Our working relationship: Learning from each other

Charlotte Bateman ‘It has been a pleasure to support Charlotte in her studies and share her enthusiasm’

What does your role involve?

I have overall responsibility for the Little Barn Owls Group, which currently operates three early years settings, with plans to grow this year.

I have worked at Little Barn Owls for over ten years now. I have over 15 years’ experience in the childcare sector. I am driven by a passion for innovative early years practice, led by research.

Here’s what today looks like – I started the morning with a meeting to finalise the agenda of our next staff training day (we close for the day three times a year for company-wide training). I then joined our weekly pedagogical meeting, whereby all of our Artists and Pedagogical Co-ordinators get together for lunch to reflect on the week’s project work and unpick our practice and offerings to the children. This afternoon I spent some time with our children – I’m lucky my office is above one of our nursery sites! As well as catching up on various jobs, myself and one of our nursery managers then prepared for a Parent Nursery Association meeting – this consists of allocated time every few months to get together with parents, share feedback, exchange ideas, and make some plans together for the months ahead. It’s a great way to stay connected.

How do you work together?

During my working week, I often meet up with Charlotte to give her feedback on how her training is progressing and to have a general catch-up. I try to help by sharing my own experience with her. Studying can be challenging, especially when you are working too, but Charlotte has plenty of enthusiasm, which is so important.

It has been a pleasure to support Charlotte during her studies and share her enthusiasm for early years care and development– particularly within the Emilia Reggio approach. Charlotte is always enthusiastic and keen to share her ideas, which is something we want to see. Above all, her dedication to providing our children with the most positive experience during their formative years and making every day fun and exciting is what makes her such a successful early years practitioner. We hope she stays with us for many years to come and takes full advantage of all the CPD opportunities that come her way – she is a pleasure to work with.

What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome these?

A challenge we are all experiencing inthe sector is recruitment and retention. However, early in 2023 we took a new approach and overhauled our staff package, to ensure employees feel truly appreciated. The job is incredibly rewarding, but equally as hard in the current climate, so I could see we needed to reinvent the Little Barn Owls staff experience.

Last year we took practitioners to train in Reggio Emilia in Italy and to the EECERA conference in Portugal. We also offer an 80 per cent discount on nursery fees for all our staff, fully funded further study, and give a generous Christmas shopping bonus.

In 2024 our focus is on deepening our practice and continuing to engage in further research to innovate and extend our knowledge. We also want to offer more external CPD opportunities to settings across the UK and further afield, opening our doors for visits and training courses too.

Charlotte Mendola: ‘She is always keen to see what we are doing in the setting, encouraging all staff in their abilities’

What does your role involve?

I have been at Little Barn Owls for just under a year. I joined with the intention of changing my career path and became completely swept away by their inspirational practice. It was something I just had to be a part of!

I typically start my day by greeting parents and welcoming children into the room. I catch up on how our children are doing, noting down any specific needs they may require that day, and ensure the whole team are aware of these. As we follow a Reggio Emilia inspired practice, we create continuous opportunities for play enquiries to be encountered; this includes a mini atelier in each room, set up to allow children to independently re-explore throughout the day. I currently have the responsibility of this space, ensuring it’s inviting for children.

The space includes a number of iterations to challenge them without setting them up to fail; this helps to encourage their independence and grow their confidence in their own abilities. During and after play enquiries in this space, I like to use a tool created by our head of pedagogy to observe and write down any discoveries, quotes or moments that can be looked into further to better understand our children’s interests, and to answer any questions we may have. Following this, I love to reflect on what I have learnt with my room leader and others in my team, bouncing around ideas. I also write up individual observations, alongside pictures of each child, so over the course of a week I can write documentation about these discoveries. These are good to look back on when adapting and planning alterations to the space, ensuring these changes are in line with the children’s learning and interests.

Throughout the day, I enjoy building and developing connections with my key children and ensuring their specific needs are being met. I find this a very rewarding part of the job.

How do you work together?

My managing director, Charlotte, provides me with lots of support. She is always keen to see what we are doing within the setting, encouraging all staff in their abilities, and is always very friendly and easy to contact for support. Charlotte gives us the opportunity to discuss any new ideas and is always keen to hear our opinions on how to continue to develop different areas of our practice. She is also very open about her own experience and is happy to suggest different resources to further develop my knowledge within childcare, as well as the Reggio Emilia approach specifically.

What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome these?

Studying while working full-time can present some challenges, but I am surrounded by lots of supportive people.

At Little Barn Owls we have lots of opportunity for professional development by being in regular contact with training staff. They openly share their knowledge from previous experiences, including recent trips to Reggio Emilia, which are organised by the company several times a year. Throughout my short time at Little Barn Owls, I have already been given lots of opportunities to learn, including one-to-one training and reflections, which has allowed me to develop my knowledge and practice inspired by Reggio Emilia and receive recognition, such as inspiring practice awards, employee of the month and being asked to take part in specific focus groups and discussions.

I was also invited to a lunch with others from the company, allowing me to learn from those who have worked their way up, and giving me the opportunity to talk directly to our owner. I have also been shown lots of encouragement in completing my Level 3 course to kick-start my career.