About Us

Yes, we require a booking for a nursery tour with a member of staff to accompany you, (usually the Manager or Deputy). We welcome visitors both existing and prospective parents. We avoid tours during drop-off and collection times, and during the lunch preparations between 12:00 and 14:00. Please visit our contact page for our link to enquiries and booking visits.

Please request, complete, and return the Registration Form along with the £100.00 registration fee and appropriate deposit. Currently £250.00 for a part-time space and £500.00 for a full-time space.

Yes, we have a comprehensive settling in process to ensure your child is fully relaxed and happy in their new environment. Our nursery registration fee entitles you to a program of 2 free settle visits. We schedule these in around the week before your child starts. The first one is for just one parent to stay for an hour and help us accustom your child to their new environment with a familiar adult. This will also be an opportunity to get to know their new Key Person and go through any questions together. The second one is where your child will stay on their own for a couple of hours. This is when you can go for a coffee or quick bit of shopping, whist they get to know their new Key Person. You can of course chose after these initial sessions to start on shorter days, but it is important to get your child used to you leaving as soon as possible, in order for them to settle quicker and easier. There will be separation anxiety for both the parent and the child, but delaying leaving your child will delay how long this period will last.

Our staff hold various childcare qualifications such as NNEB, Level 3 Childcare and Education, Level 2 or 3 in Children’s Learning & Development and in Playwork, BTEC in Nursery Nursing, First Aid, Child Protection, Designated Safeguarding, Equal Opportunities, Additional Educational Needs, Management training, Early Years Education degrees and graduate level Early Years Teacher qualifications. All staff have to carry out a DBS check and these are regularly checked and updated.

The current Ofsted recommended ratio in the baby room (under 2’s) is 1:3, and the toddler room (2-3 years) 1:5. The pre-school room is 1:8 or 1:13 with an Early Years Teacher. However, we often operate with a higher ratio of adults to children, which enables us to maintain our reputation of providing high-quality early years provision.

Nappies, wipes, formula milk (if required), a labelled daily water beaker, named spare clothes, a named sun or winter hat, labelled (age appropriate) sun cream (01 April - 31 August), named slippers or a pair of indoor shoes, toothpaste and toothbrush in a labelled bag and any other suitable clothing that may be required.

All of our meals are cooked fresh onsite by Denise, who holds a level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering and has intensive Food Allergy Awareness Training. To further insure that food items are not cross contaminated, food from home is forbidden as we follow a strict food policy, that also includes any edible items used in messy play. Children with a specific allergy will require a doctors note confirming their allergy, along with any recommended medical advice or supportive documentation, this is then used to form a Health Care Plan. Our children’s Health Care Plans are shared with all carers caring for the child and our nursery chef (if it is a dietary requirement). The Health Care Plans are updated every 3 months to ensure they are still relevant and hold the correct details. Children with dietary requirements will be provided with a red place-mat (with the child's photograph) at meal times, detailing their allergies as a visual reminder to all staff members.

Due to the high health & safety risk of bottle making for both the staff and children we do not prepare bottled feeds on site and require all parents/carers to bring in readymade bottle feeds. The nursery follows the “Food Standards Agency” Department for Health guidelines with regards to storing readymade bottles within the setting. Parents will be required to make their feeds up in advance for the nursery. The “Food Standards Agency” guidance recommends that all feeds are prepared on the same day that the child attends their setting (not the night before) to minimise any risk. The NHS guidelines state that you do not store the feed for more than 24 hours; therefore, all bottles brought into nursery will be discarded at the end of each day. It is the parent/carers’ responsibility to ensure that feeds are prepared fresh on the day or at the earliest after 6.00pm the evening prior to nursery attendance, keeping within the correct safe time frames. On arrival to nursery please make staff aware that there are bottles in the child’s bag so that these can immediately be placed in the refrigerators. The staff member will put labels on all bottles for identification before storing them.

England – Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): All nurseries registered with Ofsted must follow the EYFS. The EYFS covers children from 0-5 years and children complete the EYFS at the end of their reception year at school. The EYFS is a play-based curriculum as research tells us that this is the best way for children to learn. Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mixture of adult-led and child-initiated activity.

