Terms and Conditions

By using Little Herons Emergency Childcare centre, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”). Additional contractual terms may apply so it is important that you are familiar with all of the terms applying to your use of our services.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre is owned by Fran N Bru Ltd. This agreement constitutes an agreement between you and Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre governing your use of the service, superseding any prior agreements between you and Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre reserves the right to update or change this agreement without notice. Any new features that enhance the current Service shall be subject to this agreement.

Violation of any of the terms below may result in the suspension of your child’s place. You agree to use the electronic service at your own risk.

Definitions

“We”, “Our” or “Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre” means Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre. Or an emergency place at one of our Little Unicorn Day Nurseries if your child already attends;
“You” means you, the person using our service or visiting our Website;
“Services” means all products, goods or services we provide and anything else we do for you, including allowing you to access our Website.

Terms

You must be a person. (Accounts registered or run through automated methods are not permitted).

You must provide your child’s full legal name, your full legal name, a current address, a valid email address and any other information requested by Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre in order to complete the registration process.

You can use the service from 8am-6pm, when your child is 3 months old until the day before their 8th birthday.

School age children can only use the service in the school holidays or on school closures or inset days.

Late collections will result in a fee to pay.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account login information (Username & Password) Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage from failure to comply with this security obligation.

Child Protection and Safeguarding
All practitioners that are employed by Fran ‘N’ Bru group of day nurseries, volunteers and students ALL have a duty of care to each child in our care. Our role is to protect children from harm at all times. If at any time you feel a child is at risk or you have any concerns at all, you MUST report them to the management team or to the named person or her deputy immediately.
Practitioners MUST be vigilant at all times. Serious incidents or accidents that occur, where there is no explanation must be reported to a member of management, who will then discuss with the designated person if it is to be treated as a child protection issue.
Practitioners MUST be aware of how they deal with behaviour management within the nursery and should inform management and other practitioners about how they dealt with situations to protect themselves. This also stands for when practitioners are dealing with situations to safeguard children in their care.
The named person is Kate Williamson (Proprietor) and her deputies are Kelly Mitchell (General Manager) and Louise Anderson (Logistics Manager).
The following steps are what must be followed in the case of a concern about a child protection issue:

When an allegation is made staff members have a duty to respond professionally by following procedures. It is imperative that everyone who is involved with receiving the allegation maintains an open and enquiring mind.
All allegations must be reported to the Child Protection Advice Line (CPAL).
Any practitioners noticing an injury, however slight for which the explanations are unsatisfactory or inconsistent must report this immediately to a member of management or the designated person. Where the designated person decides that there is cause for concern she must telephone the CPAL and report the injury. If the designated person decides that it is not a child protection matter, a record must be made of the incident and kept with the child’s nursery records. It should be remembered that nursery records are open to the child’s parents/carers.
If a less distinct injury is noticed or if the child makes a reference to having been physically punished but no injury is evident and no pain/discomfort is reported, the designated person should raise this with the parents/carers where possible. If there is a reasonable explanation and there is no pattern of unexplained injuries or pattern of absences from nursery before injuries are noticed or other concerns the incident must still be recorded.
In any case of a potentially serious unknown accident that occurs on the premises, should be reported to the designated person who will report the incident to the CPAL.
Where a practitioner is concerned about the ability of the child’s parent/carer to provide for the child’s protection, safety or physical or emotional well-being, this should be reported to the designated person. Where the designated person decides that there is cause for concern she must telephone the CPAL and report the injury. If the designated person decides that it is not a child protection matter, a record must be made of the incident and kept with the child’s nursery records. It should be remembered that nursery records are open to the child’s parents/carers.
When making a child protection referral we will always keep an open dialogue with the parents. If we then call the helpline and the case is referred we would go back to the parent and tell them a referral has been made and that the social care team will be in contact.
If a child discloses abuse to you – you must report it to a member of management team or the designated person immediately.
When it is alleged that a practitioner/student or volunteer has physically, sexually, neglectfully or emotionally abused a child, the whistle blowing policy must be adhered to and all concerns must be reported immediately to the designated person or a member of management to ensure safety for the child.
The whistle blowing policy must also be adhered to if there are concerns that practitioners, volunteers, students, parents or agency staff are in way rough, aggressive, too loud or show inappropriate behaviour towards the children.
Tower Hamlets Child Protection Advice Line (CPAL) is 020 7364 3444 which operates 9.00am until 5.00pm. Social Care Emergency after Hours Duty Team (5.00pm onwards) 020 8980 8595.

