Making Quality Childcare More Affordable
Transparent fees, every government childcare funding scheme accepted, and free help with eligibility at your tour.
All UK Childcare Funding Accepted
We're registered for every current government childcare funding scheme. Many families are surprised by how little they end up paying, ask us at your tour and we'll check your eligibility live.
Universal 15 Hours
All 3–4 year olds get 15 hours of free childcare per week, stretched across the year to suit your working week.
30 Hours for Working Families
Working families with 3–4 year olds may qualify for 30 hours free per week. Both parents typically need to be earning a minimum amount.
15 Hours for 2-Year-Olds
Working families with 2-year-olds and some families receiving qualifying benefits can access 15 hours of free childcare.
From 9 Months
New scheme: eligible working families with children aged 9 months+ can access 15 hours of free childcare. We're fully registered.
Tax-Free Childcare
For every £8 you pay into your Tax-Free Childcare account, the government adds £2, up to £2,000 per child per year.
Childcare Vouchers
We accept all major voucher providers if you're already on a workplace scheme (closed to new joiners, but existing users can continue).
Understanding your Weekly Fees
A quick five-tap flow. Just a rough guide so you know what to expect; we'll confirm every number face-to-face at your tour.
Based on what you've told us, we'd suggest taking your funded hours on a stretched basis. That means we spread the government's funded hours evenly across all 51 weeks of the year instead of just 38 weeks term time, so your weekly fee is the same whether it's term time or the holidays.
- One steady monthly invoice. The same amount each month makes budgeting simple; no big bills the moment schools break up.
- A consistent routine for your child. Attending every week, including in the holidays helps them settle, build friendships and stay in their groove year-round.
- No lost hours. Every funded hour is used across the year rather than sitting unclaimed during holiday weeks.
- Your place is held all year. No re-booking, no scramble for holiday cover.
Your estimate below is calculated on this stretched basis.
Your next step
Worked out which funding you qualify for? Check whether we have a place in your child's age group.
Availability CheckOur Chargeable Extras; Full Breakdown
| Item | Unit | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free entitlement hours The government-funded 15 or 30 hours a week |
Weekly | Free | Stretched over 51 weeks so your funded hours fit around all-year-round attendance. You'll confirm your preferred pattern at enrolment. |
| Additional hours Hours above your funded allowance |
Per hour | Try the walk-through | Charged only for the balance above your 15 or 30 funded hours. Full-day sessions are 10 hrs; half-day sessions are 5 hrs. The hourly rate is per site; the walk-through above shows the exact rate for the nursery you pick. |
| Meals Freshly prepared on site every day |
Per meal | Try the walk-through | Snacks (morning and afternoon) and milk are always included at no charge. Breakfast, lunch and tea are priced per site; tick each meal in the walk-through above and it shows the live weekly cost at your chosen nursery. Parents may bring their own compliant food instead; see opt-out below. |
| Consumables & enrichment Weekly enrichment charge |
Weekly | Try the walk-through | A single all-inclusive contribution covering Forest School, sun cream, snacks, bibs, blankets/cot sheets, feeding utensils, seasonal celebrations, keepsakes, trips, external workshops and enrichment events. The weekly amount varies by nursery and by whether you're using 15 or 30 funded hours; the walk-through above shows your live figure. Full item list below. |
All prices are per child and shown inclusive of VAT where applicable. Live per-nursery amounts are shown in the fee walk-through at the top of this page; prices are reviewed annually.
What the consumables & enrichment charge covers
Rather than invoicing individually for each enrichment item; which we've found parents find fiddly and stressful; Handprints bundles the following into a single weekly contribution:
- Weekly Forest School sessions with a qualified Forest School leader; waterproofs, tools and firepit sessions included
- Weather-protection consumables: sun cream (SPF 50+), sun hats and similar seasonal essentials for outdoor sessions
- Morning and afternoon snacks; fresh fruit, cheese, breadsticks, rice cakes and healthy alternatives
- Formula milk, follow-on milk and regular milk for babies and children who need it, plus baby food when required
- Cultural celebrations; Diwali, Chinese New Year, Eid, Hanukkah and other seasonal festivals with dressing-up, themed food and crafts
- Christmas, Mother's Day, Easter and Father's Day keepsakes; hand-print gifts, photo cards, seasonal crafts your child brings home
- Weekly enrichment sessions; visiting petting zoos, language taster sessions (French / Spanish / Makaton), sports coaches, dance instructors, music groups, yoga and mindfulness sessions
- External workshops; visiting authors, storytellers, science shows, drama groups and mini-theatre productions
- Baking and cooking activities with specialist ingredients; including taking baked goods home each week
- Specialist craft resources; hiring a pottery wheel, glassblowing demonstrations, weaving looms, print-making equipment
- Local exploration trips; children's groups, ice-cream-van moments, seasonal outings, farm visits, library trips, walks around the community
- Seasonal parties; end-of-summer party, harvest festival, nativity, Easter egg hunts
- Graduation ceremony and end-of-year party with certificates, gowns, formal photos and a family-attended send-off
Around 99% of families choose to pay the charge because it's simpler than sourcing everything weekly and ensures all of our children have the exact same experience as their friends.
