If your child is staying for lunch they will need to bring a packed lunch and a drink everyday they attend the Pre-School. The lunch hour is from 11:30 to 12:30.

Please ensure your child’s lunchbox is clearly labelled on the outside as it is extremely important that children with allergies do not pick up the wrong lunch box. 

Please do not pack any nuts or nut products in your child’s lunch. 

We provide snacks which are available both mornings and afternoons. Children are offered a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with a choice of milk or water to drink.  We like children to sample foods from all nationalitys and often offer these at snack time too! 

We allow children to pour their own drinks and select their own snacks if they are able to do this.

Please note that we kindly ask for an optional donation of £25 per term charge to cover the cost of providing snacks.

If your child has an allergy, please let us know when you register your child.

We kindly ask that you do not send your child with any nuts or nut products (including peanut butter/nutella). We may also have other restrictions from time to time, depending on the allergies of the children at the time.

All 3 and 4-year-olds are currently entitled to 15 hours a week (570 hours per year) free childcare for 38 weeks of the year (during term-time).  For eligible working parents, this entitlement is increased to 30 hours a week (1140 hours per year). 

Some families who are receiving government support may also be entitled to 15 hours a week free childcare from the age of 2.

To check your eligibility, you can use the Goverments Online Calculator at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ 

You will need to apply for your 30-hours free childcare via the government gateway at https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-childcare 

If you are eligible you will be given your own online Childcare Services Account where you manage your hours (and your Tax-Free Childcare Account if you are using one). 

You will be provided with an 11-digit code which you will need to give to us, alongside your national insurance number and your child’s birth certificate. 

Please note that your code is only valid for 3 months, at which point you will receive an email from the Government Gateway to reconfirm your eligibility. 

You can start using your hours from the beginning of the term after your child turns 3, or the beginning of the term after you receive your eligibility code (whichever is later).

Spring Term – 1st January – 31st March

Summer Term – 1st April – 31st August

Autumn Term – 1st September – 31st December

You can apply for 30 Hours Free Childcare up to 16 weeks before your child turns 3, but you won’t be able to start using it until your child is 3-years-old.

Tax-Free Childcare is a government scheme to help working parents with childcare costs. It is available to working parents of children aged 12 and under (17 and under if the child has a disability). 

It allows eligible parents to set up an online childcare account, which you can pay in to whenever you like and can be used to pay your childcare provider directly. For every £8 you put in, the government will pay an extra £2. You can get up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each of your children or up to £1,000 every 3 months (£4000 a year) for a child with a disability.

The eligibility criteria is similar (but not exactly the same) as 30 hours free Childcare and you will be required to re-confirm your circumstances every 3 months. You can check whether you would be eligible using the online calculator at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

For any fees that are due, we will email an itemised invoice once a term with details of how and when to pay.

We ask for certain types of key information about your child in advance so that we can meet your child’s needs and help them to have an enjoyable time at Ladybirds. We will send these to you before your first session. If your child has any additional needs including allergies, please inform staff.

Your child will have an allocated keyworker who will be your primary contact and their main carer whilst at Ladybirds. 

• A full change of clothes (or two if they are prone to toilet accidents)
• Nappies (if they are in nappies)
• Sunhat and sunscreen in summer (please see our Sun policy for more details), wellies and a raincoat if wet, and warm clothes including gloves when it is cold.
• Optional: Slippers/plimsolls for indoor wear in winter
• Any medication

This bag will need to be brought each time your child attends as we do not have the facilities to keep a change of clothes for each child. All items of clothing will need to be named clearly.

Please note that uniform is not compulsory, however should you wish to purchase uniform items further information is available from the Pre-school office. 

Of course, some children need extra reassurance when settling in and others will settle straight away.

We ask for certain types of key information about your child in advance so that we can meet your child’s needs and help them to have an enjoyable time at Ladybirds. We will send these to you before your first session. If your child has any additional needs including allergies, please inform staff.

Your child will have an allocated keyworker who will be your primary contact and their main carer whilst at Ladybirds. For full details of the keyworkers role please see......

• A full change of clothes (or two if they are prone to toilet accidents)
• Nappies (if they are in nappies)
• Sunhat and sunscreen in summer (please see our Sun policy for more details), wellies and a raincoat if wet, and warm clothes including gloves when it is cold.
• Optional: Slippers/plimsolls for indoor wear in winter
• Any medication

This bag will need to be brought each time your child attends as we do not have the facilities to keep a change of clothes for each child. All items of clothing will need to be named clearly.

Of course, some children need extra reassurance when settling in and others will settle straight away.

Please see our key policies below:

Parent mobile phone policy

Calpol policy

Code of conduct for parents

Collection of child by others

Complaints policy

COVID policy

Dummy policy

Fees policy

Food and drink policy

Intimate care policy

Late collections policy

Medication policy

Non collection of children policy

Nut policy

Parent involvement

Prevent Policy

Settling in policy

Sick children

Sleep policy

SEN policy

Safeguarding policy

Sun protection policy

Toileting policy

Super hero and rough play policy

Vision 

For our full list of policies, or to receive copies by email please contact us.