Nursery World - Business Development: Building occupancy for a new nursery

A new nursery is busy putting the word about and identifying potential customers and its own staff, as Karen Faux hears.

Positive Steps' sixth nursery has been up and running in the thriving county town of Guildford, Surrey since April. Its first challenge is to build occupancy for its 84 registered places.

Nursery manager Claire Nunn says, 'The nursery really has the wow factor and parents love it when they walk through the door, but we need more children to show it to its best advantage. We are working hard to raise awareness about what we offer and are now beginning to get our name known around Guildford. We are delighted that this is resulting in new registrations every day.'

Operations director Michelle Richardson reports that the nursery is on target for numbers. 'We will see a boom in September,' she says. 'We recognise that the business has changed in that nurseries no longer typically get an influx of people signing up for the very next week. There is more choice out there and people plan more in advance. Longer maternity leave means that parents investigate more options before deciding where they want to place their child.'

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