Nursery Fees in Marlow Bottom: What Your Monthly Bill Includes and How Funded Hours Reduce It

Parents ask us about fees more often than almost any other topic, and it is a completely reasonable thing to want to understand clearly before committing to a place. The monthly invoice can look straightforward on the surface, but the detail matters, and what is included in one nursery's headline rate is not always included in another's.

Here is how it works at The House That Jack Built Marlow Bottom, and some questions worth asking wherever you are looking.

What our fees include

At The House That Jack Built Marlow Bottom, our fees cover all meals and snacks, wipes and sun cream. There are no separate charges for the everyday essentials that are simply part of a nursery day.

That means when your child has breakfast with us at 8am, sits down for a freshly prepared lunch, has their afternoon snack and then tea before you collect them, all of that is included. Our chefs work from an eight-week seasonal menu and follow the DfE nutritional guidelines for under-fives. Full-fat cow's milk is provided at snack times and drinking water is always available. Meals are cooked on site, every day.

Similarly, we do not send a separate monthly invoice for wipes or suncream. Those are part of caring for children well, and we do not think families should be surprised by them on a bill.

When a child joins us there is a registration and deposit payment of £130, of which £100 is refundable when your child leaves, subject to one month's notice. For current fee rates, please visit our fees and funding page.

What can be charged on top

Not everything falls within the standard fee, and it is worth knowing this in advance.

If you need an earlier start than our standard 8am opening, extended hours from 7:30am are available, and there is a separate rate for that. Ad hoc sessions or additional days beyond your regular pattern can also be arranged, again at an additional charge.

For families using government funded hours, meals provided during those funded sessions are chargeable separately. This is not unique to us: government guidance is clear that funding covers the childcare itself, not meals, consumables or additional services. Providers are required to make these charges transparent and voluntary, and invoices should show the breakdown clearly so you can see exactly what you are paying for and why.

If you are ever looking at an invoice and something is not explained, ask. Any nursery operating well should be able to give you a clear line-by-line breakdown.

How funded hours reduce your bill

If your child is eligible for government funded hours, those hours offset the childcare portion of your fees. Every three and four year old is entitled to 15 hours per week of universal funded childcare regardless of parental work status or income. Separately, eligible working families can access up to 30 hours per week, and since September 2025 this applies from nine months old, not just from age three.

To qualify for the 30-hour entitlement, each parent in a couple, or a sole parent, needs to be working at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage, and neither parent can individually earn over £100,000 adjusted net income. Because the minimum earnings threshold shifts each April with the National Living Wage, the most reliable way to check your eligibility is through Best Start in Life.

At The House That Jack Built, we accept both 15 and 30 funded hours, and we offer a 43-week attendance option. Under that arrangement, the annual entitlement is stretched across the 43 weeks your child attends rather than applied at the standard 38-week term-time rate. That means eligible families using our 43-week option receive approximately 26.5 funded hours per week rather than the full 30, because the same annual total is spread over more weeks. The weeks when children do not attend are confirmed each year, and families are not charged for those periods.

For a full picture of how funded hours work in this area, our guide to free childcare hours in Buckinghamshire covers the entitlements in detail.

Questions worth asking any nursery about fees

When you are comparing settings, these are the questions that often make the difference:

• Are meals, snacks, wipes and sun cream included in the daily rate, or charged separately?
• If my child uses funded hours, will I be charged for meals on those days?
• Is there a registration fee, and is any of it refundable?
• Are there charges for additional or ad hoc sessions?
• Will my invoice show a clear breakdown of funded hours, private hours and any extras?
• Is there a charge for early drop-off if I need it?

Nurseries are required to provide transparent invoices, and Buckinghamshire providers have been held to clear invoice breakdowns since January 2026. If the answers to any of these questions are vague, that is worth noting.

Come and see us

Fees make much more sense once you have seen a nursery in person and can picture what your child's day will actually look like. If you would like to understand exactly how our fees and funded hours would work for your family's pattern, we are happy to walk you through it properly. Book a show-around at The House That Jack Built Marlow Bottom and we can go through the detail together, with no pressure and no jargon.