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33
THE
OWNERS
nursery business
ELENA
MACKEY
“We do get
emails from
parents, saying
‘job well done’ or ‘this is a
concern’; and if it’s the latter,
we’re on it. We’re not behind
the scenes, we’re there.”
RACHEL
MUNRO
PEEBLES
“It’s an amazing
thing we’ve
created here. It’s such hard
work, but when a parent says
their child has had an amazing
time, that they love dropping
him off, that makes it all
worthwhile.”
such as Baby Sensory, Stretch yoga and
forest school; and regular visits to local
museums are all included in the setting’s
fees. Adding to the expense, ingredients
for the children’s meals are sourced
from local traders – a decision made
to both ensure quality and support the
local community. That all this is being
achieved despite a recent reduction
in the nursery’s fees (see panel) is an
impressive feat.
Elena and Rachel admit that their
commitment to this quality of provision
has an impact on their bottom line,
and that they continue to review their
approach with an eye on making
savings. But they are adamant that any
changes they make will not impact
the quality of the experience children
receive. “We could cut corners, cut the
classes and others things, and we’d still
be full because there’s a shortage of
nursery places here, but we don’t want to
do that,” Elena says.
“It’s not only about money,” Rachel
explains. “Our profit margin is smaller
than it could be, but we’re delivering
something unique and that means we
have more credibility. We want it to be
perfect on every level because this is
something we believe in.”
LOOKING TO
THE FUTURE
Some nursery owners prefer to adopt a
hands-off approach to managing their
settings, but although Elena and Rachel
have recently taken the decision to step
back and employ a manager to oversee
the day-to-day running of Fount Nursery,
they are still often on site or close by,
and always busy. Elena continues to
take responsibility for show-rounds and
regularly observes her team’s practice
from an office that conveniently looks out
onto the nursery’s two base rooms. “The
parents love that we’re on site, that we’re
parents too and that we understand their
needs,” Rachel points out.
Even after the children have gone
home, the hard work goes on – as
Rachel puts it, “Running your own
business is really difficult – you have to
eat, sleep and breathe it.”
“It’s never-ending,” Elena admits.
“There are parents emailing at 10 o’clock
at night...”
You could forgive them for wanting
to stick with what they’ve got, but just
halfway through their first year as nursery
owners, and still awaiting their first Ofsted
inspection, Elena and Rachel already
have an eye on growing a business – a
brand – that they feel has the potential
to attract parents across London and
beyond. At the same time both are
conscious of the need to build on strong
foundations: “We’ll only look to grow
when this nursery is watertight,” Rachel
says. “This has to work first, to give us the
confidence to open up a second site.”
“We’re still learning,” Elena agrees.
“We don’t claim to be perfect or anything
– we’ve got to wait for that day!”
D
ON
SETTING
FEES...
“We started off at a premium level,”
Rachel says, “because we thought
that London parents were able to
pay it, looking at Islington, parts
of the city... But we realised that
was stopping us filling up as fast
as we’d hoped. Parents told us,
‘we absolutely love it, but we can’t
afford you’. We made the decision
to drop our fees in March, and all
of a sudden, that was it. Now we’re
only slightly more expensive than
the market rate, but have a waiting
list already...”
