NMT National Nursery Awards 2022 - Winners Supplement

The 20th National 2022

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Winner

Abbey Towsey, Kids Inc Nurseries

On behalf of Kids Inc Nurseries, I would like to sincerely thank everyone for voting for us for the ‘Nursery Training & Development’ award 2022.

We are very honoured to have been recognised for our hard work over the past year. This has involved the formation of our Kids Inc Training Academy, which not only benefits our own educators, but is also available for external practitioners. We want to provide the highest-quality childcare for children and strive to provide exemplary training programmes for our team’s professional development. This applies to all levels, from our apprentices through to our leadership and support teams.

Our ‘Toolkit Training’ encompasses our foundation level training for early years in line with the EYFS. We begin with an interactive ‘Welcome to Kids Inc’ induction to ensure that we invest in our team from their first day. There are seven other programmes: Babies, Brains and Brilliance, Every Key Person Matters, Child Protection Fundamentals, Self-Regulation and Associated Behaviours, Early Years Statutory Framework, The Great Outdoors and Observation, Assessment and Planning.

We strive to provide the highest-quality programmes for our apprentices enabling them to work towards being our future leaders. Whether they are already employed and have decided to upskill, or they are joining us as apprentices through our partner Realise, they are supported by our apprenticeship lead trainer with

monthly visits and workshops covering a wide range of topics. This also provides them with the opportunity to network with other apprentices and develop and grow through collaborative learning.

We ensure that our nurseries’ monthly team meetings are fun-filled, interactive experiences, with relevant course content prepared and available for our leaders from our comprehensive training library. Examples include Birth to Five Matters, Magical Mealtimes, Developmental Milestones and Prime Areas of Learning.

Our leadership training programme for managers, deputies and trainee deputies includes workshops covering all elements of their roles. Our leaders work through tailored progression plans

with specific targeted workshops such as Difficult Discussions, Turning Themes into Strengths and Inspiring Interactions. We are incredibly passionate about playing to people’s talents, focusing on what energises them and how we can provide opportunities to implement these in practice every day. Kids Inc has begun to promote a collaborative working approach where we can work with other people with contrasting themes to support one another. We also recognise where we may overplay these, so that we can reflect on our ‘blind spots’.

This is just the beginning for Kids Inc Training Academy and we are excited to develop our pedagogical knowledge continually and to contribute to everyone’s lifelong learning journeys.

Winner

Smallville Nursery

Smallville Nursery, Snodland, Kent –Where children are explorers and learning is an adventure.

Opening just 18 months ago, Smallville Nursery, has already received two awards for its achievements in childcare. Following the interests of the child and responding to learning ‘in the moment’, Smallville is as unique in its delivery of education as it is in its setting. Adjacent to a stunning listed building in a conservation area, the outdoor spaces have been carefully and sympathetically designed and constructed to inspire children while challenging the adventurer in every one of them. Encouraging outdoor play in all weathers, Smallville uses open-ended risk play, fostering independence, a passion for learning and a respect for nature and has quickly become a setting children love to attend.

“She’s excited about going every day, she has sooo much fun and actually complains she misses it when it’s her day off.”

“The atmosphere is warm and friendly and the attention to detail is second to none.”

The nursery manager and qualified teacher Kelly Hall, who designed the blended curriculum explains: “We act on curiosity, providing opportunities that nurture interests and provoke thinking, using open-ended and natural resources to stimulate creativity, using sustainable items and repurposing goods wherever possible in a hope to play a positive part in ecology too.”

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With the importance of community spirit being high on Smallville’s development plan, these first 18 months have showcased the nursery as a shining beacon in the local area. Director Stuart Bruce-Jones says: “We share items the children produce with a local supported living unit, we take the children to the cricket pitch next door, the charity shop and the local market, teaching children about life outside of the nursery too. We host community fetes and charity events and have linked with local businesses and the council to support community initiatives, raising over £3,000 for the children’s hospice.”

He continues: “We like to offer a more diverse range of learning opportunities – a pet African snail, a worm farm, a growing garden to eat our own goods and an owl box with camera to watch eggs hatch in their natural environment – anything to open children’s minds. We provide

extracurricular events free of charge: space days, reptile days, Babylingo and birds of prey events. We’re not just a nursery children love, we are a family they love too.”

“Smallville has exceeded our expectations of any childcare setting.”

“The afternoon and weekend activities they put on for the families are a bonus too. Looking forward to sending our son here when he’s older.”

With demand high, Smallville is opening a second setting in West Malling this year, with the hope of inspiring even more children for years to come.

Interested in joining our growing family – we’d love to hear from you: info@ smallville-nursery.com or telephone 07949 412424.

Winner

Nursery on the Green, Family First Day Nurseries

Our philosophy is to try to bring real life experiences into the nursery as we believe this is how children get the most from their time with us. In order to achieve this, we have to get out into the community. After that, we can take the lessons we have learned and bring them into the nursery. For example, we’ve been to see how a bakery works, before cooking in the nursery.

We also had a child who said he wanted to be a strawberry picker when he grew up, so we created a little strawberry farm in the classroom for him to live out his ambition.

We also try to arrange for regular visits from people with interesting occupations, with a particular focus on people who help others, including doctors, dentists and paramedics. Their talks about their jobs are always popular.

There is also a large home corner which encourages children to recreate their familiar household routines and a construction area where supervised children can use tools and take part in practical activities.

Our daily activities are planned and are often the extension of a previous one, while our children are also encouraged to write and explore stationery to draft letters and post for friends, family and pen pals.

We try to give our children as many opportunities as possible to drive their

own learning by keeping most of the resources accessible to them on their level. Each is clearly labelled with photos and words to make it easier for children to recognise where to get things from and where they should be returned to.

