BOOKING ADMISSION AND PAYMENTS

Henry’s After School Club (Henry’s) is open to all children attending Horfield Church of England School.

Henry’s aims to be as inclusive as possible, providing after school care for all children and families who require it.

1. Bookings request

In order to be added to the waiting list the parent/carer is to fill in the Bookings Request Form. This gives sufficient information about the child to allow correct prioritisation on the waiting list (see section 4 below).

2. Registration

Henry’s will provide a link to register with Clubsbuddy, our online booking management system. A registration fee of £10 per family will be applied to the family’s account when a place is offered and taken up.

A £10 re-registration fee per family is payable annually (per school year). This fee will be applied to the account in term one of each year.

Users do not have the facility to make or amend bookings directly via Clubsbuddy but can view bookings and statements and make payments.

It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to ensure that all contact details are kept up to date via Clubsbuddy. If changes are made, parents must also notify the Play Manager of the new information at henrysbookings@ymail.com.

You will need to register siblings joining the school in Clubsbuddy, and they will be allocated places in line with the waiting list (see section 4 below).

Please see our Data Protection Policy for information on what personal data is collected by Henry’s as part of the registration process and use of our services, and how the data is used.

3. Booking system – allocation of fixed places

Places cannot be applied for unless the child(ren) has an accepted place at Horfield Primary School for the academic year in question.

Places are allocated on a fixed basis so that a child who is allocated a place on a Monday, for example, keeps that place until it is no longer required (for cancellations terms please see section 5).

At the start of each school year, the demands of existing registered users will be accommodated before places are opened up to new applicants. If demand exceeds the places available, the places will be allocated in line with our waiting list policy (see section 4 below).

Any places that become available during the year will be offered to the child(ren) at the top of the waiting list for the day in question. If accepted they will keep that place until it is no longer required.

Sessions cannot be exchanged between days or alternated between siblings, neither can they be shared or swapped with other users.

4. Waiting list

Members of the Management Committee have priority over all other applicants, in recognition of the considerable amount of time and effort given freely to the running of Henry’s.

After that, the waiting list will be prioritised according to the date of the request for the place at Henry’s. Requests from existing registered users will take priority over requests from new applicants.

We implement the following system of priority with respect to the waiting list:

Priority 1: Committee members

Priority 2: Existing users and their siblings

Priority 3: Single working parents

Priority 4: All other applicants

Note: Special requests from the school for a place for looked after and vulnerable children will be discussed with the Family Link Worker and/or (Deputy) Head Teacher and prioritised accordingly.

The Committee reserves the right to agree occasional exceptions to the above.

5. Cancellation terms

In the event that you no longer require any or all of the fixed days for which your child is booked, please let us know as soon as possible and with a minimum of four weeks’ term time notice. Fees already paid in respect of sessions beyond this four week notice period will be credited to your Clubsbuddy account or refunded if payment was made through Clubsbuddy.

Payments made by childcare voucher cannot be refunded however it can be added as credit to yours Clubsbuddy account.

At the end of each school year, and with the exception of year 6 students, bookings will automatically be rolled over to the next school year unless you tell us otherwise.

With regard to individual sessions, refunds will not be given in respect of any cancelled sessions, except in extraordinary circumstances with the approval of the Management Committee. However, please note that for safeguarding reasons, you MUST tell us if your child is not going to be attending a booked session. With more than one week’s notice, this may be done by emailing henrysbookings@ymail.com; at less than one week’s notice, please text the Henry’s mobile on 07563 757352.

If you cancel all places and subsequently require a place at Henry’s, you will be treated as a new joiner and prioritised accordingly.

6. Booking system – ad hoc places

We may be able to provide places to existing Henry’s users on an ad hoc basis, where sessions aren’t booked to full capacity. Requests should be emailed to henrysbookings@ymail.com, setting out the days required.

Such ad hoc bookings are only available to registered Henry’s users and will be prioritised according to the terms set out in section 4 above.

7. Payments

Henry’s requires payment in advance for all childcare fees. Henry’s main source of income is from fees. Late and non-payment of fees will cause financial difficulties for the club.

