Who wants to help me plan stuff for the new nursery?

[KatyMac]

Don't worry if it's no-one I can talk to a wall I am so excited

My dad loved it & was ready to put in an offer there & then

In case anyone missed it it's here

It doesn't need change of use planning permission and I think I have access to enough funding

My deputy & I will work back to back

Anticipated shift pattern

Wk1
Mon 7:30 - 13:30
Tues 12:00 - 18:00
Wed 7:30 - 13:30
Thurs 12:00 - 18:00
Fri 7:30 - 13:30
with Wk2 being a reverse

Don't know about anything else tbh

My staff from CM will stay at CM (hopefully)

I am intending on offering 30 hr weeks maybe on that pattern which should allow for paperwork to be done within work time (during crossover)

Round here it is normal to take 1 or 2 hrs work home each day after 4x12 hr days because it is unpaid

We have a free-flow dilemma going on at the moment. Baby room (area) is no-shoes. Toddlers wear slippers and we have pre-school parents who want slippers only in the pre-school area. The problem is that, as the pre-schoolers need to be able to get to the loos from the garden VERY quickly at times they don't have time to stop at the door and change from wellies/outdoor shoes into slippers before going through their room to the loos.

The pre-school floor is therefore never as clean as the others, even though the staff sweep and mop after food times.

I feel an extra door coming on in the wet area

You are so lucky to have found a D1 building. They are like gold dust in London.

One of our nurseries is purpose built and the other is an ex-health centre that we took on as it had D1 use and converted to a nursery.

Gold dust, I tell ya!

each square on the plan is 10cm square

so 10x10 is a sq metre

But the outside space?

Do you ike the shift patterns?

I am not the person to ask about rotas, BTW.
They usually make my head spin.

Mr Bubble checks them each week to make sure the managers are using staff hours properly. I am, however doing some 8-10ams at the moment to help cover A/L before I go into the kitchen at our main nursery to cook.

I don't know is the rules for outside space are changing but AFAIK there is no requirement to have X amount of garden area per child.

If nurseries are not required to provide a garden (but required to provide outside play in parks etc during the day) then I don't see how there could be a set amount of space required - unless they plan to go and measure local parks?

But there aren't any local parks so this is it

Your shift patterns look fine to me, though.

A fair balance of lates and earlies with a senior staff member at either end.

It's closer & more possible than ever before

I'm scared

Katy. There is a nursery not far from here that has a climbing frame and slide in a (small) front garden. It has been inspected two times and it's still there!

I think your outside space will be fine. You can alternate age groups outside.

Well I could gate (prehaps airlock) & fence the front - there would be no parking but much more garden space

Or I could make a small garden area for the babies at the front leaving 4 parking spaces

Don't be scared. This is going to be a fab nursery! You have so much experience and will, I think, find it an easy (if scary) step to take.

Will many of your existing parents come with you, do you think?

No - I don't think so

I only wish you were closer to me Katy! I think it's going to be a fab nursery! I'd come work for you in a heartbeat :D

Juneybean - I could be a cow & a really bad boss

Is there other parking nearby? Is it in a residential street? If your drop-offs/pick-ups aren't going to affect/upset your neighbours I would go with losing the parking spaces and turning the front into a garden. Check your local planning laws but in our area planning isn't required for fences under 2m.

So you could fence the front off (whilst leaving an access gate) and have a private front garden.

Well you'd only have to be a cow if I did something naughty!! :P

Which would double our space & still leave 4 parking spaces or triple it & no parking

Staff would park locally everyone does

It's just off the high street

As for advertising. Leaflet, leaflet, leaflet.

Trust me, we paid for so much advetising in the local press when we opened but the most effective (and cheapest) form of advertising has been colourful leaflets posted through front doors in the area on the weekends. By posting them on a Saturday or Sunday you are more likely to get parents at home together both seeing them and talking about it there and then.

Advertising. Proof read your leaflets.

Do I approach the neighbours & explain what I am doing?