Spotlight on ... Penny Hustwick
Monday, February 24, 2014
Name: Penny Hustwick Position: Owner of ABC Day Nurseries group in Telford, Shropshire
All four of your nurseries are rated outstanding by Ofsted. What is the secret to your success?
Good leadership and management. A strong team is key. If managers have the same vision as you, it works well. We try to be one step ahead with changes to policy and practice.
You opened your first nursery 21 years ago. Did you always plan on having a chain?
Before opening the first nursery, I was working as an NNEB nursery nurse in a special educational needs school. My dad had had his own business for years. I thought I could continue as a nurse or open my own business.
One of your nurseries is based at a children's farm - how did the opportunity arise to open a setting there?
The landlord of our nursery in Wrockwardine, which was the first setting to open, contacted us in 2012 to say he wanted the building back.
We were considering having to close the nursery until the owners of Hoo Farm offered us land to build a setting on. It took three attempts to gain planning permission.
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