Terms & Conditions – Parent Agreement

Please refer to “Fees” for details of up to date fees.

When you book sessions at Building Blocks Day Nurseries, this is a contractual agreement between yourself and the nursery and fees are therefore payable in accordance with our terms and conditions from this point onwards. You will therefore need to give 8 weeks’ notice in writing if you wish to reduce your child’s hours, withdraw your child from the nursery, reduce your weekly funding claim or cancel your booking. The 8-week notice period begins from the date you register your child. If insufficient notice is given, normal fees / charges will be payable for the notice period.

To terminate the childcare provision prior to your child leaving for Reception at School, you are required to give the nursery 8-weeks written notice of your intention to leave or a months fees will be charged in lieu. You will lose your deposit by removing your child before the end of the Pre-School.

Any session changes or opt-out changes to original agreement can only take place from the start of the next term.

Fees for hours booked are fixed and are payable whether your child attends or not.

Invoices will be sent out by email at least one week in advance of the month for which the invoice is due. Please kindly note that all fees / charges are payable by the 30 of the month. In the case of a February month with 28 or 29 days, fees will be due on the 27^th of the month. Please ensure that we have an up-to-date email address for you.

Extra sessions are subject to availability. Please use the app to make additional booking that we will confirm. Extra sessions are usually available in the school holidays subject to availability.

Please note that some dietary preferences / requirements may incur a supplement.  Notice must be given in writing.

Any adjustments to your invoice such as extra hours will be invoiced separately on the following month’s invoice.

If a payment reminder letter is sent to you, you will incur a £10.00 charge plus an administration charge of £10 for each week for which the fees are late.

We may not accept a child at the nursery in the case of late payment.

We reserve the right to suspend your Child’s nursery space if your fees remain unpaid, 5 days after the due date.

We reserve the right to revoke your Child’s nursery space if your fees remain unpaid, 7 days after the due date.

We reserve the right to pursue outstanding fees through County Court recovery.

We regret that days off due to illness and holiday must be paid for as a place has been reserved for your child.

The nursery is closed over Christmas / New Year (please refer to our term dates) and you will not be charged for this period. Fees will be charged as normal for any other sessions missed due to holiday or illness, etc. Please notify the nursery of your holiday plans at least 4 weeks in advance.

The nursery is closed on bank holidays / public holidays. Fees will be charged as normal on bank holidays.

We make every effort to stay open and offer a full service to all our children and parents. If however, the directors and management decide that the nursery has to close for reasons beyond our control such as snow, ice, flood, power-cut, industrial action, major health & safety issues, etc, fees / charges will be payable for your contracted hours and no refunds will be due. In such cases, we will make every effort to minimise the closure period and to notify you in advance. Any change to this policy, is solely at the discretion of the nursery.

If your child is required to miss nursery on the advice of a doctor, medical professional, NHS Track, PHE or similar authority either due to illness or the requirement to self-isolate or the requirement of the nursery to close part or all of the nursery, fees will be charged as normal and no refunds will be due. Any change to this policy is solely at the discretion of the nursery.

If we determine, in our sole discretion (after appropriate and reasonable analysis) that reasonable adjustments cannot be made for a Child and as such cannot continue to adequately and safely provide for that Child (or admit them as the case may be), then we shall be permitted to request that you withdraw the Child without being charged fees in lieu of notice.

We reserve the right to terminate your Child’s nursery space if your child displays consistent signs of unacceptable behaviour or endangers the safety and well-being of another child or adult at the nursery.

Once you have registered with the nursery and booked a place, eight weeks’ notice in writing is required should you wish to withdraw your child from the Nursery or if you wish to reduce the number of sessions. If insufficient notice is given, you will be charged for your normal sessions during the notice period.

Fees will be reviewed annually. In addition, we reserve the right to review fees, etc at any time by giving 1 month’s notice.

Parent/Carer Conduct and Code of Conduct

Building Blocks Day Nurseries is committed to providing a safe, respectful, professional and welcoming environment for all children, families, employees and visitors.

As a condition of your child’s place at the nursery, all parents, carers and other persons associated with your child are expected to behave in a respectful, courteous and appropriate manner at all times and to comply with the Building Blocks Day Nurseries Parent Code of Conduct.

Respectful Communication

All communication with nursery employees, managers, directors and representatives must be respectful, courteous and appropriate, whether communication takes place:

• in person;
• by telephone;
• by email;
• through the Parent App or other electronic systems;
• by text message or social media; or
• through any other form of written or verbal communication.