We are firm believers that anywhere you

go in the environment you should bump into books and this is a huge benefit for them. For example, the children are amazed by fact books of turtles by our pet turtles, real construction magazines on the woodwork bench, and lots of different culture or family books to support children and encourage equality and diversity.

Winner

We’re really proud of our Borrow a Bike initiative. Some of the families of the children don’t have the space at home to store a bike full time, so we have a fleet of five we loan out for them to use. It gets the children exercising and is beneficial for everyone. The families love it.

We also regularly organise litter picks for the area around the nursery. This helps the children take pride in where they live. We also organise initiatives for parents.

Recently we’ve held cooking classes where parents get a one-to-one session

learning how to make an item from our menu so they have the skills to prepare a nutritious meal at home.

In our garden we grow our own fruit and vegetables and aim to get the parents involved too.

Following the pandemic, we offered a personal tour of the nursery to parents and one of the suggestions was to grow fruit and vegetables, and we have run with it ever since.

We encourage children to try growing

things for themselves by sending them home with cress seeds and try to get them excited about what they are growing.

In the past we have collected and donated food and sanitary products for the local food bank, created Christmas decorations for the nearby community centre, and, when we were taken over by Family First, donated our old resources to a local preschool run by a charity.

There are also community initiatives for our colleague. We have installed a staff room and provide meals for free.

Community Nursery of the Year The 20th National 2022 Sponsored by Three Little Birds Children's Nurseries 10

Winner

As an organisation we are incredibly proud that one of our managers won ‘Nursery Manager of the Year’ at the NMT awards. At The Lime Trees we dare to do things differently. We operate a model of leadership which is entirely practicebased. This means that all of our managers can really get to the beating heart of their settings in the day to day. This model is unusual, but we feel that it really works for us. It is only possible because of our amazing and incredible team of support staff at head office, as well as our experienced senior leadership team who mentor and guide our managers. Our account managers deal with the majority of parent queries, administration, funding and finance. This means that our managers are free to concentrate on the really important job of leading their teams and delivering outstanding practice and provision for children.

Amanda has been on an incredible journey with us as a company and winning the award was the cherry on the cake. Amanda has progressed her career within The Lime Trees from early years educator to setting manager. She says her biggest achievement to date is leading her current setting to maintain its Ofsted Outstanding grading last year.

The Lime Trees story is rooted in helping and supporting the families and communities we serve. As a family-first business, our aims are simple, it’s all about the children. Our group of award-winning clubs and pre-school settings are located all over the East Midlands and the North

of England. We're more flexible and more affordable than any of our competitors and we are incredibly proud of our unrivalled and unbroken Outstanding track record with Ofsted.

We are extraordinarily proud of the superb range of facilities at each of our unique pre-school settings. Using our own inhouse curriculum, our dedicated team of early years educators provide rich and vibrant activities to stimulate small minds and stretch their imaginations.

We run weekly forest school sessions at each of our sites, where children are able to learn a range of technical skills which lead to them completing a Wild Passport. Children also celebrate a range of contemporary and classical artists in our beautifully presented Art Ateliers. Richly resourced with a wide range of water colour paints, paint brushes, real clay and more crafty supplies than you could ever begin to imagine – this is the place that childhood dreams are made of.

Manager The 20th National 2022 12

Winner

Monkey Puzzle Nursery Group

Here at Monkey Puzzle, we are incredibly proud to have received the NMT ‘Business Development’ award 2022. The successful growth and maintained quality of standard in our nursery group is driven by the exceptional people that make every day possible. This award is shared across our dedicated field team, inspiring nursery managers, wonderful room-based teams and our head office support functions. The award is a testament to the hard work, dedicated and progressive mindsets within our group and has been a great opportunity to recognise the team’s success.

Our nursery group is made up of seven

fantastic nurseries that prioritise delivering exceptional early years experiences in our warm, caring and nurturing environments. We are really excited for the future and our continued development as we grow and learn from our extraordinary people at the heart of our organisation.

Winning the ‘Business Development’ award is a huge celebration and recognition of our core values which include never compromising on our quality of care; this has been critically important in our successful growth as we have opened our fantastic new nurseries. It also demonstrates success at delivering our vision to inspire change

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through excellence in childcare, creating a positive impact for generations to come. Our growth and new sites enable us to continue to create this positive impact, becoming accessible to more children, families and carers.

We look forward now to 2023 reflective of both our successes and opportunities to continue to learn, grow and develop. We strive to carry on having a positive impact for the children and families at our nurseries, our dedicated teams and the early years sector. We will continue to hold the children at the centre of what we do in Monkey Puzzle Nursery Group as our exciting journey continues.

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Winner

Nancy Walker, Academy Gardens Nursery, Hungry Caterpillar Day Nurseries

Nancy Walker has worked at Hungry Caterpillars for more than seven years. Nancy started with us straight from school as an apprentice where she gained her level 2 and 3 qualification. She has progressed throughout her career taking on many roles and responsibilities often over and above her job spec and is now successfully leading a large baby room in our Academy Gardens Nursery.

Nancy demonstrates such passion, enthusiasm and pride for her role. She is reliable, trustworthy and always willing to help and support. She is flexible and

willing to do whatever is needed to support the team, including cooking (when the Chef’s off or needs help) and has been amazing when it comes to IT support for those less able with technology.

Parents, staff and children all love Nancy. Many parents request her as their child’s key person when transitioning to her room. She inspires the staff that work at her nursery and they often go to her for advice. This is because she has incredible knowledge of the industry and puts so much effort into her daily duties going above and beyond.

