NMT Nursery Awards 2021 celebration supplement by investorpublishing

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Announcing the 20th National NMT Nursery Awards Rewarding excellence in the nursery sector and a unique opportunity to participate in a spectacular event celebrating your achievements.

November 2022 | London Main sponsor

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Category sponsors

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Welcome Our National NMT Nursery Awards is one of the showpiece events in the calendar, recognising and promoting the very best of those working across the early years sector. Caring for our youngest children takes a significant amount of commitment and skill, often going unrecognised. We want to make sure we celebrate the amazing achievements of the sector. The past 18 months have been incredibly difficult however, the sector again showed its sheer resilience as early years settings, on the whole, remained open throughout the pandemic. For nearly 20 years Nursery Management Today has come together to award those in our nursery community whom so many depend on. This sector is one that relies on its people and those working in settings go in everyday to inspire and enhance all the experiences a child has. It is undeniably one of the most crucial roles through the education journey. We’d like to express our gratitude to our Gold Sponsor, Hope Education for its continued support towards our awards. A further thanks to our category sponsors and our judges. All of us on the Nursery Management Today team continue to be delighted at the brilliant response to the awards from right across the sector and from all parts of the UK. Our winners have demonstrated exceptional levels of care and have worked incredibly hard under challenging circumstances and should be so proud of their achievements. Congratulations to our 2021 national winners. Briony Richter Editor Nursery Management Today

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Training & Development Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Jamie Atkins

Fennies Day Nurseries This year continued to pose difficult challenges for the sector. How did you overcome these while maintaining a high standard of training? As everyone throughout the sector has experienced, it’s been a time of great challenge. Having been made redundant myself, I joined Fennies, just as many of the team were at home isolating or on furlough. Just like the importance to personalise learning for our key children we owe the same to each employee. During times of staff isolating, personal challenges and anxiety we needed to have flexibility to have optional check-ins, to meet via Zoom, to focus on areas that individuals want support with and bring people together again. That support network included time for each other, to build a community who will share best practice, articles and inspiration. It’s important to remember that for anyone to bring their whole self to a situation they need to have their well-being needs met. Rolling out the use of a new staff app has been prominent in building this community. Creating a space where our staff can share a range of learning activities they’ve created and that can always be accessed has encouraged our teams and we’ve seen them grow in confidence.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Fennies stood out in the way in which they approached the issue. Colleagues are seen as individuals. from senior management down, they are asked to firstly understand themselves and their approach and to reflect continually. The training is based on being an approach of empowering colleagues rather than managing them. Instead of solving problems managers are encouraged to ask colleagues to suggest solutions. This type of approach allows colleagues to develop in their roles and to feel powerful in planning and decision making.”

To build that engagement and interest, we’ve made sure to run regular initiatives such as Random Acts of Kindness, which is where staff photograph their random acts of kindness to each other to share how they’ve brightened someone’s day. The app is also used as part of our monthly community update webinars for staff, where we have internal guest speakers, run competitions and give everyone the opportunity to give a shout out! Valuing practitioners’ voices builds that investment in training. I take inspiration from the NHS Five Steps to Mental Wellbeing; connecting with other people, giving to others and learning new skills are all ways to improve individuals’ wellbeing. This is incorporated in all my training and is essential to every decision we make at Fennies.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

NurseryCare

Individual Nursery Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Watermead Day Nursery As an individual nursery, what does winning this award mean to you? For Watermead Day Nursery we see winning the Individual Nursery Award as an amazing boost for our current staff and as a unique selling point to potentially attract new high-quality staff. It has been invaluable as part of our continuing journey in enabling our staff and management team to reflect on the provision, the opportunities we offer, the experiences available for our children and how we use our indoor and outdoor environment as a third teacher. Winning this national award gives our practitioners both professional recognition and delivers a national celebration of our staff for their genius and hard work in delivering outstanding care and magical experiences to our children all of which drives Watermead Day Nursery forward. The award is a testament to our company director who started the business in 2004, her steadfast vision, support and unswerving belief in her staff and management team. This award is for our parents who were fully supportive when they knew we were entering for the award, it has confirmed their trust and belief in us and now they are thrilled that the nursery their children attend has gained this prestigious recognition. The award will also serve as a quality indicator, positive endorsement, and excellent marketing tool to new parents. We intend to ‘wear’ this award loudly and proudly.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Watermead have demonstrated their desire to break down barriers to ensure all children have the highest level of childcare. Their adaptability to take influence from various teaching methods alongside outside community activities gives the children such wonderful experiences. Kyla’s passion for everything about the nursery just shone through her presentation. Watermead truly deserve this recognition.”

We will be taking this accolade and intend sharing what we do with a wider audience by opening our setting on three separate Saturdays in 2022 to other early years providers to come and visit us, to see and hear about our personal and professional journey, the challenges and the successes, which we hope will empower their journey in creating their own magic, encouraging them to dream big, be full of surprises, have their own adventures and most importantly for them to delight in their children’s achievements as we delight in ours.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Nursery Indoor Learning Environment Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Hitchin House Day Nursery What inspired the design of your indoor learning environment? The simplest and most accurate answer is: children. Our environment is a space where children are the leaders and adults are simply guests in their space. Children spend most of their time adapting to living and learning in an adult worldand we wanted to give them a child’s world that was full of opportunities for exploring, playing and making adventures. We are inspired by much of the Montessori ethos and that has heavily influenced our environment. The Montessori classroom is holistic and aims to develop the whole child. What makes it work so well is that it is based on a deep understanding of the way children learn – through choosing, trying and doing for themselves. We were also inspired by the home learning community and considered how the home is such an integral part of children’s learning- it was important to take the features of home schooling that contributed to successful learning and recreate them. So to start with the spaces needed to have resources and equipment that the children would recognise and associate with home- a place of safety and comfort. And there are key elements to successful home schooling and it was these key elements that were added to our design and planning process. The spaces had to provide opportunities for independent learning as well as collaborative learning. It’s important to remember that self-motivation is another key ingredient of home schooling so making the spaces motivating and exciting was essential.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Judges were impressed by the progression of thoughtful play spaces for children of all ages. These areas not only facilitate children’s learning but allow children to experience challenge and see themselves as learners. This environment builds independence, provides development of the characteristics of effective learning, and allows adults to provide rich vocabulary, thoughts and feelings through activities and opportunities to watch and learn from each other from wellplanned experiences. It definitely provides a wow factor for children, parents and staff.”

We looked at the environment with the eyes of a child and with the Montessori principles and the home schooling principles very clear in our plans we began. We questioned everything in relation to how it would be for a child playing in that space- did it give them those key things we were looking for: freedom, choice, opportunity to try for themselves, self motivation, challenge… If it did - it could stay - if it didn’t…

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Team Award 2021 WINNER

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What is the most important thing people should know about building and developing a strong team? It takes time! We spent time getting to know one another, identifying our strengths and weaknesses, and understanding how we can all help to support each other. We developed a culture of support, there isn’t a weak link in our team - We all bring something unique and special. Be honest with each other. You must learn to trust that the team will lift you up and balance each other out through the difficult times. It doesn’t work if we’re not working in sync!

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “What came across incredibly powerfully from Mandy of Naturally Learning was her ability to build a team from a group of individuals with a wide skill set but with one shared goal of providing magical learning experiences for children. At the heart of what they do is mutual respect and communication, and this translates to some very happy children and parents.”

