Finding the right people for a brand-new nursery

Making the transition from being a single operator to launching a second nursery is a big and exciting step, and for Midlands-based Capellas Nursery, the most important consideration is appointing the right staff.

Capellas currently has 90 children on roll at its existing site in a converted house in Balsall Common, Coventry. The provision was graded good overall by Ofsted in 2009, with the leadership and management singled out as outstanding. Now nursery owner and child psychologist Dr Sonya Wallbank is gearing up to open a second site in a refurbished bungalow in the grounds of Solihull Sixth Form College. Capellas and the college are working together to ensure a flying start at the beginning of August.

When Capellas needed to recruit a team for its new nursery, Dr Wallbank felt that the standard interview process would not be rigorous enough and decided to set up an assessment day, held outside of the nursery.

She says, 'Initially, my manager conducted a series of telephone screening interviews and then once we had a pool of interviewees we designed a special interview day to gauge the skills of both senior and junior staff.

'With regard to the less experienced staff, we wanted to find out what they were capable of while for senior candidates we wanted to gauge their skills in management areas such as conflict resolution and safeguarding.'

Dr Wallbank advertised the jobs widely and reports that the overall standard of applicants was quite variable, although the final candidates for the assessment day were all of a good standard.

She devised a series of activities that demonstrated how staff would all interact with each other, how they would lead child activities, how creative they would be and how they would manage conflict when it arose.

'It's true that the candidates left feeling challenged but very positive about their experiences,' she says. 'They felt they had been given so much more opportunity to shine than they would at just a brief interview. I am confident that this approach will ensure we have the right people in the posts to take the new nursery forward.'

A total of 15 staff, consisting of nursery nurses, room staff and an office manager, have been recruited for the new nursery, which is registered for 55 children.

'We have left some of the senior positions open to give an incentive to the new staff to move up,' says Dr Wallbank. 'While the deputy of our existing site has moved over to manage the nursery, she will not initially have a deputy.

This will come from an internal promotion a little bit further down the line. Our room staff will also have scope to move up as room leaders.'

Dr Wallbank is proud of the fact the new nursery will have four staff qualified to degree level. 'I think this shows how our approach has paid off,' she explains. 'The candidates themselves have said how impressed they were by the assessment day, and that they feel it reflects on the professionalism of the company.'

www.capellas.co.uk.