You probably qualify for Tax-Free Childcare and can save 20% on our fees.

Tax-Free Childcare helps with the cost of childcare, almost all parents who work and pay tax qualify and it will save at least 20% of the childcare cost.

Harlequin is an "approved childcare" provider under the scheme.

You can use the scheme whether you are applying for funded hours for your two-year old to attend one of our pre-schools, universal funding for three and four year olds, or if you use wrap around care for your primary school aged child.

Search "Help paying for childcare" on gov.uk.  Help paying for childcare - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You’ll be able to open an online account, which you can pay into to cover the cost of childcare with Harlequin. This will be done through the government website, GOV.UK.

For every 80p you pay in, the government will top up an extra 20p.  Harlequin receive the same fee whether you use this scheme or not.

To qualify, parents will have to be in work, and each earning at least £115 a week and not more than £100,000 each per year.

The scheme is designed to be flexible for parents if, for example, they want to get back to work after the birth of a child or work part-time.  

Any eligible working family can use the Tax-Free Childcare scheme. It is also available for self employed parents.

Parents and others can pay money into their childcare account as and when they like.  This gives you the flexibility to pay in more in some months, and less at other times. This means you can build up a balance in your account to use at times when you need more childcare than usual, for example, over the summer holidays.

It’s also not just the parents who can pay into the account - if grandparents, other family members or employers want to pay in, then they can.

Please use the links to register your child. 

We do not charge a fee to register.

Please help us to support you and your child by being as accurate as possible when filling the form.  If there is further information you would like to offer, or you have questions, please use the contact us page or email enquiries@hosc.co.uk directly.

Bookings for breakfast, after school, holiday clubs and pre-school become a formal agreement once accepted by us.  A retainer is needed to secure a place or full payment of fees for holiday clubs.  Once we have received booking and payment we will guarantee the service as booked.

Please refer to the terms and conditions tab for further information.   

To view the reports click on the links below

Coxheath 

In August 2019 and February 2013 we were inspected and awarded "outstanding" in every category.
Click the link to read the report: registration number EY333465

Tunbridge Wells

In March 2020 we were inspected, and judged and awarded 'outstanding' in every category.

Click the link to read the report: registration number EY486142

Forest Pre-School

The Tunbridge Wells Forest Pre-School was registered in July 2016 as a new setting. In July 2023 we were rated as 'Outstanding' in all areas.

Click the link to read the report : 50223986 (ofsted.gov.uk)

Harlequin terms for pre-school and wrap around care are linked to the KCC term calendar.

We provide holiday club in through all KCC school holidays and offer them when our schools have inset days too (subject to demand).

term dates 2024 to 2025 (PDF, 108.8 KB)

term dates 2025 to 2026 (PDF, 376.1 KB)

term dates 2026 to 2027 (PDF, 381.8 KB)

term dates 2027 to 2028 (PDF, 380.8 KB)

Expert help on keeping children happy and safe online

Parent Info is a collaboration between CEOP and Parent Zone which looks to support schools in providing high quality information to parents and carers about their children's wellbeing and resilience.

In line with CEOP’s Thinkuknow programme, some of the content covers common internet safety issues, but all of the content starts from the assumption that young people make little distinction between their online and offline lives and the issues for parents are often the same. The aim of Parents Info is to help parents help their children be discriminating, web-literate and resilient and is suitable for parents/carers with children of different and ages and abilities.

This exert is from "Fees" and is effective from April 2024.

These terms apply to pre-school, breakfast, after school and holiday clubs offered by Harlequin for all age groups.