We prioritise respect and communication to build a team, everyone has a voice, and it is valued. We listen to everyone’s opinion and ideas to develop collaborative team working. When we have a problem, we encourage everyone to share their knowledge and ideas to offer a solution. We tackle it together! We make decisions together and move forwards as team. One tool we used to develop the team was becoming reflective practitioners, sharing each other’s highs and lows, praising each other for the good times, and working hard to be the best we can be.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Manager Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Hannah Jennings

Tops Day Nurseries - Newport, Tops Day Nurseries What inspires you most about being a manager? I always wanted to make an impact in people’s lives and this job gives me the opportunity to do this every day. The ability to inspire my team, I love getting to know my team and finding out what inspires them and how to create inspiration. Leading by example and sharing my vision and following through with everything I say, helping to build trust and respect. I love being a part of a child’s journey watching the children grow in the learning environments that we create and teaching them new skills. Empowering my staff is extremely important to me, I love watching my team grow in confidence through great mentoring and support and seeing how they have progressed into amazing practitioners. I feel totally overwhelmed that I have won this award!

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The Winner of the NMT Nursery Manager of the Year has demonstrated dynamic leadership skills taking her team to become an outstanding setting. Her dedication is evident. She has fostered the eco approach and greatly enhanced learning opportunities for children in addition to pushing her staff to be the best they can be. She recognises the importance of staff wellbeing and achieving the right work/life balance raising staff morale and providing a happy environment. The winner has shown great communication skills and oozes passion within the childcare sector.”

Nursery Business Development Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Family First Day Nurseries How did you overcome the challenges of this year while maintaining a high standard of continuity in your development plans? We focussed on communication and flexibility. We view every setting (or group of settings) and owner as unique and quite often the way we need to look at agreeing a purchase needs to reflect this in its structure. Our planning starts early, we have a clear strategic direction which focuses on quality and then building on the amazing journeys individual nurseries have already been through. Our childcare team lead by Dianne, know the key ingredient is always child safety and fulfilment and this is the key constant across all our nurseries. Having said that we take time to learn from every individual we come across on this exciting journey, the insights from outgoing owners and ideas from incoming nursery teams are invaluable. When Covid hit, it made everything so much harder, of that there is no doubt, and it continues to. However, it has helped us focus on our core values and identify how we can help the sector grow, in the right way. Family First is not just a name for us but a core ethos that allows us to constantly remind ourselves what is important as we grow. Family; our parents, staff and children. The safety and wellbeing of all our staff, children and parents is our number one priority, and this continues through to our acquisitions.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “In a very closely competed category, the judges have chosen Family First as winners of the Nursery Business Development Award, on account of the way that it has been able to successfully scale through acquisition in such a short timeframe while genuinely being able to bring the staff along, protect local brands while enhancing the proposition for parents, and drive financial performance. The judges have first-hand experience of how difficult it is to balance quick growth with maintaining and improving performance. As such, Family First’s achievements and continued ambitions are highly commendable.”

We have developed an incredibly strong culture at Family First, one where we empower the managers to make important decisions about the future of their nurseries, with plenty of backup and support, along with training and development. We are trying to take some of our owners on this journey way past the point of the nursery passing to our care, we have a strong childcare support committee made up of our internal experts and the people we have worked with over the last two years. It’s great to be recognised at the NMT Awards for the special ethos that we have throughout Family First.

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Nursery Room Leader Award 2021 WINNER

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Georgina Lyon

Stepping Stones Nursery, MiChild Group How does it feel to be recognised as the winning Room Leader? I am so honoured to have been firstly selected by my manager to be nominated for the award, to then be short listed as a finalist was unbelievable. On the evening of the Nursery Management Today awards I couldn’t believe my ears when Anna called my name as the winner of the award. I will never forget that announcement and how it made me feel! I have always been passionate about working in childcare especially in the Early years. I have always wanted a career within the childcare sector. When I left school, I started as an apprentice at 16 years old to then being promoted to room leader and now Deputy Manager. The support received by MiChild since being in my setting has been amazing, I have been extremely supported within my job role and this had led me to gain confidence and aim higher and provide the children that attend MiChild at Stepping Stones Nursery with the care and experiences that every child deserves. I enjoy and aspire to be a role model and support the other practitioners within my setting to the best of my ability to ensure we can provide outstanding childcare for all the children that attend. I am so proud of everything I have achieved whilst working at MiChild and feel that I am challenged each day to strive to be the very best I can be, it is great to see the impact that this has on children’s development and nursery journey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at MiChild Group. I am honoured to have won such a significant award and I hope that it provides inspiration for other practitioners in the setting and the early years sector.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Georgina came across as a passionate room leader who balanced the needs of her children and team members exceptionally well. She outlined a desire to develop the children in her care by not only focusing on wide-ranging activities to support children with potential development delays but also introduce stretch goals for high achievers. Furthermore, she demonstrated an open and inclusive leadership style accompanied by a clear approach to individual action plans that encouraged team development whilst ensuring staff-wellbeing remained at the heart of all interactions.”

Nursery Operations/ Area Manager Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Michelle Gascoigne,

Tynemouth Nursery Group In your opinion, what are the most important skills needed to be successful as leader? The skills needed to be a successful leader are varied but start with commitment and passionate about the service we provide. Staff are our most valuable resource and are fundamental to our service. By sharing my vision, communicating effectively and leading by example, I am able to motivate and inspire the team, which empowers them into being the best they can, giving them the ability to recognise their own success. Having a staff team that feel valued adds to a happy workplace and results in a more productive workforce. Being proactive, being able to problem solve and being an effective communicator are also very important skills to have to ensure the smooth running of any setting. Being consistent in my approach and ensuring open and honest communication, ensures that staff work together effectively and share the same goals. Having a genuine involvement in improving staff wellbeing is something I am passionate about and this filters down to the Managers.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The judges felt that Michelle embodies the spirit of early years and learning outcomes for children. She spoke with great passion about how she supports her team to deliver childcare to the highest standards. She is highly regarded by her team and directors and clearly an asset to the company. Michelle joined TNG at a time when the business was wrestling with a number of challenges - the Judges understand that Michelle was instrumental in helping the whole group move forward.”

I think it’s important to be a positive role model and foster a learning culture in any management role, I am very passionate about staff development and the value of what this means to the service we provide. Being able to listen to other people’s opinions and views and act on these, ensures a supportive working environment, but also encouraging staff to take ownership of their role gives them a sense of belonging and an understanding of collaborative working and the benefits this can have.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Chef Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Sarah London-Smith

Growing Places @ Oakmeadow, Growing Places

With so many children to cater for, how do you maintain a high standard of nutrition while also bringing creativity to the dishes? When cooking for greater numbers, effective planning and preparation is key. I write my menus on a weekly basis, informed foremost by the season; by the fruits and vegetables which are found in abundance, and at their best in terms of quality and nutritional content. I find creativity comes naturally, as I take inspiration from the world around me, and jot down ideas wherever I go. I love to cook at home for my family and friends. I have an ever-expanding collection of cookery books, many of which have been passed down by members of my family. I also really enjoy eating out and trying new foods whenever I have the opportunity. Increasingly I find myself reverting to meat-free recipes at home, and my daughter Olive, (raised within the Growing Places family from babyhood and now almost 4), is beginning to show a strong preference for these meat-free dishes. To create a vegetarian or pescatarian menu optimal for children, a thorough understanding of nutrition is essential, and is especially important when tailoring the menu to meet specific individual dietary needs, allergies, and intolerances. The real challenge comes in making these dishes appealing to the varied tastes of our young diners! To keep things exciting I rely on attractive presentation, displaying vibrant colours and the fascinating shapes found in nature. I also depend on the use of herbs aromatic spices and contrasting textures to keep things interesting. When experimenting with a new dish, I always make sure to serve something familiar alongside so that everybody will find something at the table they enjoy.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Her passion and creativity for her work is apparent through her sophisticated, nutritionally balanced pescatarian menu all prepared from scratch. She has demonstrated her awareness of allergies, individual needs, a focus on sustainability, seasonality and the importance of the dining experience and presentation providing children with a full understanding of the value of food culture within their setting. As the company food and nutrition lead for several other nurseries her expertise positively influences the diet of many children.”

