PDA

View Full Version : Starting your own nursery?



jadavi
28-09-2013, 11:57 AM
Has anyone considered this ?

I have vaguely been looking at venues but lack of storage space seems to be the sticking point.
ie a village hall and bring/take home your stuff at the start/end of the day.

There seems to be a lot of help (grants and loans) from local council as they need more provision for 2 year olds. This is why I am considering it as I have been approached a lot by them in the past three months.

Would be nice to talk it through with other people who have the qualifications to start one (eyps or other) and who are maybe contemplating it (which is all I am doing right now)

munch149
28-09-2013, 12:29 PM
I thought about it but neither have the funds nor confidence to do so. I have the qualifications in childcare but childminding is my only experience of business and don't know how I would do on a larger scale

jadavi
28-09-2013, 12:53 PM
Mmmm...

I think it can be done without using your own funds.

I was thinking of a three day a week nursery with 20 in morning and 20 in afternoon so 40 children get their 15 hours a week entitlement.
Employing 5 adults for the 1:4 ratio. I as manager would have to be surplus to ratio. (Legal requirement ) which means I can cover for staff sickness etc.
Our local hall is £10 an hour.
So it's do-able and would probably pay what I'm getting now with six children and an assistant. I could run a drop in holiday club if I wanted...

The lack of storage is a sticking point though.
I know lots of nurseries carry in and out their resources. I would ideally like to store an easel, a messy play deep table and a few sit and rides - maybe in a storage chest outside somewhere. The staff of 6 including me could carry in books, art supplies, puzzles, parachute etc from home and divide it between ourselves.

Does anyone know how nurseries do it who have to carry in and out? Anyone seen it working well ? (or not?)
Any thoughts on this idea welcomed.

jadavi
28-09-2013, 01:01 PM
Just seen you need a loo and basin for every ten children over two so that limits the options somewhat....

Mouse
28-09-2013, 01:08 PM
To me that sounds more like a playgroup than a nursery. I think of nursery as being in a set place, having their own building & equipment etc. Playgroups & creches that I know of run similar schemes where they rent a room such as a community centre or church/village hall. Many of these places do have somewhere where you can store equipment. It might only be a cupboard, but it would mean you could store some of the bigger things such as easels and sit on toys. Some places even have their own resources that you can use. I also think it's a lot easier to set up a playgroup than a nursery.

It's a good idea if there is a big call for funded spaces in your area. Would you only take on 2 year olds? I know here there are lots of grants available for creating extra funded 2yr old spaces. What would happen when the children turned 3? Would you be able to cope with the drop in funding, or would you only take children while they're 2?

jadavi
28-09-2013, 01:33 PM
Thanks for the ideas. Yes I'd take half twos abs half threes to keep up the numbers.

jadavi
28-09-2013, 01:34 PM
Sorry that sent too soon!

I think it's more the provision than the premises that makes it a nursery or Playgroup.
If the parents are happy and its Ofsted approved then I would imagine it can be a nursery.
I already offer nursery hours in my home.

jadavi
28-09-2013, 01:36 PM
I wonder if I'd get any help other than funding - ie some one to advise me on this and that. Maybe I'll call the early years team,.

jadavi
28-09-2013, 01:38 PM
Having said that I don't know of any nurseries that are run in village halls etc.

FussyElmo
28-09-2013, 01:38 PM
Wouldn't you have to come to an official agreement with the people who own the hall. Else what would you do if someone else booked it?

It would be a lot of resources Im thinking table and chairs, a portable fridge for milk to move in and out everyday.

hectors house
28-09-2013, 03:55 PM
I go to Zumba in a village hall and they most run a playgroup / pre-school or Nursery from it as the walls often have lovely paintings on them - I guess they most store their stuff there but there aren't any cupboards or a stage with storage in the actual hall. My daughter goes to a toddler group run by the children's centre - the children's centre has a Nursery but the toddler group is run in a scout hut and they bring everything each week in a van as it is in a different village each day! I think the last playgroup in our town that operated from a hall has now closed down, everyone else leases a premises.