Henry’s does not offer refunds for absences, including for sickness and holidays. Henry’s also does not offer refund for sessions which do not take place for exceptional reasons outside their control (eg closure due to snow or where the school is closed). When a place is booked the parent/carer is then liable for the full fees of the session(s) booked. Henry’s sets staff numbers for sessions according to the number of children booked in and the Ofsted staffing requirements.

a. Payment Due Date

The parent/carer agrees to pay for all booked sessions, including absences, no later than a week prior to the commencement of each term, except by prior agreement (e.g. where families pay monthly using childcare vouchers).

b. Payment Options

Henry’s accepts online payments via Clubsbuddy, childcare vouchers and we also accept ‘transfers from the government’s tax free childcare scheme’.

Bookings will be updated on Clubsbuddy approximately two weeks prior to the start of term and an email will be sent, via Clubsbuddy, to all users alerting parents/carers that bookings have been updated for the following term and that payment is due. Payments should be made by the methods and timescales set out above.

c. Help with Fees

Reasonable effort will be made to assist families with the options available, including:

Childcare vouchers – salary sacrifice schemes
Council employee – salary sacrifice schemes
Other voucher schemes including the new Government Voucher Scheme (Tax Free Childcare account).
HMRC Tax Credit Schemes
Colleges providing financial assistance

To find out if you are eligible for help with your childcare costs, visit the Government’s information and application webpage at https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs

If a parent/carer requests to pay using a voucher scheme that is new to us, Henry’s will undertake to make reasonable effort to enrol with that voucher scheme.

d. Late Collection of Children

If a child is collected after 6pm, when Henry’s finishes, parent/carers will be charged £10 for the first 15 minutes.

For any collection between 6.15 and 7pm the charge is the equivalent of the wages of two members of staff for each hour, or part thereof, which staff have to wait with the child. This will be a maximum of £26 for the hour between 6 -7pm.

If a child has not been collected and contact has not been made by the parent by 6pm the Uncollected Child Procedure comes into force.

e. Arrears Procedure

When fees are outstanding the following course of action will be taken:

i. Around two weeks after the start of term the accounts are reviewed and each parent/carer with an arrears balance will receive written notice via a polite email reminder or a letter from Henry’s.

ii. If after two weeks following such notice the parent/carer is still in arrears, Henry’s will send a second notice via email or letter explaining our terms and conditions and requesting immediate payment. The family will be charged a £3 administration fee.

iii. If after two weeks following the second notice, the parent/carer is still in arrears, the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees will send a final notice via email or letter requesting immediate payment.

iv. If the account is still unpaid after two weeks following the final notice, the parent/carer is no longer able to use our services and the relevant child(ren) will not be permitted to attend Henry’s from a date notified in writing.

v. Henry’s will continue to endeavour to collect unpaid fees from the parent/carer.

vi. Consideration will be made of balances which have arisen due to additional ad hoc sessions booked during that term.

The Management Committee is regularly informed of the arrears situation.

f. Difficulties in Payment

If a parent/carer is unable to pay their child(ren)’s fees in a timely fashion, they should tell the Treasurer (via Henrysbookings@ymail.com) as a matter of urgency. This may be as simple as informing the Treasurer of the date when the fees will be paid (for example, at the end of the month when wages are received or a voucher scheme makes a regular payment). In more complex cases, where either a significant sum of money is owed and/or the parent/carer is unable to pay within a short timeframe, the Treasurer and Management Committee will work with the parent/carer to resolve the situation.

In the most serious cases, a formal payment schedule may be agreed at the discretion of Henry’s. The arrears procedure (see above) is suspended for a parent/carer who has agreed to an alternative payment schedule with Henry’s. The Treasurer monitors the parent/carers compliance with agreed payment plans and restarts the arrears procedure if payments are not made on in accordance with such plan.

The Management Committee is regularly informed of the status of any payment plans.

8. Complaints and appeals

Any complaints concerning the booking process or payments should be, in the first instance, made by email to henrysbookings@ymail.com. If the complaint cannot be satisfactorily dealt with, it may be referred to the Management Committee by emailing the Chair, Daniel Pearce, at henrysasc@ymail.com. Under no circumstances should complaints about the booking process be directed to the play workers.