Case Study: Greenglade Day Nursery and Forest School
Overview
Greenglade Day Nursery and Forest School is a family-owned, Scandinavian-inspired, establishment in Hipperholme, near Halifax, West Yorkshire. Opening in 2003, the independent setting has grown and developed continuously since then, now welcoming 100 children each day and employing 55 staff members. Key to all operations is nature and its benefits for children’s physical, intellectual, and emotional development and wellbeing — whether they are out learning on the company’s 9.5 acre woodland site seven miles away, accessed by bus, or indoors at the nursery.
Challenge
Greenglade started working with Connect in October 2011, at first solely for registers and invoicing. The approach was made because research indicated that Connect had the best-developed and most professional options.
Over time, the nursery has grown with the range of systems and functionality available — and was one of the first ever settings to use both iConnect and ParentZone. This gradual move to using more of Connect’s offerings meant a move away from, at first, records on paper, and then spreadsheets. As a result, the setting’s back office is more efficient and able to deal with each day’s admin more quickly and reliably.
At first the challenges were technological — the nursery didn’t have the electronic infrastructure to support its ambitions. Now, happily, it does — and this quiet capability makes a big contribution to the setting’s slick and progressive reputation. As such, Greenglade does not need to advertise, relying instead on personal recommendations from families who rate their experiences highly. Recruitment, too, is comparatively easy, as talented early years professionals are keen to get a job there.
Though costs are rising, Greenglade has been able to offset some of these with clever savings, such as eliminating the need for paper and printing and cutting down on costly ink supplies. This step coincides with a faster pace of admin, speeded up without the unnecessary step of distributing printed materials.
Greenglade now uses a full suite of Connect Software — Connect, iConnect, and ParentZone — apart from the enquiries function. It is hoped that this will be added soon.
Solution
Greenglade enthusiastically agrees that Connect’s services have helped in many ways. Firstly, the team feels more efficient in the ways it creates and stores records. An old headache of where to put voluminous paper files was eradicated with digital solutions. Accuracy in invoicing is also guaranteed — with the Connect system working in line with the registers, so mistakes cannot be made. Staff can easily locate historical documents, too, and when children leave, families receive a complete record of their child’s journey.
Parents are in contact minute by minute, with staff posting pictures, videos, observations, and assessments in real time. Families have access to records and financial statements, too. Greenglade’s philosophy is that it wants to be efficient, greener, and environmentally friendly. Being paperless goes hand-in-hand with other sustainability practices the setting has implemented too, such as installing a biomass boiler and recycling its waste.
Greenglade’s advice to other nurseries enhancing their digital systems is to “go for it and don’t be frightened”. While a nursery is about play and mud and the outdoors, its back office has to be as good as any medium-sized business, such as those in the technology sphere.
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About the Author
Content Marketing Executive at Connect Childcare
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