RE: Becoming a nursery owner

RE: Becoming a nursery owner

by: hillika - 23-10-07 22:10

Hi Loobyloo

I have my own nursery and do not intend to study for my degree. I do have a assistant manager who will be doing the degree and will always be there. I can hear people say 'but what if she leaves?' If this happens then I will employ another graduate unless any of my other staff wish to study for this, and take a step up the ladder.

 I understand some peoples convusion regarding my decision but my reason for this is: I opened up my business to relieve me of some of the stress of working for someone else, when you had to be at work at a certain time to do a certain shift. I never had any time to be with my son and of course this has contiued whilst my nursery was set up and filled up. Not to take away from the fact that I saw so many people set up nurseries and do it very badly and was determind to to do the same. 

Now with a great team behind me it runs very smoothly. I can now reduce my hours, and (after the hard work) have a nice 'work life balance'. I do not want to continue to work 10 hours per day 5 days per week and sit down to paper work every week end. I don't think having a degree will improve my practice or make my nursery any better (as I set the bar high when I started) or teach me much more than I know now! I continue do short courses, to keep up with best practice and I am constantly sending my staff on any course that is made available to them.

 Mr Tesco does not sit at the till pushing shopping through does he? I will not always be available every day so I will be providing someone who will!

I must be doing something right because after only 18 months I am having to extend my nursery to acomodate the parents wanting to place their children with me. 

Unless I have been badly informed, I don't think I am doing it wrong, I am meeting the criteria of have a graduate within my setting who is in a senior position and who will either be available when I am there or when I am not. At the young age of 44, why the hell would I want to go back to school!!

by: sianhug1

hi hillika! i found your post a great inspiration and think you have a great attitude which is why i'm choosing to ask you this question.  Ok here goes.  I'm a flight attendant with no childcare experience except for having a little boy of my own. Ok thats the worst part. For years and years i have been looking into possible business ventures (mostly property developement ideas that never came to anything) since having my baby I am more determind than ever to secure a comfortable future for my family and am passionate about child development/behaviours etc which lead me to this idea.  Basically what i'm asking is am i crazy to think that I would stand a chance of making a success of this seeing as I am A. Not qualified in the slightest and B. Have no experience in the field? I am however a very strong willed individual and know I would give it my best shot. Would you mind emailing me with some advice? its reed_sian@hotmail.com I understand you are incredibly busy but would love to hear more about how you got set up.  Thanks. 

RE: RE: RE: Becoming a nursery owner - 01-06-08 09:06

by: Annie

Hi to anyone wanting to become a nursery owner. Did this myself and owned and ran two nurseries , though I only ever wanted the one. I wanted to produce the very best of childcare in an innovative way - after 12 years in social services and with a social work qualification behind me this became a burning urge. In the 18 years of running my own establishments I had to develop sideways to achieve my goals - I had to set up as a training centre for NVQ3 and for 'Setting up your own nursery', management training etc in order to achieve my standards of care.This meant that I never had one year the same as the next and won several awards for 'best quality'. I sold my nurseries 2 years ago and now I am available as a consulatnat for a very reasonabl;e rate but only to people I am satisfied have the same high standards and do not wish to cut corners in order to maximise profits. Interested? contact me on

davanne16@aol.com       Annie