Fees & Financial Information | Red Bus Nurseries

Fees & Session Times

We are open Monday to Friday, all year round. We close for Bank Holidays, and the week between Christmas and New Year.

	3 Months - 3 Years	3 Years and Up
Early Start: 7.30am-8am	£10.00	£10.00
All Day Session: 8am-6pm	£92.00	£90.00
AM Session: 8am-1pm	£64.00	£60.00
PM Session: 1pm-6pm	£58.00	£54.00
Late Finish: 6pm-6.30pm	£10.00	£10.00

The Early Start and Late Finish sessions are dependent on availability.

Children must be booked to attend at least two full day sessions per week. We offer discounts for siblings and full time bookings, please fill out an enquiry form to receive our detailed fee sheet.

The above fees do not incorporate any Local Authority funded hours. See below for estimated charges associated with funded hours, and please contact us for a more accurate estimate of costs where funded hours are taken.

Funded Hours

Red Bus has settings in different local authorities, so the information below has been kept generic. Please contact your local setting for specific information.

Working families of Under 2’s

This funding is available for children after they turn 9 months old. If you are eligible for this funding, your child will receive 11.5 hours per week at Red Bus. From September 2025, the government plans to increase the number of hours you can claim to 30 hours Term Time Only, which equates to 23 hours All Year Round.

Working families of 2 Year Olds

If you are eligible for this type of funding, your child will receive up to 11.5 hours per week at Red Bus. From September 2025, the government plans to increase the number of weekly hours you can claim to 30 hours Term Time Only, which equates to 23 hours All Year Round.

Eligible 2 Year Olds

This is a different category of funding for 2 Year Olds, with different qualifying criteria to receive it. You can find more information on this funding through your Local Authority. The government does not plan to increase the number of hours your child can receive using this funding.

3 Year Olds

There are two types of funding for 3 Year Olds. Every child is entitled to ‘universal’ funding – up to 11.5 hours per week, or 15 on a Term Time Only basis. Working families can also apply for ‘extended’ funding and if you are eligible, we offer a maximum of 30 hours on a Term Time Only basis or 23 hours per week All Year Round.

Where charges apply, they are as follows:

Associated charges for catering, consumables and extra activities for a full day using funded hours only	£26.00
Associated charges for catering, consumables and extra activities per half day session using funded hours only	£13.00
Charge for additional non-funded hours on a day where some funding hours are taken	£9.40
There are reduced charges for families of “Eligible 2’s” children.

Local Authority funded hours cover Early Years Foundation Stage basic provision only. See Red Bus Early Education Entitlement Admissions Policy for more information.

How to Pay

There are lots of ways to pay your invoice, and support you may be able to get to help pay it. The Childcare Choices website is a great place to start, as it lists all the different ways you can get support paying for childcare – it even includes a calculator to work out how much you could save!

Direct Debit (Coombe Dingle and Downend only)

If you tell us when you register that you’d like to pay by direct debit, we can get that set up for you in advance. All you need to do is complete a form and you will be set up for automatic payments on the 1^st of each month.

Tax Free Childcare

This scheme is designed so that for every 80p you put into your Tax-Free Childcare account, the government will add 20p. It essentially gives you basic-rate tax back on your bill – hence the scheme's name! Using your government gateway account, you can be set up easily for payments to Red Bus – we just need to know your reference code for payments coming in!

www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Other Ways to Pay

We can also accept payments via bank transfer – we do not generally accept payment by cash, but please speak to your setting about this.

We also accept childcare voucher payments from most suppliers, please let our finance team know if this is how you plan to pay.

Further Points

Regardless of when you apply, most funding begins from the start of the academic term after the child’s relevant birthday - January, April, or September.
If you are applying for your code whilst on parental leave, the date you can receive the funding from is affected by the date you are returning to work - please see the Childcare Choices FAQ for more information.
Red Bus only offer All Year Round funding for under 3's. We do not offer Term Time Only placements - this does not mean you will get any fewer hours than a Term Time Only placement.
To prove your eligibility you must obtain a code by applying on the Government’s Childcare Choices website. Please note the procedure needs to be repeated every 3 months and the onus is on you as parents to do this - although the code will stay the same.
For full details of the funding rollout, please visit https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ where you will also see how to apply.

Term Time Only spaces

Most information out there states children will receive 15 or 30 of funded hours per week, but this would be on a Term Time Only basis. To protect our sustainability, we limit the number of Term Time Only spaces we offer and this limit varies by setting and by room. Please contact your nursery directly to discuss booking on a Term Time Only contract.

Red Bus are closely aligned to local authority school term dates, however they may not be the same. There are only slight differences so please ensure you read the term dates carefully.

Coombe Dingle and Downend

Autumn Term 2025

Monday 1st September 2025 to Friday 17^th October 2025
Half Term 20^th – 31^st October 2025
Monday 3^rd November 2025 to Friday 12^th December 2025

Spring Term 2026

Monday 5th January 2026 to Friday 13th February 2026
Half Term 16^th – 20^th February 2026
Monday 23rd February 2026 to Thursday 2nd April 2026

Summer Term 2026

Monday 20^th April 2026 to Friday 22nd May 2026
Half Term 25^th – 29^th May 2026
Monday 1st June 2026 to Monday 27^th July 2026

Flax Bourton

Autumn Term 2025

Monday 1^st September 2025 to Friday 24^th October 2025
Half Term 27^th – 31^st October 2025
Monday 3^rd November 2025 to Friday 12^th December 2025s

Spring Term 2026

Monday 5th January 2026 to Friday 13th February 2026
Half Term 16^th – 20^th February 2026
Monday 23rd February 2026 to Friday 27^th March 2026

Summer Term 2026

Monday 20^th April 2026 to Friday 22nd May 2026
Half Term 25^th – 29^th May 2026
Monday 1st June 2026 to Monday 27^th July 2026