Strawberry How Nursery School in Cockermouth is a modern, purpose-built, private Day Nursery. Within our setting we seek to offer professional, high-quality childcare and early years education within a caring atmosphere. We are a friendly team who love children. We are open from 7.30-6.00pm, 50 weeks a year rather than 38 weeks a year. This means your child would access the EYFS for the full year rather than a bit of it. We are proud that all our staff have a Level 3 qualification of higher. We are also unusual in that we have specialist facilities and staff specially trained to care for babies. We have recently reduced the number of baby spaces that are available. We have the highest accreditation from Cumbria Childrens' Services and since 2009 we are the only Nursery in the Cockermouth Area to have a 5 star food hygiene rating from Environmental Health.
Needless to say, we are all proud of our Nursery - we hope you gain lots of information from our website. Nevertheless, we live in times of change so we thought it a good idea to throw some light on the new Government funding proposals.
A note on the new Government funding
3 year olds - this funding continues the same as before. At the present time there are a few 3yr old funded places for new children from September 2024 to September 2025.
2 year olds have been funded from April 15th 2024 (189 hours in summer term). This is for children who are two years old before 31.03.2024. It is worth £327.60 per month till the end of August and thereafter from September it's £370.50 per month. Food is still subsidised by 50%. With the prospect of funding there has been significant interest in places so priority is given to present parents although there are a few spaces on certain days for new children.
9 mth old babies will be funded from September 2nd 2024 for 47.5hrs/month. This is for children who are 9 months old before 31.08.2024. The government website gives details on how to apply and you should claim your funding code well before 19.07.2024. This is worth £370.50 per month. The nursery is open from 7.30-6.00pm and we are unusual in that we do not charge a day rate. Instead we charge by the hour with a minimum day of 6.5hrs - unfortunately we do not take half days. Nursery food for babies remains subsidised. Some days are busier than others although there are a few spaces left on some days although most baby places tend to be booked at least 9 months in advance.
We are holding a waiting list for parents who need particular days that are presently full. Sometimes it is necessary to take a day(s) that you originally wouldn't need in order to swap it later for the space you really want. To save your time you are better using the contact form to find out current availability.
