
BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
30 | TINY TOES DAY NURSERY
Manager Clair Fusco and
Owner Sasha Lewis
A nursery that puts fun first
Southampton’s Tiny Toes Day Nursery “puts fun first”.
Owner Sasha Lewis says that the nursery provides
everything a child might need. The team’s aim, Sasha
says, is to make every day fun; she believes that happy
people thrive, and she strives to make the nursery a truly
enjoyable place for children, parents and staff alike. Sasha tells
TheParliamentaryReview
more about funding frameworks in
the early yearssector.
I am so bored of reading the headline “government 30-hour funding offer causes
nursery business to close”. For us, the 30-hour government funding just isn’t
an issue. In fact, we welcome the funding with open arms, as it’s a guaranteed
government-backed income received in advance. So, what’s not to like? Write, or
update, your business plan starting with the government funding rate per hour and
build your business model from this.
We are a relatively new nursery business, opening our doors just over three years
ago. We started on day one with just four children on our register. We were
completely full within a year, built an extension to our building allowing us to
increase our number of registered places to 103 and currently have a waiting list of
over 40 children. We are now the largest single day nursery in Southampton.
Although I have spent a number of years working for American investment banks
and subsequently managed a number of private enterprises, I had absolutely no
experience in the childcare industry other than the experience of being a working
mother myself.
FACTS ABOUT
TINY TOES DAY NURSERY
»Owner: Sasha Lewis
»Manager: Clair Fusco
»Established in 2016
»Based in Southampton,
Hampshire
»Services: Nursery and
wraparound care for children
aged 3 months to 5 years
»No. of employees: 28
»No. of children registered: 182
»Tiny Toes provides a breakfast,
afterschool and holiday club
for children aged 5 to 11
Tiny Toes Day Nursery
31TINY TOES DAY NURSERY |
However, I knew that there was an
enormous need for good-quality
childcare and that this need would
continue to grow; there are many
mothers out there, like me, who
need or want to go back to work.
I wanted to create a secure, happy
and stimulating environment where
children could develop and be
nurtured. It’s important to get as close
as you can to providing a “home away
from home” while at the same time
celebrating parents and not making
them feel guilty for leaving their
children in a nursery.
When setting up any new nursery
business, the government’s statutory
framework is an essential guide. I have
never come across another industry
that provides a handbook on day one;
the framework sets out the minimum
essential criteria for staff ratios, floor
areas, care expectations and so on and
so forth.
Following this, I wrote my business
plan based on the local hourly funding
rate and I knew that anything beyond
this would be a bonus. We keep our
fees simple and offer as much of an
all-inclusive package as we can. This
way it’s simple, upfront and honest for
our parents.
The unique family approach
For us, it is important that our parents
are recognised and respected as our
customers. While the children are our
priority when it comes to care, the
needs of parents are important too.
It became clear fairly early on that
many of our parents were struggling to
get to work comfortably on time with
our opening time at half past seven –
so we brought it forward by half an
hour to seven o’clock.
Flexibility is key, as is listening to your
customers’ needs and desires. The EYFS
promotes a “unique child” approach,
but we like to develop this further into
a “unique family” approach. Our aim
is to be generous where we can be
to those families who are in need, by
offering extra sessions for free or by
providing a healthy lunch if required.
By giving something back to the
families in the local community, we
are all working together as one. The
cost to us overall is negligible, and
it is far better than spending money
on untargeted marketing. The best
marketing in this sector is word of
mouth, particularly when it comes
to trusting someone to look after
yourchildren.
Delivering quality
childcare
We are now
the largest
single day
nursery in
Southampton
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Fun climbing trees