Fees & finance

Non-refundable Application Fee
£45 to be submitted with your application form.

Each family is required to pay a £1000 deposit on accepting a place for their child. This is refunded when your child leaves the kindergarten provided all fees have been paid in full and a term’s notice has been given.

  • 4 full days (24 hours): £8,866 per year
  • 3 full days one morning (22 hours): £8,128 per year
  • 2 full days 2 mornings (20 hours): £7,389 per year
  • 1 full day 3 mornings (18 hours):  £6,651 per year
  • 3 full days (18 hours):  £6,651 per year
  • 2 full days 1 morning (16 hours): £6,159 per year
  • 4 mornings (16 hours): £6,159 per year
  • 1 full day 2 mornings (14 hours): £5,390 per year
  • 3 mornings (12 hours): £4,620 per year

Fees are invoiced at the beginning of each term, but the amount per term varies depending on the number of weeks we are open per term (usually 13 weeks during the autumn term, and 10 or 11 weeks during the spring and summer terms).

A full day runs from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm (6 hours) and a morning runs from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm (4 hours).

Part-time places are offered to 3-year olds only. Once a child has turned 4 they are expected to attend a minimum of 18 hours a week.

All fees are due one week before the start of term or per the date on the invoice.

Payment can be made by direct bank transfer to: 

Triodos Bank
Sort Code:           16-58-10
Account No.:       02939600
Account name:   The Children’s Garden

Parents can either pay in full before the beginning of each term or by monthly standing order with payments due by the 6th of each month.

Payment by standing order needs to commence one month ahead of each term, namely in August for the autumn term, in December for the spring term and in April for the summer term. Due dates for each instalment will be sent out with your invoice.

All parents have the option of paying through their employer’s childcare voucher scheme. Payments in this case are made monthly and should reach us at the same time as payments by standing order as indicated on your invoice.

The Children’s Garden is currently registered with Accor, Busy Bees, Care-4, Edenred, Fair Care, Fideliti, KiddiVouchers, Computershare and Allsave, but happy to register with further schemes in the event your employer is signed up with a different scheme provider.

The kindergarten reserves the right to refuse acceptance of payment by childcare vouchers in the event that payments are persistently late or below the required amount.

The kindergarten is also registered with the Government’s Tax-Free Childcare scheme.  We are listed on the Government website under “The Children’s Garden, TW107QW”

It is essential for the smooth running of the kindergarten that fee payments reach us on time. Payments that are more than two weeks overdue incur a 2.5% late payment charge and in the event your payment is more than four weeks overdue a 5% charge will be added to your bill.

All 3- and 4-year-olds are entitled to the universal Early Education Funding. The amount is paid directly to the kindergarten by the Local Education Authority and parents will be charged for extra hours only. The entitlement is given in the term following the child turning 3. Children who qualify for the funding will receive free basic nursery care for up to 15 hours. Children on part-time places will receive the funding on a pro rata basis.

We currently offer one fully funded place for 3 mornings per week (= 12 hours). All children can join the waiting list for the fully funded place. Please refer to our Admissions Policy for further criteria.

We require one term’s notice if a child is leaving, otherwise a full term’s fees will be charged and the deposit retained. If less than a term’s notice is given when a child leaves and another child takes the place of the child leaving then just the deposit will be retained. However, if the place is only taken on a part-time basis, the difference in fees will still be charged to the parents of the child leaving. In the event of a parent being asked to remove a child, one term’s notice will be given by the kindergarten.