Business development: Giving credit where it's due

Winning a local business award is one sure-fire way to raise awareness about the excellence of a setting. This is certainly proving the case for Burnley provider York Nurseries.

In November it scooped the Lancashire Telegraph Business Award for Training and Development, which serves as a powerful endorsement of the nursery's high standards and strong company ethos.

Heather Langridge and Claire York, who own and run York Nurseries in Burnley and Sunflowers Childcare in Southport, impressed the judges with their commitment to training and CPD, and evidence of how this delivers positive outcomes for children.

Between them they have a wealth of early years expertise. Claire has worked in the sector for over 20 years, and is a Montessori teacher and Level 6 NVQ assessor. Heather has a first class honours degree in Early Years Childcare and Education, is an EYP and lectures at Blackburn College. She also has a background in sales from a previous career, which has stood her in good stead.

Ms Langridge says, 'We saw the Lancashire Telegraph awards advertised and thought that unless we tried, people were not going to recognise what we do. We decided to enter the training and development category because we invest a lot in CPD to benefit all of our staff, from apprentices to our cooks. As Claire is an NVQ assessor she goes out to other nurseries locally to ensure that all the formal training requirements, such as first aid, are being met, as well overseeing CPD in our own settings. We put all this into our application and were delighted to be told we had been shortlisted.'

However, winning was still completely unexpected. 'On the evening of the awards dinner we discovered we were up against two huge corporations with a total turnover of £93m,' says Ms Langridge. 'Our own turnover is rather less! We were delighted and amazed when we won. It was an accolade that all 20 of our staff could share.'

MEETING LOCAL NEEDS

York Nurseries has been quick on its feet to respond to local conditions and tailor its business accordingly.

Ms York says, 'Burnley has lost a lot of industry and is suffering from that. We are now open from 7am to 7pm, which reflects what parents want. We are also open on Saturday for parents who book in advance and are prepared to pay an additional fee. We receive a lot of calls from parents who need ad hoc bookings and we try to accommodate them. Whereas some nurseries are stipulating how many sessions and days a parent must use, we try to be as flexible as possible. If all someone needs is one half-day a week, we try to provide it.'

She says the nursery benefits from the fact that Lancashire County Council allows flexibility on the funding for the threeand four-year-old free entitlement. 'As long as we provide a total 570 hours over the year, this time can be split as we see fit, up to the maximum allowance of 15 hours a week. We find there is a shortfall in funding but we take it on the chin. As long as it doesn't become too onerous, we can put up with it.'

Last December the nursery introduced Drop and Shop two-hour sessions. 'This is proving very popular with parents who need to shop, get their hair done, go to the gym or anything else,' Ms Langridge says. 'Fortunately our setting is big enough that we can accommodate this, and it is possible for us to absorb some extra children within ratio.'

SUCCESS ON A PLATE

Nursery food is a subject close to the directors' hearts. Ms Langridge says, 'When we took over the nursery, children were being given packet mash, Spam and iced buns. Claire looked at me and asked, who is going to cook? As I am an experienced cook, it had to be me!'

She explains it was then a case of stripping everything out of the existing menus and going back to the Caroline Walker Trust guidelines.

'Cutting out sugar was a priority and I brought my husband on board, who is a scientist, to work out a properly balanced diet, including the fat content that children need to be healthy.'

York Nurseries is now very proud of the food it serves. This is reflected in Burnley Council awarding it a Catering for Health Gold award and it has also received a '5* very good' rating by the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

'Our menus are balanced and we cater for children with special dietary needs. We buy as much organic produce as we can and we keep our menus varied and exciting,' says Ms Langridge. 'Last week we cooked Chinese food for Chinese New Year, which went down well. Older children in the nursery take part in our menu planning and also cook things such as wholemeal pizza and tortilla wraps.'

MOVING AHEAD

Despite difficult trading conditions, York Nurseries is determined to continue investing in its staff. It is particularly open to taking on apprentices and feels that work-based training is the best route to becoming a skilled practitioner.

'We take on apprentices of all ages and are happy to take on those who are young, because we can instil good practice in them,' says Ms Langridge. 'We feel the students who spend four days in the nursery with us and one day in college come out of it much better than those who are four days in college and one day in nursery.'

She asserts that the nursery is firmly focused on continuing improvement - 'We just want to go on getting better at what we do.'

SNAPSHOT

• York Nurseries offers places for 120 children. Birth-to-threes are catered for in Tarleton House, a Grade Two listed building, while 36 foundation stage children occupy separate premises nearby. Twenty staff are employed, including an EYP.

• Sunflowers Childcare has 80 children on roll and employs 15 staff.

• Both settings are currently graded good by Ofsted.

• Last year the Burnley nursery created a beautiful new garden with the help of funding from Lancashire County Council.