Financing Nursery: Budgeting Insights and Tips for Affordable Childcare

All of our My Ohana nurseries are run as independent businesses, meaning they all operate under their own fee structure. Having said that, for full transparency across the board all sites use the same format for payments, which means that we can disclose the details around payment to help you make budgeting decisions when you need to.

My Ohana offers a number of options for families, ranging from a standard full day to a morning or afternoon price. The full day timings run from 8am to 5.30pm, with opening and closing times reflecting what our local communities need. 

As parents, this enables you to make an educated decision based on your own schedule, routine and commitments. 

Parents can choose a weekly set-up (based on full day hours or half day hours) and are asked to pay the balance for the upcoming month in advance on the first working day of each new month. The number of sessions you book then becomes a regular schedule known as a booking pattern, which will be invoiced to you for the upcoming month two weeks before the charge is due.

We do our best to give parents as much notice as possible of upcoming payments and are open to adjustments to your booking pattern provided you meet the monthly minimum of two days or four half sessions respectively.

It can be hard to decide if nursery is worth the cost, but at My Ohana, we truly believe it is. 

When you zoom out and think long term as well as short term, childcare can be so much more than a convenient solution for working parents. It’s an opportunity for little ones to develop, learn, and grow into their own people in the company of peers, surrounded by creative activities that spark fresh interests. It prepares them for the social aspects of school and encourages them to explore personal challenges and interests somewhere other than at home. With the support of a passionate and forward-thinking nursery as well as their loving parents, little ones can genuinely thrive in their early years and develop skills which they will carry with them for life.

As we touched on above, we issue invoices for the upcoming month two weeks in advance of the payment being due, using the ParentZone app for any and all payment interactions.

In order to facilitate and enable us to deliver the high standard of care which our parents and children expect, and which our extraordinary team members are trained and ready to deliver, we have to ensure that payment is made in full by the deadline – which is why late payment does incur a 5% additional charge for every extra day.

It is also important to note that late fees of another kind apply – when parents are late to pick their child up or go beyond the assigned and pre-paid for booking. Late fees of this kind sit at £10 for every 15 minutes and again are designed to ensure that we can give every child our full support and attention during each session.

We understand how difficult it can be to talk about finances, but we are also incredibly open for discussion with parents who have any concerns about our operations or fee structures. Please don’t hesitate to discuss payment concerns with our friendly colleagues at drop-off or pick-up - we are here to help in every way we can. You can also get in touch with us directly if you’re not yet a part of the My Ohana family but are keen to discover more about availability for your child.