For registration, fees and further information, please do contact us.

We DO take the government funding and childcare vouchers.  Children become eligible at the start of the term following their third birthday. 1st September, 1st January, 1st April.
All children are eligible for the 15 hours funding the term following their third birthday.

Working families may be able to get up to 30 hours funded childcare, for 3 and 4 year old children.
Please feel free to contact us if you would like any further information about the 30 hours of funding.

To be eligible for the additional 15 hours funding you must meet the following criteria:

You, and any partner must each expect to earn (on average) the equivalent of working a minimum of 16 hours a week at your national minimum wage (£120 at the National Living Wage, less if you are on the National Minimum Wage)
If you, or your partner, are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or you’re unable to work because you are disabled or have caring responsibilities, you could still be eligible.
You can not get 30 hours free childcare if you and your partner expect to earn £100,000 or more, a combined total in excess of £200,000.

You may get asked for further information as part of your application, so apply well ahead of the start date for each term.

To keep your 30 hours funded childcare place you need to check your details are up to date every 3 months. You will receive reminders to do this.

To check if you are eligible for a 30 hours (full time) funded place please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk and then give the code to the Office Staff to secure your child’s place.

Hours and Prices

We offer the following sessions at Malthouse:
Breakfast Club: 8.00am – 9.00am (Thursdays only)
Early Drop Off: 8.30am – 9.00am
Mornings: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Mornings and lunch: 9.00am – 1.00pm (Lions only)
All day: 9.00am – 3.00pm
Afternoon Tea Club: 3.00pm – 4.00pm/5.00pm
Minimum number of booked sessions: 2 sessions across 2 days per week.

Session costs include Enhanced Early Years Provision Quality Charge (Malthouse Enrichment Package)

Please Note: If you attend 3 full days (9.00am – 3.00pm) and you are entitled to the 15 hours Funding and you would like to opt in to the MEP, the rate for your 3rd day will be as follows: £44.00
Additional Lunches: £12.50

Funded places are currently available for all opening hours, subject to availability
Malthouse Enrichment Package (MEP): The above fees include the cost of our Malthouse Enrichment Package.

All fees cover snacks and afternoon tea along with additional services and enhanced early years provision including all of the items and experiences listed in our Malthouse Enrichment Package (MEP), for example extra-curricular activities such as Jo Jingles, Sporty Stars, Forest School, forest explorer walks, nature discovery, gardening, yoga, learning journals (photo books), daily contact books, settling in sessions, nursery visitors and much much more. (Please scroll to bottom of this page for comprehensive list of what the MEP covers).

All activities and additional services listed in the MEP provided by Malthouse are offered to parents and their child’s participation in these activities is through parental choice and a willingness and understanding to meet the daily additional MEP charges made.

What is covered by Government funding?

The Government’s Statutory Guidance for Early Education and Childcare (effective from 1 April 2025)
states:

“A1.32 … Government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services…”

Funding for childcare is offered by the government so that all eligible children can access the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum free of charge. The EYFS curriculum includes:
• communication and language
• personal, social and emotional development
• physical development
• literacy • mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

Government funding covers basic Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision, which includes items such as:
• Play equipment and basic craft supplies
• A staffing level that meets minimum government ratio
Funding is provided for settings to offer a basic provision of the EYFS which meets the statutory requirements.

What is not covered by government funding?

As the government funding is there to cover the basic provision of EYFS, there are certain things that are excluded from funding. Examples of these are:
• Snacks, treats, birthday celebrations, emergency meals
• Nappies, wipes, suncreams, nappy sacks, disposal of nappies
• Additional high-quality resources such as sensory equipment, cooking supplies, seasonal art and creative supplies
• Extracurricular activities such as Forest School, Sporty Stars, Jo Jingles, Drama Tots, Therapy dog, Yoga
• Enhanced provision such as book bags and daily book loan, Malthouse app, Photo journals, contact books, daily group outings within Chalton Park

We strongly believe that early year’s education should be rich, engaging, and full of real-world experiences. To go beyond the basics and provide the quality of care and learning we are proud of, we offer an enhanced provision (MEP) – which costs more to deliver than government funding provides.

At Malthouse Nursery, we pride ourselves to be able to offer further opportunities above and beyond the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and these are covered by our ‘extra services charge’ (Malthouse Enrichment Package) These additional extras are embedded into everything we do, and it would not be possible without our families opting into this charge.

