Wanting to open own nursery - anyone done this?

[laurielo]

Hi!

Im currently on maternity leave and thinking of going back to work in feb time, however im interested in opening my own nursery/ day care. I have thought about childminding - however would hate for it to take over my house! I do have a degree in Childhood and Early Years and a nursery close by my house has recently closed down!

I'm thinking of maybe starting in a village hall to keep costs low and this would be a pack away nursery, has anyone done this?

My husband said he will help with the business side of this and i will focus on families and the care itself

Has anyone done this and could offer any guidance at all?
Thank you

Why did the nursery close down - presumably not enough business?

Do you mean a daycare nursery or playgroup? You'd be hard pushed to find a hall that doesn't have other groups using it to give you the exclusive use and hours you would need.

How would you have seperate rooms in a hall, I don't think it would work at all.

Sorry!

Firstly is there the demand? If the nursery's just closed down why? What hours do you plan on offering? Food etc?

There's a preschool/nursery that operates from a church hall by me- but they only offer school hours term time only so there roll is very small, they also only do 3+

And these sorts of preschools are closing fast. The government funding is no longer covering costs.

i have seen that you can essentially 'top up' funded hours to the hourly rate you usually charge. This can be done by charging for consumables? obviously with what is going on in this country i will try to charge the rates to keep from closing down, thank you

i think if the premises has a small kitchen i would offer lunches but if not i would encourage parents to prepare packed lunches and i would offer snacks and drinks throughout the day, i have also seen some church halls that have small playgroups such as 3 children, but if i was doing this i would just do it from my home, my thinking is in the local area there is probably plenty of qualified practitioners looking for work and hopefully if numbers with children rise more could be taken on?

You are absolutely not allowed to get "top up" funding from parents. Even if everybody does it.

I wouldn't. Nurseries are on a knife edge of a tightrope. Finances are very tight and all it would take is a stupid decision by a politician to send many over the edge. And bear in mind we have a Prime Minister who takes stupid decisions without considering the consequences...

Firstly I think it's amazing that you are thinking like this. It will be tricky and won't be quick but with hard work and determination I'm sure you can do it!!

I'm pretty sure there is lots of guidance about the legalities of becoming a child minded/nursery nurse.. safe guarding etc so perhaps start there?

There is so much demand (wait lists etc). Worth researching why the other nursery failed? If it isn't anything too dramatic is the property available to rent?

You may need to have some money behind you to start up!

I know you have a degree but is it a full and relevant qualification for Early Years? If not (and if you don't have 2 years relevant experience) you would need to employ a manager with at least a level 3, and then another staff member with at least a Level 2 before you could count in ratio yourself.
Have you read the EYFS? If not I'd strongly recommend it to get an idea of what is required.

...there is probably plenty of qualified practitioners looking for work...
Nope. There are very few good qualified staff about. Nurseries are shutting because they can't find any.

You will need planning permission for this by the sound of it. The scale of the business will dictate it ultimately, but it doesn't sound low key like childminding.

How many children will you have? Where will staff and parents park? Food deliveries?

Where is this village hall that is free to hire Monday to Friday? All day? term time or all year round?

Most that are suitable already have a group. Lots are committed to other events and cant host pre-schools.

Outdoor space that is enclosed and the safety of the indoor environment are too of the biggest challenges. Lots of village halls don't have outdoor space or if they do then it cant be free flow.

You need to contact your LA childcare team and they can offer support and advice but it is a very challenged market.

pension costs are what killed the childcare market and now energy costs

This would be a considerable undertaking, and you would need to do some serious research and number crunching to assess whether it's viable.

We have a preschool in a church round the corner from us. Your children have to be toilet trained, and you take a packed lunch for them. Given that it’s older kids the ratios are bigger. They also only open in term time 9-3 despite not being attached to a school. So it is possible to create such a business.

I have seen that you can essentially 'top up' funded hours to the hourly rate you usually charge

No. Top up fees were explicitly banned.

