Letters: Shall we network?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Recently I offered other daycare settings a booklet we had written on the subject of treasure baskets and heuristic play (Letters, 12 July). Our nursery has been inundated with requests for copies, with many letters and e-mails commenting on how rare it is to share material between nurseries.
In my experience it is even rarer to share information at any kind of business level, despite the fact that many owners or managers are dealing with broadly the same issues, including occupancy levels, staff retention, new legislation and so on. Although in our area, nursery nurses do benefit from so-called 'network' meetings arranged through the local authority, I can't help thinking that the managers and owners of small private local nurseries are too concerned about the issue of competition to get much out of them.
I wonder if any owners or managers would be interested in setting up an informal long-distance network with the aim of sharing a whole spectrum of information, from planning to Ofsted, out-of-school clubs and marketing? We could correspond by group e-mail and arrange visits to each other's nurseries every few months. If anyone is interested, please drop me an e-mail (with your location and number of child places).
- Sharon Peach, director, Harpole Day Nursery, Northants, sharon@ harpoledaynursery.co.uk.
