Parents As Partners

Craft Area

Nursery fees are kept as low as possible and cover only the basic running costs. Current nursery fees are given in your offer letter. Fees are paid on a half term basis and you are asked to pay your bill by the end of the first week of half term. We would prefer payment by direct transfer if possible. If anyone prefers to pay weekly, this can be arranged. Surrey County Council pays towards fees of a child the term after his third birthday. The nursery grant pays for a child to attend 5 sessions of 3 hours per week, for 38 weeks per year. However, the nursery opens for 36 weeks per year, and you cannot claim the extra 2 weeks elsewhere. As the grant does not cover the running costs of the nursery, we also ask parents for a voluntary sustainability contribution.

A £40 deposit is payable on acceptance of a place. This is refunded on application only when your child leaves to attend school at the expected time, i.e. September of the school year in which he/she will be 5.

We ask for half term's fees in April, before your child is due to start in the following September or January. This is not normally refunded if a child is subsequently withdrawn.

You are required to give a half term's notice in writing to Manorcroft Nursery if you wish to withdraw your child, and a half term's fees are payable in lieu of notice. If a child claims a grant, we can only claim grant for a complete half term. Therefore, if a child claiming a grant leaves during a half term, parents will be expected to pay fees for the half term in which the child leaves at the current rate of the grant. Likewise if a child does not return to nursery and no notice has been given, fees will be payable for the entire half term at the current rate.

If the nursery manages to replace a child during a half term, then any fees paid by the new child will be reimbursed to the child who is leaving/not joining, minus an administration fee of £50.

Fees may be changed at any time subject to the financial position of the nursery, which is a non-profit making organization.

Wendy House

In order to replace new equipment and add to our existing stock, parents have to fund raise. Various events are held throughout the year such as cake stalls, sponsored events, Christmas and summer fairs. The fundraising team arrange these events but all parents are expected to help - it is, after all, for the benefit of all children. If nursery fees covered all the true costs of running the nursery the fees would have to be much more per session. However, helping out with fund raising and getting involved with your child's nursery education can be fun, and is a good way of making new friends.

All morning parents are expected to take on a special role which can range from Parent Liaison, Secretary, Fund-raising organisers, Cashier, to weekly washing. When the children of these parents leave to go to school, the next group of parents are asked to take on these positions. Each holiday a team of eight parents are asked to give the nursery and equipment a thorough clean, and so all parents are expected to take their turn doing this. Morning parents take turns in providing children's snacks for a week.

Parents are very welcome to help at nursery sessions and this is shared out by rota. The rota is put on the notice board at the beginning of each term so that parents can fill in the dates which are convenient to them. Most parents have found that they enjoy helping at these sessions and it enables them to learn more about the needs of small children.

Children enjoy it when it is their parent's turn to help, even though some show off a bit. In the afternoons we do not have more than 20 children at any session and so you are welcome to bring younger brothers and sisters of any age when you help at nursery sessions, but they remain your responsibility throughout the session. In the mornings we have 26 children per session, which is the maximum we are permitted by Ofsted to have at any session. Therefore we cannot usually allow siblings to accompany a parent when they help at a nursery session. However, most parents let us know if a child will be absent from nursery for holidays, etc. and so we will arrange for morning parents who would like to help, but can only do so if they can bring a sibling, to do so when a nursery child will be absent from a session.

We would appreciate parents sharing home information with us, such as illness or death of a pet or relative, or parental absence. This would help us understand if a child is uncharacteristically quiet or troubled and we can support the child and family.

Nursery business is dealt with at regular term meetings which all present parents are invited to attend.

We realise that not all parents will wish to become involved the way Manorcroft Nursery parents do; if you feel like this, please look at the other pre-schools in the area which may operate in a different way and which perhaps do not require as much, if any, parental involvement and therefore may be more suitable to your needs.

If you think you and your child will be happy to join Manorcroft Nursery and carry on the tradition of parent involvement, please feel welcome to contact us at any time.