Has anyone worked at LEYF - London Early Years Foundation?

[Remieatscake]

Hello everyone

The above is a chain of (currently 37) nurseries in London. From what they present they seem to be not only a great place for children to learn but also great employers (7% pension contribution, decent holiday allowance, 50% off daycare for your own children and most of all for me - in house training and development)

Currently in a rather dead end office job - been here nearly 6 years and despite wanting to progress as the company is tiny I have seen no progression in my career since being here

I am however fully trained in childcare - that is where my true passion is. I have kept up with my training at my own expense such as a 2 day newborn care short course (refresher), first aid etc etc. I also nanny for a 3 year old child part time - (fit this in around my office job)

I would love hear from anyone who has worked at LEYF or indeed are parents of children at LEYF - Do the staff seem genuinely happy there?
There are no plans for children in the next few years at least but I must admit having 50% off childcare too - in the future would help us (myself and fiance) enormously.

I am not a practitioner but I have come into contact with LEYF through my work. They are a social enterprise so different from the usual nursery chains and they are well respected by DfE and Ofsted.

Thanks @Daisy - yes, it looks like an interesting business model. The founder seems to have a real desire to give high quality education to children who may not necessarily get the opportunity otherwise

They also seem to have a culture for training their managers from the inside which does appeal

Our kids are both at a LEYF nursery. We think they're great- staff turnover seems to be very low- people stay for a very long time and they seem to have good training and development including a degree course. They are super-into treating the staff as educators. Loads of creative activities.

Administratively they haven't always been awesome but I have also been impressed by the area manager who is present a lot and knows all the kids and parents.

(Oh and one of the other things we like is that they don't do formal phonics or maths- I think it's too young)

My DD has attended two LEYF nurseries. They are a great company and as far as we can tell treat their staff well.

Thank you both for your input - low staff turnover is a huge sign of a good company for me

Our nursery manager has worked for them for something like 25 years! And we have seen a couple of people go on to more senior positions in other nurseries in LEYF. Am a big fan of the men into childcare work they have been doing.

Wow - 25 years - the manager must be happy there!
I would leave my office job right now if it wasn't for the fact I am getting married in October and have already got all my annual leave sorted until that date - would hate to be that person who joins an organisation and says I want the job but I need x off and y off, oh and z dates off
Like I have said in my previous post, the 50% off childcare is massive for us as a couple too as I have no idea how we would afford full time daycare as it stands now. (Looking far too much in the future with that one to be honest though - not even TTC yet)