1. Inquire & Visit:

Get in touch to ask questions or, ideally, schedule a visit. Seeing our prepared indoor environment and learning about our outdoor adventures helps you get a feel for our unique setting. You'll meet our team and see the children happily engaged.

2. Complete the Registration Form:

If you decide The Mulberry Bush Mersea is the right place for your family, please complete our detailed Registration Form. This provides essential information about your child, their needs, and your required sessions. Please note this form, alongside our policies, forms our agreement.

3. Offer & Acceptance (Including Deposit):

Once we receive your form, we'll review availability based on our Admissions Policy criteria (see below). If a place is available, we'll send you a formal Offer Letter detailing the sessions and proposed start date.

To accept the place, please return the signed Offer Letter within one month (unless otherwise agreed).

Deposit: A deposit is required to secure the booking if your place includes any paid hours (hours beyond funding) or if you are using our Additional Services package alongside funded hours. This deposit confirms the booking for the chargeable parts of attendance and will be credited against your first invoice. The deposit is not required for places accessing only government-funded hours where the parent has chosen to opt-out of the Additional Services Charge.

4. Settling-In Sessions:

Before your child's official start date, we'll work closely with you to arrange settling-in sessions. These help your child (and you!) become familiar and comfortable with our team, routines, and environments, ensuring a smooth and happy transition.

Our Approach:

Fees are calculated annually across the 50 weeks we are open and divided into equal monthly payments for consistency. Fees are payable monthly in advance by the 1st working day of the month.

Session Options:

We offer several session types:

• Nursery Day: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm (7 hours)
• Full Day: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (9 hours)
• Extended Day: 7:00 am - 6:00 pm (11 hours)

Unfunded / Privately Paid Hours:

Hours outside of government funding are charged at our standard rate (this rate is all-inclusive of our additional services).

Funded Early Education Entitlement (FEEE):

We proudly offer funded places for eligible children aged 9 months+, 2 years, and 3 & 4 years old (subject to government eligibility criteria and rollout dates).

Funding (15 or 30 hours/week based on eligibility) is provided for 38 weeks per year; we stretch this funding over the 50 weeks we are open for consistent attendance (e.g., 30 hours stretched = 22.8 funded hours/week).

Important: We require a minimum booking of two sessions per week for funded places. Parents must claim their full entitlement exclusively with The Mulberry Bush Mersea – we do not permit splitting funded hours with other providers.

You must apply for eligibility codes via the government's Childcare Choices website and reconfirm every 3 months.

For full, detailed information on eligibility, application processes, codes, and how funding works, please see Appendix A in our Fees Policy.

Additional Services Charge (ASC):

Government funding covers the core EYFS delivery. Our daily ASC allows us to provide our enhanced, all-inclusive service: nutritious meals (lunch, tea), snacks, consumables (nappies, wipes, sun cream, craft resources), extra curricular activities including Forest/Coastal School and mini athletics and specialised resources for Forest/Coastal School (like puddle suits and tool maintenance), enrichment activities (like Mini Athletics), the Blossom parent app, nursery events, and more.

Other Support:

We accept payments via the government's Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme, which can be used alongside funded hours to help pay for additional hours or the ASC.

• 1. Sibling Priority: Siblings of children already attending have priority.
• 2. Date of Application: Generally offered on a first-come, first-served basis from the waiting list.
• 3. Session Availability & Group Balance: Ensuring we can meet required sessions and maintain balanced, age-appropriate groups.