Parents are often amazed by how adventurously their children eat at nursery. We encourage our children to be naturally inquisitive and create many opportunities for children to explore food through sensory activities, in artwork and as part of roleplay. I find involving children in growing herbs, harvesting vegetables, and hands-on tasks such as washing mushrooms, shelling broad beans, or removing the husk from sweetcorn cobs, engages our children physically and gives them a real understanding of where their food comes from. Learning these skills help to build a greater confidence around food, which is especially beneficial to our less adventurous eaters. Over time I find these activities have a grounding effect for our children, who develop a sense of respect for what it takes to produce our food and why it deserves our love, effort, and imagination when cooking, sharing, and eating.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Outdoor Learning Environment Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Stables Nursery Stables Daycare

Why is it so important for children to have more outdoor learning experiences? It is so important for children to have opportunities to learn outdoors in their natural environment where they can explore without sensory overload, just natural aesthetics and sounds. Learning in their natural world benefits children’s emotional well-being by creating a peaceful and calm ambience, allowing them time to be absorbed in their own thoughts, process their ideas and become empowered in their enthusiasm for learning. The outdoor environment is ever changing with the weather and the seasons, children are presented with new and exciting challenges each day when the great outdoors provides a wealthy learning environment, with challenge, risk and problem solving opportunities. Children learn to work collaboratively toward their shared goals and children use their creativity to aide their thinking and extending their ideas together. Outdoor environments are non prescriptive, harnessing children’s creativity and imagination and encouraging them to expand their potential by entering their ‘zone of proximal development’ and strengthening their resilience and determination to achieve and complete tasks. Open ended, high quality, rich outdoor environments promote physical development using gross motor skills for climbing trees, swinging from the monkey bars and transporting sand and mud to fine motor skills while sawing wood in the forest, using hand drills and peeling vegetables. Children learn about science when planting and watching seeds grow into vegetables and form an appreciation and understanding in caring for their environment.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Over the past 15 years the Stables Nursery has created a vast outdoor area that provides an inspirational, innovative and exciting space for children. They have embraced all that the outdoors has to offer giving children rich learning opportunities with the freedom to explore their natural environment. The setting has truly developed a ‘learning without limits’ pedagogy for example, children are able to make dens, build bridges over streams, measure the rain fall and learn about recycling water, challenging themselves in their own learning alongside supportive and nurturing adults.”

Children have the freedom and autonomy to engage in whatever they choose, conversations in the forest are enriched by prompts from seasonal changes and spontaneous occurrences resulting in unpredictable outcomes. Expressive language used by children outdoors is full of advanced adjectives, using their senses, drawing on sounds, sights, smells and textures in the world around them. Children show a great amount of empathy toward each other and appear more collaborative when working as a team toward a shared problem solving goal such as building a den or creating a bridge across a stream. Relationships among peers become stronger as they compliment each other sharing their individual strengths and weaknesses while exploring and making new and exciting discoveries. Opportunities are endless in the great outdoors. Breathing in the natural fresh air, enjoying the freedom of green open spaces and navigating interesting terrains, the benefit to children and staff far outweigh the risk assessments and potential weather related difficulties.

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Parent Engagement Award 2021 WINNER

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Toad Hall Nursery Group How did you ensure parents felt supported and involved in their children’s learning at nursery and why is this important? Working together with our families to support holistic involvement with their child’s development is of the upmost importance to us. We ensure we are offering each child every opportunity alongside giving our parents the tools to further develop this at home. At the start of Covid 19 we implemented home learning packs sending them out each term to our families. We wanted to ensure that our they received the support they need during this difficult and unprecedented time. The packs are full of helpful information on government guidelines, child health and fun activities to try at home, linking to events that happen around the year. This provides parents with ideas of experiences they can explore with their child and show how these can support development of their child’s learning. From these packs’ we have been able to update children’s learning journeys with the partnership of our parents. Due to the Covid19 restrictions it meant that parent handovers were a little shorter than our usual handovers. We created forms for the children to take home which shared information of their day. We also implemented ‘At home’ stickers that parents can use to let us know what their child has been interested in at home or share key messages. These stickers are a talking tool and helped us share key information about the child’s day, WOW moments, and activities they have taken part in, enabling us to update each child’s individual development file whilst still work in partnership with parents albeit at a distance.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Toad Hall Nursery Group was chosen for their understanding that children thrive in an environment which is fully supported by the adults in their lives. They build strong partnerships with parents from the very first enquiry and their open-door policy ensures parents feel valued and their views and concerns are taken seriously. New and innovative ways of keeping in touch with families through a range of social media, parents evenings, events, online meetings and wellbeing calls ensured the pandemic had minimal detrimental impact on the children in their care. Exceptional parental feedback was a further demonstration of their strong parent engagement.”

Social media and IT have been great sources for supporting parents, enabling us to give out information, ideas and developmental advice as well as being able to continue to meet via zoom, with parents for Parents Evening, Parent Forums and one to one chat allowing us to have a face-to-face support network with all our families. We have found that through media we have been able to keep and build on our robust current relationships and foundations with our new families. We give full credit to our passionate staff team who have built a foundation of strong learning and development for each of our children. We are dedicated to providing children with the best possible start to school life and always put the safety, developmental and learning needs of our children above all else, this can only be achieved with the excellent partnership with have with our parents.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Nursery Childcare/ Practitioner Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Lydia Evans

Old School House Day Nursery, Cresswell Nurseries (part of ICP Education) What does winning this award mean to you? I couldn’t be prouder to win this award. After working at the Old School House for over 5 years now, I’ve grown and developed and it is so nice to be recognised for the had work I have put in. After a challenging year within the sector the awards evening and all the achievements was a great way to celebrate everyone who gives their care and attention to the children on a daily basis. Overall I am very happy to be nominated and will be forever grateful for winning the award itself, I owe full gratitude to my team for supporting me in my development as I never could have achieved this without them. Moving forward I would like to support and mentor other practitioners to develop at a personal level to allow them the opportunity of recognition through the NMT awards, as I really feel it holds true value in the sector.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Lydia gave judges the sense that she is excellent at settling new children and their parents into a new nursery setting. She gave them confidence that she would support her team, be a great role model to others and be adaptable to many different and sudden situations that may arise.”

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Forest or Beach School / Kindergarten Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Kidzrus Forest School Swinton

Kidzrus Private Day Nursery

Can you describe why it is so important for children to be in outdoor environments and what do you love most about yours? It’s important for children to be outdoors for their own health and wellbeing. Allowing children opportunities to experience the world around them and explore the natural environment helps them to develop an understanding and respect for the outdoors. Children take their own risks and create their own challenges building resilience and self-confidence. Children have so many different opportunities to use their own imagination and develop their language and communication skills. In our Forest School a stick can be anything a child wants it to be! I personally have learnt so many new things being outdoors with the children. Watching the children achieve something they have set for themselves as a goal is the most rewarding aspect. I love watching children learn through the fun they have created. Being in the natural environment is not only relaxing for the children but for me too and the world is our oyster!

