Dear Parents/Carer,

Hope you’re keeping safe and well in this time of unprecedented happenings?

Further to our earlier letter, we aim to keep you updated with the latest information as it concerns us.

Early Years Child Care

As we are all aware, the government has directed all schools, including Early Years providers such as ours, to close on Friday, 20th March. Furthermore, we received directives to remain open to provide care for children of key workers during this distressing period. The list was sent to you in earlier correspondence.

To this end, we have as a setting decided to remain open as some of you have requested our services. We will also be providing childcare for those who urgently need our services. This will be reviewed with regard to the number of children needing this service as things are constantly evolving.

Our assurance to you will be that we will continue to sanitise our environment as we have been doing. We know many of you will be anxious and worried but we want to reassure you that we will support you as best as we can in keeping our children safe.

In line with the current directive from the government, we kindly request that you please stay at home and call for the necessary government helpline 111 if:

(1) you or your child is feeling unwell with flu like symptoms, cough or fever

(2) you or your child have been mandatorily requested to self-quarantine,

Fees

Understandably, there has been a lot of questions about the fees. Our wish is that we charge you nothing during these challenging times but as with the concerns of all other small businesses as ours, this will not be sustainable because we also have bills, staff salaries, rents and other obligations to meet. Kindly note that it is not uncommon to pay fees in instances like this.

Even though our terms and conditions make it explicit that in the case of a Force Majeure – as this one being experienced –  the full fees are payable, our board of directors feel enforcing this provision would be unreasonable. We have proposed a fee structure that we believe is reasonable for all our parents/carers and also keeps us in business.

With our running costs in view, this is the proposed structure:

  • If you continue to use our service as normal, fees will be paid as normal.
  • If you decide to keep your child at home and you pay 100% of the fees, we will give a 50% discount for the first 3 months and 10% discount for the next 3 months when operations return to normal
  • If you pay 50% of the fees, there will be no discount when operations return to normal.
  • If there are circumstances that inhibit your ability to take either of these options, please call us directly and we would gladly work with you to soften the realities of this season we find ourselves.

One of these options have to be picked to keep your child’s space.

The government has stated its intention to cover some percentage of the salary as well as some financial assistance to small business. However, there has been no clear directives on how to access this and how long it will take. These grants would will help cover rents, bills and other overhead cost. We assure you that once we are able to access these, you will be updated.

Thank you for your understanding and your continuous support. We are confident that together we will overcome this challenging period.

In case you need further clarification and questions, please call us directly on 02087644115 (Mon- Fri) or email us on [email protected].

Kind regards,

Sherry, Nursery Director.