1. General
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Our preferred payment type is bank transfer to Harlequin Out of School Clubs Ltd. Sort code 090150, account number 05659671. Please use the child’s name as reference.
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Cleared funds for payments must be received no later than the 6am on 1st of each calendar month, by cash or standing order, BACS transfer, Taxfree childcare account or childcare vouchers. See 5.
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Invoices are emailed to the email account Harlequin hold for each parent, it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure the email address we hold for you is one you access regularly, including during holidays and that we are informed of change of email address. Invoices are sent on around the 15th of each month. See 5.
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Please ensure you get a receipt every time you make a payment by cash.
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Four week’s written notice (email) of any adhoc changes or cancellations is required. See 2 and 4 below.
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Booked sessions shall be charged as if taken even if not attended, irrespective of the reason for non-attendance. See 2 below.
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Absence due to injury, illness or isolation will be charged as if taken even if not attended. See 2 below.
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Holiday club fees are due when submitting a Holiday Club booking form. See 9.
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Trip fees are in addition to normal session fees. See 9.
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Half day bookings are not available on days when a day trip is arranged. See 9.
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Non-payment of the fees will lead to the child's access to the club being refused. See 5 and 13.
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Adhoc sessions may be booked. See 3.
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Fees may be paid in regular, fixed monthly instalments by standing order or childcare vouchers. See 16.
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A late payment charge is levied if fees are not settled in full by the due date. See 13.
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An additional charge is made when a child is collected after their booked end time. See 12.
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Retainers will be forfeit if sessions are cancelled before a child starts or in their first three months attendance. See 8.
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Pre-booked means arranged as part of a regular schedule or arranged before noon on the day of attendance. For example 6.30pm finishes. See 11.
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A fee is charged for each attended session while a child is in nappies or pull-ups. See 21.
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Children should NOT attend pre-school if in the last 48 hours they have:
o
had Calpol (or similar) within 4 hours of the start of their session,
o
feel unwell,
o
had any diarrhoea, lose stool or vomiting
o
have a rash, spots or high temperature.
2. Notice of termination
A minimum of 4 weeks written notice is required when you wish to terminate your child’s place at Harlequin. For funded places, if notice is given and it is less than 4 weeks, parents/carers are responsible for paying Harlequin the equivalent amount that Harlequin would have received from the funding route until the end of the 4 week notice period, as well as any additional sessions not covered by funding, eg breakfast or midday session. During the notice period, the child can attend the sessions but all sessions must be paid for before they are attended.
Harlequin reserves the right to terminate a child’s place with immediate effect if a serious breach of these terms and conditions occurs, or if termination of a place is considered by Harlequin to be in the best interests of the club and/or the continuing welfare of the other children at the club. Examples of this are a parent using foul language or being abusive to staff, or where Harlequin feels the relationship with parents has broken down. Serious breaches of the agreement would include a parent frequently arriving late at the club without prior notification, or regularly failing to pay fees.
3. Adhoc Sessions
Adhoc sessions are any session outside a regular weekly schedule.
Parents are welcome to request additional and adhoc sessions. These are granted provided there is sufficient space and staff in the setting. Payment is made with the request, in advance of the session date. If an adhoc request is made that cannot be fulfilled due to space, then no fee will be charged.
The minimum retainer of £100 per child is payable for users of adhoc sessions.
4. Changes and swaps
All sessions shall be charged as if taken unless four weeks’ written notice is provided. Swaps of booked sessions within a four week period are not permitted. Adhoc changes beyond four weeks will be made with no fee for the cancelled session. A maximum of 10 sessions can be cancelled in any 6-week term. Any further cancelations are charged as if attended.
All additional bookings are subject to space availability at the session. See 3.
Where more than 10 sessions are requested to be changed in any 6-week term, a review of the schedule may be made and where necessary may result in the change being deemed permanent. In this event parents will have the choice whether to pay for sessions (even if not used) in order to hold the space for
HOSC Fees_v20.docx Page 3 of 4