Nancy is a fantastic role model to her team, leading by example. She organises activities which encourage the children to be independent and allows them to develop while having fun. Nancy helps support other team members as she has excellent communication skills and a very good relationship with her staff which ensures the team works well together. She has also built close relationships with parents to make sure they trust her to provide the best learning and development for their child. Nancy tweaks and changes the learning environment to meet the needs of the children attending and sets up and gives access to fun activities that benefit all children regardless of their stage or ability. Her focus is always on learning through play and having fun, but with a clear focus on development, next steps and individual learning goals of all the children. Nancy encourages the children to explore the environment safety, but she also supports their curiosity.

Due to Nancy’s outstanding ability to lead a team and a room and the trust she has earned from parents and other staff members, she has been appointed acting Deputy Manager of the entire nursery while her colleague is on maternity leave. This role holds great responsibility, however she does an outstanding job juggling her many roles while still going above and beyond for each child. She ensures that the activities she provides are age-appropriate and that it is a warm and stimulating environment and a homefrom-home experience.

Winner

Having worked in childcare for over 22 years I can honestly say It was such an honour and privilege to receive the award of ‘Area Manager of the Year’ with NMT. I was thrilled to be nominated for this award let alone win. It was also fantastic to be able to celebrate the sector’s achievements and listen to the amazing work and efforts that goes into the early years.

Having worked my way from nursery apprentice to area manger I now oversee five nurseries across the Kidzrus Nursery Group. It’s great working in an environment where your work is appreciated and acknowledged, but winning this award would not have been possible without the support of my early years colleagues. For me, the biggest fulfilment I take from

my job is recognising the importance of the staff that I oversee. After all, they are the biggest asset and being able to support their professional development is the biggest reward. I have been able to watch practitioners follow a similar journey to myself, recognising the fire they have in their bellies and being able to support them on their own journey from practitioner to management and this is something I thoroughly enjoy and hope to continue throughout my years at Kidzrus.

The Kidzrus ethos is ‘Every Child Every Chance’ and this is evident in the service we provide daily; I enjoy thinking outside the box when it comes to enhancing our nursery experiences. Our current biggest success is the work we do within the local

communities, such as setting up a local food bank in the national lockdowns at our Media City setting, as well as providing enrichment experiences for children and families with our nurseries growing gardens and pet chickens. And our awardwinning forest school setting offers children the opportunity to experience a wider range of learning developments by being outside in nature. The opportunities are endless.

This year continues to pose difficult times for the sector. The aftermath of the pandemic and the current recruitment crisis has meant some incredibly difficult times for early years settings, however at Kidzrus we believe our staff are imperative and we are constantly looking for ways to evolve.

ABOUT US

Our expertise within the early years and educational sector has given our clients peace of mind. Providing all the relevant H&S information for each project, to project managing the works from start to completion, providing regular updates at each stage of the project and ensuring of a smooth handover. Our tailored job sheets, extra safety checks and flexible planning, along with enhanced DBS approved in-house skilled tradespeople will give you a fast and responsive service. Giving you complete peace of mind.

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Winner

Chef

At Naturally Learning, we prioritise children’s physical growth by preparing wholesome meals that provide them with the nutrients to develop, learn and grow. Our in-house chefs prepare a seasonal, home-cooked menu that offers a wellbalanced diet and a wide variety of choice.

We promise to provide healthy food that promotes brain development and strengthens the immune system. As part of our ethos, we model healthy mealtime

routines and promote positive eating habits.

Children help to grow and prepare food, cook and learn how to use real tableware and serve themselves in our family-style dining experiences.

Chef Kristian, who was quite rightly crowned ‘Nursery Chef of the Year’, consistently delivers in his role, especially when it comes to outdoors, As a forest

school nursery, we challenge all of our chefs to cater outdoors for the children, on the road and by fire – which is not for the faint hearted.

Kris is passionate, determined and inspired. As a company, we have huge plans for food and the relationships the children create with the food we eat. We are so pleased Kris got the recognition he deserves on this journey to provide great food from ground to plate.

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Winner

We are so delighted that Karen received the accolade of ‘SENCO of the Year’, she truly deserves it. It was her idea in 2019 to approach Richard Hawkins, the then editor of NMT at the awards evening, asking why there wasn’t a SENCO award. Well, true to his word, by 2021 the award was there – and Karen took the honour.

Karen is a truly authentic educator and SENCO, the best I have ever known. She not only preaches but practices her passion every day. Her dedication to the children is enviable. She has created the term ‘flexible boundaries for the inflexible’ which supports our whole team to understand the needs of our most complex and vulnerable children.

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Since the awards, Karen has created a new SEN team across the nurseries. Her vision is to have a champion for every SEN child, in every age group and in every space, every day. Someone who sees the world as they do, and who be their voice.

Everyone needs a champion, and Karen is ours.

Winner

Beeches Park Day Nursery

The dedicated staff at Beeches Park Day Nursery were thrilled to win the category for ‘Kid’s Cooking & Nutrition Education’ at the 20th annual NMT Awards 2022. In attendance on the night were owner Abby Litting, director of operations Louise Monange and nursery manager Charlotte Dolman-Clarke, plus staff representatives from marketing, catering and Forest School.

Beeches Park Day Nursery has changed drastically in the past two years since it was taken over. The number of children enrolled has all but tripled, as our reputation spreads.

Health, wellbeing and healthy eating is at the heart of our ethos and under the guidance of our catering manager the meals provided promote these beliefs. Now children enjoy a wide variety of exciting, nutritional dishes, not only prepared in-house by our nursery cook, but by the children themselves in all rooms as part of their activities. Cooking is now an established activity for all ages, as they practise chopping and preparing their own fruit for snack time, making fruit smoothies and helping the kitchen to make tea.

The nursery is situated on an industrial estate on the edge of a bustling town and is not somewhere you would associate with gardening. To counter this, a huge project for us in 2022 was the addition of our recycled bottle greenhouse. Staff, parents and children got involved in saving more than 2,500 one-litre plastic

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bottles to create the greenhouse to give all children a chance to explore growing their own food. For some children this is the first time they ever cultivated crops and watching them grow and flourish into a vegetable they had only seen in supermarkets was something they will never forget.