Equal Opportunities and Inclusion Policy
At Little Unicorn Day Nurseries and Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre we endeavour to provide a safe, stimulating, equal, inclusive setting; welcoming all children, parents and practitioners from the wider community.
We promote good practices to ensure that all children have the same opportunities to develop, learn and play with recognition that each child has individual needs.
As a company we aim to:

Ensure that attitudes and the behaviour of practitioners, children and parents represents an inclusive environment
Assessed acceptable risk is available to each child to ensure both safety and excitement.
Ensure that working in partnership with parents is vital
Ensure that resources and equipment are continually reviewed
That training is given to practitioners to develop good practice.

As a company we recognise that all children, practitioners and parents are all different but all of equal value.
We are committed and have the ability to develop and approach an environment that is sensitive to the backgrounds, lifestyles, abilities, customs and traditions, and needs of practitioners, children and their families.
We have an ability to work within an increasingly complex diversity, which produces challenges that do not need to be faced as problems but should enrich the experience for everyone that uses the setting.
We encourage our practitioners, parents and visitors to be aware of the influence of positive and negative experiences viewed through their own cultural/religious/faith bias of personal belief, whilst being sensitive to cultural variations.
As a company we encourage practitioners to have positive attitudes to difference and challenge all forms of discrimination within the setting. Practitioners report and record all incidents that relate to discrimination within the setting. Equipment, play materials and images positively reflect the different groups in the wider community
Inclusion prepares young people to take their place in society. Our inclusive settings within the company encourages practitioners to think carefully about those individual needs. This benefits all children, not just those who have disabilities or educational needs.
For children joining the setting that have already been identified as having or given a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) we will work with the parents and other agencies to put in place any individual action plans to ensure that the child benefits and is able to enjoy and achieve whilst at the nursery.
For children where we may have concerns about their development and learning we will immediately talk to the child’s parents/carers about our concerns and with their permission carry out extra observations of the child to decide what next steps need to be taken.
We will then meet with the parent and where possible put together individual education plans to help the child benefit from the enabling environment. If we decide with the parents that further help may be required we will contact the Tower Hamlets Early Years Area Inclusion Co-ordinator (020 7364 3191) to seek further advice and support.
Each nursery has a named Inclusion Co-ordinator and the named Inclusion Co-ordinator for the company is Kelly Mitchell (General Manager). The Inclusion Co-ordinators will ensure that all parties required are involved in the process and review including the parents/carers, key person, other practitioners and the child (where possible). The Company co-ordinator will support the co-ordinators at the setting and where required provide training for practitioners and parents/carers.
If it is decided that further action is required for the child, we will ask the parent to work with us in completing a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) form, which will enable the child to get all the required support and will be of benefit if the child needs to get a statement of education needs.

Health care
As a company we ask that children who are ill should be cared for at home.
We also advise that if children or practitioners:

Are suffering from an infectious disease
Have a high fever
Have symptoms of food poisoning
Are vomiting
Have diarrhoea
For the first 24 hours of antibiotics for a child

Should not be attending the nursery or be providing day care.
If a child becomes ill during the day, a member of management will contact the parent who will be asked to come and collect their child. We will contact the child’s parents with regular updates if we believe the child is becoming ill and if we believe they need to see a doctor or may be contagious we will ask the parents to collect their child immediately.
Children with high temperatures that cannot be controlled by cooling or giving calpol will need to go home and be collected immediately; again we will keep the parents informed about any temperatures. We must always remember that infants and young children pose a greater risk of having a seizure if their temperature remains high. We would advise that you see a doctor if your child continues to have a high temperature.
Children sometimes come into contact with sickness and diarrhoea bugs in the nursery; if your child vomits or has diarrhoea three times in the same day we will ask you to collect your child immediately. We will then need to exclude your child for a minimum of 24 hours as this bug can be highly contagious amongst young children. If during your child’s 1st or 2nd bout of sickness or diarrhoea we believe them to be too ill to stay at nursery we will ask you to collect them immediately.
When children see a doctor (GP) sometimes they are unable to diagnose the symptoms that the child is displaying, if we believe that the child is still ill or contagious we may have to ask you to keep your child at home until they are better or a diagnosis has been made so that we can prevent as much as possible the other children in the nursery from catching any contagious childhood infections.
The following chart is an updated list of childhood infections that we use to guide us in our practice. However we are not qualified medical professionals and cannot diagnose children if they are ill and so it is important that they are seen by a doctor (GP). The following information has been taken from the NHS Direct website.