These additional extras are an optional cost and we understand that not all families will be able or willing to pay these. Where a family chooses to opt out of our additional extras we will endeavour to work with them to agree reasonable alternatives. Should you wish to opt out of our additional extras please contact Allie Thorne (malthousenursery@btconnect.com) to discuss and agree reasonable alternatives available.
We understand that family circumstances can change and families are able to change their additional extra packages or opt out at any time. We do however require one full half terms notice for any changes to the MEP, and these should be discussed with Allie to ensure reasonable alternatives are agreed. Please refer to our ‘unwilling to pay/opt out’ information below.

Additional extras and reasonable alternatives
From April 2025, government guidance requires nurseries offering funded places to clearly break down any charges for consumables and additional services or enhanced provision. At Malthouse, we have always been transparent about what we offer. Under the new legislation, we must provide transparency to parents and an option to ‘opt-out’ of consumables charges if the parent only wants to access the funded hours with no extra costs.

Your Choice:
Opt -out
Parents who opt out will receive:
• Access to the basic EYFS
• Their funded hours free of charge
However, opting out means:
• Parents must provide all snacks and drinks in line with our food policy
• Parents must supply their own consumables, including nappies, wipes, suncreams, spare clothes,
• Enhanced provision experiences will not be included
• Funded hours for opt-out families will be arranged based on availability. This will mean days and sessions may change from term to term, dependent on nursery availability
• All nappy and food waste will be bagged to take home
• No photograph journal, book bag or loan of books, contact book, access to nursery app, termly progress summaries, daily outings in Charlton Park
• An ‘opt out’ form will be included in your registration form

Your Choice:
Opt-in
Parents who opt-in will continue to receive:
• All morning and afternoon snacks, afternoon tea, fresh fruit, treats and celebration treats
• Consumables including, wipes, creams, sun cream
• Specialist learning experiences including chick hatching, outings in the park estate, gardening, cooking sessions, forest school (daily in the summer months), therapy dog, Drama Tots, Spanish, Sporty Stars, Jo Jingles, Yoga, Magic Dave, Maths Dave, private speech therapist and so much more
• Additional learning resources such as sensory equipment, baking supplies, seasonal art materials, school readiness and phonics programs
• Special events celebrations and parent stay and play open mornings, seasonal celebrations such as Easter, Christmas, School Leavers party, Christmas party
• Settling in sessions,
• Online App
• Learning journal photo book
• Contact books, termly progress summaries
• Malthouse book club (daily loan of books)
• High percentage of staff qualified in Early Years, all staff first aid and food hygiene
• One-to-one and small group time
• Nursery visitors including Farmer Robin, singers, musicians
• Preferential booking of preferred days/sessions

The Reality of Nursery Funding: An underfunded political problem

Many nurseries are choosing to stop offering funded places because government funding does not cover the true cost of quality early years education.

Historically, settings have covered this cost by charging for all the additional things they do, over and above a ‘basic provision.’

We have always covered the cost of our enhanced provision by making a daily charge called ‘Malthouse Enrichment Package.’ This has allowed us to provide our funded children with a rich curriculum full of learning opportunities and experiences.

At Malthouse, we want to continue offering funded places, but this is only possible if parents understand why we make a daily MEP charge and ‘opt -in’ to continue to pay it, as they have been doing since we opened.

Without this cost being met in this way, we may need to reduce the level of enrichment activities we provide or stop providing funded places in the future. We appreciate that our parents have opted to send their child to Malthouse as they want the full experience for them. Charging a daily MEP fee to parents accessing our enhanced provision will allow us to maintain the exceptional care and learning experiences we are known for.

Further information:

• 15 hours Universal ‘Free Entitlement Funding’ for 3 &4 year olds:

If your child is 3 & 4 years old, you can claim 15 hours ‘free’ childcare per week (known as Universal funding) for 38 weeks per year during nursery term time. All children become eligible for the ‘Universal Funding’ at the beginning of the term following their third birthday. Children are funded from the 1st September, 1st January or 1st April following their third birthday.

