At St James’ Cottage Nursery, we take pride in being a charity-run establishment, driven by our commitment to providing high-quality childcare while keeping fees as low as possible. Our mission is to create an inclusive and nurturing environment for your little ones.

No Top Up Fees! 

A one-off payment of £10 non-refundable registration fee for all new nursery starters, reserves the child’s place and covers the administration and initial costs.

Hourly rate £4.50 for 3-year-olds and above

Hourly rate £4.90 for 2-year-olds

Summer Holiday Club £35 daily rate  We are open for the first 2 weeks of the Summer Holiday Club.

 We also accept government funding for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds. To see if you qualify for 2-year-old funding or to find out more visit www.dorsetforyou.com/twoyearolds  or telephone 01305 221066.

Children who have reached `the term after their third birthday’ are automatically entitled to free entitlement vouchers amounting to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks per year. Starting in Dorset this April, children may be entitled to an extra 15 hours a week funded childcare. St James’ Cottage Nursery will be offering places for the extra funded hours, subject to availability. Parents will need to register their interest by visiting www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/30hours   Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) came into effect in April 2015 where childcare providers can claim an extra 53 pence per hour for funded 3 and 4-year-olds, forms will be given to parents to see if you qualify. You may use your free entitlement across a maximum of two providers. Please contact us and we will be more than happy to talk through your options.

We review our fee structure annually.

Employer Child Care Vouchers & Government Tax-Free Childcare

An increasing number of employers are offering these vouchers as part of their employee benefits package. A taxpayer can save about £1000 per year when the maximum value voucher is used. This is possible by the employer supplying vouchers to their employees and deducting the voucher amount from the employee’s gross pay before tax and NI are deducted.

In the first instance, you will need to speak to your employer to see if they run a scheme that you can join. If not then don’t despair as often employers wait to be asked before offering to start a scheme. A third-party company usually administers the vouchers.

The Government has started to roll out its new Tax-Free Childcare Scheme which parents can sign up to.  This will help parents pay for childcare, for every £8 a parent pays into the Childcare Account the Government will add an extra £2 to their account. Parents will then be able to pay for the nursery from this account. We at  St James’ Cottage Nursery have already signed up in readiness for this new scheme.

Notice & Terms

Cancellation Notice

• Short Notice Booking (up to 1 week in advance) 48 hours notice to cancel or transfer booking.

• Advanced bookings (more than 1 week in advance) 4 weeks’ notice to cancel or transfer or full payment in lieu of notice is required.

• Holiday Club cancellation 2 weeks’ notice to cancel or transfer booking. Please note the Cottage reserves the right to cancel Holiday Club up to 2 weeks prior to the start date due to insufficient numbers.

• Daily booking if you book a session and cancel it on the same day it is still chargeable.

• Sickness/illness any absence due to sickness/illness will still be charged.

• Holiday if you book holidays during term time any sessions will still be charged in order to retain your child’s place.

Fine / Penalty Notice

• Early drop off – We offer a choice of 3 morning, drop off times to accommodate parent’s needs, please ensure that you do not drop off your child more than 5 minutes before their booked session. This is to ensure fairness to parents who have paid for earlier sessions and to keep our ratios correct. If you do drop off before your booked time you will be charged for that session. Please note it is the time you enter the building, not the time you leave after dropping off.

• Late collection charges if a child is collected 10 minutes after their booked session ends parents will be fined £5 per child, and £5 for each subsequent half-hour.

• Late collection after 6 pm if a child is collected 10 minutes after 6 pm parents will be fined £20 per child.

• All of these charges are per child not 1 charge per family.

• Fees: Once fees are due please ensure that they are paid by the 14th of the month. Failure to do so will automatically incur a £10 charge for each week that it is outstanding. Returned cheques will also incur a £10 fine. Please refer to our late payment policy on the website. Our bank details are TSB Sort code 30-99-68 Account 23494860.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties please speak to the manager so that a payment plan can be arranged to avoid unnecessary late payment fines.