Partnership with parents

At all of our nurseries and emergency centre we encourage all of our children’s parents and families to be involved in the day to day routine – including activities, play and meal times. We value and respect that parents are children’s primary educators and so we encourage them to be involved in the setting at all times.
Partnership with Parents promotes that children thrive and achieve their potential when all partners (parents and professionals) work together. We believe parental involvement leads to better outcomes for children.

We aim to empower parents to be actively involved in their child’s education. We also aim to build confidence in parents to participate in the development of their children. We believe in developing effective relationships based on the mutual respect of feelings, opinions and values.

We endeavour to keep open communication between parents and the setting. We ask that consistency between home and the setting is maintained for the need of the child.

Each of our settings works within the guidelines of the Early Years Foundation Stage; Positive Relationships is one of the principles that we follow and Parents as Partners being one of the commitments of this principle.
Having nurseries in Canary Wharf can mean that the parents of the children have busy demanding careers which means they can’t always be involved within the setting; we endeavour as a company to ensure that parents are able where possible to contribute to their child’s enjoyment and achievement at the setting; parents and practitioners have a lot to learn from each other, which can help to support and extend children's learning and development.

Account Billing, Invoicing and Refunds

Payment is due in advance at the start of use of our service. Late payments may affect future use of the service.

The service is non-refundable. There will be no refunds for partial use of service, or refunds for unused service. We can hold the money on our account and you may use the service another time, providing the cancellation policy was adhered to.

Payment is to made by debit card, cash, cheque, or online from within your Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre account. You can also pay by credit card and an additional 1.5% charge will be added to your invoice total.

Cancellation, Termination and Right to Monitor

Upon cancellation of an account, payment is to be made to settle the account, no refunds will be given.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre has no obligation to monitor and access customer accounts, but may do so if for any reason it believes there is just cause. (Reasons could include illegal activity, uploading of virus infected files, questionable material or for general customer support)

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre reserves the right to terminate accounts at will. Discretion will be used, and action may be taken if needed to ensure server integrity for other customers.

Verbal, physical, written or other abuse (including threats of abuse or retribution) directed towards any Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre customer or employee could result in immediate account termination.

Right of Refusal

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre has the right to accept or decline registration at will.

Registrations will not be accepted if the company or person in question shows any cause for concern.

Modifications to the Service and Prices

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue the service (or any part thereof) with or without notice. In this case, sufficient notice would be given.

Prices will be reviewed every December and adjusted accordingly if needed. Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre reserves the right to increase prices.

Updates and upgrades to Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre service are made as necessary.

You must not modify, adapt or hack the service or modify another website so as to falsely imply that it is associated with the service, Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre or any other Fran N Bru Ltd service.

Service Availability and Support

While Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre makes all efforts to prevent any disruption to service during any update or upgrade, there may be times where Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre is inaccessible for a period time. Updates and upgrades will be scheduled to avoid peak usage times.

While Little Herons Emergency Childcare centre makes all effort to open on working days, in the unfortunate circumstances where we cannot get enough staff to the nurseries to care for your children we may have to close the nurseries. Information about this would be posted on our website www.littleunicorndaynurseries.co.uk, and will only happen in extreme circumstances.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre is committed to providing an outstanding service.

In the event that urgent support is required, we will do whatever is necessary to assist. You may email us for support on managerbs@littleunicorndaynurseries.co.uk or call 0207 719 0719.

Code and Data Ownership

Atlas Computer Systems houses all software on our rented servers. Unauthorised distribution without prior consent is strictly prohibited and includes placing our software on any physical or virtual servers or mediums without special agreement or written consent form Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre.

Data Loss & Backups

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre will not accept under any circumstances the liability for the loss of customer data through general use, hacking or server failure.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre will be responsible for ensuring one daily backup of the registration data and the server itself.

Privacy

Your privacy is important to us.
We use the information you provide about yourself and your children when placing a booking only to complete that booking. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to safeguard your child from harm or with your place of work (if using a company place).
To prevent unauthorised access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
You can access all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain by logging in to your account and editing your information. We use this procedure to better safeguard your information.

