Sessions, Fees & Funding

Sessions

Monday - Friday,  8am - 6pm

We are open all-year-round

Abacus Childcare Settings close for Bank/Public holidays, 4 staff training days, and between Christmas and New Year.

We offer full, part-time and term-time places and accept 2, 3 and 4-year funding.

15 hours / Universal Funding Childcare

Funding can be confusing and is dependent upon an individual parent or family’s circumstance.

All 3- and 4-year-olds qualify for 15 hours of universal funding across 38 weeks of term time.

This funding becomes available at the start of the term after your child’s third birthday. Abacus Childcare Settings can offer to ‘stretch’ these hours over 51 weeks. This ensures your child gets into the routine of attending every week and enables the fees to be spread evenly over the year. As these ‘stretched’ hours do not cover a full day we provide additional non-funded hours so that children can attend for a full day. 

30 Hours Extended Funding

Abacus Childcare Settings offer a maximum of 5.5 free hours per day. 

Some parents may be eligible for extended / 30 hours funding over 38 weeks term time and can check their eligibility at Childcare Choices website.

 Abacus Childcare Settings can provide this as a ‘stretched’ offer over the full year and offer the maximum extended hours over an attendance between three, four and five days.

Abacus Childcare Settings also offer a limited number of funded-only or free places. These free spaces have an impact on staffing and a financial consequence so are limited so as not to affect the viability of the nurseries.

15 Hours 2-Year-Old Funding

Abacus Childcare Settings offers eligible families up to 15 hours of funded early education and childcare a week for 38 weeks a year on a stretch offer basis, the first term after their second birthday.

Please check with your local authority if you qualify and share your funding code with the nursery.

Abacus Childcare Setting Fees

Unfortunately, the government funding does not pay for the all the things that make Abacus Childcare Settings such a special place. From our purposefully designed nursery setting, to our on-site chefs preparing delicious healthy meals, as well as our Education Specialists including our Early Years Teacher and Dance Teacher. Our parents will be asked to pay a supplement for these extras for each funded hour. This is in line with other private nurseries.

We encourage children to attend for a minimum of 2 days a week across the full year to provide a continuity of care and as a preparation for school. To match these 2 days, we provide a maximum of 5.5 hours of funding each day as part of the stretched offer. 

The opening hours for our nurseries are 8am-6pm so for a child over 3 attending a minimum of 2 full days the daily fee is made up of 5.5 funded hours, 4.75 nonfunded hours and a supplementary charge per funded hour for all the things that make Abacus Childcare Settings the right start for under 5s.

We do not allow parents to bring in packed lunches or snacks from home. Due to the number of children, we care for in the nurseries who have allergies we would not wish to put their safety at risk. Parents have been very understanding of this point.

Parents may also be able to access the Tax-Free childcare scheme in addition to other benefits that the nursery will be able to help with.

Our standard daily rate is £85.00.

Fees include meals, snacks, nappies (for under 3 year olds), and extra-curricular activities.

Fees increases are calculated every year in March based on the previous years running costs and are applied in April.

Fees are payable 52 weeks of the year.

Additional services not delivered as part of the funded hours are charged for as a daily supplement. The additional services are meals and snacks, nappies and wipes, and extracurricular activities. The charge for these additional services is non-obligatory, alternative arrangements can be discussed with your nursery manager.

Please note that Abacus Childcare Settings has a ‘no food over the threshold’ policy so parents providing their own meals is not an alternative.

For any other options, e.g., term time only for teachers, please apply for costing