Eligibility of 3 - 5 year olds
Applications for funding Data Protection Funding Quality Assurance Further Information
Aberdeen City Council is in partnership with registered pre school education centres in the private and voluntary sectors for the provision of funded pre school education places.
1. Your Child’s Age
If your child is in his/her ante pre school year (i.e. two years before starting primary school), you will be entitled to funding as follows:
Date of Birth Entitlement to funding
1 Mar 2008 to 31 Aug 2008 All three terms (from August 2011)
1 Sep 2008 to 31 Dec 2008 Spring and Summer terms (from January 2012)
1 Jan 2009 to 28 Feb 2009 Summer term only (from April 2012)
If your child was born between 1 March 2007 and 29 February 2008, you will qualify for funding for all three terms.
To qualify for funding your child must attend for a minimum of three sessions per week.
The annual funding for parents for a place at a partner centre is £1,488 for a five sessions per week place, £1,191 for four sessions and £894 for three sessions. The Council will pay your provider once a term for each of the three terms defined by legislation:
Autumn term: August 2011 to December 2011
Spring Term January 2012 to March 2012
Summer Term April 2012 to June 2012
Funding payments in full for the term attended will be made to you by means of a cheque or BACS in December 2011, April 2012 and July 2012.
Applications for funding will also have to be repeated if there is a reduction or increase in sessions during any of the terms.
Information on the Curriculum for Excellence is available on the Nursery Notice board and here on the Nursery Website.
Curriculum sessions are: Morning 9am to 11.30am
Afternoon 1.30pm to 4pm
Those who have children attending part-time sessions should ensure that their child is in Nursery on time for these sessions.
2. Your Address
You can apply for funding at an Aberdeen City Council partner provider if you are resident in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray or Angus.
3. Your Pre-School Provider
- Your pre-school education provider must be registered as a pre-school education centre and must be in partnership with Aberdeen City Council.
- Please be aware that you do not qualify for funding at a partner centre if your child also attends a local authority school nursery.
4. Hours at Pre-School Centre
- Your child must attend for a minimum of three sessions per week. A session is normally 2 ½ hours but some flexibility is available providing the total hours per week amount to at least 7 ½.
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You should complete part A of the application form and return it to your provider along with a copy of your child’s birth certificate, child benefit payment book or passport as evidence of your child’s date of birth. Copies of any documents used as evidence of date of birth will be destroyed once your application has been processed.
Your provider will complete part B of the form and return to the Early Years Team. Personal information on this form will be used only for the purpose of establishing eligibility to Pre-School Education funding.
All applications fulfilling the eligibility criteria above are guaranteed funding. You will only be contacted if there appears to be a problem with your application.
Data Protection
For the purposes of processing your personal information Aberdeen City Council is the data controller. The nominated representative of the Data Controller is the City Solicitor Services. You have a right to obtain details of the personal information that Aberdeen City Council holds about you. Such requests, for which there is usually a charge, should be made in writing to the Early Years Team, Strategic Leadership, Planning & Policy for Services to Children and Young People, Early Years Centre, Claymore Drive, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, AB23 8GD.
Funding
The annual funding for a five session place is £1,550. Your provider may retain up to £110 for the purposes of workforce development and expansion.
The minimum annual funding that must be passed on directly to parents is £1,440 for a five session place, £1,152 for a four session place and £864 for a three session place. The funding will be paid in three instalments, one for each of the following terms:
Autumn Term: August 2008 to December 2008
Spring Term: January 2009 to March 2009
Summer Term: April 2009 to June 2009
The Council will pay your provider and it is your provider’s responsibility to pass on the benefit of this funding to you by way of reduced fees. Your provider will advise you how and when they pass on the benefit of the funding to you.
The qualifying date for funding in each term will be a census week around mid-term, set by Aberdeen City Council. If you remove your child from a provider before the census date, you will receive no funding for that term.
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Curriculum and Quality Assurance
Pre-School providers must implement the “Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5” published by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools (HMI) in 1999. Providers must also use the Performance Indicators and Self-Evaluation for Pre-School centres in “The Child at The Centre” published by HMI.
As part of the local authority quality assurance scheme, providers submit an annual Development Plan for their centre to the Pre-School Education Team. Parents are entitled to see the centre’s Development Plans.
Activities linked to the five key areas of the curriculum are detailed in the provider’s forward plans. Policy statements for each of the five key areas should be available to parents.
Parents will receive an end of year report, summarising their child’s progress in the five key areas.
Providers are inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education. Parents are entitled to see a copy of the report of the latest HMIe inspection. Following an HMIe inspection, the report should be displayed at the centre for one month.
Further Information
Your provider is required to supply you with information relating to the following:
· Premises and equipment
· Number, experience and qualifications of the staff
· Policy for staff training
· Term dates and timetable
· Educational Programmes and Activities
· Admissions policy
· The system for reporting children’s progress to parents
· Provision made for children with special educational needs
· Procedure for dealing with parents’ complaints.
· The Child Protection Policy
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Any queries regarding the funding of Pre-School Education places should be addressed to:
Early Years Team
Silverburn Lodge
Claymore Drive
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB23 8GD
Applications for funding Data Protection Funding Quality Assurance Further Information |