This award for us is a huge boost as we are now investing further in the outdoor area in 2023 to increase growing space for fruit and vegetables, to add to the Forest School area to allow for larger groups to take part in cooking on the open fire and to give the children a greater opportunity to explore the life cycle of foods. New vegetable planters are installed and a

‘living-wall’ is being planted as a chance to explore growing trailing fruits such as apples. The kitchen is enjoying a constant supply of herbs in the windowsill pots that the children take care of.

Winning this award has given staff the boost to take our nutrition education even further. It has increased interest in outdoor learning with more staff undertaking forest school qualifications. We are now cooking outside even more. The nursery has begun it’s Eco Schools Flag journey and is working through the RHS Schools gardening programme.

With our passion, this is only the beginning.

Winner

Bardykes Farm Nursery School

Bardykes Farm Nursery School is delighted to receive the NMT ‘Outdoor Learning’ award again following our win in 2020.

Bardykes Farm demonstrates the power of its unique outdoor world to create wonder, excitement and real engagement as children explore a magical world of outdoor pockets including secret gardens, thriving orchards, rushing rivers and the amazing array of curious creatures living in them. Our unique access to the great outdoors and all the creatures that live in it gives daily opportunities to engage in self-exploration and discovery that the wonders of nature inspire.

Children do this in a safe and carefully but discreetly managed approach which breeds self-confidence and that real sense of achievement, satisfaction and fulfilment which is so challenging to achieve. These outdoor spaces encourage and allow children to explore their curiosities while exploring and keeping all the fun and joy any play-based learning should encompass. Again, Bardykes takes it further.

A secret garden, Ssh! encourages children to plant, grow and nurture themselves and then use what they grow to make jams and snack with what they've produced with their own little hands. 2022 saw us taking part in RHET’s ‘Grow your own loaf’, successfully harvesting sheafs of wheat and using this to bake bread used for a spot of afternoon tea.

The mixing lab allows children to use their imagination and creativity to create their

own soups, mud pies, and of course our favourite cups of coffees, letting children have the opportunity to develop their fine and gross motor skills, expand their language and communication skills and build positive friendships with their peers and teachers.

Bardykes continues to inspire and encourage children to learn about serious and challenging subjects –sustainability, developing a connection to nature and respect for the environment through planting and observing. A key achievement for Bardykes Farm has been taking part in the Queen’s Green Canopy,

‘planting a tree for the jubilee’. We have planted more than 400 saplings across our farm including Rowan, Ash, Blackthorn and Hawthorns. We were delighted to welcome our families and the local community to get involved and be a part of Bardykes history.

This encouraged children to be 'hands on' with nature and using their own senses to expand on their curiosity and skills while in an outdoor environment. How better to learn, thrive, become confident and optimistic, to truly understand the power of the world we live in and respect and nurture at Bardykes Farm.

Winner

Playhood is a pioneering model, led by an entrepreneurial parent frustrated at feeling ‘locked out’ of previous settings, and an ambitious Montessorian desperate for true parental collaboration. It is a nursery, co-working space and family community on one site. Harmonising personal and professional development with the child's early years journey enables a powerful partnership between parents and educators.

We’re a ‘village’ – all children know all parents by name and when things go awry (hospital visits, bereavement etc) the community rallies round. We care for parents as much as their children, and they reciprocate with regular participation in the nursery. We’ve found uniting work and childcare enables more equitable, open relationships and trust.

We’ve developed strong two-way communication habits, experimenting with the best ways to be extremely responsive as needs and interests emerge. We take time to converse at calmer times than pick-up/drop-off and use various channels to suit everyone’s needs. Sharing lunch has helped us build personal relationships, and contribute to our level of transparency, trust and involvement.

Planning is collaborative, giving parents a voice in the curriculum, as well as ample invitations to participate in trips, training and guest visits. Montessori extends beyond the classroom as a lifestyle that inspires our families to create consistent and appealing environments at home,

supported by workshops and coaching from staff. Learning from one another has been an important part of deepening engagement — everyone open to getting the benefit of other's expertise and passions. As one dad notes: “We feel so supported, listened to, and able to influence outcomes.”

Weekly, our team debriefs with a deep level of reflection, made possible by our high ratio and the depth to which we know our children. The children voice-note their parents with a review of their week and families provide insight into their home life – weekend outings, playdates and cultural exchange within the community thrives, including alumni. Such an ‘involved’ early years experience has proved to be a strong bond that’s lasted the years and distance for Playhood families. They still

seek advice from our teachers, who love to stay in touch.

Normalising willingness to take part has made supporting their child’s learning just one facet of their engagement with the staff team at Playhood. We embrace sharing resources, in a toy and book library, as well as our professional networks and advice as parents. There’s solidarity among the families who’ve chosen such an unusual setting.

Marie Henry from the early years team in Haringey said: “The Playhood model is so exciting. I’ve been in awe of the team breaking new ground. [They’ve] created the most beautiful space that the children have such a sense of belonging in, as well as a supportive community the parents actively participate in.”

Laura Perfetti, Playhood

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Winner

Nursery Practitioner

Kerry Nettel, Ashby Pre-School Academy, Storal Learning

Finding out I had been nominated for the ‘Nursery Practitioner’ award was a proud moment. It was an honour to be shortlisted in the final seven among such committed, inspiring and passionate individuals.

I was so surprised when my name was announced as the winner, it’s hard to put into words how I felt. The practitioner award is a competitive category, so winning was amazing. I felt shocked, happy, and excited. I don’t think the smile has left my face yet!