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The judges looked at all the entries and chose Kidzrus at Swinton as their winners, as they thought it was a very good inner-city Forest School and gave people from lots of different backgrounds exposure to outdoors. They liked the fact that it was very much part of nursery life, and it gave as many children as possible access to nature.”

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BRATIN LE

ou Sc se Nursery

Established 1991

Champions of Early Years Foundation for the next generation Cambridge Park Woodbine Place The Grove Montessori

25 Cambridge Park, Wanstead E11 2PU 35 Woodbine Place, Wanstead E11 2RH Grosvenor Road, Wanstead E11 2HD

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Nursery Personality of the Year Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Catherine Luxford

The Nursery Family Lancing, The Nursery Family Throughout the ups and downs of the last year, how do you manage to keep spirits up? Having struggled in the past with mental health I believe passionately in trying to make those around me happy, now more than ever it is important we all stick together and look after each other. For the past year I’ve seen first-hand the struggle that COVID has brought and wanted to make sure that there was some happiness in everyone’s day, whether that be singing and dancing like crazy or checking in on people and making them hot drinks. When our nursery closed for 5 weeks I was fortunate enough to have the company of my Cat and know that others were on their own so I made funny videos and sent them to staff to try and make them happy as I know just how bad loneliness feels and don’t ever want someone to feel that way.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The judges felt that Catherine has a super, fun and warming personality and is perfect as the winner for this category. From Catherine’s fun and unique games and activities, to help building rapport with the children by learning different words in different languages. Catherine makes learning exciting and is an altogether special person to be around.”

The SENCo Award 2021 SPONSORED BY

WINNER Lauren O’Brien,

Elmscot Woodlands Day Nursery, Elmscot Group THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Lauren demonstrated an impressive commitment to children and families. Just four years into her role as SENCo Lauren has engaged in extensive research and training to transform the organisation’s approach to assessment, planning, delivery and monitoring of SEN care. Lauren’s passion, growing confidence and knowledge has inspired and embedded positive change throughout the organisation, for the benefit of children, parents/ carers and colleagues.”

You demonstrated impressive commitment to children and families. What inspires you most about your role as a SENCo? What inspires me in my role of SENCO is firstly seeing how the training I have attended and the further knowledge I have acquired has been implemented into the setting and as a result has further developed the learning of every child and in particular the SEN children within the group. Alongside the vital partnership with parents to ensure the best outcomes of the children. For anyone doing the SENDCO role, supporting children and families is truly inspiring and my aim is to continue to develop my skills to give the role the dedication it needs for those children that may need extra support.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Community Nursery of the Year Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Townhouse Nursery Village Nursery Group

What community initiatives are you most proud of? We are exceptionally proud to be recognised Nationally for the Community Nursery Award, celebrating our established links within our local area and wider community. Our work within the local community of Alsager has given our staff and children a true sense of belonging. We cannot thank our community enough for all of the experiences that we have been involved in working in partnership and the learning it provides our children out and about locally and in our settings. It certainly has been a year we won’t forget but to stay open as a Nursery Hub to serve the families of Alsager in a time where safe environments and familiarity where most important to enable parents to still go to work and to ensure the most venerable of children had a safe space was an honour. The impact we had on those families will stay with us for a long time and we’re extremely proud to have served our community. Our projects provide opportunity for our children to learn about the wider community. The project most successful was the Recycled Art Project where children used various materials to create wonderful pieces of art that then enhanced their knowledge of developing their awareness of the importance of looking after our environment and the planet we live on. This then led to a community art project where were worked with generations from within our families and in the community. Art work was created using a variety of materials from sewing, clay, mosaic and paint to create an art exhibition that we placed in our library for the community to see.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “They spend a lot of time in the community involved in different events where families partake. The nursery is a place where parents can stay with their children as they offer stay and play sessions for families. Children are involved in the process of preparing for food bank which is given out to people in the community. The judges also liked the idea that the nursery offers a jazz band that comes to the nursery where children are exposed to music which can be very therapeutic for children’s well-being.”

Townhouse in the Park is a unique event hosted by the nurseries to say a huge thank you to our families and community. It is a fun packed summer fair that involves local business and brings everything we are passionate about with themed tents for the ages we care for providing a wonderful array of activities and experiences. It is wonderful! We love to think outside the box with how we integrate our nursery within the community. Our most recent venture is our intergenerational project where our nurseries have built parentships with residential care homes within the community. Through times where both generations had limited interactions due to lockdown we held virtual events where stories where shared, art sessions and certainly a favourite of the residents dough disco. Throughout our community links we like to ensure we provide lots of opportunity for creativity that truly impacts the wellbeing of everyone of all ages. Thank you again for an amazing evening and the opportunity for us to be recognised for the hard work that we do.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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Nursery Group (Under 10 settings) Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Little Inspirations What are you most proud of as a group this year? The last two years have been emotional roller coaster for the whole world. The Little Inspiration group did not hesitate in our role with the community. As a team we made the brave and right decision to stay open and support keyworkers to fulfill their roles with the pandemic. Each individual staff member played their part in being heroes behind the scenes. Each member of staff has individual experience and stories to share of this time. I was proud of work that we did for families who were at home. Our share a book scheme was huge success. The live video links and activities was the staff going above and beyond to make sure that children still had access to learning activities and to ensure that parents felt supported. Our phone calls to parents who were in lockdown turn out to be lifeline for many, just to have that chat once a week. Staff who were in work continued to offer excellent service to all children. We quicky adapted site visits to virtual visits to ensure new families had reassurance. Staff worked hard with new children to ensure that settled quickly and fed this back to parents. The senior team worked relentlessly to support staff in work and at home. We had a high focus on staff wellbeing. This led to team that felt confident to keep going forward even when the hurdles where so high.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “Jenine demonstrated high quality leadership with a wonderful humility, supporting and developing her team including working alongside them during the initial 3-month lockdown in 2020. Little Inspirations is an established business with many strengths and initiatives designed to encourage and develop the staff as well as the children. All 6 settings are highly commended and another nursery is due to open in January 2022. An outright winner for this deserved award.”

Even though covid had turn the world, childcare industry and business upside down our team continue to work to ensure the company thrived. This culture and ethos, gain us the First Minster award for business, St David award. This was proud moment not just for Little Inspiration but for childcare industry as it was recognition for the role early years played in pandemic. This work was then mentioned in minster time in the House of Parliament where our local MP spoke about our company as example of outstanding childcare provision. The action we have taken as team in last two years has allowed us to secure Little Inspiration future and we have been able to look forward with a number seven site coming onboard in 2022. All the above make us proud, but nothing make us prouder than the team we work with every day. Each team member has and will continue to bring something special to the team, earning them the right to be called Little Inspirations.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

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 2021, and we look forward to celebrating with you again in 2022!

christie.com

Nursery Group (Over 10 settings) Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

Hungry Caterpillar Day Nurseries Looking back on this year, what were some of the highlights? The highlights for Hungry Caterpillars in 2021 have been very much about appreciating the people that make the sector what it is. There is no doubt that this year has continued to be tough. At times, the future has been so uncertain with so many of our colleagues, children and families facing difficulty. It has not always been easy to put a smile on our faces or see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. However, our role in early years is very much about people; the teams we work with, the children we care for and the families who put their trust in us, so smile we did. A highlight that has woven itself through the year is how the pandemic has brought the sector together like never before. Being part of this supportive community has been such a positive experience and invaluable as we all negotiated the numerous hurdles. There are barriers broken that hopefully will enable us to continue to work in a collaborative long into the future. Our staff team, like the sector as a whole, have gone beyond the call of duty and witnessing the resilience and strength they have shown has been an inspiration. Coming into work when the whole country has been told to stay at home, or half the nursery is isolating, takes a certain kind of courage and passion. I applaud all the practitioners who could and did. You made an immeasurable difference to the children you care for and deserve to hold your head high with pride at all you have achieved.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The judges applied a head, heart, and hands view of the entries and were inspired by Hungry Caterpillar’s forwardthinking and heart-felt approach to ‘helping children grow their wings and learn to fly’. The group demonstrated a determined approach to face the Covid-19 challenges with passion and a clear vision of maintaining quality and supporting families, especially those with high needs. Their inclusive programmes such as “no learner left behind” combined with their family values and investing in their well-trained and dedicated staff, made them a clear winner.”