Prefer to opt out? Please read carefully
You may decline the consumables charge, but families who choose to opt out are required to consistently provide the equivalent items in line with our food-safety, hygiene and early-years nutrition policies, for every single day of attendance. This is a substantial commitment; please read the list in full before deciding.
What you would need to bring in every day:
- Two daily snacks per child; fresh fruit AND a separate compliant snack (breadstick, rice cake or equivalent) for the morning and afternoon snack. Both snacks must meet the DfE early-years nutrition guidelines and our allergen policy.
- Snack storage & timing: items dropped off must comply with our lunch-box policy. Afternoon snack is served at 2pm, so items must be dropped in no earlier than 10am to stay fresh. Anything dropped outside this window will not be served.
- Bibs for every meal and every messy-play session; clean and named.
- A fitted cot-bed sheet, a soft blanket and a named comfort item for sleep time; taken home each week for washing.
- SPF 50+ sun cream, labelled with your child's name, in-date, and topped up before every outdoor session in summer.
- Nappies, nappy sacks and wipes in sufficient quantity for the day; parents are notified when stock runs low and must replenish within 24 hours.
- Change of clothes (at least two full sets); replenished after every use.
- Formula milk, follow-on milk, expressed breastmilk or specialist baby food if required; all named, dated and prepared to guidelines.
Enrichment events; additional charges will apply:
- Cultural celebrations, seasonal keepsakes, petting zoo visits, external workshops (language, sports, dance, drama, music), specialist craft sessions (pottery, weaving, print-making), trips, party days, graduation ceremony and end-of-year events all carry separate ad-hoc charges; invoiced week by week; when your child participates. We do not offer a bulk rate for opted-out families.
- Specialist activities and visiting practitioners. If we run a specialist session (external tutors, music/movement leaders, sports coaches, forest-school visits with third-party providers etc.), opted-out families will either be charged the per-child cost of the session in full, or asked to supply the specialist equipment / kit needed for their child to take part.
- You will be asked to provide themed items (e.g. costumes, ingredients, keepsake materials) at your own cost for each event, or your child will not be able to take part.
Auto-apply rule. If the required items are not provided in full for a given day; or if the daily checklist is incomplete; the standard consumables charge is applied automatically for that entire week (no proportional refund), so your child is never excluded from activities and staff are not put in a position of turning provisions away.
Given the volume of daily items required and the ad-hoc charges attached to enrichment events, most families find the bundled charge significantly more cost-effective and considerably less stressful. We will never ask for additional nursery fees on top of the consumables charge from families who are already contributing.
Admissions
Places at Handprints are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If a room is full at the time you enquire, your child goes onto a waiting list in the order enquiries are received, and we'll be in touch as soon as a place matching your requested days becomes available.
To register interest, book a tour or get in touch. There are no priority rules based on sibling, catchment area, employer or referral.
Fees & Funding Questions
Quick answers to the fees and funding questions we hear most often.
The hourly rate covers your child's core care and the standard EYFS curriculum, plus morning and afternoon snacks and milk, and the Famly app. Breakfast, lunch and tea are priced separately (see the walk-through above). Forest School, sun cream, seasonal celebrations, trips and enrichment activities are covered by a small weekly consumables charge that varies by nursery and by your funded-hours band; the walk-through above shows the live amount for your chosen site. Everything is set out in the full published breakdown.
Most working families are. The UK government provides: Universal 15 hours free childcare for all 3–4 year olds; 30 hours free childcare for working 3–4 year olds; 15 hours free childcare for 2-year-olds from working families; and 15 hours from 9 months for eligible working families. We'll help you check eligibility at your tour.
You apply through the UK government's childcare portal at childcarechoices.gov.uk. Once approved, bring us your eligibility code and we'll set up the funding against your invoice. We've helped hundreds of families through this, ask at your tour.
Yes. We accept all major childcare voucher schemes and Tax-Free Childcare (TFC). If you're on your employer's childcare voucher scheme, just give us the voucher provider's details at sign-up.
Fees are payable whether your child attends or not, this covers our fixed staff costs. Bank holidays and our one week of Christmas closure are not charged.
Check Your Eligibility In Person
Bring the details of your working hours and we'll calculate your funded-hours entitlement and final cost in the same 30-minute tour.
