Funding And Registration

Funding

Funding (Free Education Entitlement) available for children between 3+ to 5 years.

You may take your 15 funded hours, morning afternoon or all day and incorporate lunch into the morning session. Opening hours are:

08.30am until 16.00pm
Sessions 08.45am - 12.15pm
12.15pm - 13.15pm lunch hour
12.15pm - 15.45pm (lunch hour included)

Free for 2 funding

Please enquire if you think you may be able to access this funding. If you are eligible for free for 2 funding the above sessions apply.

Registration

There is a £25 registration fee for non funded children to be paid with the completed registration form. This fee is to cover all administration and settling in costs and may be paid in instalments in the case of hardship.

Free Early Education fee structure is offered to our eligible funded children as follows

Free Early Education (FEE) is automatically available from Kent County Council (KCC) for all 3 year olds from the beginning of the Spring, Summer or Autumn term after a child's third birthday. Children are eligible for up to 15 hours free per week for a total of 38 weeks each year. Curious Explorers offer funding flexibly, which means that the first 15 hours attended per week by eligible children are free (*pm sessions only for Bromstone). If you are claiming the full 15 hours for your child, these must be taken over 2 days or more. Our hourly fee still applies for children born after the cut-off date for funding and children attending for more than 15 hours per week.

Some working families may also be eligible for the extended 30 hours funding and we offer a limited number of places for this. To find out if you are eligible for the extended 30 hours funding or any other help with childcare costs, please go to: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

Free Early Education (FEE) may also be available from KCC for some two year olds, depending on a family's circumstances. For further information please contact Kent Children and Families Information Service on 03000 41 23 23, or your local Children's Centre or go to: www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/childcare-and-pre-school/free-childcare<.p>

**The Local Authority (KCC) states that the entitlement to Free Early Education does not guarantee an offer of a place at any one provider or a particular pattern of provision.

Please see below for the term in your child becomes eligible for funding.

A child born between 1st April to 31st August will be eligible to claim the free entitlement funding from the start of Term 1 following their third birthday (after the Summer holiday).
A child born between 1st September to 31st December will be eligible to claim the free entitlement funding from the start of Term 3 following their third birthday (after the Christmas/New Year holiday).
A child born between 1st January to 31 March will be eligible to claim the free entitlement funding from the start of Term 5 following their third birthday (after the April holiday).