Our young families have also had so much to overcome. Lockdown babies, lack of social interaction, health issues, redundancies, financial strain, stress and anxiety. The list is endless. The pressure pot of lock down life with young children cannot be underestimated. Children returning to nursery and socailising with their peers once more, is a beautiful sight. Although it has happened gradually and has been littered with isolation periods and temporary closures it has no doubt made a massive difference to family life and allowed the additional support and signposting that some so desperately need. A fabulous end to 2021 for Hungry Caterpillar Day Nurseries was winning the NMT Nursery Group Award. A definite highlight and truly not expected. Reading the judges’ comments really touched our team and left very few dry eyes in the room. When you know how hard your team have worked and all they have overcome and achieved, being recognised in this way is a gift to each of them.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Fun

is what we do, it’s in our culture and it’s in our DNA Ollie Humphries – CEO

“The safety and wellbeing of our staff, children and parents is our number one priority.” familyfirstnurseries.com

Nursery Product of the Year Award 2021 WINNER

SPONSORED BY

The Investigative Play Table Millhouse

What has been some of the best feedback you’ve had about the Investigative Play Table and what can we expect next? Millhouse were delighted to win ‘Nursery Product of the Year’. Our team work incredibly hard to understand the changing demands of nursery settings and focus on developing products which support the creation of enabling environments. We always give careful consideration as to how children will interact with our products and priority is given to ensuring they are age appropriate, durable and flexible – everything that a setting needs! Through research and collaborative discussions with the nursery sector, we identified a requirement for a flexible, multi-use piece of furniture that would be suited to a variety of age groups within a nursery, whilst saving precious space within a room. From this, the Investigative Play Table was created. The feedback we have received on the Investigative Play Table has been amazing with settings commenting on how incredibly well designed it is.

THE JUDGES’ VIEW “The judges felt that the Investigative Play Table is a dynamic, inclusive, and costeffective way for settings to create unique and inviting environments for their children to explore and investigate. They were impressed with the versatility and universal way the Investigative Play Table can be used and how additional storage has been smartly incorporated into the design.”

In the main, the Investigative Play Table is recognised for its versatility, easy access and storage capabilities. Many settings have commented on its ability to allow children to explore, discover and sort materials/loose parts freely, whilst other use it to create a small world environment. The low-level multi-use surface can accommodate up to 8 children, all of whom, can access it with ease. From a practical perspective, the table has been designed with raised sides to ensure resources don’t slide off the edge - a feature that has been particularly appreciated by nursery staff, especially when it comes to tidying up! In addition, feedback has also focused on the Investigative Play Table’s storage capacity. Not only does it have a lower storage shelf which comes with a choice of 4 baskets or tubs, but it also has a handy storage cubby which houses the sorting tray when it is not in use. All in all, the Investigative Play Table achieves everything we hoped it would and more. As always, we’re busy working on new product development for both indoor and outdoor environments. You can expect to see many of our new and exciting early years creations in our 2022 catalogue. Watch this space!

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... CC Nurseries In your opinion, what makes for a brilliant nursery practitioner? Being a brilliant practitioner extends beyond our formal qualifications and training. While it is important and necessary to have a strong educational foundation on which to build on – it is also essential to draw on our own experiences (both within the learning environment and outside the classroom), as well as interests and personality; all of which comes together to shape our teaching and practise, and help to turn us from good practitioners into BRILLIANT ones. We ask that our practitioners are fantastic team players and lead by example – someone not afraid to get involved from the Nursery floor upwards. Our brilliant practitioners are willing to step in and help where necessary, and will go above and beyond – with children at the heart of everything they do. Our practitioners are creative thinkers, inventors, storytellers – who understand the magic of childhood. They are willing to actively listen to our children and build on their ideas and interests to be able to give each child a unique learning experience which is enjoyable, meaningful and supports their learning journey. As brilliant practitioners, we draw on our strengths and work together to ensure our children’s needs are met and exceeded. It is passion and professional love which is the driver for our practitioners – and any career built on these factors will be a full and long-lasting one. Drawing from your own experience, what should nurseries look for when recruiting for this role? When recruiting for practitioners we look beyond the qualifications and training to the true heart of each person – and where their passion lies. We love to bring together different ages, genders and cultures to create a rich mix of people who can each being their own experiences and ideas to the team. Children draw on different people for different needs, so whether you’re loud and outgoing, or quiet and reserved – every single person has something to bring to the classroom. At our Nurseries we treat each child with the respect that they are their own individual person and this extends to our practitioners too. We encourage individuality and look at what each person can contribute to the team. We strive to find team players who are willing and ready to jump in and go above and beyond their duties to ensure each day is a brilliant experience for both our children and our teams. We also welcome people who have transitioned through from other sectors or have come from different positions, who can bring new skills and experiences which our team members can also draw on to improve their own teaching and practise.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... Christie & Co Looking back on 2021, what have been some of the highlights for Christie & Co childcare? This year has provided a number of challenges and highlights across the sector. Operators have been amazing in dealing with the headwinds and fallout from Covid 19 , staffing issues, funding and then the new EYFS regulations. Due to how well the sector has once again coped with all of this, from a transactional perspective, the markets have never been busier. Is this fuelled by distress? Our current view suggests distress accounts for only a small proportion of deal flow, but what is evident is that sales values have surged above pre pandemic levels due to the pool of buyers looking to enter and expand into the sector coupled with lower levels of available stock. What advice do you have for those groups aiming to expand in 2022? The best recommendation we can offer is to engage with legal, financial, and market experts who already know and understand the sector from the outset. The quality of their advice can make or break a transaction, and poor advice can at best leave you vulnerable, or at worst, out of pocket. Having a quality advisory team to support your strategic ambitions can assist you in understanding your options and help you identify opportunities you might not have been previously aware of. They will also be able to help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of where growth can positively impact your wider business through economies of scale, or geography allowing for synergies between settings. Business transactions can be time-intensive and, at times, stressful. A cohesive advisory team takes that burden away from already busy management and ownership teams – and ensure value for all parties involved.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... Connect Childcare Looking back at the past year, what has impressed you about how nurseries have approached business development? Looking back at the past year, the pandemic has definitely brought with it some challenges. There’s been financial strains, staffing shortages, last-minute enforced regulations and ever-changing infection control measures which have inevitably accelerated some tough decisions for settings. However, despite all of this we are already seeing the potential for growth and renewal from organisations that have started operating differently during the pandemic. The investment outlook for the childcare market seems to be rebounding and optimism is high once again. According to reports, there has been activity in recent months, as expansions and acquisitions continue, the market looks on course to return to pre-Covid levels. This just proves just how resilient the Early Years Sector is. We’re always impressed by the sectors ability to bounce back. What advice do you have for those who want to build on their business development strategy? We would advise that you research and take advantage of all of the support there is out there. When you become a larger setting, you may want to consider outsourcing some of your day-to-day tasks or even taking advantage of technology. For ambitious nursery groups looking to continue their growth trajectory, there are five key areas they must focus on if they are to successfully expand… Processes must be centralised For large multi-sited nurseries, having everything available from one hub means all settings can be managed effectively, without individual sites losing flexibility. Keeping cash flow at a constant Groups offering in-app payments can ensure parents always keep up to date with their fees and easily flag any outstanding transactions their technology alerts them to. Managing staff more effectively is essential With so many sites to think about in a single nursery group, having a centralised record can not only make chains – and its individual settings – more efficient, but intuitive

