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fast’, so we were ready to rock and roll
in the first week of September... Then
we spent two months doing lots of open
days, with parents asking, ‘When are
you opening?’ It was quite embarrassing,
actually. But we still had to sell the places,
let people know that we were here – that
we were going to be opening soon. I was
on Ofsted’s back on a weekly basis.
“They finally came on October 20th.
Even then, a week later, we still couldn’t
open because we had to wait for them
to post out our registration certificate
– I said ‘Can’t you send a scan to me?!’
because we had people wanting to start.
We finally opened the nursery on the
26th, having been paying for staff, rent,
insurance...”
“We were haemorrhaging – that’s
the term I use,” Rachel says, “and we
lost a lot of parents because of that,
because they needed places in
September. It was difficult.”
COMMITTED
TO QUALITY
Despite the delays, Fount Nursery
quickly won parents over – and that’s
not just because of the positive first
impression its appearance guarantees.
Elena and Rachel have consciously
positioned their setting as a premium
provider going above and beyond for
discerning mums and dads, and are
pulling out all the stops to deliver high
standards of early education and care.
While it has proved a time-consuming
and often frustrating process, recruiting
skilled staff has been at the heart of their
efforts. All but one of their practitioners
can boast of a Level 3 qualification, but
many hold degrees as well. The team
already includes a qualified primary
school teacher, well equipped to support
children as they approach the transition to
primary school, and a Montessori-trained
specialist. But it doesn’t stop there – the
setting can also call upon the talents
of Kerryann Dunlop, a Fifteen-trained
(fifteen.net) Jamie Oliver chef, who both
prepares children’s meals and leads them
in their culinary-based learning.
Needless to say, this kind of expertise
costs money, but funds have also been
found to offer parents a fully inclusive
service: nappies, wipes, creams and milk;
a wide range of extra-curricular activities
D
ON RECRUITMENT...
“We’ve had to learn a few lessons, as interviewing was new to both of
us,” Elena says of what is an ongoing recruitment process. “Some of the
applicants come across as amazing in their interview, but then don’t deliver.
We’ve also had quite a number of staff who sadly didn’t have a Level 3 – you
just know that they’d be amazing, but sadly you can’t have them.
“For us, having passion is really important, not just qualifications – and
we do a trial morning so we can see whether or not applicants have the
initiative to apply what they know to the workplace, and deliver every day,
with children in situ.”