We aim to provide a safe, secure, and happy environment for children to prosper and develop. It is also our intention to give a high standard of care and nursery education in both our nurseries. We accept that despite our best endeavours, there may be occasions when you feel we have been less than perfect, and we will always adopt a sympathetic but fair approach in dealing with your concerns. Should you have any concerns regarding the care or any other aspect of the nursery, please in the first instance raise them with the nursery manager. If you feel that the nursery manager has not fully addressed your queries and/or concerns, then please e-mail info@edwardbears.com or call a member of our management team on 01285 654000. We do also like to hear when you are really happy so please tell us all the positives too!

Each child must be assigned a key person. Their role is to help ensure that every child’s care is tailored to meet their individual needs, to help the child become familiar with the setting.

All meals are freshly prepared by a full-time and qualified chef. We cater for all allergies, dietary requirements, vegetarians, vegan’s and cultural preferences. More information can be found on our meals page. We have received 5 stars at EVERY inspection for Food Safety and Hygiene See Menu file attached

Yes, we operate 50-weeks a year, only closing on public bank holidays, two staff training days a year and for two weeks at Christmas.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. We need to plan staffing needs according to children’s booking patterns and hence need to know in advance how many children will be attending each day. It is also not fair to parents who have paid for a flexi sessions to attend on a different day.

Extra sessions can be booked with the Nursery Manager, up to 4-weeks in advance. We will always try and accommodate extra session requests, but this will of course depend on how many children are already booked in for the required day. Payment for extra sessions is required in advance. They are slightly more expensive than regular sessions, as we may need to use agency staff to cover the unplanned sessions and they are available on a flexible basis. Flexis can be transferred with 48 hours’ notice but are not refundable once booked.

Booking pattern changes can be made with the Nursery Manager. We will always try and accommodate such requests, but this will of course depend on availability. This may impact your monthly fees. Any reduction to sessions requires the same notice periods as termination of a place. Please see the Nursey's full Terms & Conditions for notice periods.

Our nurseries are open 50 weeks a year, during which time full fees are payable. On Bank Holidays and over the Christmas period we are closed. We also close for our two staff Training Days. Fees are still payable during closures as we charge on a 50-week basis to compensate for closures.

Please read our full nursery Terms & Conditions for all notice periods, as these differ for funded and non-funded children. Funded children have specific cut off dates as the funding and payments are calculated per term.

When children attend a nursery they are surrounded by new germs, which takes time for the children to get used to. They may be ill more frequently as they settle into nursery life, but what this is actually doing, in most cases of common childhood illnesses, is strengthening your child's immune system to help fight off future, possibly more serious germs and infections. Of course there are some illnesses and infections that we have specific exclusion periods for, as we need to protect all of the children from battering their immune systems and some childhood diseases that may affect others, such as pregnant mothers. This means that we follow the Government requirements for certain infectious diseases to protect everyone that comes to or works at the setting. Below is our Edward Bears' Infection Control and Exclusion Periods and also the Government Poster with exclusion periods for Schools and Nurseries. Please see attached, "Guidance on infection control in schools and other childcare settings"

This is a very upsetting time for all involved and we will work with you to offer support, with our main focus on supporting the emotional well-being of your child. If your spouse has ‘parental responsibility’ then we cannot legally stop a parent from collecting/picking up their child, nor can we be prevented from sharing information about the child, such as development progress records with the other parent. We would need a court injunction before we could stop a spouse with parental responsibility from any of the above. If your spouse does not have parental responsibility then you can instruct us according to your wishes.

Monthly fees are based on the ‘daily fee rate’ multiplied by ‘number of days attended per week’ then multiplied by 50 weeks and then divided by 12 months, thus making the monthly fee the same each month, for easier budgeting and planning. If in the month of joining or leaving, your child does not attend for a full month, then the fees will be based on the number of days attended in the month at the current daily rate. Children on funding have their FREE hours deducted and only pay for the remaining hours that are not covered by their free entitlement, along with any other direct costs, such as meals that are not included in the free hours.

All invoices are raised monthly, with fees payable by the 1st of each month, for the month in advance. Your invoice will be emailed to you each month, usually 5-10 days before they are due.

