Registration, Bookings, Notice Periods and Fees

1. In the event of siblings attending the club at the same time, a sibling discount will be applied. In the scenario where two siblings attend the club a 15% sibling discount will be deducted from your eldest child’s fee for regular booked sessions for attendance at the same time. If more than two siblings attend the club a 25% sibling discount will be deducted from your eldest child’s fee, and 15% sibling discount from your second eldest’s fee. The remaining siblings pay full fees.
2. Sibling discount cannot be applied to ad hoc sessions or if payments are not made, and cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount or offer.
3. Fees include all meals, drinks, snacks and activities.
4. We reserve the right to adjust the fees to reflect increases in our costs of providing our services. We will give you no less than six weeks’ prior notice in writing of the fee increase.
5. All fees are charged monthly, in advance, and must be paid by Famly Pay, tax free childcare, bank transfer or voucher by or on the first day of the month to which they relate. We are unable to accept cash or cheques. Please reach out to our club managers if you have any questions regarding voucher acceptance and eligibility.
6. We do accept Child Care Grant (CCG) payments from universities to cover your club fees. However, you are still responsible for ensuring the monthly fee is settled if the Child Care Grant does not cover all or withdraws future payments.
7. Late payments are subject to a surcharge of 5% of the amount outstanding. Your child may be excluded from the club if your fees remain outstanding more than 14 days beyond the 1st of the month.
8. A charge for late collection will be made if your child is not collected before the end of their session time, at the rate of £5.00 for every 5-minute period. Payment of this late fee is required when invoiced.
9. Fees are payable during periods where your child is absent from the club, including sickness and holidays.
10. In the event of any additional closure days, out of our control, (eg: extra bank holidays) the fees will still be payable.
11. Fees are calculated on an actual basis, by multiplying the daily rate by the sessions they have booked for the month.
12. Extra sessions are charged at the usual session rate, and payment is required at the time of booking. A week’s notice is required to cancel additional booked sessions, failing to do so will result in full payment being taken.
13. If you wish to change or cancel ad hoc sessions, you must provide, in written communication, at least a two-weeknotice period. Failure to provide this notice will result in you still being liable to pay for the sessions you wish to change or cancel.
14. Six weeks’ written notice is required if you wish to cancel or reduce the number of regular sessions required and fees are payable throughout the notice period. Once a place at the club has been confirmed, the notice period applies, and fees are payable if there is any delay in taking up the place.
15. Attendance may not begin until your first month‘s fees are paid.

Safety & Wellbeing

16. If your child becomes unwell whilst in our care, we will contact you, or your emergency contact, detailed on the registration form. If senior staff feel the child is not well enough to remain at club, you may be asked to arrange collection of your child.
17. If your child is unwell, we ask that you contact the club to inform them of their absence. The club must be informed if your child is suffering from any contagious disease to ensure we can effectively communicate to all parents/carers any communicable diseases in the club. For the benefit of other children and staff, we ask that your child remain at home until they have returned to full health. A copy of our infectious disease policy is available on our parent zone or from the club.
18. We will work with you to cater for specific dietary and medical requirements of your child. You have a duty of care to notify the club in writing if there are changes to a special diet or medical condition so that we can ensure all paperwork is updated.
19. Any information communicated or advised to you by a medical professional must be shared with the club to ensure your child’s safety and health is suitable catered for.
20. We have a duty of care to ensure that any significant concerns about the children in our care are reported to the local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and, where appropriate, Ofsted. We may note any incident or acornearlyyears.org.uk observation of a child where we deem the child may have been, or may be in the future, at risk of harm or neglect. In exceptional cases this may be done without speaking to you until we have sought external advice.
21. In exceptional circumstances there may be an event that triggers the closure of the club that is out of our control. Such events include, without limitation, ‘acts of God’, fire, war, acts of terrorism, strikes or other industrial action, infectious diseases, and epidemics, and Acorn will not usually issue refunds for such forced closures.
22. Acorn will not tolerate, under any circumstances, behaviour towards staff which is deemed to be threatening, abusive or violent. Any such behaviour may result in termination of your child’s club place, or a refusal to allow the person back on the premises in the future.
23. We may suspend the provision of childcare if your child’s behaviour at the club endangers the safety and wellbeing of the other children or staff at the club. The suspension shall continue whilst we try and address these problems with you.
24. Acorn cannot take responsibility or liability for any services provided by our staff outside of our provision (such as babysitting). If you use any of our employees to provide services to you, you acknowledge and agree that this contract is kept entirely between yourselves and the individual, and in no way involves Acorn.

General

25. We expect all parents/carers to read and adhere to our policies and procedures regarding illness and absence, medication, dietary requirements, safeguarding children, security, behaviour, equal opportunities, complaints, among others. All relevant policies can be accessed at the setting or found on the ‘Parent Zone’ of our website: https://www.acornearlyyears.org.uk/Pages/Category/parent-zone
26. Acorn reserves the right to terminate your child’s place providing at least six weeks’ notice in writing, or immediately in the event of a breach of these T&Cs which (if remediable) has not been remedied within 14 days.
27. Acorn reserves the right to change any element of these T&Cs without notice where such a change arises from regulatory or legal requirements, or by providing reasonable notice for non-regulatory or statutory amendments.
28. Acorn does not accept responsibility for accidental injury or loss or damage of property. The club is not responsible for any items left by you at the club, including without limitation, bikes, scooters, car seats or clothing.
29. Our Privacy Notice can be found at: https://www.acornearlyyears.org.uk/Pages/Category/parent-zone

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