Nursery group creates app for parents

Early Days Nurseries, which operates six settings in Edinburgh, launched the app to make it easier for parents to access information about their nursery and follow their child’s progress.

Through the app, parents whose children attend the group’s settings can find out about daily activities taking place, view upcoming events and food menus, access general information and pay their fees. They can also contact the nursery through the app and click through to the system the group uses for children’s learning journeys.

Nicole Pyper, Early Days Nurseries’ head of marketing and communications, said, ‘We recently re-designed our website with secure log-ins for parents, however feedback from families was that logging into the site was a laborious process. To make life easier for parents, we decided to transfer the content of the website to an app, which users can be permanently signed in to, following initial approval from the nursery group.

‘The payment section of the app makes paying much simpler – currently parents have direct debits set-up to pay monthly fees, but we’ve been taking payments for extras, such as trips, activities and for extra hours, over the phone. With the app, parents can scan in their credit or debit card and select the payment they need to make from a drop-down menu. We can also refund parents through the app.

‘So far roughly half of all of our parents have downloaded the app, however we hope in the next month this will increase to an 80 percent take-up. For every new child that registers, we ask parents to download the app.’

The nursery group has also used the funding from the bank to refurbish its Palmerston Place nursery, which has included the creation of a sensory room, as well as re-develop two of the nurseries’ outdoor areas. There are plans to introduce iPads in every setting for staff to use.

Pictured from left to right: Aaron Duncan, deputy manager of Early Days Nursery - Old Coates House and George Corstorphine, relationship manager, commercial, at Clydesdale Bank.

Founder of Early Days Nurseries Maureen Crandles said, ‘This funding will help Early Days to continue providing excellent levels of service, while taking a step into the future and anticipating parents’ needs. We are excited to build on the success of Early Days as we enter this new phase of growth.’

George Corstorphine, relationship manager, commercial at Clydesdale Bank (pictured), said, ‘Early Days is a long-standing customer of ours and we’re proud to work with such a professional and successful business in a competitive industry. We’re focused on supporting the growth of local and regional economies, we wish team the very best as they undertake this exciting next step in their development.’

Early Days Nurseries was founded in 1999 and currently operates six settings throughout Edinburgh, offering places for 350 children.