Ward End

BIG CHANGES TO FREE CHILDCARE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

Best Start in Life parent Hub: Get the help that fits your family, so you can juggle work and life

Early Years childcare support has expanded.

From September 2025, 15 hours for working families with children under 3 has expanded to 30 hours, meaning eligible working families can now apply for 30 hours of childcare for 38 weeks of the year from the term after their child turns 9 months until they reach school age.

If you currently receive 15 hours as working parents, just reconfirm as usual and the code will work for the 30 hours offer, providing you remain eligible.

Thousands of families could be saving money on their childcare costs. But some simply don’t know what support they might be eligible for. The Best Start in Life parent hub brings together all the existing childcare offers in one place, so parents can get the help that fits their family. This could be through Tax-Free Childcare, 30 Hours Childcare, or Universal Credit Childcare. Some families might be eligible to use more than one childcare schemes together and get the most out of it.

Don’t miss out on getting the support you are entitled to. Visit the Best Start in Life parent hub to check what offer you might be eligible for and sign up to their newsletter and personalised weekly emails to get the latest updates.

Please come into our branch and speak to our managers if you need help applying for funding.

Open Monday to Friday 7.30am – 5pm TERM TIME ONLY

Our Ward End branch has been open since September 2017, and now have more than 140 children registered with us each year.

We have:

13 spaces in the Nest for babies 3 months to 2 years old
24 places in the Barn for 2-3 year olds and
37 spaces in the Treetops for children 3 years and above.

Each environment is tailored to meet the needs of the children, to give them chance to explore their surroundings and learn and play in a safe environment.

We can discuss your eligibility for funding and provide information of our fees where necessary. We can also help you to apply for your government funding.