the future terms, or for the regular schedule to be changed and adjustment made to the held retainer. Subsequent changes to schedule will be subject to payment of any retainer and availability for the session(s).
This policy is to enable Harlequin to permanently resell the given up schedule to a child on the waiting list.
5. Invoices and payment
Invoices are issued on about the 15th of the preceding month. These are generated based on each child’s regular schedule and taking into account any requested changes and adhoc requests that have been agreed up to the 10th of the previous month.
Invoices will detail all sessions booked, and the fee for that booking. It is parent’s responsibility to ensure the right sessions are displayed on the invoice.
Invoices are emailed to the primary email account for each parent/guardian.
Parents must inform the Harlequin office if invoices are not received by the 20th of each month.
Cleared funds for payments must be received no later than 6am on the 1st of each calendar month (see late payment surcharge below), by cash or standing order, BACS transfer or childcare vouchers. Automated bank and voucher transfer can take up to 5 days to be received; it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure sufficient time is allowed for payments to clear.
Holiday club invoices are not mailed out, as holiday club bookings must be paid with booking. Holiday club invoices can be provided on request to enquries@hosc.co.uk. Requests must be received within 28days of the holiday, after that period an admin charge of £50 will be applied when issuing holiday club invoices.
Invoices for additional fees (see below) are normally issued by email weekly, and are due immediately.
6. Disputed invoices
If the amount or stated sessions on an invoice are not what you expect, please pay what you think is due, or the amount of the invoice if it is less, then contact the Harlequin office at enquiries@hosc.co.uk to resolve the discrepancy. Not paying for sessions booked because the invoice is perceived to be incorrect will incur a late payment surcharge (see below).
Harlequin staff in the clubs will not have access to the computer to query fees and invoices during club hours.
7. Retainer
A retainer payment of four weeks’ normal scheduled fees (after school and breakfast club or pre-school) is due when registering. This amount will vary as necessary when the number of booked sessions is changed. When notice is given of a child leaving, a full refund of the retainer held will be issued after all remaining fees have been deducted. This is done by bank transfer within 6 weeks of the last session. See 8 Forfeit of retainer below.
When registering a child to start sessions immediately, the retainer and fees for the current month need to be paid on booking.
Retainers must be paid in cash or by bank transfer. Childcare vouchers cannot be accepted for retainer payments for tax reasons.
Retainers are set as a minimum of £100 per child attending.
No interest is earned or paid on retainers.
8. Forfeit of retainer
Retainers are in place to demonstrate a commitment from parents to take up a session offered by Harlequin, in return we commit to ensure the requested session is available for their child. Places may be denied if there are not spaces and are only confirmed with the acceptance of the retainer.
Cancellations and changes in regular booked attendance (schedule) before the child’s first session at the club and within the first three months of first scheduled attendance shall forfeit the retainer for those sessions. Minimum forfeit in these circumstances is £100, or the retainer equivalent to four weeks fees for the sessions cancelled, whichever is the greater amount.
9. Holiday clubs
Holiday club bookings must be made on the forms provided. Trip costs indicated on the form do not include the standard day fee. On trip days, a full day must be booked.
No bookings are made during pre-school holidays for children who attend term-time pre-school and no sessions are assumed or reserved based on term time pre-school schedule.
Normal days are 8am to 6pm unless indicated on the booking form otherwise. Late finishes at 6.30pm must be pre-booked on the form to be charged at the indicated rate, otherwise collection after 6pm will be subject to the late collection charge (see 12).
7.30am starts are available at an extra charge but must be pre-booked on the booking form to enable adequate staffing.
Holiday club sessions are confirmed once full payment has cleared and the related form received, at which point all fees are non-refundable. A completed form represents your commitment to pay for the sessions booked on the form. Payment must be made at the same time the form is submitted.
If a session is full or cannot be offered by Harlequin, a full refund of session and trip fee will be issued.
As payment is required on booking, invoices are not sent for holiday clubs. Payment receipts and confirmations are sent after payment is processed.
10. Wait list and waiting list payment
Harlequin hold a waiting list for any regular sessions that are full and for funded places when all funded sessions are allocated. These are managed primarily on a first come first served basis. Please refer to Harlequin Waiting list policy for full details.
In order to be added to the waiting list, a payment equal to four weeks fee for that session is required. Once the space is allocated this payment is added to the customers’ retainer.
If a space does not become available or you choose to come off the waiting list, the payment made to enter the waiting list is refunded or credited to your account.
11. Pre-booked late finishes (6.30pm)
A finish time of 6.30pm can be booked on all afternoon and holiday club sessions. This end time must be indicated on the form at the time of booking, using the forms provided.
