earlyyears.teachwire.net
55
Think carefully
about the skills
of each site
manager and
what support
you will need.
nursery business
Sarah is Managing
Director of The Old
Station Nursery group.
For support and training,
email
sarahsteel@
theoldstationnursery.co.uk
phone call from the manager of the latter
while at the former, telling me that she
was short-staffed. There was a sudden
realisation that I was 40 minutes away
and wouldn’t be able to step in to help.
You will need to think carefully about
the skills of each site manager and what
support you will need. Generally you will
need at least three or four sites before you
can afford an area manager, so will you
fill the gap yourself in the meantime? Do
you all agree on what good quality is? You
need to clearly define what you expect
and then work out how you are going to
ensure this is taking place.
SUPPORTING
MANAGERS
As your group grows, you will need
to think about how you support your
managers and staff. You will need some
sort of central function or support services,
to help with HR, finance, suppliers, etc.
It is easy to let this central team grow if
you aren’t careful, and before you know
it you may be spending a large part of
your increased revenue on managing your
nurseries. Some groups cap their head
office costs at 10% or less of turnover, and
this may be a useful figure to consider.
The advantage of being a group is
that you can pool resources and buy
in training that all of your nurseries can
benefit from, which you might not be
able to afford as a single-site operator. We
meet as a team of managers every two
months and often use this for continuing
professional development or to meet a
new supplier. As a whole company, we
have a ‘leadership day’ once a year and
invite a speaker to run a training session
– we have enjoyed sessions from Laura
Henry and Elizabeth Jarman in the last
two years, and have Neil Farmer booked
for this year’s event.
PROTECT YOUR
REPUTATION
Finally, your reputation as a group can be
a great thing, as everyone benefits if it’s
positive. However, you must be aware of
the dangers to all from one piece of bad
luck, be it a poor Ofsted inspection or an
accident. Think about how you will deal
with any problems, and how you can
protect your business in the event of an
unexpected issue.
