Seymour House opened its first nursery school in 1988 with the then revolutionary concept of providing care and education under one roof. Twenty five years on and the family-led business prides itself on offering a quality experience for its children, parents and staff.
All eight of the nursery schools in the group have been rated outstanding by Ofsted. Between them, the settings employ 180 staff delivering high-quality care and education for 403 registered places.
Seymour House has developed a dual leadership structure to provide the breadth of experience, knowledge and skills now required to lead an outstanding setting. While the nursery manager oversees the nursery, the head of early years practice leads the educational programme. This approach allows for a higher level of specialism and produces a robust management. Nursery managers are qualified nursery practitioners with considerable experience while the heads of early years practice are qualified teachers or hold Early Years Professional Status.
The heads of early years practice meet as a group on a monthly basis to develop the curriculum and share ideas and experiences. This collaborative ethos of sharing best practice extends across the workforce. Seymour House hosts voluntary informal future leaders sessions for team members looking to extend and build their knowledge of early years and education. These events give practitioners the opportunity to meet colleagues from other Seymour House locations, share their experiences and learn about topical issues.
There is also a rigorous internal audit system that has had a positive impact on child development, Ofsted results, accident rates, staff turnover and overall profitability.
Earlier this year, the heads of the early years practice group developed and released a reading and writing programme and are now working on a numeracy scheme. The company is designing an online Development Matters Record and learning story that can be contributed to by parents as well as staff.
Highly commended
Toybox Day Nurseries, Bedfordshire
Toybox Day Nurseries operates three day nurseries and two after school clubs in Bedfordshire and has achieved Ofsted outstanding reports for four of its settings and a good for its newest addition.
Attention to detail is the watchword, whether in recruitment, staff development, partnership working with the parents or the quality care of the children.
The company is innovative. Having developed new nursery software, it is now engaged in creating the 'paperless nursery' to free staff to spend more time with children.
Finalists
Daisy and Jake Day Nursery has three settings on the Wirral
Mulberry Bush Nursery Group has four nurseries in Bury, Lancashire
The Co-operative Childcare has 47 nurseries nationwide
Criterion
Open to UK nursery groups with three or more settings.