Adhoc late finishes can be booked in advance before noon on the day of attendance by email or telephone. In this case the extra fee shown in the table above will apply.
Notification after noon, or not at all, will count as a late collection and be subject to the late collection fee described below.
12. Late collection fee
£20 per family (siblings) for each 15 minutes or part after the pre-booked finish time is charged. Parents and children must leave the building before their booked finish time to avoid a late fee. Please plan any time necessary to talk to staff before this time.
This fee is charged whatever the reason for the delay in collection. Harlequin staff will remain with all uncollected children, and will determine when escalation is necessary in line with Harlequin policies.
If a third party collects a child late, the late collection fee is charged to the parent.
13. Late payment of accounts
Any late full payment of invoices will be subject to a late payment surcharge of £15 on the date the invoice is due for payment, i.e. the first of the month it refers to. Harlequin reserves the right to apply a surcharge of 4% above the Bank of England base rate for late payment from the payment due date. Any late payment fee surcharge will be added to the outstanding invoice and re-issued weekly. £15 late fee will be added each week that the fee remains unpaid.
We may pass unpaid fees to a debt collection service after a total of 30 days from the initial invoice date, and the cost for this service will be added to the amount outstanding. In addition, in the event of fees being unpaid for more than 7 days, Harlequin reserves the right to refuse care for the child or children without further notice.
HOSC Fees_v20.docx Page 4 of 4
Even when the first day of the month falls during a school holiday (such as January and September) the latest date for payment of the fee shall be the first day of the month.
Where voucher and electronic payments are used, it remains the parent responsibility to ensure payment is made early enough to arrive before it is late.
14. Special care supplement
Children with special needs can be accommodated at the club by prior arrangement. Where their care requires additional or specialist staff, the charge for the session shall be the normal session fee, plus a special care supplement. Special care supplements are determined individually based on the needs of the child and the potential impact on other users of the club. Typically special care supplements are between £5.00 and £25.00 per hour in addition to the usual session fee.
15. Notification of cancellation or absence
All absences from pre-school must be reported to the setting at the start of the first missed session. Where government funded education sessions are being missed, a reason for the absence must be provided as Harlequin has an obligation to the local authority to document all absences.
16. Paying monthly
Fees may be paid in regular fixed monthly amounts. The formula for the amount is the average weekly fee x 3.5. This assumes payments are spread over 11 months from August (for September fee) to June (for July fee). Harlequin will request top up payments or offer a refund if the account is getting in arrears or is in excess credit.
This formula only provides payment for breakfast and after school club. To spread the cost of holiday clubs through the year, estimate the number of days and fee required and add 1/12th to the monthly amount.
Monthly invoices are produced to show credits and debits carried forward from the previous month. Only sessions booked are charged.
17. Bank Charges
Any bank charges due to re-presented cheques or returned payments will be charged at the cost to Harlequin or £20, whichever is greater.
18. Summer holiday club instalments
By prior agreement with the managing director, and where the total holiday club fee is in excess of £600, Harlequin may be prepared to accept payments for holiday club by instalments. Harlequin will indicate the schedule for each payment as all fees must still be paid in advance of sessions attended. Any discounts are applied to the last instalment (see promotional discounts below).
19. Promotional discounts
From time to time, Harlequin may offer promotional discounts based on early commitment, or when more than a certain level of commitment is made, for example. Any discount is normally deducted once the booking is confirmed. Any overpayment will be refunded by cash, bank transfer or a credit on the family account within 6 weeks of the final discounted session. Holiday club discounts are applied in the final week in holiday club, full fees up to this time must be paid.
Children who attend our clubs may be eligible for a discount when hiring our venues for a party.
20. Preparation of financial statements
Harlequin receives a number of requests for accounts and official statements (for example for HMRC and employers) that take a long time to prepare and in some cases require retrieval of archived hard copy documentation.
Requests for detailed accounts to be prepared for historic review of sessions and payment made / due will be charged at the rate of £50 - £100. An estimate of the charge necessary will be provided before the account is prepared, and will require payment of the fee by the parent/guardian.
Harlequin will not charge for statements of accounts where the request is received directly from HMRC or Universal Credits.

Our preferred method of payment is by BACS direct to our bank account.

Account name : Harlequin Out of School Clubs Ltd
Sort code : 090150
Account number : 05659671
Please use your child's name as a reference and this simplifies matching your payment to your invoice.

Payments are processed at least twice a week, when an email receipt will be sent to your registered email address.