Video
Case study - Kidz Day Nursery, Middleham
Can your environment affect enrolment?
Julie
I'm Julie Whitbread. I'm director of the three Kids Day Nurseries.
Bill
I'm a company director and I basically do anything my wife doesn't want to do and that's my role. We'd set one nursery up and at first we had one child on a one day, very slow. We couldn't understand why it never ever turned a profit. We set this second nursery up and managed to afford the Community Play furniture. I think we opened on the first day with 19 children. Shortly afterwards, it was full and we've been having a waiting list ever since. So we're convinced that it's the furniture and the look of the building, that is the reason we've got a full nursery.
Julie
With the old furniture, we had a few problems. Maybe it wasn't the right height. We didn't have chairs that fitted under correctly. It wasn't as versatile to move it around. Setting up at this nursery, I was like to child myself. I couldn't wait to get your catalogue, look through catalogue and choose what I wanted. And I wanted the children to be as excited as I was with the furniture.
Bill
Since we've had the furniture, we have noticed here compared to our other settings, normally, as a more calmer, children are happier. They've got easy access with no trapping worries. The products are just user friendly, child friendly.
Liv
For children, they have a sense that this is their environment, a sense of ownership, nothing's hidden away. The drawers are all clear and the children aren't pulling at them looking for things. It's there to see. Everything's child height. The tables are fantastic, how you can put so many different height settings on them, it's just really putting the children's needs at the forefront of what we do. It's accommodating them at every level.
Paula
Within our setting, we have our babies, our toddlers, and our preschool and having the Community Play furniture that enables us to create different environments within the one room. We've got a specific baby area which works really well. We at first didn't have as many babies and it changes from year to year. So we can use the furniture to manipulate the space to adapt to our current numbers within our cohort.
Liv
I like that we can bring the outside in with the furniture and when the light of the sun bounces on it, it lifts the room.
Bill
When we do a show round and the parents walk through the door, their instant reaction is, wow. We don't need to really sell the nursery.
Liv
They always say, "oh, it's such a home from home environment and the children are going to love here" and they really appreciate that.
Bill
People look and they see quality. They assume that's embedded, which hopefully it is, throughout the setting. As they come through the door, our job is done.
Julie
They visualise their children in your nursery, so they've already made up their mind within the first few seconds of what they've seen in the environment.
Bill
It's very rare that somebody comes and doesn't sign up to come. When I first looked, I thought the price was unbelievably expensive. I wouldn't have dreamt of buying it because I couldn't justify, in my own head, the cost. Like I said, if you split the cost over 15 years, you got 15 years of warranty on that furniture. They just pay for themselves. Buy the Community Playthings products. Because even if you can't really afford them, stretch yourself because they're going to save you money in the long term and it will make your nursery be full like ours are.
I'm Julie Whitbread. I'm director of the three Kids Day Nurseries.
Bill
I'm a company director and I basically do anything my wife doesn't want to do and that's my role. We'd set one nursery up and at first we had one child on a one day, very slow. We couldn't understand why it never ever turned a profit. We set this second nursery up and managed to afford the Community Play furniture. I think we opened on the first day with 19 children. Shortly afterwards, it was full and we've been having a waiting list ever since. So we're convinced that it's the furniture and the look of the building, that is the reason we've got a full nursery.
Julie
With the old furniture, we had a few problems. Maybe it wasn't the right height. We didn't have chairs that fitted under correctly. It wasn't as versatile to move it around. Setting up at this nursery, I was like to child myself. I couldn't wait to get your catalogue, look through catalogue and choose what I wanted. And I wanted the children to be as excited as I was with the furniture.
Bill
Since we've had the furniture, we have noticed here compared to our other settings, normally, as a more calmer, children are happier. They've got easy access with no trapping worries. The products are just user friendly, child friendly.
Liv
For children, they have a sense that this is their environment, a sense of ownership, nothing's hidden away. The drawers are all clear and the children aren't pulling at them looking for things. It's there to see. Everything's child height. The tables are fantastic, how you can put so many different height settings on them, it's just really putting the children's needs at the forefront of what we do. It's accommodating them at every level.
Paula
Within our setting, we have our babies, our toddlers, and our preschool and having the Community Play furniture that enables us to create different environments within the one room. We've got a specific baby area which works really well. We at first didn't have as many babies and it changes from year to year. So we can use the furniture to manipulate the space to adapt to our current numbers within our cohort.
Liv
I like that we can bring the outside in with the furniture and when the light of the sun bounces on it, it lifts the room.
Bill
When we do a show round and the parents walk through the door, their instant reaction is, wow. We don't need to really sell the nursery.
Liv
They always say, "oh, it's such a home from home environment and the children are going to love here" and they really appreciate that.
Bill
People look and they see quality. They assume that's embedded, which hopefully it is, throughout the setting. As they come through the door, our job is done.
Julie
They visualise their children in your nursery, so they've already made up their mind within the first few seconds of what they've seen in the environment.
Bill
It's very rare that somebody comes and doesn't sign up to come. When I first looked, I thought the price was unbelievably expensive. I wouldn't have dreamt of buying it because I couldn't justify, in my own head, the cost. Like I said, if you split the cost over 15 years, you got 15 years of warranty on that furniture. They just pay for themselves. Buy the Community Playthings products. Because even if you can't really afford them, stretch yourself because they're going to save you money in the long term and it will make your nursery be full like ours are.
Topics
Room design
Centre Type
Focus Area
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