Nursery Management: Case Study - Star performer

Since its launch in April, the Wetherby Nursery and Pre-school has beengoing from strength to strength for parent provider, Twinkles DayNursery.

The new site was launched in response to growing demand for childcare inthe Boston Spa area of West Yorkshire, where Twinkles is based.

Managing director Jill Johnson says, 'Many families who used Twinkleshave transferred to Wetherby because it is closer to home. This in turnhas freed up places for families who were waiting for a place in BostonSpa.'

Situated in the grounds of Crossley Street Primary School, the newnursery works closely with the school's reception teachers to offerchildren a smooth transition to 'big school'.

But acquiring the site was not all plain sailing. It took several monthsto negotiate local authority red tape and finalise the agreement for thenursery to be on the school site.

Ms Johnson, who worked as a teacher for six years before setting upTwinkles in 2003, says, 'The location is ideal, and we pride ourselveson being an educational nursery as well as a very caring nursery.'

Wetherby has boosted its popularity with add-on services for families. Awraparound scheme that picks up children from local primary schools anddrops them at the facility at the start and end of each school day hasproved very popular with parents.

Currently, the Wetherby nursery has 14 staff, six of whom are graduatepractitioners. In total it offers 77 childcare places and has 53children now on roll, a figure that is likely to increase as the nurseryexpands.

Both branches are open 8am-6pm, Monday to Friday, 51 weeks of the year,covering all school holidays, with sessional and part-time placesavailable.

The nursery rooms are divided into 'Baby Stars' for children aged threeto 14 months, 'Rising Stars' for those from 12 months to two-and-a-halfyears, 'Shooting Stars' from two-and-a-half to three years, and 'ShiningStars' for the over-threes.

Each child is assigned a key person. Their 'personal learning journey'means that they only move on to the next room when they and theirparents feel the time is right.

The management is confident that Twinkles will achieve the same level ofsuccess at Wetherby as Boston Spa, where it has been recognised with agold LQA (Leeds Quality Assurance) award. Future plans include improvingthe interior design of both nurseries and opening a new nursery andout-of-school club in 2009.

In the longer term, Jill Johnson is keen to develop more sites onprimary school grounds.