and are due on the last day of each calendar month for the following month. We operate a direct debit system that will take payment on the last day of the month, which you can set up through the Famly app.
Fees are calculated as weekly fees x 50 weeks divided by 12 months. This allows for 2 weeks towards Bank holidays, Inset Days, Christmas closure, your family holiday and sickness.
Fee increases
Fee increases will take effect in April each year. These increases are based on the operating costs from the previous year, anticipated wage increases due to inflation, increases in the minimum wage, and rising cost of living. If any additional fee adjustments are necessary, we will provide at least two calendar months' notice in advance. This approach helps us to adequately support our staff while maintaining the quality of the services we provide.
Late Payment of Fees
Fees are payable one month in advance on the last day of the previous month. A late payment fee of 5% of your outstanding balance will automatically be added to your account on the 15th of the month. We encourage parents to communicate with us if they are having difficulty paying their fees as it may be possible to set up a payment plan to support you. Unfortunately, if an outstanding balance runs into the second month without communication from parents as to why the fees remain unpaid, then the nursery will be forced to refuse the child/children entry. This remains the case until there is communication from the parents, and an agreement can be put in place.
The nursery uses a debt recovery agency that takes over the responsibility of any unpaid fees which may incur further charges.
Funding
Pumpkin Patch accepts all government funding. We assign funded hours to existing booking plans. Standalone funded spaces are subject to availability. Please speak to your manager to find out more information.
All funding is for 38 weeks of the year and we stretch this funding to cover the full 51 weeks the nursery is open. Therefore 15 hours becomes 11 hours and 30 hours becomes 22 hours when stretched.
9-23 months
Eligible families can apply to claim 30 hours of funding.
2-3 years
Families may be able to claim either 15 hours or 30 hours of funding depending on eligibilty.
To check your eligibility, head to https://www.gov.uk/get-childcare.
3+ years
All children over 3 in England are eligible for 15 hours of funding for 38 weeks of term time, following their third birthday.
Depending on your personal circumstances your child may also be eligible for an additional 15 hours of funding per week, making a total of 30 hours of funding for 38 weeks of term time. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.
How do I apply?
To find out if you’re eligible, head to https://www.gov.uk/get-childcare.
Consumables
The nursery makes additional charges to cover the cost of meals, snacks, and other comsumables and services. These charges are voluntary and are detailed under the funding section on the nursery website.
Tax-Free Childcare
Tax-free childcare is a method of paying childcare costs (including your nursery invoice) that provides significant monthly savings. More information is available here.
Childcare Vouchers
If your employer is part of a Salary Sacrifice Childcare Voucher scheme, you are able to use these for childcare funding. Pumpkin Patch accepts all of the main Childcare Vouchers.
Notice of leaving and deposits
Four weeks' notice is required if leaving, and it must be submitted in writing before the 1st of the month. If notice is received after the 1st of the month, it will be calculated from the 1st of the following month. Deposits will be retained if you plan to leave the nursery within the first five months. The nursery is linked to an agency that takes over the responsibility of any unpaid fees. Parents of children in their last year are required to give their leaving date for the end of the academic year before the end of April, which is effectively one terms notice. Deposits are refunded and shown in your final invoice.
Changing sessions
Parents wishing to change their children’s sessions must put their requests in writing a minimum of four weeks notice in advance and are subject to availability. This includes wanting to change sessions when a child has yet to start with us or dropping sessions. This may mean that you will go to the bottom of the waitlist. We are not able to swap sessions or provide alternative sessions for holidays.
Extra sessions
From time to time you may wish to book your child in for an extra session at nursery. Extra sessions will only be allocated if there are no account arrears; offered on a first-come first-served basis with the proviso that there is space for us to take on additional children under the EYFE and Ofsted staff to child ratios. All extra sessions booked after your invoice has been sent will be added on to the next month’s invoice. This includes all ‘ad hoc’ sessions, changes of sessions and outdoor adventure sessions booked.
All ad hoc sessions are chargeable at the hourly rate and will not have any discounts applied. Once booked, an extra session can not be cancelled or amended without one month’s notice.
Mobile Phones
Please note that mobile phones or other smart devices such as smart watches are not allowed within the nursery.
Unacceptable Behaviour
The nursery reserves the right to withdraw a child's place without notice if a parent's behavior is unacceptable and does not align with the nursery’s policies and procedures. This includes communication through email, telephone, or the Family App.
Unforeseen closures
Temporary nursery closures due to force majeure or acts of God, such as infectious diseases, floods, or snow, that are beyond our control, as well as other unforeseen closures, will still incur full fees.
Our Fees
Our full fees cover our high-quality early years education inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach and the Scandinavian Forest Schools, led by our team of Educators, Qualified Teachers and Artists.
Our enhanced package also includes all consumables: breakfast, hot home-cooked lunch and tea, baby formula, snacks, milk, nappies and suncream.
9months - 2 year old children in receipt of funded hours will receive our full enhanced package for their funded hours. 3 and 4 year old children will receive our standard package for their funded hours which does NOT include consumables. You can access the enhanced package with optional consumables charges or alternatively provide all consumables, as outlined in our FE policy.
Please speak to you manager to opt out of optional payments or see if you meet the criteria for a free space.
Places are for 50 weeks of the year.
Bags and clothing
Your child should bring in a change of clothing provided by yourselves. All clothes should be clearly labelled with your child’s full name. Unnamed clothes will be in the lost property box for 2 weeks and after this will be donated to charity if not collected. The nursery is not responsible for any unnamed clothing. If your child uses a sleeping bag, we ask that you provide this for your child.
Illnesses
If your child has vomiting or diarrhoea, they will need to stay away from the nursery for 48 hours after the last symptom. We follow UKHSA guidance on infection control and exclusion periods. However, if a child is in an ‘active phase’ of a contagious viral infection, that has no official exclusion period, we will ask parents to withhold their child from nursery until symptoms subside.