Your Journey With Us
First Steps
Register your interest and visit us
Begin your child’s journey by filling the online contact form or giving us a call for a friendly chat. Once we have your details, we can guide you through the next steps and send over our brochure. You’ll be able to book a visit to meet our team, take a tour of the nursery, and get a feel for the care and education we offer.
We’d love to welcome you and answer any questions you may have.
Inclusion
We operate an inclusion and SEND policy that ensures all children have access to nursery places and services irrespective of their gender, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation of parents by making reasonable adjustments.
Confirm Your Place
When you’re ready to join us, we’ll discuss the options available and gather a few more details to understand your needs.
Your child’s place is secured once you’ve chosen the right package for you, agreed sessions and any costs that maybe applicable.
We’re also here to help you navigate Government-funded early education support, which offers amazing opportunities for parents and children across the UK. If you have any questions about funding, just reach out to us —we’ll guide you every step of the way.
Start the next chapter
You’ll get access to our Tapestry app, where you can share important information about your child, keep in touch with us easily, and enjoy updates from their nursery day. We will be in contact to arrange your settling in sessions before the agreed start date.
We can’t wait to welcome you and your little one!
Settling In Process
Starting nursery can be a daunting experience, and every child settles in at their own pace. And that’s absolutely fine! In fact, it’s expected and your little one’s first few days and weeks at nursery are planned with transition in mind.
Our settling in process focuses on making sure that children are safe, secure and happy in our nursery. This focus extends to parents too. From the very start of your journey with us you’ll be part of the Westwards family, and around 2-4 weeks before your child begins their early years learning, we’ll invite them to some settling in sessions.
To support this transition to nursery we require parents to stay with your child for the first 2 settling in sessions, as they begin to explore the nursery environment and meet the staff and other children.
During this period, they’ll also meet their keyperson, who’ll support them and monitor their progress as they develop and grow, as well as flag any issues they might experience. This is an important time for the team to get to know your little one and for you to be able to provide all the essential information to settle your child into nursery life.
This relationship will be the foundation on which your child’s nursery experience is built, and their keyperson will develop an in-depth understanding of their unique approach to the world—from our ‘All About Me’ we build a picture of likes and dislikes, to how they prefer to be comforted when upset or overwhelmed.
We know your child is ready to take that promising first step and begin their story with us when our nursery, team members and your child’s key person become familiar to them, and they start to engage with other children in activities.
Our Settling-In-Package Fee is £100 and this will secure your child’s place once you have chosen the right package for you.
Fees & Funding
Our Flexible Approach
The Government provides funded childcare during 38 weeks of the year (term time), which equals 570 hours annually for the 15-hour entitlement and 1,140 hours annually for the 30-hour entitlement. While this model suits schools and term-time nurseries, it does not always meet the needs of working families who require year-round childcare.
At Westwards, we have designed our provision to better support working parents by stretching funded hours across 51 weeks of the year. This means:
- 15 funded hours = approximately 11.17 hours per week
- 30 funded hours = approximately 22.35 hours per week
We also reserve a limited number of term-time-only places for teaching staff. Before confirming a place, we will discuss all available options with you to ensure we can meet your needs.
Before confirming a place, we will always talk through the available options with you to ensure they best suit your family’s needs.
What Government Funding Covers
Government funding supports the delivery of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum. Our extracurricular programme enhances learning beyond the basic requirement of the EYFS, supporting children’s social, emotional, physical, and cultural development.
Our enhanced activities include arts and crafts, messy play, music and movement classes, baking club, outdoor learning, mindful wellbeing, forest school learning and lots of opportunities to explore the local area on trips out. Our extensive celebrations and events calendar throughout the year help to build children’s knowledge of the wider world. We also host regular parent partnership events, bringing families into nursery life throughout the year.
Funding does not cover additional costs such as:
- Meals and snacks
- Drinks
- Health and hygiene items
- Consumables
- Enrichment activities and extracurricular experiences
- Forest school learning
- Special events and celebrations
For sessions covered by funded hours, these items are supported through optional charges.
Our Packages
Package One: Our All-Inclusive Experience
Our most popular option, Package One, offers the full Westwxxards experience. It is designed to support your child’s development, wellbeing, and daily enjoyment while offering convenience for families.
This package includes modest daily charges to cover:
- Nutritious meals and snacks
- Learning consumables for enriched and extracurricular activities
- Our all-inclusive Package 1 includes four one-hour settling-in sessions, along with all the required administrative setup.
These experiences support children’s social, emotional, and cultural development, creating meaningful learning opportunities beyond the core curriculum.
Costs vary by age group to reflect the different resources and activities accessed.
Package Two: Fully Funded Option
For families who do not wish to join the all-inclusive package, we offer Package Two, which provides a fully funded place during term-time afternoon sessions, subject to availability.
Families choosing this option may provide their own food, in line with our pack-lunch policy.
The settling in process is built into the sessions.
Please note: Participation in Package One is not a condition of accessing a funded place.
Fair Access for All Families
We are committed to inclusion and accessibility. Additional consideration is given to children eligible for:
- Disadvantaged 2-Year-Old Funding
- Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
This ensures that access to funded childcare is not limited by a family’s ability to pay.
Our Fees
Invoices are emailed out at the end of each month and need to be paid by the 10th of the month. We offer a variety of sessions from 6 hours for babies to a full day of 10 hours. Our care package and fees are reviewed every April and are subject to change.
Parents will receive at least 28 days’ notice of any increase via letter or email.
Please speak to us for more information.
Non Funded Sessions (As of April 2025)
Minimum of 2 day attendance required.
Sessions available (07:30am – 5.30pm)
| Sessions | Day Rate |
|---|---|
|
9 hour day |
£72 |
|
9.5 hour day |
£74.16 |
|
10 hour day |
£75.60 |
|
Hourly Rate for extra hours |
£10.50 |
Monthly Full Time Fees (10 hour day); £1,280 (15% discount)
Optional additional Costs for Funded Sessions (As of April 2025)
Package 1; Additional charges for opting into full care package, using funded hours T/T or AYR.
Charges applied per session over 38 weeks (T/T) or 51 weeks (AYR);
- Breakfast club: £1.25
- Daily Food 9am – 5.30pm; £10
- Consumables and extra-curricular per session:
- Under 2 years: £7
- Under 3 years: £9
- Over 3 years: £14
Package 2; No additional charges for opting into a fully funded Term Time space available 1 – 5pm.
Must adhere to pack lunch policy. Limited availability.