We accept payments by the Famly App, BACS transfers, and via the government’s tax-free childcare scheme (TFC).

Yes, a healthy morning snack is provided with milk, followed by a two-course hot dinner, plus a further mid-afternoon snack with milk, before a light tea around 16:00... all included in our daily fee. If your child is in receipt of free entitlement the hours used for this does not include meals and refreshments and an additional charge is applied to your monthly invoices.

Yes, we increase fees accordingly every January. Your fees cover a wide range of expenses including staff wages, utilities, food, rates, rent or mortgage and the cost of updating equipment. A large percentage of fees go directly to staff salaries. The vast majority of nurseries work on very low margins, so when costs go up, most of us face little to no choice but to reflect this in our fees. Most of us will try to restrict how often we raise our fees and will always strive to give you plenty of warning in advance of any planned increases.

Yes, provided you give the appropriate notice as outlined in our Terms and Coniditions, plus your child has attended the nursery for a minimum of six months and your account is up to date with no outstanding balance.

No, we no longer accept childcare vouchers from providers. These were being phased out in 2018 due to the new Government Tax Free Childcare Scheme (TFC) We only accept this scheme.

The process for claiming is outlined in the Funding Brochure (found on the Terms & Conditions tab) You can register for both the Tax Free Childcare scheme and the 15 & 30 hours on the Government Website. The eligibility criteria is similar for both and it is explained in detail on their pages.

You can start using your entitlements the term after your child turns the relevant age to use it. The relevant age for the working parent entitlement is 9 months old. For the extended 30 hours entitlement, your child will need to be 3 years old. From September 2025 all children eligible for the working parent funding will be entitled to 30 hours. Please click on the link for the Funding Brochure (on the Terms & Conditions tab)

The Government funding covers a limited number of hours. This does not include other costs that enable us to offer all the wonderful, enhanced activities and meals that the Bear’s children love. The eligible funded hours of attendance are FREE. Our consumables charge covers snacks, meals, refreshments, and any extra curricular activities. This charge is necessary to be able to offer the funded hours at Bears. The Consumables cost is broken own as follows: Consumables break down per day based on 11.4 hours per week (15 stretched) 2-course, hot, fresh lunch cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £9.47 2-course, freshly prepared high tea cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £7.50 Snacks & refreshments prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £2.40 x2 £4.80 Total £21.77 per day (£2.17 per hour of attendance on Free hours) £24.82 per week, £103.40 per month (£413.60 per term) Consumables break down per day based on 20 hours per week (26.32 stretched) 2-course, hot, fresh lunch cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £9.47 2-course, freshly prepared high tea cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £7.50 Snacks & refreshments prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £2.40 x2 £4.80 Total £21.77 per day (£2.17 per hour of attendance on Free hours) £43.20 per week, £180.00 per month (£720.00 per term) Consumables break down per day based on 22.8 hours per week (30 stretched) 2-course, hot, fresh lunch cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £9.47 2-course, freshly prepared high tea cooked and prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £7.50 Snacks & refreshments prepared by a qualified chef, onsite £2.40 x2 £4.80 Total £21.77 per day (£2.17 per hour of attendance on Free hours) £49.63 per week, £206.80 per month (£827.20 per Term) Please note that the meals, snacks and refreshment costs include the employment of a qualified Chef, maintaining kitchen facilities to 5 Stars, allergy and food awareness training and the cost of preparing, cooking and supplying the healthy and nutritious ingredients from scratch.

In the event of any absences from the nursery, fees will be charged as usual as your child's space is booked out for the period on your contract to prevent overbooking. The costs associated with this block booking, such as staffing, remains in place and therefore the fees do not alter by any change to unplanned or short term non-attendance.

Ofsted deals only with complaints and queries in relation to welfare requirements and the quality of care children receive. Ofsted’s role is to regulate standards of care. Contracts are seen as a legal matter between the nursery and parent and are therefore not a matter for the regulatory body.

A contract is a legally binding document. Nurseries still have to pay staff, whether your child attends the setting or not. If you are unhappy with any element of your contract, you are invited to discuss it with our Management Team to receive a full explanation. If you have signed a contract and no longer agree with its conditions, we recommend that you should seek the relevant legal advice.