There are many sharp practices, whereby nurseries try to increase their revenue by having chargeable bolt-ons. And many parents are prepared to pay up and keep schtum. But the bottom line is that if someone wants their free hours only, they are entitled by law to exactly that, and if they report you for stealth top up you can be in a whole heap of trouble.

So do not base your business plan on the certainty that you will get away with covert use of ancilliary fees to circumvent a ban.

You really do need to find out why the previous nursery closed. Because if they were struggling either to keep enough on the roll, or to recruit staff, you are likely to face the same issues

Its against the conditions of funding to insist on toilet training for funded hours

I know many many nurseries that are really struggling to recruit good staff to look after their children there with poor salaries many nurseries are closing down. They are let down by staff at the last minute through sickness and are completely bogged down by paperwork and EYFS assessments taking the joy out of what should be a fulfilling role.

Do you have food hygiene qualifications?

And whilst on the theme, paediatric and general first aid ones?

You need to find out why the other nursery closed. If there isn't the demand in your area it won't be viable.

How long ago did you do your qualification? Things change all the time you will need to be up to date on guidance. You will probably need to update alot of your training. You will need safeguarding and first aid as a minimum. Then designated safeguarding, SENCO training, health and hygiene (for any kind of food preparation). And im sure there are more management training courses you will need to do.

As for those plenty of qualified staff... you will find many have decided to leave the profession for better paid and less stressful jobs. I work in early years, get paid minimum wage, my job is tiring and pretty stressful at times. There have been days (especially recently with the energy crisis and everything going up) I have considered just getting a job in mcdonalds or similar. I would get paid more and would have half the stress! Early years is probably one of the most underappreciated and lowest paid skilled jobs out there.

Then you will need resources and somewhere to store them. If you are doing packaway you will need storage units on wheels, these are not cheap. A decent filing system, I think its something like 20 years documents for children have to be kept.

Maybe start up a baby/toddler group as a starting point. Find something different to offer, a messy play group, singing, dancing etc. That way you can see if you are up to the stress but on a smaller scale. From experience this is stressful too, I ran a church non profit group for a while and it's harder work than you anticipate it will be.

Is it? Then how do school
nurseries get away with that

@roseheartfly thank you so much for the encouragement :) thats all great!

yes i have a ba hons degree in early childhood studies and worked in nurseries all through my degree and before it, its only recently i havent been working in them but i have always kept up with changes such as ratio's, funding and the eyfs:) im covered in them aspects

just really wanted advice from those who have pursued this before and had any tips about management or advertising etc

the funded hours are just that, funded the only way nurseries can get by is by charging a a supplementary charge i.e £1-2 on top of this to keep nurseries open, if parents cant pay that then there are nurseries out there that wont charge it.

the setting does have a baby change and a toilet that can be adaptable for little ones with toilet steps and seat! all thats not a problem :)

@BadgerLovesMash i 100% agree eyp's done get half the recognition/pay they deserve, but i would love to create an environment for eyp's to work where they do feel appreciate and valued! have been a nursery nurse for some years i get this, and you go into it for the love of it not the money which is a shame! i will definitely need safeguarding and a senco course and food hygiene so thank you for thar

I might be triggered here as the trustee of a pre school that is closing at the moment.

We don't charge any top ups and our site meant we could only offer 15 hours.

The funding is no where near enough and it's provisions like ours that are closing. We're the 6th and last one to close in our (London) borough in the past 6 months.

Basically if you're not a big brand or linked to a school you're toast at the moment. Our local Montessori which was always over subscribed has just sold to a big chain in order to keep going.

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole these days. So many rules and regulations and safeguarding issues

@Twizbe aw I'm so sorry to hear about that, i do think its so sad to see lots closing,

if you dont mind me asking did you just take 3's and over and are you closing due to low number intake or bills etc?
what will you be venturing into now?

We took from 2.5 to school.

Term time only and 15 hours a week. We couldn't do afternoons due to the other uses of the venue.

It's been going for years and years BUT covid massively hit us. Falling numbers of children as parents need the childcare rather than early years and rising costs.

Round by us it's now only the brand nurseries and school linked preschools left