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... daynurseries.co.uk Why it is so important for children to be in outdoor environments? Many children today live in urban areas, experience limited time in natural environments and often see the world through computer screens or TVs. An outdoor environment enables a hands-on learning approach allowing children to develop skills that may be difficult to teach in the classroom with plenty of activities that enable them to develop motor skills. Additionally, children teach themselves to assess problems and make their own decisions about how to solve situations. In doing this, they learn to be self-sufficient through trial and error which is a valuable skill in all stages of life. Outdoor activities also develop confidence, self-esteem, imagination and physical ability as they are allowed to test their limits in the natural world. Doing this on their own, supervised by a school leader, each child builds problem-solving skills, independence, and resilience as they try things out. Why was sponsoring this award important for daynurseries.co.uk? It is a natural fit for daynurseries.co.uk to sponsor a category at the NMT Awards and we have done so for many years. Now, more than ever, it is important to be involved in recognising the incredible hard work and achievements in the early years sector. Supporting the awards also affords us the tremendous privilege of being part of the judging process and we take delight in learning about each nursery’s amazing achievements. Being on the judging panel provides you with a better understanding of the challenges faced by the nursery sector and the creativity and hard work that goes into providing happy, safe and educational environments for children. We would like to congratulate all the finalists and winners of the NMT Awards especially Stables Nursery, the winner of our sponsored category Forest or Beach School/Kindergarten, and Toad Hall Nursery Group, the winner of the category Parent Engagement, for which we were privileged to be part of the judging process.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... dot2dot Nursery Insurance What are you most proud of this year regarding supporting nursery groups? We are proud of the tenacity of the nursery sector. We judge the awards every year and each time we are blown away by the resilience and adaptability of the Early Years Sector. The pandemic has thrown significant concerns to many businesses but the nursery sector has risen to the challenges that have arises continuing to deliver excellent care to its children allowing parents to work. Why was sponsoring this award important to dot2dot? Awards are vital to recognise and reward those pushing the boundaries. It’s not just the winners that benefit either, whenever we enter an award, we relive the year that has gone before and celebrate our triumphs and the challenges that we have overcome. It’s vital that all businesses not only have a plan of where they are going but they are proud and look back at what has gone before. The nursery groups under 10 settings have demonstrated their successes wonderfully through the awards process. As we’ve been in the sector for over 25 years we have often seen these group develop over time and this year it’s been really exciting to see so many new settings and groups enter the sector. We really love working with you all.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... Early Start Nutrition Given the challenges of this year, why is a training & development strategy so important? Nursery settings support the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 and in doing so provide children with the best start in life. Early years practitioners also play an important role in sharing information and guidance with families, to help them best support their child. We applaud early years providers for continuing to provide care through the covid-19 pandemic given the challenges faced. Putting training and development at the heart of your practice will ensure that staff acquire new skills and the confidence to apply the knowledge gained into their daily practice and in conversation with families. It ensures you are working towards meeting the UK Government’s aim to increase the skills of childcare professionals. Having a training and development strategy in place allows you to showcase to parents, and Ofsted, how staff development impacts on children’s learning, while also demonstrating that you stay up-to- date with any changes in childcare legislation. Investing time and resources into training has multiple benefits for staff and your organisation. Practitioners who regularly engage in training will have increased confidence in their abilities to apply their learning and in bringing new concepts into their practice. Using practitioners knowledge gained from training sessions will have a huge impact on all practitioners practice and on the opportunities offered to children to help them reach their full potential. Therefore, it is important that practitioners are constantly updating their skills. What advice do you have for nurseries looking to improve their strategy? Developing a training and development strategy shows your commitment to improving standards, enhancing your teams development and building families confidence in your setting. There are lots of strategies that your nursery can put in place to build and develop your training and development approach. Here are some of our top tips: •

Discuss staff’s training and development needs at supervision. This will showcase to staff that you are investing in them while keeping their knowledge and skills up to date

•

Keep a training log to review the skill mix across your team. It also helps you to keep training up- to- date

•

Encourage practitioners to share the knowledge gained from training at team meetings and set targets for staff to apply their knowledge in practice. Review how it is applied regularly

•

When booking training, ensure you are using a reputable organisation that uses evidence-based information, delivered by experts in the field

Our team at Early Start Nutrition are the UK’s leading experts in early years nutrition and we provide award winning training to the early years workforce. Our team supports nurseries to meet the EYFS standards to promote the good health of children in their care. This includes ensuring children have a healthy balanced diet, in-line with current dietary recommendations. You can find out more about our training online or contact our friendly team to discuss a training package for your setting. earlystartgroup.com/online-courses/ esnutrition@earlystartgroup.com

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... Family First What do you look for in new nursery products for your settings? Also, looking back on this year, what have been some of the highlights for Family First? As one of the fastest growing children’s nursery groups in the UK, Family First has a vested interest in ensuring that the products they purchase for each of their nurseries is of the highest quality. With this in mind, the group – which now has 40 nurseries from London to East Anglia and the West Midlands, felt it was appropriate to sponsor the NMT Nursery Product of the Year Award. Family First’s Chief Childcare and Operations Officer, Dianne Lumsden-Earle, said: “Every time we buy a nursery, we invest heavily in every aspect of it, not just the staff and their career development, but also the fabric of the building and all the equipment, both inside and out. “One of our key criteria is pricing, but it’s not about choosing the cheapest. It’s about selecting products which provide excellent value but are also extremely hard wearing and practical. We focus heavily on the quality of the product and its style because Family First is synonymous with quality, right across the board.” Family First CEO Ollie Humphries added: “We are in the process of acquiring more nurseries as we continue to grow and this will inevitably mean we will be looking to purchase more high quality supplies and equipment. We’re always happy to hear from anyone who has solutions that can best meet our needs.” The growth of Family First over the last two years has been notable for the way in which it has been carried out, focusing on supporting every single person within each individual nursery to be the best they can be, in order to deliver high quality childcare. A group-wide nursery curriculum, which has had input from all the nurseries and which meets Ofsted requirements, is now being implemented, with the aim of taking the nursery group too Outstanding in every location. Mr Humphries added: “There have been so many highlights over there past year for Family First, including our first ever conference, which enabled us to bring people together to not only have fun but to ensure they share the same understanding of our vision and what we are trying to achieve. “We hold a lot of team events and one of the highlights is definitely Karaoke Friday, where we get together for an online sing song. But then Family First does have plenty to sing about!”

