Offering parents their free entitlement over 50 weeks rather than the termly 38 weeks is proving a success for Bristol-based Mama Bear's Day Nursery.
Traditionally, the funding is offered for 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but Mama Bear's is also offering the option of 12 hours a week for 50 weeks of the year. This works as to three four-hour sessions a week, rather than three lots of five hours.
Bev Driffield, the chain's director (pictured with her husband Tony), says, 'It means parents can spread the funding out across the year, making childcare slightly easier financially, and it's also great for the children who gain from consistent care and don't have to settle back in to nursery life after longer holiday periods.'
RECENT EXPANSION
Mama Bear's Day Nursery is a family-run business, which was established in 2002 with the aim of providing high-quality, affordable childcare to families living, working or studying throughout the South West.
In the past couple of years, the chain has moved up the Nursery Chains supplement's ranking of the 25 largest groups, going from number 17 to 11 in the 2013 league table. With two recent launches, it now owns 19 nurseries offering a total of 1,243 places.
Last summer, its Whiteladies Road Nursery in Clifton, Bristol opened for business. Careful refurbishment has made the most of what was formerly the Bristol Auction Rooms, converting its large open-plan interior into separate rooms for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.
Mama Bear's reports that Clifton boasts a community feel and the nursery has already built partnerships with other local shops and services.
Its neighbour, The River Cottage Canteen, is also very family focused and the nursery is working with it on activities helping to promote healthy eating and encourage children at the nursery to discover new tastes.
Another launch came in January 2014 when Mama Bear's opened its new setting in Totterdown, in Bristol.
Converted from a former pub, the nursery is in a prime location for commuters, and is in walking distance from Bristol city centre.
Marketing manager Claire Godfrey, says, 'We've had a fantastic response to our two new nurseries in Bristol and they are both continuing to build occupancy. They are both in key locations for working parents and offer great facilities.
'We want to support working families as much as we can. Our extended opening hours, from 7.30am to 7pm, have been designed to fit around the working day.'
ACCOUNTING FOR THE OFFER
Ben Chalk, Mama Bear's accounts manager, explains how the group is offering the 15 hours a week free entitlement for children aged two, three and four across 50 weeks, instead of across the term-time 38 weeks.
'The Government is happy for a stretched offer to be provided on a national level, but some local authorities push it more than others. Essentially, nurseries cannot be forced to offer it but they can make it available if they wish to do so.'
Mama Bear's continues to run the termly offers and stretched offers side by side. Parents gain around 30 hours of free childcare under the stretched arrangement.
'Technically, in stretching the offer across the year the weekly allocation would come out below 12 hours, so we've rounded it up to make life easier for accounting purposes,' says Mr Chalk. 'This means that those parents claiming the entitlement from September to the following September will in fact gain around 30 hours in the course of the year.'
He reports that the stretched offer has been relatively straightforward to accommodate as part of the group's accounting systems.
'We still receive the funding on a termly basis from our local authority and have organised our own accounting methods, although some local authorities will suggest ways in which this can be handled.
'It does not represent any additional work for parents. The local authority supplies standardised forms for both the termly offer and the stretched offer, which parents sign.'
Some additional training of managers has been involved. 'Managers are the first point of contact for parents, so they need to understand how the stretched offer works, and how to advise parents on filling out the claims forms. They also need to address issues around staffing to accommodate it,' Mr Chalk says.
Claire Godfrey says that the stretched offer is providing benefits for both the nursery and for parents. 'It means we can average costs throughout the year, and we are therefore dealing with a similar figure for every month,' she says.
'Parents can access their sessions throughout the whole year rather than hitting a problem when the school holidays arrive. It standardises the costs for them. Formerly they had to budget more carefully for the summer months. For many parents, it really makes a lot of sense.'
MAMA BEAR'S FACTS
- The company was formed in 2002 and the first nursery opened its doors in Bristol in 2004. It now has 19 sites across Bristol, Somerset and Devon.
- It provides care and education for more than 1,600 children.
- It it family run, employing more than 400 staff, most of whom are qualified to Level 3 or above. It is also part of the apprentice programme, offering training and development across all its sites.
- Last year, three of its nurseries in Devon received an outstanding grading from Ofsted.
- In 2013, Kerry Sturmey scooped Nursery World's award for Regional Manager of the Year.