After announcing that I had won the award, it was heart-warming to receive many congratulations from parents and connections of the nursery, both in person and on our social media platforms. While out and about the following week, I was even congratulated by parents whose children left many years ago, lots now doing their GCSEs. It was an incredible feeling for them to remember me and to hear that they felt my award was well deserved.

From the responses that I’ve had, I know that I am doing the right thing. The activities, plans and ideas that I have, and the support I receive from my colleagues are making a long-lasting impact on the children, past and present, that I have in my care.

Winning this award motivates me to continue putting together plans to support current families and children at Ashby Preschool Academy. I also feel inspired to

offer support within our local community. Helping others is my passion and I want to continue this wherever possible.

I feel honoured to be the first member of the Storal family to win an award, even more so as it is sought after by many practitioners across the country. Storal proudly supports its team to progress, keep learning and follow their passions, and doing so has helped me accomplish these achievements.

has been my biggest support and cheerleader. I don’t think there will ever be a way of thanking her for offering me the opportunities that she has. Without her faith, encouragement and belief in me, I wouldn’t have progressed in my career as well as I have. I am delighted that I have made her proud.

I cannot wait to see what the future holds at Ashby Preschool Academy and Storal, and I hope that our nursery and team will continue to receive the wonderful recognition it deserves.

My manager at Ashby Preschool Academy

Winner

Dandelion, Dandelion Education Forest/ Beach School/ Kindergarten

Emma Harwood and Hayley Room, the founders of Dandelion Education, are passionate and tenacious advocates for all children. They champion the need for high-quality early years education for all children.

The duo, previously primary school teachers, created Dandelion in 2013, a unique business based on the resolute belief that education should be childled; that children deserve and need rich and meaningful opportunities to enable them to grow, to thrive, and to reach their potential.

Hayley and Emma strive for excellence; they created an evolved educational ethos that aims to change children’s lives. They combined the forest school approach with the Philosophy 4 Children approach and married this with a focus on the development of executive functioning and emotional literacy. This unique ethos is delivered within an entirely outdoors, off-grid, setting.

Dandelion children thrive and blossom within Dandelion’s holistic approach that meets the needs of a wide variety of children. Inclusion is invisible; children and staff become part of a supportive community that places high-quality education and care at the heart of all they do.

The enabling environment is key to their approach; children develop their own spaces at Dandelion, using items they recycle and reuse they build and create an

environment that inspires and motivates them. Dandelion belongs to the children.

In 2019 Emma and Hayley were named as one of the top five most inspiration leaders in early years; they were equally as thrilled to be most recently named as the ‘Best Forest School’ by NMT. Winning the award, Hayley said, validates Dandelion’s provision of the highest-quality early years education possible. Delivering the best in today’s turbulent climate, she said, with reduced funding and excessive costs, is a challenge, but one Dandelion intends to rise to. Emma and Hayley also received the ‘Team’ award by NMT.

They were delighted to be awarded this accolade. They have high standards and expectations of staff who are trained through a bespoke training plan. Observations, supervisions and feedback

are continual and focused, but they develop and nurture staff strengths.

Regular wellbeing supervisions for all staff ensure that staff needs are met and thus they are able to give their full attention to the children in their care.

Staff openly acknowledge Hayley and Emma’s high expectations, but are happy to work to meet them; they respect their approach and expertise; they are committed to developing children in-line with Dandelion values.

The accolade of best team award, Emma stated, is testimony to the equality and support that all Dandelion staff offer each other, and the families within the setting. Every team member, she said, is vital to the success of Dandelion and they work tirelessly to be the best they can be.

Can I buy your nursery business?

Hello, I am David Hancock, CEO at The Nursery Family. You may already know me; I’ve been around for years and a regular at industry events.

I got into the early years sector back in 2004 – I was young (well, relatively young) with fewer wrinkles. Now at 55yrs I have a son, two daughters, three grandchildren and more lines than a road map, but I am convinced working around childcare professionals has kept me youthful.

My 18 years as MD or CEO in several different nursery groups has seen me weather a recession, enabled me to meet some amazing people, see children develop through the incredible care on offer, mentor some wonderful colleagues, develop my skills in acquiring nurseries and, like many of you, battle through an unprecedented global pandemic!

This year will see the second anniversary of our ownership of The Nursery Family and we believe now is the time for us to expand a little. We don’t aspire to be a large group (plenty of those already) but we do aim to be one of the best employers offering uncompromising high standards of care, education, love and cuddles. Would you like to share a cuppa with me, exchange some war stories (we all have them) and perhaps talk about how we can help you realise the value of your hard work? If so, I would be delighted to hear from you on 07809 258435 or by email at david@thenurseryfamily.co.uk

Thanks for reading my story.

Kind Regards

Winner

Ruby is so thankful, grateful, and completely overjoyed to have won the award for ‘Personality of the Year’ at the Nursery Management Today Awards 2022. This is the first external award that Ruby has received in her career, alongside multiple internal awards for her practice and continuous development.

She has only worked in the childcare industry for a short amount of time and at just 18 years old she is already having a massive impact in the nursery. Ruby has started her career with a brilliant attitude and very quickly slotted into place within the team. She has built amazing relationships with staff, children and parents and continues to go above and beyond to ensure the children receive the best possible start to nursery life. She is eager to develop and is always keen to learn new practices and skills so that she can provide the best care and education possible for our children. Ruby also works closely with the preschool team to ensure opportunities are created to provide the children with a solid foundation for starting school.

Ruby has an amazing attitude and I remember her being surprised that we still pay her when she has time off on holiday and that we give her half days –we often have to kick her out when her shift finishes! We are in awe of her work ethic, her personality is infectious and she inspires the people around her every day. Ruby is a great support to all of her colleagues; she will always step in and offer her support where needed, demonstrating

great teamwork. She will have many of the team in fits of laughter throughout the day either by sharing a joke or something she has done at the weekend by telling the story in true Ruby style.