I know a childminder who is just taking on the lease of a former shop on edge of town, she is going to open a before and after school club / holiday club and run art/craft/cooking activities for parents to come and stay at with children and possibly run a creche for people shopping. Running into problems getting planning permission through as turns out it is a listed building!

jadavi
28-09-2013, 03:57 PM
The place I am thinking about has its own kitchen plus fridge etc.
Only one disabled loo in total though so no go I think...

mandy moo
28-09-2013, 05:17 PM
I work in a privately run Pre-School, We operate from our Village Hall, We have Cupboard/Office where we have to store EVERYTHING nothing is allowed to stay out, everything has to be put away each day.. its a real pita.
We hire the hall every day, 3 days a week 9-3 2 days 9-12..
We have 1 toilet and wash basin, this is in the toilet supposedly for wheelchair users, we use this for approx. anywhere bettween 11-25 children a day, aged from 2 - 5.
We change nappies in the foyer on the floor as there is no nappy changing facilities.
We have no adjoining out door space!! we use a grassed, fenced off area approx 50ft away from the hall.. which is a military operation in its self getting the children across that area without them making a run for it!! etc

Im envious of those that have purpose built/can leave equipment out buildings ..hey ho, 1 day maybe..

jadavi
28-09-2013, 06:01 PM
Thanks

Mandy moo
do you have funded nursery children?
Also what about the one loo for every 10 children over two rule?

teacakepenguin
28-09-2013, 06:40 PM
Before I started childminding I was chair of our committee run preschool which runs from our village hall.

If you are renting a building as much as you would need to then you could barter for some storage, as obviously you would become a major source of income for them. Also you might be allowed to put your own storage in - our local children centre rent the hall and they have an outdoor green shed they use, and now the preschool have bought one too.

Halls tend to not like children very much in my experience - as they leave glitter everywhere, sand, wet play leaves a mess, paint can go everywhere. We used to get moaned at constantly for not keeping the place immaculate and we were just trying to do our best with extremely small amounts of funds.

Our preschool want to move out of the hall as soon as is possible, as even just the getting out and putting away of toys every day is a complete time waster, and can often result in untidy cupboards where things have had to be stashed really fast as time ran out at the end of the session or the same toys coming out over and over as it was too hard to get to the bottom of the cupboards.

On a practical level we found it hard to keep the preschool financially viable, it's really important to keep costs under control. That probably means paying staff minimum wage which may mean they won't be willing to take toys home. And it also meant the manager only got 2 hours admin a week, the rest was contact time as we simply couldn't afford to have her not working with the children.

I think ofsted are relaxing a little with toilets, our hall has 4 in total but they used to only count 2 as the others weren't freely accessible. They've argued tho that they can take small groups to the loo with the other 2 toilets (the gents and the disabled) and we've therefore allowed up to 24 in the setting now I think. Also some of the little ones are in nappies anyhow so they don't need toilets!

Umm that's all I can think of just now, what else were you asking?
Jx

Bluebell
28-09-2013, 07:55 PM
I'm on a committee for a pre-school that runs from a rented hall but they have been allowed more flexibilty to leave some of their toys put away against the wall. Many run from churches, village halls and so on that have to pack everything away and storage would be the issue. also how many village halls are located in a position that they have an attached garden?
think for the amount of resources you would need for the amount of children would need wall to wall storage! I have complete respect for anyone who has to put it all away in a tiny cupboard!

We would like to look for other premises but finding somewhere suitable is hard and we are just about to look into how we would go about getting funding.

I'm an EYP so do sometimes consider whether I will be childminding forever and running a nursery is something I would consider but going it alone is scary! I'm not very experienced with management.
I also really like working with older children - the 3 and 4 year olds so don;t want to limit myself to littlies.

jadavi
28-09-2013, 08:46 PM
Thanks - really helpful xx

leeanne910
29-09-2013, 07:09 AM
This is something i have been thinking and discussing with oh.

We are gonna sit down and get figures of wat we need to save. Staff needed wages. Ofsted....rent budget bills etc and thinking of possibly childcare on domestic in a big enough home for nursery down stairs and we live upstairs.


So i will be following and inputing to this thread :)

jadavi
29-09-2013, 07:17 AM
Interesting

You mean buying a new place?

jadavi
29-09-2013, 07:17 AM
I am thinking that I will miss the babies too much.

The Juggler
29-09-2013, 02:09 PM
hon have a little google but there are companies where you can start up as a franchise. So you get help with funding, support for training and staff training and you run along with the company ethos. Not sure how the get their "fee" once you are up and running but guessing that you pay a % of profits.

There are a few companies that do it. :thumbsup:

blue bear
29-09-2013, 02:26 PM
I wouldn't worry about the toilets, local pre school just moved into porta cabin and only has two small toilets and one adult sized disabled toilet, it is registered for 60 children, toilets were no mentioned in ofsted report. The pre school runs 9-3 in two sessions,9-12 and 12-3 term time only.