Warranty

Your use of the service is at your sole risk. The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre does not warrant that:

The service will meet your specific requirements
The service will be uninterrupted or error-free

Restricted Content

Uploading any restricted content as listed below may result in immediate account termination. You must not upload, post, host or transmit the following items to or from the service including but not limited to:

Unsolicited email, SMS’s, or "Spam" messages.
Worms, viruses or code of a destructive nature.
Questionable or Illegal material. (Including copyrighted material)

Delivery Policy

We provide emergency childcare on the date you have booked between the hours of 8am-6pm.

Outdoor Learning Policy

At Little Unicorn Day Nurseries and Little Herons Emergency Childcare Centre we believe that the outdoor environment supports children’s learning and development and gives children confidence to explore and learn as much as the indoors environment. For this reason we believe and abide by the following points:

Being outdoors offers opportunities for doing things in different ways and on different scales than when indoors
It gives children first-hand contact with weather, seasons and the natural world
Outdoor environments offer children freedom to explore, use their senses, and be physically active and exuberant.
Being outdoors has a positive impact on children’s sense of wellbeing and helps all aspects of children’s development.

Our Government Curriculum the Early Years Foundation Stage (2008) states that ‘providers must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, must ensure that all outings are planned and taken on a daily basis’ Because our nurseries don’t have a designated ‘garden’ we use the surrounding area of Canary Wharf and the small outdoor area that we have located outside the nurseries.

Our practitioners receive training so that they can engage children in different outdoor learning experiences; so that they can play and enjoy rather than feeling that it’s just a ‘walk outside’. For example:- playing ball games on the grass, tree rubbings, running races, a trip on the DLR or Bus, water play and sand play, flying kites, collecting leaves and twigs, floating boats, going on a bear hunt or visiting a supermarket to buy ingredients for a cooking experience. At times the children may enter a shopping mall to view displays/exhibitions off interest and at these times a member of supernumerary manager will be present.

All of the babies and children that attend our settings spend periods of time outdoors and we believe it is particularly important that all children are able to participate in our outdoor learning ethos; we advise parents that if they feel their children are too poorly to go outdoors that they are kept at home until they are feeling better.

The only time that children will be prevented from going to the outdoor environment is if there is a severe weather warning (for example on the news).

The safety of the practitioners and children is enforced at all times. Before setting off for an outdoor learning experience, wrist straps are double checked to ensure they are secure and tight and that buggy straps fit each child correctly. Two practitioners will take a mobile phone (in case one fails) with them in case of an emergency. When crossing a road, practitioners and children cross at a zebra crossing and wait for a ‘green man’ signal. Practitioners also complete a detailed outdoor learning planning log before leaving the nursery so that management know where the children are going to be.

Ratios are adhered to when outdoor learning takes place in Canary Wharf and when children attend experiences outside the wharf ratios are adhered to as follows (all learning experiences that place outside of Canary Wharf, there will be a member of management present):

Children under 2 years: 1 practitioner with a double pushchair
Children aged 2-3 years: 1 practitioner with 2 or 3 walking children or 1
practitioner with a single pushchair and 2 walking children.
Children aged 3 and over: 1 practitioner with 4 walking children.

For children that are aged 3 years and above they are able to go outside without a wrist strap on; this is to encourage the older children to become independent, prepare them for school and allow them to think about managing risks.

Younger children can be allowed off their wrist straps and babies can be taken out of their buggies once they reach the location, if the member of management (lead practitioner) decides that it is safe to do so and only in enclosed child friendly spaces. Once children are off their wrist straps or out of the buggies, regular counting of the children takes place.

Whilst out in Canary Wharf, Practitioners carry phone numbers of all settings so that they can seek help if required as can they go into one of the settings if for example a child needs to go to the toilet. Water is taken outside so that it is available for the children to drink as and when required. A first aid kit is also taken with the practitioners.

Practitioners are given training of how to complete risk assessments; as they reach a destination and will use this skill to decide if it is safe and appropriate for the children to play, learn and enjoy the experience.

Whilst taking part in outdoor learning experiences the children and practitioners will wear hi-vis fluorescent jackets.

We ask that parents provide adequate clothing for outdoor learning and practitioners will dress children in more or less layers as required on the day. Because we believe outdoor learning opportunities are vital for children’s continuous development we like the children to be outside as much as possible which is why we need to dress children in appropriate clothing so that the children can enjoy the experience each day. We also ask that all children have spare clothing so that if children do get wet from the rain or muddy from digging for worms they are able to change into some clean clothes when they return from their outdoor learning experience.

This policy replaces the walks and outings policy.