We recognise that parents may occasionally have concerns, complaints or disagreements with decisions made by the nursery. Parents are entitled to raise concerns and make complaints, and doing so will not in itself be regarded as unacceptable conduct. However, concerns and complaints must be communicated appropriately and in accordance with the nursery’s policies and procedures.

Unacceptable Behaviour

Building Blocks Day Nurseries will not tolerate behaviour towards our employees, children, families, contractors or representatives which we reasonably consider to be abusive, aggressive, threatening, intimidating, discriminatory, harassing or otherwise inappropriate.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• shouting, swearing or using abusive, offensive or threatening language;
• aggressive, intimidating or confrontational behaviour;
• threats, whether expressed directly or implied;
• harassment, bullying or persistent unreasonable communication;
• discriminatory or derogatory comments;
• making inappropriate personal comments about members of staff;
• deliberately attempting to undermine, intimidate or humiliate an employee;
• repeatedly contacting multiple members of staff about the same matter after an appropriate point of contact has been provided;
• making malicious or knowingly false allegations about the nursery, its employees or other families;
• inappropriate behaviour towards another child or family attending the nursery;
• recording employees, children or conversations without appropriate permission where doing so would breach privacy, confidentiality or applicable law;
• publishing or sharing confidential, abusive, threatening, defamatory or inappropriate material concerning nursery employees, children or families through social media, messaging services or other public platforms; and
• behaviour which causes, or is reasonably likely to cause, an employee, child, parent or visitor to feel threatened, intimidated, harassed or unsafe.

These standards apply not only on nursery premises but also during nursery events, outings, performances, meetings and activities held at external venues, and in communications relating to the nursery.

Responsibility for Other Persons

Parents and carers are responsible for ensuring that any person they authorise to drop off, collect or otherwise attend the nursery in connection with their child is aware of and complies with the standards of behaviour contained within these Terms and Conditions and the Parent Code of Conduct.

Where appropriate, restrictions may be applied to a particular individual rather than to the child’s parents or carers generally.

Breaches of the Parent Code of Conduct

Where we consider that these standards or the Parent Code of Conduct have been breached, Building Blocks Day Nurseries reserves the right to take reasonable and proportionate action having regard to the nature, seriousness and frequency of the behaviour.

Depending upon the circumstances, this may include:

• discussing the concern informally with the parent or carer;
• issuing a written warning;
• requiring future communication to take place in writing;
• requiring communication to be directed through a nominated member of the management team;
• limiting or restricting direct communication with individual members of staff;
• requiring drop-off and/or collection arrangements to take place at an agreed location;
• restricting or refusing a particular person’s access to nursery premises;
• restricting attendance at nursery events, activities or external venues used by the nursery; or
• terminating the childcare agreement and withdrawing the child’s nursery place.

We are not required to apply these measures in the order listed above. The action taken will depend upon the individual circumstances and seriousness of the matter.

Serious Incidents

Where behaviour is considered sufficiently serious, including violence, threats of violence, serious intimidation, harassment, abusive behaviour, behaviour presenting a safeguarding concern, or conduct which places or may place a child, employee or other person at risk, Building Blocks Day Nurseries reserves the right to take immediate action without first issuing a warning.

This may include immediately requiring an individual to leave or not enter nursery premises, restricting that individual’s contact with nursery employees, restricting attendance at nursery events or external venues, and/or terminating the childcare agreement.

Where appropriate, the nursery may also report incidents to the police, Local Authority, safeguarding partners or other relevant authorities.

Termination of a Nursery Place

Serious or repeated breaches of these Terms and Conditions or the Parent Code of Conduct may result in termination of the childcare agreement.

Where it is reasonable and appropriate to do so, notice will be provided. However, Building Blocks Day Nurseries reserves the right to terminate the childcare agreement with immediate effect where, having considered the circumstances, we reasonably determine that continuation of the childcare arrangement would present an unacceptable safeguarding, safety or welfare risk, or where there has been a sufficiently serious breakdown in the relationship of trust and confidence necessary for the nursery to provide childcare safely and effectively.

Any outstanding fees or charges incurred up to the termination date will remain payable in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

Parent Code of Conduct

The Building Blocks Day Nurseries Parent Code of Conduct forms part of these Terms and Conditions. By accepting a nursery place and entering into this Parent Agreement, parents and carers agree to comply with the Parent Code of Conduct, as updated by the nursery from time to time.

A copy of the current Parent Code of Conduct will be made available to parents and carers upon request and/or through the nursery’s usual parent communication channels.