• 30 hours ‘Free childcare Funding’ for 9 month – 4 year olds:

If your Child is 12 months old, you may be able to claim 30 hours of ‘free childcare’ per week (known as ‘Working Parent Entitlement Funding) for 38 weeks per year, during nursery term time. Children become eligible for ‘free childcare funding’ at the beginning of the term following the child turning 9 months old. Children are funded from 1st September, 1st January, 1st April.
To find out if you are eligible to claim 15 hours of funding, please visit: httpps://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
To apply for 30 hours funding, please visit: httpps://www.gov.uk/apply-free-childcare-if-youre-working

• To claim your ‘free childcare funding’ all funding codes must be submitted to Malthouse along with your National Insurance Number and Date of birth before the funding deadline:

Funding Deadlines:
For use in Term 1A & 1B Sept – Dec: Codes must be submitted by 31st August.
For use in Term 2A and 2B Jan – Feb: Codes must be submitted by 31st December
For use in Term 3A and 3B April – July: Codes must be submitted by 31st March

• Malthouse is closed on Bank Holidays. No charges are made for Bank Holidays.
• We are sorry, but we do not refund for absences due to holiday, sickness or any other reason.

• A non-returnable registration fee of £65.00 is required when registering a place for your child at Malthouse. On receipt of your registration form and confirmation of sessions, an invoice will be issued for the registration fee. This should be paid within 14 days of the invoice issue date. Failure to make this payment will result in booked sessions being released.

• A non- returnable booking fee of £65.00 is required one full term prior to joining Malthouse. This is confirmation that you will be taking a place at the Malthouse. Once the booking fee has been paid, this confirms you will be liable to pay for the first half terms fees should you later decide not to attend. Malthouse personalised blanket, Malthouse top, Back pack, hoodie and book bag are all included within the booking fee.

• Should a place be booked within one full term of the joining date, the full amount of £130.00 (registration fee and booking fee) will be payable.

• Places may be booked without making payment of the registration and/or booking fee, however the availability of spaces will not be guaranteed and Back Packs, hoodies, blankets and book bags will not be provided.

• If you wish to withdraw your child form Malthouse, one full term’s notice must be given in writing. If written notice is not received, a full half terms payment must be paid. Notice must be received in writing prior to the first day of each term which commences in September, January and April. Please refer to our full terms and conditions for details.

• MEP fees are payable within 14 days from the issue date of the invoice unless otherwise stated. A charge of £10.00 per week will be made on any overdue MEP fees without prior arrangement. We reserve the right to exclude any child if payment has not been made for MEP where ‘opting in’ has been requested.

• A charge of £25.00 per invoice will be made in the event of MEP invoices remaining overdue after the end each half term/term without prior arrangement. We reserve the right to exclude any child if payment has not been made.

• MEP Fees remain subject to change on an annual basis.

• Late collection fees are charged when parents/ carers are late collecting their children and are automatically calculated and charged at the following rates:

• 12pm, 1pm, (lions) 3pm, and 4pm collections:
A surcharge of £5.00 for the first 15 minutes will be charged, followed by £10.00 per 15 minutes thereafter.
• 5pm collections:
A surcharge of £10 for the first 15 minutes will be charged, followed by £20.00 per 15 minutes thereafter.
• We regret that if parents drop their children off at nursery before 9.00am without prior arrangement, a surcharge of £5.00 will be made. This is to ensure it is fair to those families who are paying for early drop off.

• By joining Malthouse and ‘opting in’, you are agreeing to pay the above fees for our ‘Malthouse Enrichment Package’

• The above fees for morning and afternoon sessions cover snacks, extra-curricular activities, and daily outings within Charlton Park. Please refer to the Malthouse Enrichment Package breakdown below.

Malthouse Enrichment Package Breakdown

Your Malthouse Enrichment Package covers:

Additional Learning Activities

Sundries

Forest School Enrichment activities such as: trips, nursery visitors e.g. Jonathan Jungle, Magicians, Children’s entertainers Daily visits to the surrounding estate Gardening time and all resources Additional learning activities such as: Egg hatching, butterfly hatching Use of wet weather gear Loan of nursery books Loan of specialist books to parents Loan of story sacks Cooking activities Gardening activities Music sessions with Jo Jingles Therapy Dog Visits with Caroline and Pippa Drama Tots with Holly Sports activities with ‘Sporty Little Stars’ Yoga Language sessions including Italian, French and Spanish Workbooks and Phonics program Termly Progress summaries Malthouse files–a record of your child’s time with us Learning Journals – photograph books Copies of photographs Christmas Nativity Play Fun day’s – when all children are invited into nursery for special occasions Visits from Ice Cream Van Inflatable activities Malthouse Blossom App Private Speech Therapist Leaver’s gift and Summary report Home visits if requested

Snack – including individual dietary requirements Emergency lunch Summer and Christmas parties Supply of emergency nappies and clothes Wipes, creams and suncream Recognition of child’s birthday – birthday crown, sticker and cake Goodwill gifts throughout the year – Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter Treats throughout the year.