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our Gold sponsor... Hope Education Hope Education is the home of inspirational and best value resources for early years settings across the UK. We share a practitioner’s passion for education and are here to support them by giving little ones the best educational journey. Our team spends time in nurseries across the country and work alongside industry experts to ensure our range offers everything nurseries need. We know that providing the best educational journey starts with the practitioners, and aim to make their lives easier by providing the tools to encourage a love of learning. Why was supporting the NMT Awards important to you? The NMT Awards is one of the showpiece events in the calendar, recognising and promoting the very best of those working across the early years sector. Following the last challenging 18 months it felt even more important to celebrate the positives and highlight the outstanding lengths early years professionals consistently go to for their children (and parents!). And all of us at Hope Education felt very lucky to be a part of this celebration as gold sponsors. How will you continue to support the sector as we continue to rebuild our economy? We recognise that it has been another difficult year for the sector, faced with COVID challenges, ongoing funding struggles, staffing shortages and more. But, as always, the sector has shown resilience, pulled together and offered support to one another - all whilst never letting the passion, hard work and exceptional care dip. We are still here to support nurseries in every way we can, our warehouse and customer service teams continue to offer our awardwinning service. We are also constantly reviewing our range and pricing to make sure nurseries can get everything they need at the lowest prices, helping tight budgets stretch further. It’s been a difficult time for everyone in the sector, but our social channels are always open, offering support, guidance, activity ideas and inspiration. Or, if nurseries ever fancy a chat and a friendly ear, they can just drop up us a comment or direct message on our Instagram @hopeearlyyears. What are your goals and strategy for 2022? We want to make sure we can support nurseries the best way we can in 2022, by listening to feedback, conducting research, and finding out exactly what it is nurseries need from us right now. Our passion is still developing resources, and we are so excited to launch our brand new 2022 product range!

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Thank you to our judges

Linda Baston-Pitt PurpleBee Learning

David Hancock The Nursery Family

Kate Peach Each Peach Childcare

Andrew Bennett daynurseries.co.uk

Lalita Hedges Millhouse

Ruth Pimentel Kindred Education

Michelle Burns Hope Education

Ollie Humphries Family First Nurseries

Darryl Reardon The Professional Nursery Kitchen

Andrew Clifford CC Nurseries Group

Jackie Hyde dot2dot Nursery Insurance

Chris Reid Connect Childcare

Kathleen Johnson Morton Michel

Mandy Richardson Naturally Learning

Donna Johnson National Maintenance

Clare Roberts Kids Planet

Arun Kanwar Cairneagle

Sarah Steel The Old Station Nursery

Annabel Karmel Karmel Foods

Purnima Tanuku NDNA

Kat Learner Nursery Story

Katharine Tate The Food Teacher

Paul Lowe Hope Education

Jo Verrill CEEDA

Ros Marshall Bright Horizons UK

John Warren John Warren Consultancy

Chris Marston Mama Bear’s Day Nursery and Pre-School

Carly Wray Seahorse Nursery

Karen Clince Tigers Childcare Linda Cuddy Welcome Nurseries Courteney Donaldson Christie & Co Ian Drage Touch-Table Carole Edmond Glassmoon Strategies Justin Elder Early Start Nutrition Alison Featherbe The Early Years Mentor Nicola Fleury Kidzrus Private Day Nursery Marie Forde Treehouse Nursery School

Anna McQueen McQueens Dairies

Anna Grotberg EY-Parthenon

June O’Sullivan LEYF

Meet our category sponsors... McQueens Dairies We are a family run business that have been delivering milk for over 25 years. As a family business, we put a great deal of consideration and care into all the decisions we make. One of which was to become agents for the Governments ‘Free Milk for Children’ scheme in 2010. We now deliver to over 3000 settings across Scotland and England which has given us a huge amount of experience and appreciation for the importance in making this process as stress free as possible for the nursery staff. We are one of the very few businesses, and the only family business, that can deal with the full process on your behalf, from the processing, bottling and the delivering of the milk to taking care of the admin and claims process. The settings we currently supply and are partnered with find our service far more efficient than working with a third party agent who outsources deliveries to be made. Our first NMT event that we attended in 2020 brought us fantastic opportunities to meet senior nursery managers and directors to discuss our service. The benefits of having pre-arranged meetings are invaluable as we know how difficult it can be to take time away from day-to-day business to discuss future opportunities. 2021 was our first time attending the award ceremony and it certainly lived up to the hype! It was a fantastic event to be a part of and we were thrilled to be able to be one of the sponsors. We will look to continue our support as sponsors of the NMT awards and continue to use the NMT events to help grow our own business throughout 2022.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... Millhouse What makes for a great manager that can, not only inspire the children but staff and parents? Being a manager is a challenge, and to be successful, you need excellent communication skills, drive and determination. A great manager will always have a clear vision and purpose, that is backed by an action plan on how it will be achieved. To truly inspire children, staff and parents, requires an individual who is passionate about their role and is able to lead their team with enthusiasm, focus and dedication. Applying these principles will demonstrate a commitment to offering families in their care, the best possible outcomes. What have been some of the highlights for Millhouse this year? Despite difficult market conditions and global supply chain challenges, Millhouse have had a successful year. Some of our key highlights include: Successfully launching our 2021 range with the inclusion of key furniture pieces such as: Continuous Provision Trolley, Lightbox Trolley, Sensory Play Unit, Outdoor Kinder Gym and more. Continued investment in our NPD (New Product Development) Programme, allowing us to further develop our range of indoor and outdoor furniture solutions to meet the needs of early years settings. Increased brand awareness with recognition for the quality and services we offer (e.g. free room planning, free Gold Service Delivery etc.) and the valuable contribution it makes to settings, both old and new. Winning ‘Nursery Product of the Year’ at the NMT Awards for our Investigative Play Table. It was a fantastic achievement to receive recognition for the hard work and dedication we apply to designing products for the early years sector.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... Morton Michel In your opinion, what makes a nursery stand out to achieve this award? The winner of the Individual Nursery Award will be an exceptional setting led by a team of enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable practitioners, who have created a nurturing environment with the highest level of childcare to allow children to have fun and learn through play. Why was sponsoring this award important to Morton Michel? The NMT Nursery Awards are our opportunity to share in the celebrations and individual and collective achievements of a wonderful sector. It is important to recognise the hard work, achievements and resilience of nursery owners, managers and their teams after what has been an incredibly challenging year. Inspiration, collaboration and pure passion for the safety, development and wellbeing of children are never off the agenda and we left the event with a great sense of pride for all those recognised.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... NM Services Why was sponsoring this award important to NM Services? National Maintenance Ltd has recently launched a new division to our business and that is the “Childcare & Education refurbishments” we have been refurbing a chain of nurseries across the country and have been working closely with the management so when this category came up we felt passionate about sponsoring the Nursery Operations/Area Manager award as we have seen first hand how hard these Managers work across the board to make sure the staff, parents and children receive the best possible care. This year was the first year we attended the awards and became a sponsor but after seeing the amazing work that this sector does and all the achievements within, we will definitely return next year to join in the well deserved celebrations that the evening brings. In your opinion, what are the most important skills needed to be successful as leader and manage operations across various settings? As within our business I believe the most important skills needed to be a success leader are communication and customers services. Communication for sure is the success of a top leader, manager, business in its self. If everyone is kept up to date with situations and a level of respect is kept at all times then further problems down the line are kept to a minimum. As an area manager you deal with lots of different people in all aspects so it is very important to talk and listen in order to keep things running smoothly. Likewise customer services is just as important, having the customer at the forefront of everything you do in order to get the best outcome reflects on you as a person, a company, a business and in the end can only bring success.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... Nursery Story Given the challenges of this year why is it so important to support parents and involve them in their children’s learning at nursery? During the past twelve months, Early Years practitioners have put their heart and soul into helping families in extremely challenging times. These highlyskilled professionals have shown their unwavering dedication to supporting children and families and have embraced innovative approaches and new technology to support families and involve them in their children’s learning even when they have been unable to set foot inside the nursery. Communication between families and settings is the key to building strong relationships & partnerships. In a post-pandemic world, instant communication between parents and teachers is essential to reassure parents and keep them engaged, building solid relationships to work in partnership to support each child’s development. Using technology is a great way to improve communication with parents and get parents involved in their children’s learning by giving them an insight into the experiences of children at nursery, providing ideas for activities to do at home and keeping families informed about events and important information. At Nursery Story we know that supporting families and involving parents in their children’s learning has a direct impact on children’s learning and development. Nursery Story software is an effortless, simple and effective way to connect with parents. Our innovative technology is there to showcase what you do in your setting in a way that best suits your nursery community, families and most importantly, your children, supporting and involving parents at every stage. Creating a seamless transition between nursery and home. How does Nursery Story’s parent app achieve this? Using Nursery Story promotes families and settings to truly work in partnership, keeping each child at the heart of every day, giving parents peace of mind and reassurance that their children are in good hands, from the moment they check-in, until they are back home. Using Nursery Story allows families and settings to truly work in partnership, keeping their children at the heart of every day. Staff can effortlessly record learning & development observations, daily activity updates or share photos and videos instantly via the Nursery Story Parent App, so that parents always have the information they need at their fingertips. The Nursery Story Instant Messaging feature enables fast, secure communication, allowing you to communicate, share photos and reassure parents throughout the day. Our Daily Story feature gives parents insight into their child’s progress, straight to their smartphone, so they are always up to speed with everything that’s going on, and they’ll never miss any of their child’s “Wow!” moments. The Nursery Story Parent App means that parents are a part of their child’s day, as well as helping to involve families in their child’s development, whilst promoting a love of learning. Creating a seamless transition between nursery and home.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... The Professional Nursery Kitchen Why was supporting the NMT awards important to you? We were proud to honour the best nursery chefs at the National NMT Nursery Awards in 2021, through sponsorship of the prestigious Nursery Chef Award category. This award recognises chefs with exceptional early years cooking talent, which plays a crucial role in enriching the lives of young children. How will you continue to support the sector as we continue to rebuild our economy? The Professional Nursery Kitchen understands that early year’s nutrition is vital for healthy growth, development, and wellbeing. So, we deliver fresh, prepared food to early years settings to provide young children with a nourishing foundation for life. Our menus are designed by expert nutritionists and chefs to ensure that the nutritional intake is perfectly suited to the developing needs of young children, whilst being tasty and full of variety. What are your goals and strategy for 2022? COVID-19 has been a troublesome time for so many, not least the early years sector, which has seen a national shortage in staff, and particularly Nursery Chefs. The Professional Nursery Kitchen has supported the sector throughout the pandemic with the reliable provision of nutritious food, and we will continue to do so in 2022. We are also looking to expand our delivery locations to help more early years settings provide well-balanced, tasty meals to young children.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