Ruby consistently gets fantastic feedback from parents and colleagues alike – she provides interesting and inspiring learning opportunities for children, encourages their curiosity in the world around them, and promotes a happy, positive and joyous atmosphere. When she isn’t immersed in activities, she is spreading her joy around the team – lifting spirits and offering a friendly face.

Ruby has bundles of energy and oozes passion for childcare; since winning this award she has grown in confidence and

is eager to learn and this has confirmed to her that she is on the correct career path. Ruby started her childcare apprenticeship last year and continues to apply herself to every module and group session with her tutor.

When she is qualified, Ruby wishes to climb the career ladder and progress within the nursery – she already has plans to be a manager. Since working at the nursery Ruby has shown an interest in SEN and has expressed how she would love to support children further.

We continue to be greeted daily by Ruby’s bubbly personality, friendly smile, and can-do attitude. Ruby will continue to grow and has an amazing future in early years.

Personality The 20th National 2022 Sponsored by Grandir UK 34

Winner

It turns out 2022 had one final wonderful surprise in stock for our friends at Famly. At the 2022 NMT Awards, Famly won the much-coveted ‘Best Technology Product of the Year’ – given to the product that helps enhance efficiency for nurseries in exceptional ways. The judges had some kind words to say, praising Famly’s ‘customer focus’ and saying, “It was evident that they have a deep understanding about the role a fantastic early childhood platform can play in supporting settings, staff and parents.”

Famly’s co-founder and chief executive Anders Laustsen said, “This is a great way to crown a big year at Famly, a year where we welcomed thousands of new settings onto the platform. The fact that we got to celebrate this award together on the big night with a number of our customers at our table, and even more up on stage picking up their own trophies, just makes it even sweeter.”

That Famly difference was on display that night with more than half of the awards given by NMT going to nurseries using Famly, including the manager, room leader, and both groups of the year.

With more than 70,000 early years educators using the platform daily, Famly has grown in the past two years to be the UK market leader, with settings big and small using their early childhood platform to handle admin, get closer to parents, and make life easier for educators on the floor. With special care for every setting,

2022

Famly’s customer success team is a huge part of why the company continues to flourish, whether it’s small pre-schools and childminders, or the UK’s biggest nursery chains like Bright Horizons, Kindred and Monkey Puzzle. This focus was noted by the judges as well, who said: “Famly is an extremely agile company and we were impressed by their commitment to being customer-focused at every step of the way.”

And this award came at an exciting time of evolution since Famly has just revealed

a new look, a new path forward, and what they see as the future of the early years sector – one grounded in collaboration.

So now that they can add “award-winning platform” to their website, what’s next?

2023 promises to be a year where Famly continues its drive to support even more nurseries, build ever-exciting features and improvements, showcase new opportunities to connect, and spaces to collaborate. Famly cannot wait to roll it all out.

Winner

Island Kitchen, Millhouse (part of Spaceright Europe)

About Millhouse

At Millhouse, quality and craftsmanship are at the heart of everything we do, and we have been lovingly making early years furniture, here in the UK, for over 40 years. Every detail is designed with children in mind and our furniture is hand-finished by our expert team, who add that little touch of love.

Collaboration with practitioners means that we understand the needs of the early years sector, as well as current approaches and new ways of learning. With this insight and knowledge reflected in our products, we are confident that Millhouse furniture will enhance any early years setting.

Winning product – Island Kitchen

The team at Millhouse is delighted that our Island Kitchen won ‘Nursery Product of the Year’ 2022. We are proud to be delivering creative solutions that help

meet the needs of today’s early years settings.

The concept behind the Millhouse Island Kitchen was to replicate the kitchens that many children see, or have, in their own homes. The Island Kitchen’s unique shape and design reflect a modern living style where we socialise and cook with friends. By providing a similar environment, where numerous children can gather, nurseries are able to create many benefits for the children in their setting, such as enabling children to go from solitary play to cooperative play and developing communication skills through pretend play.

The kitchen is available in two heights: toddler for 18 months-plus and pre-school for three years-plus.

For toddlers the Millhouse Island Kitchen offers an inviting, free play opportunity

2022

to mimic elements of home life, while engaging with other children. This is something that many children have missed out on in the past two years, due to Covid restrictions.

For preschool the kitchen is likely to have a more centralised location within the room that enables support staff and practitioners in listening and assessing child-led activities and conversations, allowing them to scaffold further and offer continuous provision activities.

Both kitchens are delivered fully assembled with a five-year guarantee and are made using high-quality, robust materials, that deliver outstanding reliability in a commercial nursery environment.

Each kitchen features a realistic ceramic hob, removable sink, oven, dishwasher, built-in storage shelves, rotating hob, tap dials and breakfast bar.

The finish of the Island Kitchen is a combination of maple and walnut melamine – this striking contrast works beautifully together and delivers a natural, yet modern, aesthetic.

We are delighted that the judges were able to recognise the versatility and benefits that this innovative product brings to an early years setting.

For further information on the full range of Millhouse products available, visit: Millhousedesign.co.uk or call 01526 354404.

HAVE YOU LOOKED US UP YET?

It's been another fantastic year helping nurseries manage their capacity more effectively via the Daycare SOS platform.

Daycare SOS, utilises spaces in nurseries that are left open by existing parents due to holidays as well as putting to work its spare capacity. We enable filling these unused spaces with parents needing last minute care – generating additional revenue. We also facilitate existing parents booking additional sessions (a +125% revenue increase). All this is done and confirmed through the platform, with no costs or fees, whilst saving 100s of hours of admin.

