Our offer
‘Excellent personalised early childhood education for every child’
Chelwood Nursery School offers places to children aged between 2 and 5 years of age on either a part time or full-time basis. We are a local authority maintained nursery school and places are offered to different age groups using different criteria.
Our two-year-olds are welcomed into our Garden room and Yellow Class provision, which are carefully designed to support the developmental needs of younger children. As they develop in confidence, they will gradually explore our wider school learning environment, supported by their ‘key person’.
Our offer to two-year-olds is 15 or 30 hours per week.
15 hours (AM or PM) – for families eligible for Lewisham Council early years funding. This funding is given to those on lower incomes and certain benefits. It is also sometimes given to children who have an EHCP plan, receive Disability Living Allowance, are looked after by the local authority or who are in other types of care. To find out more and check your eligibility to receive 2 year old free funding follow this link:
https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds-extra-support
30 hours (full day) – for families with a working parents eligibility code. To find our more and check your eligibility for working families follow this link:
https://www.gov.uk/free-childcare-if-working
The timings or 15 and 30 hour sessions are:
Mornings: 09:00am – 11:45am
Afternoons: 12:30pm – 3:30pm
Fulltime: 09:00 – 3:30pm (Mon-Thurs), 09:00 – 1:00pm (Fri)
Paid 2 year old places
We also offer a small number of paid 2 year old places. These are offered in accordance with our admissions policy. The cost of these places is based on our hourly rate, which is currently £14 per hour. Therefore a 15 hour paid place will be £210per week and a 30 hour place will be £420 per week. For more information about funded places, please visit our ‘Paid places’ page.
Our offer is based around the government’s free 15 and 30 hour funding for three and four-year- olds, with parents able to pay for ‘additional’ hours over and above those free hours provided by the government.
All three and four year olds are entitled to 15 hours free “Universal’ childcare a year the term after they turn 3. In addition to this working parents may be entitled to a further 15 hours “extended’ childcare if they are working and meet the eligibility criteria. For further information about eligibility and to apply visit www.gov.uk/30hours-free-childcare.
15 hours offer for 3 & 4 year olds
We offer 15 hours as either 5 mornings (9:00 – 12:00) or 5 afternoons per week (12:30 – 15:30) across five days (Monday – Friday) and we are not able to mix mornings and afternoons. We also offer a very small number of 15 hour places across 2.5 days (Mon-Wed or Wed-Fri).
30 hour offer for 3 & 4 year olds
Our 30 hours is offered as 9:00 – 15:30 Monday to Thursday and 9:00 – 13:00 on a Friday. Parents are then able to extend their child’s place to 3:30 on a Friday with ‘paid hours’ currently charged at £35 (1:00-3:30pm)..
Children in a full-time place are offered a two-course hot dinner (currently charged at £3.55per day) as part of their provision. The governments 30-hour funding does not cover the cost of lunches which will need to be paid for separately via our Arbor App. We do not allow children to bring their own lunches due to the fact that we have children with severe allergies.
For parents who are not eligible for the governments free 30 hours, but who wish their child to be full time, there is a option to pay for additional hours over and above the free 15 hours provided by the government. An additional 15 hours per week is charged currently charged at £210 per week.
‘Rising 3 are children who are registered pupils at a school and have not reached the age of three, but their birthday falls on or after 1st September but before 31st December of the Autumn term.
Eligibility for the governments universal free 15 hours funding does not start until the term after their 3rd birthday, so rising 3 places are offered on the understanding that families will use a working parents code, or pay for the first term, before the government 15 universal free funding starts in the January.
A Rising 3 child’s place for the first Autumn term would need to be funded as follows:
– a working parents eligibilty code
– a paid 15 hour place at £210 per week
– a paid 30 hour place at £420 per week
For more information about our fees, visit Funding and paid places.
