At Forest Village Kindergarten, we believe every child deserves the best possible start in life through high-quality early education and care.
This policy explains how government-funded childcare works within our setting and how we structure sessions to provide flexibility, value, and accessibility for families.
We are committed to making early education inclusive, supportive, and enjoyable for every child — from 9 months old to school age.
TYPES OF FUNDING ENTITLEMENT
Working Families Funding
Working Families Funding is for qualifying working parents with a child aged 9 months to 4 years old. A child will be entitled to 1140 funded hours a year from the term after they have attained the relevant age and the eligibility criteria, set by the government, has been met.
Parents must apply for and obtain an eligibility code. This eligibility code must be provided to us before the Early Years Funding can be claimed. The parent is responsible for re-validating the eligibility code every three months when reminded by HMRC. Failure to do so may result in the Working Families Funding being withdrawn. For more information and to apply for your eligibility code, please see here
Universal Three- and- Four-year-old Funding
All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 570 funded childcare hours a year. Eligibility is the term after the child’s 3rd birthday. Regulation requires us to validate a child’s age. Parents will need to provide evidence of a child’s birth date (normally a passport or birth certificate) and copies may be taken and retained as evidence of compliance. No eligibility code required.
2-year-old Funding for Families Receiving Additional Support
A child will be entitled to 570 funded hours a year from the term after both the child has attained the age of two and the child or parent meets the eligibility criteria. Eligibility is the term after the child’s 2nd birthday.
Where a child is in receipt of 2-year-old funding for families receiving additional support, they will continue to receive their funded place until the point when the child becomes eligible for the Universal Funding, even if the child or parent ceases to meet the eligibility criteria during this time.
Parents must apply for a 6 digit code from Merton council
As an ordinarily available provision, we provide support of everyday teaching and care. This includes adaptions to our rhythm, room set ups, variety of resources and pastoral support that meet a range of needs. These are not extras, but core elements of how we make our Kindergarten meaningful and accessible for all children, especially those with SEND. Our staff are trained to identify needs early and make thoughtful adjustments, so every child feels confident and supported.
Forest Village Kindergarten accesses the SEND inclusion fund provided by each local authority to support nurseries in meeting the needs of children with SEND. To access SEND funding, Forest Village Kindergarten will assess each child against the eligibility criteria and, if the child meets the criteria, a SEND funding form will be completed. Upon approval by the local authority, the funding will be paid directly to Forest Village Kindergarten.
Forest Village Kindergarten will use SEND Funding to support the child with any learning and developmental delay or special educational needs or disability by accessing specialist resource and equipment.
Disability Access Funding (DAF)
DAF is available to children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and Early Years Funding. Local authorities are responsible for checking that the DAF eligibility criteria are met. It is a one-off annual payment directly to the provider. If the child changes provider during the year, the DAF will remain with the original provider. If a child attends more than one provider, then the parent must allocate the DAF to one provider. This funding cannot be shared across more than one setting. Parents must complete the DAF section of the Parent Funding Agreement Form to nominate the setting they wish the funding to be allocated to, only if you put Forest Village Kindergarten in, we will enable us to claim DAF.
Forest Village Kindergarten will allocate DAF funding to implement reasonable adjustments and adaptations that ensure the child has equitable access to the provision, as well as to obtain resources that will be beneficial to the child. Expenditure will be determined according to the child’s needs and in consultation with the parents
The child must be in the receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). More details can be found here The Kindergarten is responsible for identifying eligible children and obtain a copy of the child’s DLA award letter.
EYPP Early Years Pupil Premium
EYPP is additional funding that providers can claim to help improve outcomes of eligible children. The local authority pays the EYPP directly to the provider.
EYPP is available to support children whose parents meet the eligibility criteria and are in receipt of Early Years Funding. Local authorities are responsible for checking that the EYPP eligibility criteria are met.
Eligibility criteria can be found here:
Forest Village Kindergarten is responsible for identifying eligible children and are encouraged to speak to parents of all children taking up the entitlements to check eligibility. Parents must complete the EYPP section of the Parent Funding Agreement Form to give their permission for an EYPP eligibility check to be performed by the LA and funding to be allocated.
EYPP funding for eligible children will be paid to Forest Village Kindergarten with their Headcount payment . Forest Village Kindergarten can receive EYPP funding (£570 a year) to support eligible children aged from 9 months – 4 years accessing a funded early education place.
