The introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage in 2008 has fuelled this, encouraging nurseries to re-evaluate their provision and create indoor and outdoor environments which are truly 'enabling'. It has also prompted them to reassess their training needs across professional practice and business leadership.
Undoubtedly it has been a buoyant period for investment across all these areas. With help from capital grant funding and other funding streams, many settings have seized the opportunity to upgrade their premises and undertake training. This investment is reflected in many more settings achieving Ofsted gradings of 'outstanding' or 'good' last year.
There is now a huge range of suppliers to support this move to quality. In more straitened times nurseries and other buyers will want to 'shop around' for exactly the right service or product. Suppliers to the sector are increasingly keen to tailor their services to the exact needs of the customer, whether it is a case of delivering bespoke training or project-managing a new building to budget and deadline.
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