Editor's view

The private nursery sector is facing uncertain times at the moment, in large part due to increasing competition from Government-funded childcare schemes and the Government's continuing lack of clarity about how they expect private providers to participate in the massive rollout of extended schools and children's centres. Adding to private providers' concerns has been the negative publicity stemming from the BBC1 doccumentary Nurseries Undercover. Against this background, we look at how nurseries can smarten up their marketing techniques to keep ahead of the competition (see page 18), and if profits are under pressure, we show you how to check that...