EYPP is only payable for the first 15 hours used by children taking up the working parent entitlement. Children taking up more than 15 hours and splitting their entitlement between more than one provider, should indicate which provider they wish to receive the EYPP on the Parent Funding Agreement
Forest Village Kindergarten will plan EYPP spending based on consideration of well-evidenced approaches such as professional development for staff, extra services or on enhanced provision fee to make sure all children can benefit from our enriched curriculum.
PARENT FUNDING AGREEMENT FORMS
To access any funded entitlement, we must validate your child’s age.
Eligibility begins the term following your child’s birthday:
| Child’s Date of Birth | Becomes Eligible From |
|---|---|
| 1 April – 31 August | 1 September |
| 1 September – 31 December | 1 January |
| 1 January – 31 March | 1 April |
- A parental agreement form must be completed before your child starts using funded hours.
- Families seeking a working parent or the 2 year old funded place will also need to have a valid code to access a funded place.
- Working parent codes must be obtained the term before you want to take up a funded place.
- If a valid working parent code is obtained after the start of a term, it will not become active until the following term.
- Eligibility codes for 2 years old Funding for Families Receiving Additional Support can be obtained at any time as long as the child is age eligible can start a place at any time
Forest Village Kindergarten must keep the local authorities informed of child absences and the local authority has the right to recover funding payments made during periods of absences. Parents are responsible for paying Forest Village Kindergarten for any funding payments reclaimed by the local authority due to a child’s absence.
FUNDING ARANGEMENT AT FVK
Free Funding is paid for 38 weeks of the year (term time). At Forest Village Kindergarten we provide a stretched offer over 51 weeks, A total of 11.11hours (for 15 hours free funding) and 22.21 hours (for 30 hours free funding) can be claimed. We are open all year around apart from one week winter break and bank holidays. Please see our Calendar for more information on closure.
- Funding can be used Monday to Thursday, between 8:00am – 6:00pm and Friday from 8am to 1pm
- 15 hours entitlement: 11 hours 11 minutes per week
- 30 hours entitlement: 22 hours 21 minutes per week
- 15 hours entitlement Term time only: either 1.5 days or 3 half sessions (15 hours)
- 30 hours entitlement Term time only: 3 full days, 1 full day and 4 half days or 2 full days and 2 half days.
- Hours can be split between a maximum of two providers per day
- Additional hours can be booked and will be charged at our standard rate.
- Unused funded hours cannot be carried over to the next term.
- If a child’s funded session falls on a bank holiday (with the exception of the one/week Kindergarten closure in December) The Kindergarten will be closed and the funded hours can be substituted on another day within the same week (see Bank Holiday substitution for funded hours form). If family choose not to take up the alternative day offered, the funded hours can not be carried forward or transferred to another week or next term.
Limited term-time-only places are available, subject to availability.
Please contact the manager.
Invoices are issued monthly in advance, payable by the 1st of each month.
ENHANCED PROVISION FEE
Due to the distinctive nature of the Forest Village Kindergarten experience, we have an optional Enhanced Provision Fee (EPF) to help cover a range of essential costs not funded by the government. Activities such as our daily forest school outings, tailored forest school activities and gardening, seasonal events and celebrations, nutritious breakfast and child-friendly hot meals with organic ingredients, and fresh local fruit as well as everyday consumables like nappies, wipes, and sun cream, toothbrush and paste.
Alternative arrangements for chargeable extras are available for parents who cannot afford or receiving additional support from the government, which includes bringing your own meals and consumables into the Kindergarten and opt out of the extra curriculum activities. For more Information, see the breakdown of the optional/ additional charges :
| Description | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free entitlement hours – 11.11 hours (15 hrs) or 22.21 hours (30 hrs) per week. Stretched offer over 51 weeks | Weekly | Free |
| Free entitlement hours term time only 15 hours or 30 hours | Weekly | Free |
| Additional full day (0–3 years) | Daily | £95 |
| Additional half day (0–3 years) (5 hours 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm) | Daily | £50 |
| Additional full day (3–4 years) | Daily | £80 |
| Additional half day (3–4 years) (5 hours 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm) | Daily | £45 |
| Meals and snacks (organic breakfast, hot lunch, tea, organic fruit & vegetables; dietary alternatives available) 3 to 4 years | Daily | £5 |
| Meals and snacks (organic breakfast, hot lunch, tea, organic fruit & vegetables; dietary alternatives available) 0 to 3 years | Daily | £7 |
| Consumables (nappies, wipes, sacks, toothbrush, toothpaste, rash cream, sun cream) | Daily | £1 |
| Extra curriculum Activities and cultural (forest school outings, gardening, seasonal celebrations, baking & cooking, bilingual activities) | Ad hoc | £1 |