It’s great for Managers & Owners; existing parents appreciate the financial relief opportunity, 100s of hours of admin are removed for Managers and the nursery is helping within the local community. Simply visit www.daycaresos.com to register. The process is very simple and can be complet Follow our News, Nursery Testimonials on Instagram

Winner

Hungry Caterpillar Day Nurseries

Hungry Caterpillars opened in January 1999 in answer to founder Olivia Foley’s own childcare needs and the inability to find high-quality childcare in the local area. Developing an excellent local reputation the group has since expanded across West London into Ealing, Buckinghamshire and Harrow. Hungry Caterpillars remains a family-run business that responds and develops services to meet the needs of families that it serves.

At Hungry Caterpillars we believe that allowing children access to good-quality pre-school education enhances their future life chances. It is a belief that is backed up by research and as such we genuinely want our nurseries to be the

best and we want your child’s nursery experience to be positive, meaningful and above all fun. In addition, we recognise that each child is an individual with their own specific needs. Our staff tailor each child’s care and learning plan to their individual requirements and create an environment that celebrates all that makes them a special individual.

Hungry Caterpillars has a well-developed apprenticeship scheme which has grown significantly in the past 10 months. This is due to the current challenges recruiting qualified practitioners and our reviewed ‘workforce development plan’. It has become clear that growing our own talent is the way forward to secure a stable

2022

future workforce and also allows us to put back into the early years industry.

We offer apprenticeships at level 2, 3 and 5 and support staff with completion of degree qualifications. Level 2 and 3 qualifications are offered to existing staff, as well as new recruits who are aiming to develop. The new Level 5 qualification is offered to existing staff who are either currently working in a leadership role or who aspire to work in leadership in the future.

At the core of Hungry Caterpillars and the important job we do are the people who work with us, share our values and support the individual children to get the best possible outcomes. In order to get the best from our teams and to support retention and career progression we put an emphasis on extensive training and development opportunities for everyone. Mentoring and coaching is key in developing a talented workforce and every member of staff with their tailored induction has a named mentor to offer support.

Training and development starts from day one at Hungry Caterpillars. Each member of our team goes through a detailed sixmonth induction and probation process to ensure they are fully onboarded into the organisation, fully understand their role and responsibilities, and are successfully integrated into the team. We see this initial process as an integral part of the employee experience and key to staff retention short and long term.

Winner

Emma Harwood and Hayley Room, the founders of Dandelion Education, are passionate and tenacious advocates for all children. They champion the need for high-quality early years education for all children.

The duo, previously primary school teachers, created Dandelion in 2013, a unique business based on the resolute belief that education should be childled; that children deserve and need rich and meaningful opportunities to enable them to grow, to thrive, and to reach their potential.

Hayley and Emma strive for excellence; they created an evolved educational ethos that aims to change children’s lives. They combined the forest school approach with the Philosophy 4 Children approach and married this with a focus on the development of executive functioning and emotional literacy. This unique ethos is delivered within an entirely outdoors, off-grid, setting.

Dandelion children thrive and blossom within Dandelion’s holistic approach that meets the needs of a wide variety of children. Inclusion is invisible; children and staff become part of a supportive community that places high-quality education and care at the heart of all they do.

The enabling environment is key to their approach; children develop their own spaces at Dandelion, using items they recycle and reuse they build and create an

environment that inspires and motivates them. Dandelion belongs to the children. In 2019 Emma and Hayley were named as one of the top five most inspiration leaders in early years; they were equally as thrilled to be most recently named as the ‘Best Forest School’ by NMT. Winning the award, Hayley said, validates Dandelion’s provision of the highest-quality early years education possible. Delivering the best in today’s turbulent climate, she said, with reduced funding and excessive costs, is a challenge, but one Dandelion intends to rise to. Emma and Hayley also received the ‘Team’ award by NMT.

They were delighted to be awarded this accolade. They have high standards and expectations of staff who are trained through a bespoke training plan. Observations, supervisions and feedback

are continual and focused, but they develop and nurture staff strengths. Regular wellbeing supervisions for all staff ensure that staff needs are met and thus they are able to give their full attention to the children in their care.

Staff openly acknowledge Hayley and Emma’s high expectations, but are happy to work to meet them; they respect their approach and expertise; they are committed to developing children in-line with Dandelion values.

The accolade of best team award, Emma stated, is testimony to the equality and support that all Dandelion staff offer each other, and the families within the setting. Every team member, she said, is vital to the success of Dandelion and they work tirelessly to be the best they can be.

Team The 20th National 2022 Sponsored by Hope Education 42

Winner

Children’s Corner Childcare are honoured to have been awarded the ‘Nursery Group Under 10 Settings’ of the year award 2022. This recognises the enormous contribution that our amazing colleagues have made to so many children’s lives over the year and we are very proud of them all.

Being able to put Covid firmly behind us has meant we could reinvigorate our efforts to celebrate each unique child in our care – and our dedicated staff team with their passion, imagination and commitment did just that. Our shy little ones who returned after Covid are now confident robust learners who are all progressing well.

With so much uncertainty in the sector around funding, rising costs and

recruitment, our team has really pulled together to ensure that everyone had the support that was needed. We will continue to invest in them and their wellbeing to ensure they feel valued and can progress their own careers.

Building on our strong reputation and our recent win of the FSB Yorkshire Family Business of 2022, our biggest highlight was opening our new nursery in Harrogate which filled on two open days before we even opened the doors. We have welcomed 80 new families and 18 new colleagues who are a superb addition to our Children’s Corner family. With our yoga studio and café area, together with an amazing outdoor space and open plan nursery rooms, it’s a been a joy to get to know our Harrogate families and their children.

2022

We have continued with our social responsibility values with our charity, Changing Stars Malawi. Our nursery in Cape Maclear, Malawi, has 45 children attending to learn and receive a meal each day which for some may be their only food that day. We have built classrooms at a primary school, providing curriculum books and resources. Our school sponsorship programme pays for over 220 children who otherwise could not afford to attend school.

