Nursery Management: Editor's View

Not least, we've had the 'More Great Childcare Report' from the Government - a thunderbolt which struck at the heart of the sector, dividing opinion over proposed reform for qualifications and regulation, but less so over changes to ratios (widely rejected by business).

The problem for hard-pressed providers is making everything stack up in a coherent way, which is ultimately beneficial to business.

It's interesting that Christie + Co cautions that should the revised ratios be legislated, banks may start to sanction lending subject to ratio conditions. Does anyone want to see a situation where banks become even more cautious about overdrafts and loans, because they fear a nursery will be operating to slacker ratios and thereby putting children at risk?

This would be particularly damaging at a time when lending is slowly beginning to improve, as our finance feature suggests (p32-33). Four years on from the onset of the downturn, banks say they now have confidence in the sector's ability to take on board the challenges and adapt to difficult market conditions. It is a confidence that has been hard won.

While nurseries wait to see how the Government's proposals pan out, they have to get on with the essential business of providing quality provision.

In this issue we aim to explore all the issues that are key to managing a nursery which delivers a high-quality experience for its children, families and staff. There is analysis and insight across all the hot topics, an in-depth guide to creating challenge outdoors and a behind-the-scenes look at nurseries which are expanding or offering new services.

We hope we've got it all covered.