Welcome to The Sunshine Centre Childcare

At The Sunshine Centre childcare, we devote our energies to offering a fun and nurturing environment whilst delivering the best in childcare and education. Our friendly and highly trained staff are focused on providing fun, care and learning. They work to ensure your child develops as an individual, whilst helping to nurture and encourage learning through discovery and enjoyment.

The Sunshine Centre Childcare is open all year round, 8am to 6pm except for bank holidays, INSET days, the days in-between Christmas and New Year and a maximum of five in service training days. We will give you one month’s notice for our training days.

2025/2026 INSET DAYS:

Monday 13th April 2026
Monday 1st June 2026

2026/2027 INSET DAYS:

Tuesday 1st September 2026
Monday 2nd November 2026
Monday 4th January 2027
Monday 12th April 2027
Monday 7th June 2027

Please do not hesitate to call in at The Sunshine Centre or telephone us on 01295 276769 for more information.

Childcare Pathways

Two Year Old Funding: The government will fund children to attend childcare for 15 hours per week (term time only) if the caregivers meet a certain criteria. We can check eligibility for you. You may also receive a letter from Oxfordshire County Council advising you of your eligibility. If your child is eligible this funding will start the term after your child’s second birthday.

Universal Nursery Education Funding: All children are entitled to 15 hours nursery funding, the term after their 3rd birthday.

30 Hour Funding: For working families in England, children over 9 months of age. 30 hours of free childcare or early education for 38 weeks. A total of 1,140 hours per year. Apply for a code on line – 15 and 30 hours support – Best Start in Life

Childcare Choices: Open an online account, the government will add £2 for every £8.00 you pay in up to a maximum of £2000.  Childcare fees are paid from this account. Apply to Tax-Free Childcare – Best Start in Life

Feepaying: We offer a choice of sessions and contracts, please speak to us.

Deposit and Administration Fee

You will be required to pay a four week deposit for your fee paid hours and an administration fee of £37.00 when booking your place.

Funded hours are available during term time, for use throughout the week, across all the above sessions. All hours outside of term time will be chargeable at the standard rates listed above. Any additional hours, outside of the funded allowance, will be charged at the standard hourly rate of £7.15.

Fees will increase annually from April 1st

We ask that parents provide nappies, wipes, nappy cream and meals for lunch and/or tea depending on your child’s sessions. (Please note that we are a nut free Centre).

Our Early Years setting provides healthy snacks during the day and sunscreen when it is required, free of charge.

Grow, Explore, Discover

 We know that your priority is to find childcare that offers the right care and environment for your child and one that you have confidence in. Children are very precious to us as parents and we feel honoured that you are thinking about sharing your child’s care with us.

At The Sunshine Centre Childcare we devote our energies to offering a fun and nurturing environment whilst delivering the best in childcare and education. Our friendly and highly trained staff are focused on providing fun, care and learning. They work to ensure your child develops as an individual, whilst helping to nurture and encourage learning through discovery and play.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as
they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve
problems. Children learn by leading their own play and by taking part in
play which is guided by adults.

Your child’s time in Sunshine Centre Childcare will be carefully planned and monitored by their key person with support from other staff. Your child’s development is guided by the EYFS guidance. This framework informs both practice and policies across the age range 0-5 years.

Our childcare day is carefully planned to give a balance of adult led and child led activities. We try to adapt the planned activities to individual children in order to reflect their particular skills, interests and development needs.
Forward planning of activities in each room is informed through the children’s identified next steps and their current interests.
We want to foster curiosity and retain a sense of awe and wonder so that our children are enthusiastic about new experiences

Long Term Plan

Partnership with Mums, Dads and Caregivers

You want the very best for your child and we will work in partnership with you to achieve this. It is important to us that we build a trusting, open and honest relationship with you and use your knowledge of your child to help us provide the best care possible.

It is not easy to leave a child in childcare and we aim to ensure that Mums, Dads and Caregivers share in their children’s successes and development whilst in our care. We appreciate the support we receive from you and are happy to share the knowledge and experiences of our trained staff with you as your child goes through their stages of development.

There will be time at the start and end of the day for informal discussions with staff.

Information from The Food Standards Agency on Raw Flour

Flour doesn’t look like a raw food, but all flour is raw. That means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs that cause food poisoning, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli). You can get ill if you eat unbaked dough or batter made with flour containing bacteria. Flour is a raw ingredient and should be cooked or baked before eating to make it safe.

It is particularly important for vulnerable people, such as children under 5, those with compromised immune systems and older people, to not taste or eat raw dough or batter. This is because their immune system may not be able to fight off infections as easily.

You can treat flour by heating it to make it safe. You can then use it to make foods like raw cookie dough or in dough for crafts. The Food Standards Agency do not recommend using a microwave to sterilise flour, as there can be a risk of uneven heating. We also don’t recommend using an air fryer, as the air circulation makes it unsuitable.

Read more about the use of raw flower on the Food Standards Agency website.

Safeguarding Information for Mums, Dads and Carergivers

Please find links to useful information leaflets below:

MASH Safeguarding Hub Information for Parents and Carers

Oxfordshire County Council Early Help Guide

NSPCC Home or Out Alone Guide

NSPCC PANTS Conversations to Keep Your Child Safe from Abuse

NSPCC PANTS Talk Guide for Parents and Carers

NSPCC PANTS Guide for Children with Autism

NSPCC PANTS Guide for Children with Learning Disabilities

Support for Parents – Separation and Divorce

Support for Parents – Talking about Difficult Topics

Support for Parents – Online Safety

Our Commitment To You

Our Commitment to you

  • We are committed to providing a healthy, secure, caring, warm, vibrant and happy, child centred environment for all children entrusted to our care.
  • We are committed to provide the highest standard of  professionalism.
  • We are committed to recognising the needs and individual expression of all our children and to plan and provide activities accordingly.
  • We encourage children to initiate their own activities and make their own choices thus developing their independency.
  • We will introduce children to different festivals, cultural religions, social heritage and special occasions which reflect and value our cultural diverse society.
  • We are committed to work in partnership with Mums, Dads and Caregivers.
  • We are committed to be inclusive in all of our practice.
  • Using the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) children benefit from a rich and varied environment, with high quality care supporting their learning and development through meaningful play.
  • Through play children learn new skills, develop new interests,  encounter new experiences and build on previous knowledge.