Provision
Busy Bees takes up NDNA quality scheme
Nursery chain Busy Bees is investing £28,000 in piloting the NDNA's quality assurance programme, called eQC, across 33 of its self-governing settings.
At a launch event in Hinckley, Leicestershire, last week, Busy Bees senior staff were given a presentation on how the scheme would help them to analyse every aspect of their practice and business development under the EYFS.
The programme was endorsed by Laura Bryant-Smith, DCSF official for early years and special educational needs, who said she welcomed the opportunity to gain greater insight into quality and its potential to boost outcomes for all children and families.
The NDNA emphasised that the programme has been written and developed by practitioners, researchers and early years experts. Training modules are carefully phased to ensure that practitioners approach quality step by step.
Andrew Rawnsley, senior programme manager for eQC, said, 'The scheme sets out certain standards that nurseries need to achieve to attain accreditation. With the paper-based version there was a temptation to skip the training modules and go straight to the standards, but with the online course that is not an option.'
Clare Phizacklea, HR director for Busy Bees, said there was a need for the group to adopt a quality assurance scheme that would be consistent across all its settings. 'There is a lot of variety between quality assurance schemes run by different local authorities and we wanted to find a scheme which was a good fit with our way of working.'
She said that existing managers are being encouraged to undertake a foundation degree in Leadership and Management as a route to Early Years Professional Status.
Busy Bees owns and manages 132 nurseries and creches operating under the Busy Bees, Tibbi Tots, Leapfrog and TLC brands.
