None of them thought that they would end up taking on the family business, but 26 years on from when their parents opened their first setting, these three siblings run five Outstanding nurseries together.
Jo Kinloch, along with her brothers Paul Robinson and Andrew Robinson, are all directors of Nursery World’s Nursery Chain of the Year for 2016, the Mulberry Bush Nursery Group.
All of the nurseries are graded Outstanding by Ofsted, with four of them gaining the grade within weeks of each other earlier this year. And all are located close together in the small town of Bury in Lancashire.
‘We opened our fifth nursery in Dumers Lane last September,’ says Jo Kinloch. ‘We were inspected after four and a half months. Then it was Tottington, Whitefield, Walmersley. We were on a rollercoaster; all a bit punch-drunk by the end of it.’
The fifth Mulberry Bush nursery in Walshaw gained its Outstanding in December 2013.
John and Sue Robinson opened the original Tottington Nursery School in September 1990, which has always had the highest grade possible.
Ms Kinloch says, ‘My mum was a health visitor and a district nurse, and my dad was a teacher. They mortgaged everything they had to open the nursery. My mum’s high expectations are one of the reasons for where we are now.’
She says her mother would ‘scrub floors’ or show someone how to sweep to make sure the job was done to her exacting standards.
Paul has been with the nursery group 15 years, Andy ten, and Jo seven, and all worked in other areas before joining the family firm.
‘I don’t think any of us thought we would go into the business,’ says Ms Kinloch. ‘My brothers were into project management. I was a banking partner in a law firm for 15 years. ‘Our parents retired when I joined the business.
‘Our parents set the scene – they’re all very proud of us. We all live within half a mile of each other.’
The siblings have eight children between them – six at the same primary school and two at nursery.
Running the nursery group means they inevitably end up spending a lot of time together. ‘Paul, Andy and I work about three feet away from each other in the same room. ‘It’s a family business with a lot of respect and love for each other,’ says Ms Kinloch.
Family matters – the nursery group employs many family members, including three sisters at three different nurseries, two lots of mothers and daughters, and even a father-and-son maintenance team. ‘Bury is a small place – we all know each other really well,’ Ms Kinloch says.
The nursery group has 180 employees and the nursery managers have all worked together.
Ms Kinloch explains, ‘Twelve out of our 13 managers are home-grown, they’ve come up through the ranks. They’ve worked as nursery nurses and heads of units.’
She believes the very long service makes a big difference, and says staff all support each other.
‘From our perspective we don’t ever recruit anyone, or take on an apprentice, without hoping they will be there for the long term. We want people to stay for a long time.
‘Some of our managers are young, but they have gone up the ranks quite quickly because they are such good nursery nurses.’
The group has a six-month induction process, which includes recruitment and training evenings. All the nurseries are very busy, so this gives them a chance to discuss important things with their peer group.
Ms Kinloch says a number of the staff’s children attend Mulberry Bush settings, and when people come back after maternity leave the nursery group ‘works very hard to provide flexibility’ by offering a variety of ways of returning to work.
This means that around 30 nursery workers are in some sort of job share arrangement with, for example, three people sharing two full-time jobs.
Ms Kinloch says, ‘Some of our younger team members go elsewhere and then come back for their own children. It’s flattering, but it’s also depressing. My standard is that every room has to be good enough for all children. A two-year-old doesn’t get to choose to go somewhere else.’
HIGH ACHIEVERS
The Mulberry Bush group has particularly high occupancy rates of 97-100 per cent. Managers receive a bonus for occupancy, but Ms Kinloch claims their bonus structure is set higher than other nursery groups’, which are typically based on 75-80 per cent occupancy.
The nursery also invests in ‘fantastic training’. It recently became one of the first nurseries to sign up to the new early years first-aid award Millie’s Mark. Everyone is paediatric first-aid trained and has a three-hour refresher course every year.
The nursery group tends to be the place the local authority will recommend for families with complex needs. Ms Kinloch says the team have ‘incredible passion’ and the nursery will take children in and provide funding for them until the local authority funding comes through.
The nursery has been recognised for its work, receiving the Edward Award from Epilepsy Action.
Asked about any expansion plans, Ms Kinloch says the nursery’s growth strategy is that ‘quality has to come first. We’re never aiming for 25 nurseries. We want to be clear we can influence quality in our nurseries. The quality of provision is all to do with our team members.’
She adds, ‘I wouldn’t rule it out for the medium-term future. We have five. We want to make sure they continue to deliver great care.’
The group doesn’t have any borrowing and is cashflow-driven.
‘I understand leveraging is sometimes important, but we’re effectively a small family business,’ she says. ‘We’re not in it to make millions, we’re in it to provide good-quality care and to carry on the legacy of our parents. We’re nothing if we’re not carrying on our ethos.’
How did they feel on winning the Nursery World award for Nursery Chain of the Year?
‘We were thrilled to win. I’d said to our team, “It will be a nice event, but we’re not going to win.”’
The best thing of all was ‘to see people who work so hard every day’ recognised for what they do.
Mulberry Bush is actively involved in the sector. Ms Kinloch is co-chair of the North West Ofsted Big Conversation group, which she says has helped her get to know other local nurseries, and she has made some ‘brilliant friendships’.
She is also involved in the regional scrutiny committee and says, ‘It’s brilliant to have transparency, it’s a very thorough, robust process.’
Reflecting on the nursery group’s USP, Ms Kinloch says, ‘If we had a unique selling point it would be that we combine all the benefits of a family business with the professionalism you might find in a larger business. We are forward-looking and outward-looking.
‘There are no gimmicks or bandwagons. We believe children have a brilliant experience at our nurseries, which are about the basics: being welcoming, comforting, challenging, and offering fantastic stretching experiences, hugs, cuddles, reassurance. One thing by itself isn’t good enough.’
