30 Hour Free Childcare Entitlement
From September 2017 Drapers Mills will be offering 30 Hours Free childcare. The sessions will be 9.00am to 3.00pm. Parents will have the option to pay for sessions outside these hours if needed. Please contact Mrs Arnold for further details.
30 hour FREE childcare entitlement
But the first thing you need to know is that this is 30 hours free for only 38 weeks per year – not 52 weeks of the year. It’s basically equivalent to school term times so fits in perfectly with Drapers Mills Primary School and Little Millers Nursery. Not everyone is eligible. But everyone will still receive the 15 hours free childcare that is currently available.
Eligibility rules for 30 hours free childcare:
It depends on your age. For this scheme, the minimum amount will always reflect the lowest hourly rate that a person of your age can legally be paid. Therefore, currently for a parent aged 21-24, you’d need to earn a weekly average of at least £111.20. For a parent aged 25+, you’d need to earn a weekly average of at least £115.20.
This is basically a scheme to help working parents, so families where one parent doesn’t work, or both parents don’t work, will usually not be eligible for these additional 15 hours.
However, if one parent isn’t working because they’re an official carer (eg receiving benefits relating to being a carer) or they are receiving disability benefits, and the other parent is working, then the Government has stated it “intends to make provision” to support these families.
There is also additional entitlement if the parent normally works but is temporarily away from the workplace, for example on statutory sick pay.
You will be eligible if you (or both of you in a couple) earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Minimum Wage.
There will be a short “grace period” – although this hasn’t yet been defined – allowing parents to have a chance to find new employment.
You’ll be able to apply for both the 30-hour scheme and the Tax-Free Childcare scheme through a joint online application being developed by HMRC. This is because the eligibility requirements for both schemes are aligned.
Currently, 3 and 4 year old children are eligible for 570 hours of childcare a year – which is usually broken down to 15 hours each week over 38 weeks of the year . This covers:
Depending on income levels, some 2 year olds in England can get free early education and childcare. In order to get claim, you must be getting one of the following:
In the news 22.03.2017 : the government has today published eligibility criteria for parents interested in the 30 hour offer, as well as their new website ‘Childcare Choices’ which aims to help parents understand what support is available for their childcare needs, including information on Tax Free Childcare and the 30 hour offer.
You can view the eligibility information for the 30 hours here: https://www.gov.uk/…/30_hours_free_childcare_eligibility.pdf
And the childcare choices website is here: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Speaking about the launch of Tax Free Childcare, and the new childcare choices website, Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch said:
“While any help for families struggling with the cost of childcare is to be welcomed, we remain concerned that the tax-free childcare scheme will be of limited help to those most in need.
Not only it is a regressive initiative – the more money you can afford to save, the more help you get from government – but it also fails to address the root cause of rising childcare costs: insufficient funding.
The government continues to claim that tax-free childcare and the 30-hour offer will save parents in England thousands of pounds each year, but without adequate investment into the early years sector, what we are actually likely to see is a rise in childcare fees as some providers look for ways to plug the growing funding gap, and a loss in places as others opt out of the free entitlement due to insufficient funding.
If the government is going to keep the promise that it made to parents in its manifesto, it simply must invest what’s needed to ensure that these childcare policies can succeed in the long term.”
At Little Millers we accept children from the term of their third birthday. We offer 5 mornings or 5 afternoons a week completely free of charge as part of the Government Funding Scheme! Alternatively, you can purchase extra sessions as we offer full day care from 8:30 - 3:15.
For more details about when your child could start with us or to put your name on our waiting list please contact us on 01843 223989.
Your child is born between: | They are eligible to start for free from: |
---|---|
1st August and 31st December 2014 | September 2017 |
1st January and 31st March 2015 | January 2018 |
31st March 31st July 2015 | April 2018 |
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Forest, Forest, Forest School, lots of fun and loads to do !
We are all very excited about starting our forest school sessions. Forest school is a fantastic outdoor experience that takes place in the woods. Forest school encourages confidence, self esteem and resilience challenges thinking and develops communication and language skills. This was definitely evident from our first trip, imagine what the children will be like in a few weeks time...
Term 5 - Pets and Animals
Pets and animals, we have started to learn about the different names of pets and animals there are. Together we have made a pet shop with a kennel for a dog, a basket for a cat and a tough tray world for smaller animals. We have also been talking about and drawing our pets and attempting to write their names. Furthermore, we have noticed the changes in the seasons when we are outdoor learning, that we don't always needs to wear a coat and that flowers have started to grow in the garden and they need lots of watering because it’s been so hot.
Term 3's Interest is People who help us and Traditional stories.
This term we have been learning about and discussing what people help us. The children came up with many answers such as firefighter, police officers, doctors and nurses and teachers! The Nursery children have been very excited about this topic and have helped create a doctors surgery and a fire engine where the role play has been so rich and the children's knowledge of what these people do has been amazing. We have had a real fire engine come and visit us too. We were able to sit in the cab, watch the firefighter rescue Mr Phonic Fox, squirt the fire hose and hear the siren. Pictures to follow.
We have also been exploring traditional stories, the children's recall of the story of the Three Little Pigs is excellent. They have been making pig and wolf masks to support role play, they have been challenged to build the best house from straw, sticks or bricks, and enjoyed cooking some piggy pizza faces. So much learning going on!
Term 2
This term we been learning about the cold, ice and seasons changing. We learnt a lot about what happens in the world around us when Autumn arrives. We have read and learnt from activities related to information books about seasons, "Owl Babies" and "Peace at Last". In these books we have explored animals related to Autumn and nocturnal animals. We have made owl collages and pine cones, hand-print hedgehogs and leaf storms playing parachute games.
Now Christmas is coming and we have some very exciting times and things to do!