Case Study: Mama Bear’s Day Nursery
Overview
Established in 2002, Mama Bear’s Day Nursery’s initial aim was to ensure high-quality, affordable childcare was available to families living and working in south west England. It opened the doors to its first nursery, located in Bristol, in 2004. Since then, it has opened another six sites in the city, as well as three in Torbay, two in Plymouth, and a further three sites across Taunton, Bridgwater, and Yeovil.
Consistently rated by OFSTED as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, Mama Bear’s Day Nursery continues to be a family-run organisation that employs 250 staff across all 15 of its settings. It provides care and education to more than 1,000 children per week and is now one of the region’s largest providers of preschool childcare services.
The provider transferred one of its sites with Connect in October 2018. Following the success of the initial trial, Mama Bear’s transferred its remaining 14 nursery sites to Connect Childcare’s software in December 2019, and operates the full Connect Childcare package. The main reason for investing in Connect’s platforms was the need for a capable system to run common functions centrally and manage resources efficiently.
Challenge
As one of the region’s largest daycare services, a capable system to manage both staff and child data was a necessity. Not only was it essential for the various sites to have localised access to a singular piece of software, but for the entire group to have a ‘global’ overview of all its sites in one central location.
Among the biggest day-to-day challenges for all Mama Bear’s settings was the need to ensure staffing levels were sufficient for each site. Plus, the group needed to reduce costs associated with admin-intensive processes in order for each site to be managed efficiently.
Solution
Following the Mama Bear’s Day Nursery team reaching out to Connect Childcare in April 2020, the software — including iConnect and ParentZone — was implemented across all 15 sites via a phased approach over a total of six months. The initial three sites were focused on troubleshooting, as well as training and upskilling staff to use the software effectively.
Through the integration of staff rostering with child registers and payroll modules, Mama Bear’s Day Nursery has made time-savings across all areas of the business — including easing the burden of manual paperwork and invoicing. By streamlining its processes, Mama Bear’s staff can now focus on what really matters: looking after and developing the children in their care.
As well as utilising all modules within Connect Childcare’s core software, all 15 of Mama Bear’s sites have benefitted and seen improvements in communication with parents through Connect’s app, ParentZone. Not only has the app enabled staff to communicate more effectively with caregivers throughout the working day, but staff have also noticed continuous improvements in parents engaging with their children’s learning while at home too.
Mama Bear’s Day Nursery has since signed a new three-year contract with Connect Childcare in October 2023.
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About the Author
Content Marketing Executive at Connect Childcare