Seven of our Children’s Corner colleagues visited Malawi in 2022 to work in our nursery there and share good practice, as well as delivering safeguarding and teacher training. While there in November there was an outbreak of cholera, and we were immediately able to provide life-saving saline drips and a water tank which helped reduce sickness and indeed fatalities.

If any other nurseries wish to get involved or volunteer with us in Malawi, please get in touch or follow us at: facebook. com/changingstarsmalawi or email admin@changingstarsmalawi.org

The crisis facing the childcare sector isn’t over, but we look forward to 2023 with renewed hope and positivity that the early years sector’s contribution to children’s first five years and the economy is properly valued. Certainly, Children’s Corner and our inspirational colleagues will continue to go above and beyond for all our families.

Winner

Group Over 10 Settings

Our NMT ‘Nursery Group Over 10 Settings’ award was an incredible end to a tremendous 2022 for us all here at Kindred Nurseries. This win has meant so much to each and every one of us, from our longest-standing team members to our newest apprentice.

On top of this, being the first-ever nursery group to win the ‘Nursery Group of the Year’ award at both the Nursery World Awards and NMT Awards in the same year feels like an incredible honour.

Our teams are passionate about going above and beyond to make Kindred the special, awe and wonder-filled place it is for our children, their families and our teams and we are incredibly proud that their hard work has been recognised in such a prestigious way. As we pin our badges to our chests, we swell with pride at what it represents. Each of us feels so grateful and thankful to be a part of this wonderful family we call Kindred.

Ruth Pimentel, Kindred Nurseries’ chief executive says: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this award, as testament to all the hard work that the Kindred family do day in and day out, to ensure that every child at Kindred experiences the best-quality care and the most enriching learning experiences whilst they are with us.”

2022 saw our teams launch a number of exciting projects. Our mission is to create inspiring worlds full of awe and wonder for little ones to grow and thrive in, and

one of our most notable 2022 initiatives was launching our very own Kindred Pedagogy. We pioneered a suite of interactive resources, including personal booklets, learning activities, monthly inspiration packs, training sessions, and more.

The Kindred Pedagogy was launched to all our teams, up and down the country, via a live training session. This initiative further enhanced our ability as a group to deliver consistent, high-quality, tailored care and education across all our nurseries. From those at the very beginning of their

childcare career, to those with many years of experience under their belt, it has been wonderful to hear how our Kindred Pedagogy has inspired them to reach even higher when creating days filled with unique moments and opportunities for all our children.

We look forward to continuing this journey into 2023 and further creating a culture where our teams feel truly looked after, inspired and heard. So, in turn, they are able to give their very best awe and wonder-inspiring selves to our children and families, as well as each other.

Christie & Co are proud to celebrate the incredible achievements of nurseries, their owners, managers and practitioners across the country, and we are delighted to support these awards as a sponsor for another year.

We would like to pass congratulations to all of the finalists and winners for 2022, and we look forward to celebrating with you again in 2023!

christie.com

Winner

Clare Roberts OBE, Kids Planet Day Nurseries

What a fantastic night we had at the Nursery Management Today Awards. Not only were we delighted to be finalists in five categories, it was a huge surprise on the night to find out I was the winner of the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award. This wonderful recognition comes in the same year that I was humbled to be awarded an OBE for services to education and childcare, and I continue to feel a real sense of responsibility to try and support others, especially as a large group.

I am so very thankful to those who voted for me, and also to everyone who works within Kids Planet Day Nurseries and across the early years sector, for the hard work and dedication you show to our profession. You are the ones who do the most important job each day.

It is important during these challenging times faced by our sector, that we all have one united voice to navigate through these, while working together to find the best outcomes for children.

I’ve always felt passionate that highquality childcare should be available to all, and there’s a real sense that children who attend early years settings get solid foundations which lead to a better quality of life.

My role extends from just Kids Planet – I sit on many policy forums with the Department for Education, Ofsted and the National Day Nurseries Association, and I attend All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG ) meetings. In those meetings,

the focus is on the wider support needs of the sector.

I’m very aware of all the challenges faced by the early years sector and I try to do my best to make it better, although it’s a difficult tide to turn for us all, especially over the past few years. As a collective group within the early years sector, we’ve all come together and spent a lot of time trying to navigate a way through Covid and work out legislation.

From being on policy forums and attending the APPG meetings with Parliament, we

continue to look at how to get MPs to support early years in the best way. I always try to be true to who I am and speak the truth; I say things how I see them and think it’s incredibly important to challenge things.

We have a lot of experiences in changes within policy and changes to inspection through Ofsted, and I see it as a duty to give feedback and to share those experiences. Not only does that help improve the sector as a whole, but it becomes a collaboration, and we can do our utmost to make the early years better.

At Busy Bees, we’re committed to giving every child the best start in life, and we can only achieve this through our amazing team of dedicated and enthusiastic people who deliver this vision every day.

Join our wonderful team and play a vital role in helping to shape the future of our children.

Judges

Andrew Clifford

Annabel Karmel

Cheryl Bedding

Claire Sephton

Courteney Donaldson

Deena Billings

Andrew Frame Arun Kanwar

Chris Reid

Clare Roberts

David Hancock Iain Colledge

Jenny Hyde

Karen Derbyshire John Warren Kate Peach

Mandy Richardson

Katharine Tate

Linda Baston-Pitt

Michael Sottin

Morgan Allen

Neil Leitch

Nicola Fleury

Ollie Humphries

Purnima Tanuku

Nathalie Dyer

Richard Blunden

Ruth Pimentel

Shanti Flynn

Stevie Deeble

The 20th National