How did you set up Storybook Day Nursery in 2015?
We devised the whole thing as a family over a Sunday roast! My sister and I both had young children and wanted more from our childcare. My dad and I are both more business-orientated and my mum and sister had early years teaching backgrounds. We found a premises and renovated it. It took a year from idea to reality.
Why have you decided to expand?
We were very fortunate to have a lot of interest right out of the gate, and offering 45 places a day we very quickly built up a waiting list, which is now full until 2020. Even before some of our parents have their children they are asking to put down names of future siblings, so strangers approaching us for places hardly stand a chance.
What plans do you have for expansion?
Everything has to go through planning, we are very strict on that, but we are hoping to extend our pre-school and baby room offerings. We hope to offer between 12 and 15 extra places. We are very lucky to have a huge garden, so we can extend space while still having a lot of garden left, and without having to close the nursery for building works. We also got a grant from the council to add a sensory room, which all children will benefit from but especially those with special educational needs and disabilities. We hope to have everything finished by Easter 2019.
Would you open further settings?
We would never say never and have certainly had lovely feedback from people to that end, asking us to open a new setting near them. But if you spread yourself too thin too fast, you run the risk of being unable to maintain the quality. Maybe a couple of years down the line we will look at it, but we definitely want to focus for now on continuing to provide high-quality, family-orientated provision for our parents and children here.
