What do I need to know?
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Stepping Stones Pre-school runs its terms dates concurrent with Clipston Primary School.
These are Northamptonshire term dates and are often different to Leicestershire.
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Click below to see the term timetables: ​
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Stepping Stones Pre-School Term dates 2025-2026
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Funded Early Years Education

All 3 and 4 year olds in England are entitled to 15 hours of funded early years education each week for 38 weeks of the year. This is from the term following their third birthday.
Since 2017, if the child's parents both work you may be eligible for up to 30 hours funding.
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From September 2025, eligible parents of children aged 2 will have access to 30 hours of funded childcare.
The 30 hours extended entitlement and the 2 year funding is designed to support working parents to manage the cost of childcare, support into work, and to enable parents to increase the amount of hours they already work.
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Talk to us at any point and we can help you find out what you are eligible for and when. You can also check your eligibility and find further information on the West Northamptonshire website: CLICK HERE
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The date you can claim funding from will depend on when the child's birthday is.
Children who are 3 between:
1st April-31st August - become eligible for 15 hrs of grant funding from the following September.
1st September-31st December - become eligible for 15 hrs of grant funding from the following January.
1st January-31st March - become eligible for 15 hrs of grant funding from the following April.
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We also accept childcare vouchers, a government scheme for working parents whereby you can register and get tax-free childcare. If you think you might be eligible or have any questions please talk to us or look at the Government website: CLICK HERE
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Fees

From 1st April 2024 our fees are £19.50 per session payable half term in advance (a full day is 2 sessions). See notes on government funding in the above paragraph.
(We will require a copy of your child’s birth certificate before we can claim funding from the Government).
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Lunch Club costs £3.25 per session
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It also greatly helps us cover running costs if we request additional voluntary contributions on a half termly basis - suggested contribution of £2.50 per day for snack provision and £7.00 for Forest School.
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Grant funding is claimed at the start of each term for your child. Once the claim has been made we are unable to make any changes to the claim until the following term. Any additional hours you may require for your child will attrract a session fee.
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Invoices are sent to parents/carers at the beginning of each term.
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Stepping Stones' provision for children's development and learning is guided by the UK's Early Years Foundation Stage, click on the link for the full document:
Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)​
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Our Policies

Stepping Stones is committed to providing the safest and most appropriate learning environment possible. We have a full set of policies and guidelines in place to ensure this.
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Each policy is available to download from this website - the full list can be accessed by clicking here.
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Special Needs

Each child is able to progress at her/his own rate in all areas of development, and this is true for children with and without disabilities or learning difficulties.
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We are experienced in working in close liaison with professionals across the range of special needs. We have a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator who is responsible for seeing that any additional needs are met. This may be a physical adaptation of the environment or specialised training for staff.
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Child Protection and Safeguarding

Schools and Pre-schools must provide a safe environment and take action to identify and protect any children who are at risk of significant harm. We make sure child safeguarding is a priority and we foster an environment where everyone feels secure.
If you ever have any concerns about the protection of any of the children who attend Stepping Stones you can talk to the setting manager or to our Child Safeguarding committee member see the current committee.
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