Thursday, June 21, 2007

Why Parents and Nurseries Want The Same Things

What’s the most important thing in your life? Depending on your age, sex and general outlook this could range from your house and car to your job or friends. For many people though the most important thing in their lives is their children.
This article looks at what parents look for when in comes to care and education for their kids and why the Nurseries who look after them look for similar qualities from their service providers.

So you’ve had children and they’re now at a stage where you need to look into Nurseries, Day Cares or Kindergartens to help look after them. Here are just a few questions that parents looking for child care facilities for their children may want answering:


- Are they a quality establishment?

- Do they have a good reputation?

- Are they well established?

- Are they local?

- Are their staff friendly and approachable?

- Do you trust them?

- Will they provide you with peace of mind?


And if you’re the owner or manager of a Nursery having a USP (or unique selling proposition) for your Nursery could be the difference between getting parents to trust you with their children’s care needs or not.

Your USP could be that you’ve achieved a good OFSTED rating or it could be that you’re local. And as with other industries, knowing, understanding and acting on the needs of your customers will give you an advantage over other Nurseries.

Here then are just a few things parents may look for when choosing a Nursery:

1. OFSTED registered. If you are make sure your registration certificate and current certificate of insurance are displayed together in a prominent position. This will give parents added peace of mind.

2. Are you a member of a professional organisation? Not only does being a member of organisations like the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) give you and your staff useful information but it also shows parents you are serious about their children’s needs.

3. Nurseries that have received recognition. Has your Nursery gained any kite-marks of excellence? Perhaps Investors in People, Investors in Children or the NDNA’s quality counts. If so make sure the parents of your children and the parents of children looking to use your Nursery know about it.

4. As well as providers of Nursery Insurance rewarding good health and safety parents will also be asking themselves a series of questions about your Nursery. Questions like:

Do you have a clean and safe outside play area?


Is your Nursery welcoming? Is it bright, clean and well decorated?


Is the equipment in the Nursery safe and clean?


What food do you provide? How often are your menu’s updated? Can you cater for special diets?


Do your current children look happy?


Likewise do your staff look happy, calm, confident and relaxed and are they dressed well?


What are your staff to children ratios?


How much will it cost me and what will I get for my money? Will I have to pay extra for meals, nappies etc?

By having answers to these questions readily available to parents there’s every chance they will place their children with you and recommend you to other parents.

Parents look for quality and a Nursery they can trust when it comes to their child’s day care. If their children’s welfare is the most important thing in their life it makes perfect sense that they will undertake research and take on board recommendations to find the very best childcare solutions for their children.

Likewise Nursery owners looking for quality, value for money and a company they can trust when it comes to all types of service provider including their Nursery Insurance should also make sure they do the same.

Nursery owners can find quality service providers like Nursery Insurance Brokers by searching the internet or by talking to other Nurseries to find out which service providers work best for them.

If you’re a parent or nursery owner don’t settle for anything less.

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