Olney Pre-School is affiliated to the Early Years Alliance and run as a not-for profit charity with most of our funding coming from the Nursery Education Grant. All children are eligible for 15 hours free childcare from the full term after they turn 3 (cut off dates are 31st March, August and December) and this is applied for by the pre-school on your behalf. We can also take Working Parent Extended hours funding which gives 15 hours extra per week for 3 and 4 year olds (30 hours per week in total) or 30 hours per week for 2 year old children. For any unfunded hours or sessions, our current fees are £5 per hour and £12.50 per session. We invoice each half term and require payment within the first 2 weeks of the relevant payment period by cash, cheque or our preferred method of internet banking – we can also accept payment from tax-free childcare accounts, if you need any details, please ask.
We are also able to take Time for Twos funding for anyone eligible – this is currently available to families who meet certain criteria. For more information and to apply, please visit the Milton Keynes website at https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/children-young-people-and-families/time-twos. We always strive to make pre-school accessible to all and if your child is not yet eligible for Universal Funding, we are able to offer assisted places to families in receipt of Universal Credit. We ask that children attend for a minimum of 2 sessions per week as they don’t settle easily otherwise and if you would find it difficult to pay fees, we may be able to subsidise them and you would only pay for one of the sessions per week, working out at about £75 each half term. Please feel free to contact me in confidence if you think this might apply to you.
Other funding information can be found on the government’s Childcare & Early Years Education | Best Start in Life website – this includes details and links to apply for the extended entitlement for working families, help with costs if you are on Universal Credit and tax-free childcare. If you are looking at applying for either 2 year old funding (or 9-23 months funding) the government has issued a FAQ sheet which has answers to a lot of your questions and also links to apply. The main details of the funding available (and if relevant, from when) are shown below:
