Dinotots Childcare Ltd Terms & Conditions

DINOTOTS CHILDCARE LTD – TERMS AND CONDITIONS

DEFINITIONS
- The definitions below apply in these terms and conditions.

“Child” “You”

“Services”

“Us”

the Child or children who are named in the registration/enrolment form;

the person, firm or company who purchases Services from us;

the services of a day care nursery during the days or half days or part thereof indicated in the registration/enrolment form excluding bank and public holidays and up to 2 weeks over the Christmas Period, together with any other services which we provide, or agree to provide, to you;

the nursery named in the registration/enrolment form.

A reference to writing or written includes faxes and email.
Any requirement in this contract for either party not to do something includes an obligation on that party not to allow that thing to be done.

FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT
1. A contract for the Services will be formed between you and us once you have given us a signed, fully completed, enrolment form, and online checklist and we have confirmed to you in writing (usually by email) that your application for a place (child enrolment confirmation) has been successful. If you are unsure of the days you require, we advise you to reserve two days initially and then increase the days once you know which days you require. Any days that are reserved on the enrolment form will be payable from the registered start date. Please see Clause 9 regarding increasing and decreasing sessions.
2. These terms and conditions govern the contract between you and us for the Services. No other terms apply unless they are contained in:
  1. Our Policies & Procedures issued to you by us via email, or information that is publicly available on our website: dinototschildcare.co.uk
  2. A letter/document that is signed by both you and us.
3. In the case of any uncertainty as to which terms apply, these terms and conditions will apply.
DURATION OF THE CONTRACT
1. The contract shall last until it is terminated by either you or us giving to the other, in writing, at least 4-weeks notice. However, the contract can, in some circumstances be terminated immediately under clause 20.
2. You are liable for the fees during the notice period. If you fail to give proper notice, you will be charged until full notice has been given and accepted in writing. You may not reduce your days during the notice period. The notice period fees will be based on the equivalent of 4-weeks of your booked sessions or the fees highlighted in the last invoice that you received before giving notice, whichever is the highest. Cancellation fees are charged based on either of these 2 factors and not reliant on whether the setting is open or not or if the upcoming period is a holiday.
SUSPENSION OF THE SERVICES

The Services may be suspended (meaning your Child is temporarily not able to attend the nursery) in the circumstances set out in our Critical Incident Policy or in the circumstances set out in clause 20. If the Services are suspended for a period of more than 4 weeks, either of us may terminate the contract by giving the other 4-week’s written notice.

OUR OBLIGATIONS
1. We will use all reasonable efforts to provide the Services to you, in accordance in all material respects with these terms and conditions and any other documents referred to in 2.2 above.
2. We welcome staff and children from many different backgrounds and ethnic groups. Human rights and freedoms are respected and we will do all that is reasonable to ensure that our culture, policies and procedures are made accessible to children who have disabilities and to comply with their social and moral obligations under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 or Equality Act 2010 in order to accommodate the needs of children, applicants and members of staff who have disabilities for which, after reasonable adjustments, we can cater adequately
3. If we determine, in our sole discretion (after appropriate and reasonable analysis) that reasonable adjustments cannot be made for a Child and as such we cannot continue to adequately provide for that Child (or admit them as the case may be) then we shall be permitted to request that you withdraw the Child without being charged fees in lieu of notice.
4. We will contact parents immediately should your Child become unwell during the day. In the case of Dinotots staff being unable to contact the parent, the nursery reserves the right to contact your Child’s own GP and if necessary, accompany your Child to hospital in an emergency.
5. Operate a waiting list which will be based on the following criteria:
  1. The date the application is received and those who have been on the waiting list for the longest time.
  2. If children already have siblings at the nursery
  3. Children who are currently attending the nursery who wish to change their days. This includes any additional sessions and/or extended hours.
6. Whenever possible provide ongoing verbal updates to your Child’s progress along with parents evening which will take place every 3 months
7. We reserve the right to suspend your Child’s nursery place if:
  1. Your Child displays consistent signs of unacceptable behaviour or endangers the safety and well-being of another child or adult at the nursery. If these issues are unresolvable, then the suspension may lead to termination, however we will endeavour to work with parents, third parties or agencies that will assist in alleviating your Child’s behavioural issues
8. Both parties reserve the right to terminate this Agreement in writing if the duration that your Child is suspended exceeds 4 weeks.

YOUR OBLIGATIONS
1. You shall:
  1. Co-operate with us;
  2. Provide to us such information as we may reasonably require about your Child, for example:
    1. Any known medical condition, health problem, allergy, or diagnosed dietary requirement;
    2. Any prescribed medication; You will be required to complete a Medication Administration Form if at any time Dinotots Childcare staff are required to administer any prescribed medicines to your Child. Over the counter medications will not be administered by Dinotots Childcare with the exception of Piriton, Calpol and Sudocrem. Please refer to our Medication Policy.
    3. Any lack of any vaccination which your Child would ordinarily have by their age;
    4. Any family circumstances or court orders affecting your Child and provide us with a copy of such order on request and signing as a Legal Guardian above.
    5. Any concerns about your Child’s safety; and
    6. Your contact details, and those of your authorised persons who may collect your Child.
  3. You must (a) ensure that these details are accurate and (b) keep these details up-to-date, by promptly informing us in writing whenever they change or updating the profile online.
  4. As regards arrivals and departure of your Child, please refer to the nursery’s Arrivals and Departures Policy.
  5. Keep your Child from attending the nursery if they are poorly and upon their return to Dinotots Childcare, we will ask you to identify your Child’s illness so that we can update our health records and to avoid the spread of contagious illnesses to other children
  6. Children suffering from sickness are asked to stay away from the nursery for a recommended period of time, details of which are set out in our Sickness & Illness Policy.
  7. Provide the nursery with up to date details of authorised adults permitted to collect your Child. If the person collecting your Child is not usually responsible for collecting them, then we require you to provide us with your unique password before we will release your Child.
  8. Immediately inform us if you are unable to collect your Child from nursery by the official collection time. A late payment charge of £5 per 15 minute, or part thereof, after the contracted collection time will be added to your next monthly fee
  9. Notify us at the earliest opportunity of any dates on which your Child will not be attending the nursery.
  10. Provide your Child with a toothbrush if you wish your Child to wash their teeth after meal times or at any point during the day.
  11. Provide your Child with waterproof clothing and at least one spare change of clothes. All clothes must be clearly marked with your Child’s name as Dinotots Childcare Ltd do not take responsibility for any loss or damage to your Child’s property.
  12. Supply Dinotots Childcare Ltd with all baby changing products including wipes, nappies, creams and sun-creams and to keep these sufficiently topped-up.
  13. Parents are expected to abide by the nursery Policies & Procedures at all times, a copy of which is available in the nursery reception and may be issued via email during the registration process. Failure to reasonably comply with the nursery Policies & Procedures may result in termination of this agreement.
  14. If our performance of our obligations under the contract is prevented or delayed by anything you do (or fail to do), we shall not be liable.

EMPLOYMENT OF STAFF
1. You shall not employ (or attempt to employ) or solicit for employment at any other Childcare setting any member of our staff without our consent, until six months from the end of this contract.
2. In the event of termination of this Agreement and for six months after the date of termination if you either directly or indirectly breach either/or clauses 7.3 and/or 7.4 outlined below, then you shall pay us a sum representing 20% of the identified member of staff’s gross annual salary at the time they left our employment and/or services. This figure represents the costs to us of recruiting a suitable replacement member of staff. Therefore, you will not be permitted to:
  1. Employ or otherwise engage childcare services of any member of Dinotots Childcare Ltd staff who has had contact with your Child under this Agreement in the last 6 months.
  2. Allow or permit the provision of any childcare services including nurseries, after or out of school day care to your Child/children by any member of Dinotots Childcare Ltd staff who has had contact with your Child under this Agreement in the last 6 months.
3. Should parents wish to employ the services of Dinotots Childcare Ltd Staff for ad hoc babysitting out of Nursery hours, they will be required to pay a fee of £30 per week for every week, or part thereof, for which the service is requested. They shall be required to sign a disclaimer agreement, which shall exempt Dinotots Childcare Ltd from any potential claims of injury, loss, damage, liability, or costs arising from an act of negligence or expense or compensation suffered or incurred by the Parent as a result of employing a Dinotots Childcare Ltd member of staff for such babysitting services.

CHARGES AND PAYMENT
1. You shall pay the charges as set out in the registration/enrolment form.
2. Charges are due even if your Child is absent from nursery. The nursery does not permit swap days. Any days requested outside the normal attendance pattern will be charged at the prevailing daily rate.
3. We will not charge for bank holidays or staff training days.
4. VAT is not charged on nursery fees (nursery provision is an exempt supply for VAT purposes).
5. The quoted charges are per Child, per core day meaning 10½ hours from 07.30 to 18.00 excluding, breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks. Half days run from 08.00 to 13.00 (5 hours) or 13.00 to 18.00 (5 hours) excluding, breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks
6. Extra hours (or parts of an hour) will be charged for (at the ruling rate according to age range) and must be booked and paid for at least 24 hours in advance. The nursery does not offer swap days, so if you Child does not attend on a booked session then you will unfortunately not be permitted to swap this missed session for another free of charge.
7. The charges must be paid monthly in advance, by the 1st day of the month. For example, March Fees would be due on 1^st March, April Fees would be due on 1^st April etc.
8. All payments must be made by direct debit (GoCardless), Credit/Debit card (Stripe) or childcare vouchers. We may, under exceptional circumstances, agree to payment by cash, but it is your responsibility to obtain a receipt from the nursery manager as proof of payment. No payment shall be deemed to have been made until it is cleared into our bank account. If a payment is not honoured, for whatever reason we may charge a reasonable administration fee (currently £20.00 per processed item)
9. We may increase our charges no more than twice per year. We will give you written notice of any such increase 4 weeks before the proposed date of increase.
10. Without restricting any other legal right that we may have, if you fail to pay us on time, we may:
  1. Make a late payment charge of £10 per week on late payment. Unless otherwise notified to you in writing, late payment charges shall accrue on a weekly basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment. You must pay us the late payment charge together with the overdue amount. In addition, we will be entitled to recover from you the full amount of our administrative and other costs incurred in recovering any unpaid sum including legal costs and disbursements on an indemnity basis.
  2. Charge you a reasonable administration fee for pursuing late fees currently £20.00 per item.
  3. Charge you a reasonable administration fee for overpayment or payments made in error currently £20.00 per item. Refunds may take up to 30 days to complete.
  4. Suspend all Services until payment has been made in full, which will include the suspension of the Child, or even terminate the contract permanently.
11. If you owe us any money, and make a claim against us, we may set off what you owe us against what you are claiming from us.
12. Dinotots Childcare Ltd do not offer any discount for siblings
13. If you wish to take your Child out of nursery for more than 4 weeks you are liable to pay fees at the full monthly rate. You may receive a discount on the 2nd month’s fees, but this is at the discretion of the Dinotots Childcare Ltd Finance Team and is not guaranteed.
14. Every Child that attends Dinotots Childcare Ltd is invited to attend 2 settling-in periods of up to 2 hours each which is provided as part of the onboarding. You may feel that your Child needs more hours to settle and extra settling in sessions are available at a cost of £5.50/hour. This payment is non-refundable in cases where a place has been accepted and a parent changes their mind.
REDUCING AND INCREASING SESSIONS
1. You are required to give us 4 week’s written notice of a reduction or increase in the number of sessions you require. If you wish to terminate this contract, you are required to give us 4-week’s written notice. Once notice has been given, you are not permitted to reduce your days during the notice period. The notice period fees will be based on the attendance pattern highlighted in your last billed invoice before you gave notice.
2. Due to high demand for nursery places, the nursery offers a minimum of 2 sessions (either half days, full days or a combination of both) per week.
3. Dinotots Childcare Ltd reserves the right to change your Child’s minimum weekly hours of attendance at nursery subject to Dinotots Childcare Ltd providing 4 week’s written notice.
RETAINER FEES
1. Dinotots Childcare will charge a 50% retainer fee for all weeks that the child does not attend the setting. This will be applicable to all children attending the setting include school holiday periods for term-time only children and shift-pattern children who do not require the usual booked days for whatever reason. Shift pattern retainers and term-time only retainers will be charged based on their current booking schedule or, if the shift pattern alternates, an average of the current booking schedule will be charged.
2. A 50% retainer fee will be applicable to shift patterns that alternate more frequently than 4-weekly. Any days that are required throughout the shift period will either be charged in full (for attendance) or as a 50% retainer (when the child is not required to attend due to shift rotation) For example; shift week 1 requires Monday & Tuesday full days, Shift week 2 requires Wednesday & Thursday. Parent/carer will be charged 2 x full days & 2 x 50% retainer each week.
FUNDED NURSERY EDUCATION
1. If you wish to take up your funded nursery education for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, you are required to complete and sign an Early Years Parent Declaration Form on a termly basis, detailing how and when you will take up the funded sessions.
2. Our charges will not be made in respect of the funded sessions as detailed in the Parental Declaration Form, but we are entitled to make a reasonable charge for sessions during school holidays, meals, additional activities, consumables and quality premium provided during any funded session. (You may bring a cold packed lunch instead if you prefer, but we are not permitted to heat up food)
WELFARE OF THE CHILD
1. We will do all that is reasonable to safeguard and promote your Child’s welfare and to provide care to at least the standard required by law and often to a much higher standard.
2. We will respect your Child’s human rights and freedoms which must however, be balanced with the lawful needs and rules of our nursery and rights and freedoms of others.
3. Your consent to such physical contact as may be lawful accord with good practice and be appropriate and proper for teaching and instruction and for providing comfort to your Child in distress, or to maintain safety and good order, or in connection with your Child’s health and welfare.
4. Parents of children who are not potty trained must provide disposable nappies with their Child’s name clearly printed on the nappy packaging.
5. Parents should provide sealed formula milk for bottle feeding babies. Bring in your infant’s bottle sterilised and fully assembled with the teat and lid in place. This prevents the inside of the sterilised bottle and the inside and outside of the teat from being contaminated. Provide the formula powder inside its original container. This is the best way for practitioners to ensure they are preparing feeds correctly, in accordance with the guidelines detailed on the packet or tin. Label the formula container with your Child’s full name and date of opening.
6. Labelled mother’s breast milk will be stored in the fridge and an area will be made available for mothers to breast feed their babies or express milk should they need to do so.
7. As regards behaviour management techniques and sanctions, please refer to the nursery’s Promoting Positive Behaviour Policy. Please ask for a copy of it if necessary.
8. The nursery uses emergency procedures for accidents, evacuations, incidents and allergic reactions, please refer to the individual policies and procedures and ask for a copy where required

HEALTH AND MEDICAL MATTERS
1. If your Child becomes ill during a nursery session the nursery manager will contact you or the emergency contact indicated on the registration form. You must inform us immediately of any changes to these contact details. If your Child requires urgent medical attention while under our care, we will if practicable attempt to contact you and obtain your prior consent. However, should we be unable to contact you we shall be authorised to make the decision on your behalf should consent be required for urgent treatment recommended by a doctor (including anaesthetic or operation, or blood transfusion) unless you have previously notified us you object to blood transfusions).
2. If the Child is suffering from a communicable illness, he/she should not be brought to the nursery until such time as the infection has cleared. A full copy of our infection control policy is available from the nursery manager. For more information on minimum periods of exclusion from the nursery please refer to our Nursery Policy and Procedures.
3. You must notify the nursery manager if the Child is absent from the nursery through sickness.
4. If the Child has been sent home from the nursery because of ill health, he/she will not be re-admitted for at least 24 hours. If the Child is prescribed antibiotics, he/she will not be allowed to return to the nursery for 48 hours. If the illness is a communicable illness then clause 13.2 shall also apply and the Child will be unable to attend the nursery until such time as the infection has cleared.
5. As regards to medication, and the administration of it to a Child, please refer to the nursery’s Medication Policy in the Nursery’s Policies and Procedures, Please ask for a copy of it if necessary
6. Please also see clause 6.1.2 on matters we need to be informed about.
FOOD/DIETARY REQUIREMENTS
1. We will work with you to provide suitable food for your Child, if they have a special dietary requirement or any allergies as diagnosed by a doctor or dietician. All reasonable care will be taken to ensure that your Child does not come into contact with certain foods with support from parents and external professionals should the need arise.
2. Menus will be displayed for inspection, and parents and children will be able to feed into the review of these.
3. No packed lunches supplied by parents for after school/holiday club Children will be heated up by us.
REPORTING OF NEGLECT OR ABUSE

We have an obligation to report to the relevant authorities any suspicions we have that your Child has suffered neglect or abuse, and where necessary we may do so without your consent and/or without informing you.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
1. This clause sets out our (and our employees’, agents’, consultants’ and subcontractors’) liability to you in respect of the contract (including any breach of it, any statement we make to you about it, our termination of it).
2. All terms implied by law are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, excluded or deleted from the contract.
3. Nothing in these terms and conditions in any way limits our liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury resulting from negligence.
4. We shall not be liable for:
  1. Any loss or damage to any toys, equipment or bags, clothing etc. you may bring into our nursery;
  2. Loss of any profits, or consequential loss; or any other indirect loss; and
5. Subject always to clause 16.3, our total liability (in contract, tort including negligence or breach of statutory duty, or otherwise) shall be limited to the cumulative price paid by you for the Services over the course of the contract.

DATA PROTECTION (GDPR)
1. You agree that details of your name, address and payment record may be submitted to a credit reference agency, and personal data will be processed by and on behalf of us in connection with the Services.
2. We may take photographs and/or videos of your Child for promotional or training purposes only. If you do not wish for your Child to be included in such photographs or videos, please inform us by completing the online ‘permission form’ at enrolment, or by writing to the nursery manager.
3. Any personal data related to You or your Child will be dealt with in accordance with our Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy, which can be found in our Policies and Procedures.
SECURITY
1. Parents are welcome to visit the nursery, but we will not admit anyone without prior notification. It is your responsibility to ensure that we are aware of who will be collecting your Child. No Child will be allowed to leave the building with any person who has not been notified as an authorised person to collect the Child on your behalf.
2. As part of the nursery’s fulfilment of the Early Years Foundation Stage we regularly photograph and sometimes video the children taking part in their activities. Imagery is never published without the consent of the parent or carer. Our guidelines are as follows (1) Photographs in the Nursery are only taken with Nursery cameras or authorised devices such as Tablet computers. (2) Staff mobile phones with or without cameras are not allowed in the playrooms or the outside areas. (3) Photographs taken of the children are stored on the Nursery computer and are password protected. (4) Photographs are vetted for suitability before being printed or published. (5) All children are dressed appropriately before pictures are taken. (6) No photographs are taken in sensitive areas such as toilets or nappy changing rooms. (7) Parents are requested not to use their mobile phones within the Nursery premises unless absolutely necessary. If you do not wish for your Child to be included in such photographs or videos, please inform us by completing the online ‘permission form’ at enrolment, or by writing to the nursery manager.
3. The Nursery operates a CCTV system which is for security purposes only and is not connected to any exterior network other than for remote maintenance by the Nursery Manager, Company Directors or authorised CCTV engineer. Viewing of the recorded images of CCTV will be restricted to the Directors, Nursery Manager within the office, also to those staff who need to have access in accordance with the purpose of the system. Out of nursery hours, the Directors will have access to CCTV images via secure remote access to assist in maintaining the security of the premises. The CCTV system is not a “webcam” facility and parents will, under no circumstances, be able to request access to view recordings. Images, or portions of a recording may be shown to parents as part of an investigation but only by the Senior leadership team, and solely at their discretion.
4. If your child is going to be collected by someone other than yourself the Manager will require prior notification and an agreed password. It is the responsibility of parents to keep us informed of any changes in contact numbers.
5. Under no circumstances will the child be allowed to leave Nursery with anyone unknown to Nursery staff unless the parent or carer has previously arranged this. If the parent / carer has made alternative arrangements by telephone, the Nursery will require the name, address and telephone number of the person permitted to collect the child and proof of identity will be required upon arrival at the Nursery. A list of responsible adults who are authorised to collect the child should be given to the Nursery Manager. The Nursery does also use a password system for entry to the building.

COMPLAINTS AND CONCERNS

Customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to us and we endeavour to address any complaints within a reasonable time period and all matters will be treated in the strictest confidence. Any complaints should initially be discussed with your Child’s key worker. If you feel that the complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily, you are requested to report the complaint to the nursery manager. Failure to resolve the complaint at this stage will be referred to the Directors and potentially Ofsted depending on the severity of the complaint. Please also refer to our complaints and compliments policy which shall apply to any complaints received by us

TERMINATION FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR BANKRUPTCY/INSOLVENCY
1. Without restricting any other legal rights which the parties may have, either party may terminate the contract without liability to the other immediately on giving written notice to the other if:
  1. The other party fails to pay any amount due under the contract on the due date for payment and remains in default for 10 days or more; or
  2. The other party commits a material breach of any of the terms of the contract and (if such a breach is capable of being remedied) fails to remedy that breach within 30 days of that party being notified in writing of the breach; or
  3. The other party suspends, or threatens to suspend, payment of its debts or is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or admits inability to pay its debts or is deemed either unable to pay its debts or as having no reasonable prospect of so doing, in either case, within the meaning of section 268 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
  4. You behave unacceptably or unreasonably or fail to cooperate with nursery guidelines. We will not tolerate any physical or verbal abuse towards staff.
2. On termination of the contract for any reason:
  1. You shall immediately pay all of our outstanding unpaid invoices and interest and, in respect of Services supplied but for which no invoice has been submitted, we may submit an invoice, which shall be payable immediately on receipt; and
  2. Any clause in these terms and conditions which implicitly is intended to survive termination shall continue in force.

EVENTS THAT ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL
1. If any event beyond our reasonable control ((e.g. a fire, epidemic or pandemic outbreak, strike, civil action, act of terrorism, war etc.) occurs, for which we have business interruption insurance, we may close the nursery without liability to you and we will not charge you for the fees for the time the nursery is closed. We will keep you informed, in such an event.
2. If it is, in our reasonable opinion, necessary or in the interests of the Child to do so, we may close the nursery even though our business interruption insurance will not cover us for the closure. In these circumstances, we will charge you for the time the nursery is closed to enable the nursery to hold your child’s place and cover unavoidable ongoing overheads during this time. For example, we may close because of severe weather conditions, flood, outbreak of flu, swine flu, COVID-19, any epidemic or pandemic or other illnesses etc. Also, we close if the owner of the premises closes the premises and denies us access.
INVALID CLAUSES

If any part of the contract is found by any court or similar authority to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that part shall be struck out, but the rest of the contract shall apply

CHANGES TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. We may change these terms and conditions where such a change arises from changes in regulations or legislation affecting us.
2. We may change any other terms only with express written agreement from You.
3. We may review the contract annually and any changes will be agreed in writing and signed by each party
NO OTHER TERMS

Each party acknowledges that, in entering into the contract, it has not relied on anything said or written that is not written in the contract. This applies unless fraud is established.

ASSIGNMENT

The contract is personal to you. You shall not, without our written consent, transfer to anyone else any of your rights or obligations under the contract.

RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES

A person who is not a party to the contract shall not have any rights under or connection with it.

GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

The contract, and any dispute or claim arising out of it or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by the law of England. The courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute or claim.

Please make all payments to the following bank account:

Bank Name: The Co-operative Bank
Account Name: Dinotots Childcare Ltd
Account Number: 69789029
Sort Code: 08-92-99

Dinotots Childcare Ltd

Company Registration Number: 12004131

Setting Address: 14 Elliott Street, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 4NR

Telephone: 01670 36 36 50

Email: Enquiries@dinototschildcare.co.uk

OFSTED Registration Number : 2543456

Last Revised August 29th 2021

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