Suffolk County Council Early Years Funding

Your child is eligible for the funded hours in the term after they turn three years old; ie, if your child has their third birthday in May, they will be able to claim the funded hours at the beginning of the Autumn Term in September.  We do not offer funding for two year old children.  

Your child will no longer be eligible for the funded hours in the term after their fifth birthday.  Children may continue to claim these funded hours whilst they are in Reception.

At Fairstead House, the funded hours are offered during our afternoon sessions, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.  Your child may attend for the afternoon session only or have a school day for the price of a morning session.  Your child may also attend for a full day or a full afternoon session (12.30pm – 6.00pm) and no charge will be made for the hours between 12.30pm and 3.30pm. 

The funded hours are available during Fairstead House’s term time only, which is 34 weeks a year. 

We do not offer the extended 30 funded hours per week.  Like other Independent schools, we are able to run at a loss so that parents can access the 15 funded hours; however it would be untenable to extend this to 30 funded hours and maintain the quality of education on offer and the calibre and qualifications of our staff.

For each term, you may only claim the funded hours for the sessions your child attends during ‘Headcount Week’, which is usually the second week of each term.  You are of course very welcome to increase your child’s sessions or to book your child in for additional sessions during the term, but you will not be able to claim the funded hours for these sessions.  Any permanent increase in your child’s funded hours can be claimed at the beginning of the following term.

If your child leaves Fairstead House and goes to another Nursery or childcare provider in Suffolk part way through the term, you will not be able to claim the funded hours at the new provider until the start of the next term.

If your child does not use all their funded hours at Fairstead House, the remainder may be claimed at another childcare provider at the same time.  Please make this clear on the Claim Form so that we can ensure that the funding is correctly allocated to each provider and that the funded hours are not mistakenly over-claimed.

Early in the term, a Claim Form (known as a PAF) will be sent to you.  If your child has not claimed the funded hours at Fairstead House before, you will need to complete the relevant sections of the form and provide either your child’s passport or birth certificate as proof of their entitlement to the funded hours.  If your child has changed their hours, you will also need to complete a new form although there will be no need to provide evidence of your child’s date of birth.  If there is no change to your child’s hours, then you can sign the existing Claim Form.

All of the data you provide with your child’s Claim Form is kept securely and in line with Suffolk County Council Children & Young People Services privacy requirements.    The privacy notice may be found here:  https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/about/privacy-notice/children-and-young-people-services-privacy-notice/