Meet our category sponsors... Touch-Table Touch-Table.com are a bespoke manufacturer of interactive tables and software for the education market. Our interactive tables are unique in being constructed from wood with a ‘Lego brick’ look to them – a first in the market place – we believe the use of digital devices within education should be collaborative, fun, and engaging and design our products to suit those environments. Why was supporting the NMT awards important to you? We feel the impact of digital devices socially and within the use of education particularly the nursery industry over the last decade has been met with both open arms and hesitancy too. Through research we found Tablet type devices are often used within nursery settings and feel are unsociable, very individual & restrictive in learning. We base our interactive tables around collaborative play & learning and the NMT awards allows us to convey the Touch-Table.com ethos across the Nursery sector. How will you continue to support the sector as we continue to rebuild our economy? We continue to work closely with the Nursery Owners and staff in understanding their needs for engaging the children in digital collaborative play & learning – being a bespoke company allows us to listen to our customers and build on that feedback. Prior to the Pandemic we took that feedback and in early 2020 we launched the Ark Pro which has quicky become the leading Nursery Touch-Table product over the last 18 months which is something we are incredibly proud of. What are your goals and strategy for 2022? Touch-table.com continue to grow our product range and focus on the software applications with tailored needs for multiple scenarios and usage. We have some exciting ideas in the pipeline and Touch-Table look forward to launching those in 2022 across the Nursery Sector.

CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT | The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards

Meet our category sponsors... Treehouse Nursery School Treehouse nursery school established in 1991 operates in an urban area in Wanstead with 3 nurseries and offering out of school services. Treehouse is a family run business and has an ethos of offering children the highest quality of childcare and education where children are the centre of everything we do. We employ over 120 employee and accommodates over 450 children and are the largest employer in Wanstead. Treehouse is a very diverse nursery where our families represent over 32 countries and we pride ourselves. With Treehouse celebrating 30 years this year it was important for us to recognise the hard work and dedication this sector puts in to supporting families. Hence, becoming a sponsor with NMT was the greatest opportunity to be able to celebrate all the achievements that our sector has achieved for children. Whilst the country was in lockdown and the construction sector was allowed to open Treehouse opened it’s third site The Grove Montessori. It’s been an unprecedented time for all of us and we just don’t know what the future holds however, we hope that we are on the road to recovery and grow our economy. We have to stick together and get this sector to be recognised when lobbying with the government and show off all the hard work our practitioners are doing. More importantly, get the government to recognise the difficulties this sector is facing in terms of short of labour. Although, we have huge plans for 2022 and we hope we don’t encounter any social and economic factors that may hinder our plans. We continue to raise more awareness on becoming more sustainable and have our team on board to support us with our great missions. Our plans consist of quality childcare and on going support and training for staff whilst also meeting their welfare requirements.

The 19th National NMT Nursery Awards | CELEBRATION SUPPLEMENT

NMT Nursery Agendas 2022 A great and free networking opportunity for owners, directors and senior management of nurseries. These popular events use a well proven and much appreciated formula to offer nursery owners, directors and senior management, as well as organisations providing products and services to the nursery sector, the opportunity to meet and decide whether they wish to do business together. The event also offers those attending the chance to update themselves on the key issues in the nursery sector and meet some of the leading personalities as well as fantastic networking opportunities and overnight accommodation. NMT Agenda South – 6th April 2022 Crowne Plaza Felbridge NMT Agenda Midlands – 12th May 2022 Chesford Grange, Kenilworth NMT Agenda South-West – 7th July 2022 DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House, Bristol NMT Agenda North – 6th October 2022 Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Manchester

NMT Acquisition Forum – 21st September 2022 Epsom Downs Racecourse This event is organised by Nursery Management Today, the key Publication for owners, directors and senior management in the nursery sector nationwide. The event will follow the formula of our highly successful Nursery Agenda Events but will be specifically targeted to owners, directors and acquisition directors of nurseries nationwide who are looking to add to/ expand/refurbish their nursery portfolios and would like to meet buying agents, banks, finance brokers, extension specialists, advisors, refurbishment companies and artchitects. This is a free event for nurseries. The nursery forum will allow providers to meet with these suppliers in face to face meetings during the day to discuss their requirements and see if they wish to do business together.

If you are a nursery owner/managing director/operations director and would like to register interest to attend any of the above events or if you are a supplier and would like to book a space or sponsorship please contact Caroline Bowern caroline.bowern@nexusgroup.co.uk | 0797 4643292

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