We also have a nursery that runs from a community hall up the road, they do not have total use of the building so have toilet runs as the children can't go alone because there are other people in the building. They managed to negotiate With the council to have a couple of very large sheds in the grounds to store their equipment in, they put everything out each day. They have children from aged six months to going to school. They set the hall up in zones, very creatively using stair gates, baby dens and washing airers. The nursery runs 8-6 daily.

jadavi
30-09-2013, 09:01 AM
Thanks

I know nurseries can be very creative with space. It must be a pain to have to set out and put away everything each day.

Still pondering...
Thanks for the ideas.

smurfette
30-09-2013, 11:53 AM
I thought about something similar , maybe a preschool cos there is a lot of demand In our area and we have a large garden with a cabin In. In some ways I would prefer the structure and the older ones but really I am not sure i would like to be stuck in all the time! Love being able to just decide on the morning where we will go ESP if weather is nice.. Just a thought!

mandy moo
30-09-2013, 05:11 PM
Some children are funded, yes. Not sure how man

The toilet thing it is just gross, it stinks in there, mainly because of toilet training accidents and not getting there in time, and boys missing the hole if you see what I mean :)

Planning permission has been put in, apparently' to give us our own room, toilets and adjoining garden, when this will happen is anybody's guess :rolleyes:

I know of 4 Pre Schools that have their own garden area attached to their Village Hall, Im quite envious

jadavi
25-11-2013, 06:48 PM
Hi again

I have been round the houses and come back to this idea. (Mainly cos the newly built community centre wants me and keeps ringing!) it is a great facility - loos, grassed outdoor large space lovely hall with kitchen. There is also storage he says...
Going to have a look tonight....

My questions now are what does it take to do it?
What are the legal hoops to jump thru ?
Anyone know? And also what is the nursery ratio?
Is it 'just'setting up a mission statement constitution etc staff schedules planning?
Can i privately own it?
Maybe someone knows and I can pm them if this is outside the remit of this forum

jadavi
25-11-2013, 06:57 PM
Answering my own thread haha!

I see from an old tweet that Simona posted that if you are running any kind of childcare business you are not eligible for the £500 Gmt set up grant to start a new nursery :(

jadavi
25-11-2013, 06:58 PM
I have so much equipment already I'm not sure what I'd need and we'd get fund raising right away with the parents hopefully.

hectors house
25-11-2013, 07:00 PM
Hi again

I have been round the houses and come back to this idea. (Mainly cos the newly built community centre wants me and keeps ringing!) it is a great facility - loos, grassed outdoor large space lovely hall with kitchen. There is also storage he says...
Going to have a look tonight....

My questions now are what does it take to do it?
What are the legal hoops to jump thru ?
Anyone know? And also what is the nursery ratio?
Is it 'just'setting up a mission statement constitution etc staff schedules planning?
Can i privately own it?
Maybe someone knows and I can pm them if this is outside the remit of this forum

Do you ever go to shared training or cluster meetings with Nursery staff - is there a small Nursery with a friendly owner who is prepared to help you? How about your local authority - have you still got a development officer or someone else who can help you? - you maybe able to get some funding help to set up. Someone in my town is setting up an after school club on non-domestic premises and is getting all kinds of advice/help/funding. Good luck

jadavi
25-11-2013, 07:29 PM
Thanks yes, I will put out feelers xx

Bluebell
25-11-2013, 08:07 PM
If there is demand in your area then there may well be some kind of other funding or grant. Try the LA - they have support workers for pre-schools just like we have our childminder ones.
I have been helping on a pre-school committee and our LA early years advisor has been amazing!
Ratios are in the EYFS but I'm not sure what they are for nurseries - its all to do with space as well as staff.
You will have to notify Ofsted that you are starting a new childcare business to get it registered so I guess that would be a good starting point as they will tell you the requirements/procedure.

jadavi
26-11-2013, 06:38 AM
Thanks

Getting cold feet now! Can't bear to give up my business I've worked so hard for and am finally full. To open what can never be a brilliant nursery as it is not function built but a hall where we have to pack and unpack every day so can't have a lot of resources.
Plus the stress of running a team of nursery staff.
Cold light of day today, feeling thankful for what 'I've got right now :)
I appreciate everyone's thoughts xx

smurfette
26-11-2013, 08:12 AM
Thanks Getting cold feet now! Can't bear to give up my business I've worked so hard for and am finally full. To open what can never be a brilliant nursery as it is not function built but a hall where we have to pack and unpack every day so can't have a lot of resources. Plus the stress of running a team of nursery staff. Cold light of day today, feeling thankful for what 'I've got right now :) I appreciate everyone's thoughts xx

Sounds like the right decision for you now, maybe it's something you will revisit later when things change

Best of luck!