Many nursery chains feel that sharing good practice across their nurseries is vital for raising standards and ensuring consistent quality.
Now one chain has introduced an initiative aimed at making the sharing of good practice that bit easier. Managers and practitioners are swapping settings for the day to glean ideas for activities and initiatives and spot things that could be improved.
Kids Allowed, which has three settings in Manchester - two of which have been graded outstanding by Ofsted - introduced the 'centre manager swap' scheme 18 months ago, after some managers began swapping settings on an informal basis and found the experience inspirational.
Jennie Johnson, CEO of Kids Allowed, our Nursery Chain of the Year 2010, explains, 'The centre manager swaps takes place for one day on alternate months, and the deputy managers also swap for one day in the months inbetween. After swapping, the managers meet to give each other feedback and agree actions for improvement and discuss any ideas and initiatives. The scheme is working so well that we are looking to introduce it at unit-leader level.
'Nursery nurses can also swap as well if they want to and if it does not affect staff ratios. I think it is one of the best schemes we have ever run.'
Ms Johnson's opinions are echoed by Sue Foy, centre manager of Kids Allowed in Didsbury, who has been taking part in the swaps for 18 months. She says, 'It's a brilliant scheme. We go along to the other settings and we are very honest with the feedback that we give each other. All of the managers feel that there is no point taking part if you shy away from giving each other constructive criticism or feedback. It is better to take any criticism and look at how we can improve and take advice from the other managers on how they do things.'
Ms Foy adds, 'The scheme has been a real eye-opener for us. It helps you to take a step back and see what is actually going on. And it has also brought the three centres much closer together, because we are all interacting. Now when staff go back and forth between the centres to cover holidays and absences, they are working with a team they already know.'
Another fan of the centre swap initiative is Katy Grindrod, manager of Kids Allowed in Knutsford, who has also been taking part for 18 months. She says, 'The scheme is brilliant in so many ways. There is a good support network now between the managers and deputy managers. I have worked in all of the Kids Allowed settings and having a fresh pair of eyes is always beneficial. Plus, it's great for picking up ideas for activities that have worked really well in the other settings.'
Blogging initiative
Other nursery chains have devised equally innovative ways of sharing good practice and spreading ideas throughout their settings.
Casterbridge Nurseries, which has 26 settings in London and the south-east, nominates care and education representatives in each of its settings, who then hold meetings with the directors of childcare to give feedback and share ideas and inspiration.
Heather Young, director of childcare for six Casterbridge settings, explains, 'We have one care and education representative in the smaller settings, and in our larger settings we have two. The representatives meet with the directors every six weeks and discuss things as a group, which we believe is more beneficial. At the meeting, we share good practice, discuss problem-solving and ideas for activities that have been successful.'
Another initiative set up by Casterbridge to facilitate the sharing of good practice is a freshly launched blog, on which the care and education representatives can post any ideas and activities that have worked well at their settings.
'The idea is that the blog will be somewhere that the care and education representatives can post ideas over and above everyday activities,' explains Ms Young. 'The nurseries have come up with some brilliant ideas and we want to share these around. For example, at one of the settings there were quite a few children whose mothers were expecting, and the parents wanted advice on how to introduce children to the idea that they were going to have a brother or sister. So the staff introduced baby bags containing things like plastic dolls, nappies, baby wraps and pretend bottles. The children took these home to give them an idea of what it will be like when their parents have the baby. The parents loved this idea and said it really helped their children get used to the idea of having a brother or sister.'
Other schemes at the nursery chain include cross-nursery visits, where staff visit other Casterbridge nurseries and observe and evaluate different aspects of the provision.
Ms Young adds, 'All of the six nurseries I look after have got exceptional areas that other settings can learn from, so we tell other settings to come and have a look and then they can discuss what they have seen with their manager.'
Competitive element
Another nursery chain discovering the benefits of sharing good practice via the internet is Busy Bees, which owns and manages 129 settings.
Margaret Randles, operations director at Busy Bees, explains, 'We post photographs and briefing papers for activities that have worked well on the company intranet to help inspire other settings.'
Busy Bees has introduced a competitive element to raising standards and sharing good practice. Ms Randles says, 'We run inter-company competitions for the best initiatives, and we encourage others to visit sites where exceptional practice can be observed. Posting the best ideas on the intranet helps to communicate successes between regions.'
Busy Bees also has a curriculum team, which visits settings to evaluate the provision on offer. 'Quality is a major focus and is central to everything we do,' says Ms Randles. 'We actively monitor the care we provide through our in-house audits. Our curriculum team supports and encourages settings to re-visit and evaluate all areas of the care we provide and implement any improvements.'
Over at Tudor House Montessori, a West Sussex-based chain that has just opened its sixth setting and has five nurseries graded outstanding, owner Carol-Anne Benson is keen to stress that boosting staff morale should not be overlooked by nursery chains that are looking for consistent quality throughout their settings.
She explains, 'Making staff feel valued is so important; it helps to retain staff, which means you will have people working for you who you trust and who have a lot of experience.
'For example, the manager of my new nursery has managed another of my settings, which has received two outstanding grades from Ofsted. This reassures me that the new nursery also has all the ingredients to be rated outstanding. We follow all of the quality assurance schemes that we know of and we constantly strive to improve our provision and make sure we are never standing still.
'When one setting has an Ofsted inspection, we update all the other settings with the results, so that all staff are able to learn from it.'
