Flexible Nursery Hours in Shropshire
Part-time, full-time, term-time, all-year — built around your week
Working parents' weeks rarely fit a single rigid template. Bojangles Day Nursery (Walford Campus, Baschurch, SY4 2HL) offers flexible attendance patterns for working families across north Shropshire and the Shrewsbury area — full or part-time (from two days a week), term-time only or year-round, with funded hours stretched across the year if it suits. We're registered with Ofsted under URN EY370743 and rated Good at our most recent inspection in January 2022. All our sessions are full-day, 8am to 6pm; we don't currently offer morning-only or afternoon-only sessions. This page sets out the patterns we genuinely offer, the patterns we can't accommodate, and how the 30-hour funded entitlement maps onto each.
The patterns we offer
Session length
Full day only, 8am to 6pm. We don't currently offer morning-only or afternoon-only sessions.
Days per week
From two full days a week up to a full five-day week. The most common patterns are 3 or 4 full days.
Across the year
- Term-time only: 38 weeks aligned with Shropshire school terms
- All-year: 48 weeks (we close 4 weeks for Easter, late August, Christmas, plus bank holidays)
- Stretched funded: funded hours spread across our 48 operating weeks at around 24 hours per week
How funded hours work with flexible patterns
The 30-hour government-funded entitlement gives you 30 funded hours per week. With our full-day sessions (8am to 6pm = 10 hours per day), that translates into a few common patterns:
- Three funded full days per week: 30 hours used in full, term-time pattern
- Three funded days plus one paid day: if you need four days a week, the fourth day is charged at our standard daily session fee
- Three funded days plus two paid days: for full-time five-day attendance with funding covering the first three
- Stretched: around 24 hours per week across 48 weeks: consistent weekly funded cover across our operating year
For a deeper look at funded hours specifically, see our 30 hours free childcare in Baschurch page or our parents' guide to funded childcare hours in Shropshire.
What flexibility actually means in practice
Some flexibility we genuinely offer; some we're honest about not offering. To set expectations:
What we do well
- Regular shift patterns — same days every week, or alternating weeks on a fortnightly cycle
- Pattern changes with reasonable notice — one month for day/session changes, one term for term-time/all-year switches
- Different patterns for different children in the same family
What's harder
- Different days each week with no pattern — we struggle to plan ratios and key person consistency
- Last-minute changes — we usually need at least a week's notice for changes to a given week
- Drop-in care — we're a registered nursery, not a creche, so we can't offer ad-hoc daily bookings
- Single-day weeks — below two days a week children find it hard to build a key person relationship
The honest test is to bring us your real week and ask: is there a pattern here that works for both us and you? Most of the time the answer is yes.
Current availability
Availability changes week by week across our Baby, Toddler, and Pre-School Rooms. Please call 01939 260006 to talk through which pattern would work for your family and to confirm what's currently open in the room you need. Our most up-to-date place-by-place position is on the main Baschurch page.
Frequently asked questions
Full days (8am–6pm), part-time (2, 3, or 4 days a week), full-time (5 days a week), term-time only (38 weeks), or stretched all-year (48 weeks — our full operating year). All sessions are full-day — we don't currently offer morning-only or afternoon-only sessions. We work around your week rather than asking you to fit ours.
Yes. The 30-hour entitlement can be split flexibly across however many days a week you attend. If you attend 3 days a week, that's 10 hours of funded care per day. If you attend 4 days, it's 7.5 hours per day. We can also stretch the 30 hours across more weeks at fewer hours per week if you'd prefer. The total funded hours per term remain the same; how they're distributed is largely your choice.
Within reason. We can work with regular shift patterns where the same days are needed week-on-week or fortnight-on-fortnight. Irregular bookings — different days each week, or last-minute changes — are harder, because we plan room ratios and key person arrangements in advance. The honest answer is: bring us your real week and we'll tell you whether we can make it work.
Yes. Many families start with one pattern and adjust as work changes, parental leave ends, siblings start school, or grandparent help shifts. We ask for one month's notice for changes to days or sessions where possible, so we can plan room space. Switching between term-time only and all-year usually needs one term's notice.
Two full days per week is our typical minimum, because below that level it's hard for children to settle into a key person relationship and for the key person to track development. We can flex this where there's a clear reason — for example, if you're using a single funded day per week as a deliberate gentle introduction.