Opening a nursery: The ultimate resource library, part 2

So, you've completed your Ofsted registration process, and your childcare business dream is becoming a reality. In part 1 of this series, we covered topics from the core of your business plan, but part 2 is all about curriculum, wellbeing, and learning.

At the very centre of high-quality education and care for children is, of course, the child! So, let's move on from the finances and figures to something more fun!

How do I make sure everyone's safe?

Caring for children aged 5 and under means managing the health and safety of little people who can't yet manage it for themselves. Regardless of the type of childcare or early education business you run, children's safety and well-being must always come first. So what does that look like?

• Careful risk assessment and checks
• The correct documentation
• Up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding legal requirements
• Hiring suitable staff and always completing a DBS check
• Knowing how to recognise and respond to key forms of child abuse
• A thorough understanding of your duties under the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the Early Years register.

How do I best support my team?

While children are at the core of everything we do in the Early Years, you won't be able to do anything at all without your team. Consider how you'll welcome them to the setting, develop a working culture and what your plans are for keeping staff engaged.

If you're unsure about monitoring CPD, we have this free template for appraisals and peer reviews to help you out.

How do I develop as a leader?

• Learn about your own leadership style
• Leadership through hard times
• Four tips to being a better leader in early education

How do I include everyone?

Speaking of feeling safe and confident, the inclusion of all children, staff members, and families should lie at the heart of your ethos. Luckily, we have plenty of inspiration to help you let everyone know they belong.

Firstly, take a look at these 6 key areas of inclusive practice.

How do I include neurodivergent and disabled children and families?

• A free anti-ableism reflection tool
• A guide to SEND in the Early Years
• Information and advice about ADHD
• Supporting neurodiverse play

How do I embed anti-racist practice?

• Making your setting more culturally inclusive
• Addressing bias in the Early Years
• A webinar about the language of race in the Early Years

How do I welcome LGBTQIA+ families and people of all genders?

• Learn more about LGBTQIA+ representation in Early Years
• Strategies to support gender equality
• Supporting fathers to be involved in Early Years
• An article about supporting play across traditional gender divides, called: Any child can wear a princess dress
• Tackling heteronormativity in early childhood
• Ways to support male Early Years educators

How do I learn more about trauma-informed practice?

• The Giggle Doctors on trauma-informed practice
• What we can hear when we really listen to children
• Supporting children and families through illness and grief
• How to help children through a family breakdown
• Professional love in the Early Years

How do I create an Early Years curriculum?

Your EYFS curriculum will depend very much on the ethos of your setting. Whether you're all about sustainability, Reggio Emilia, or you're still working it out, your philosophy will define your pedagogy.

Watch our free webinar on owning the curriculum for some inspiration, or if you're ready to go, here's how to start to put things together. It's worth remembering that, while Ofsted don't mind how you document your curriculum, having it available for reference can only support your team to embed it.

How should I support children’s learning and development?

If you're brand new to Early Years pedagogy, start by downloading our free introductory guide. Embedding wellbeing into all aspects of your teaching and practice supports children to feel safe and confident enough to learn and explore.

If you're looking for inspiration for how to meaningfully document learning, you can find that here. But, above all, recording the learning should never get in the way of it.

How do I create parent and carer partnerships in the Early Years?

This one's a little trickier when your setting's brand new, as relationships with the children (and their parents and carers, and families) will naturally develop over time. However, transparency with parents right from the start will help you get off on the right foot. Start by checking out our free guide to parent and carer partnerships, here.

Think about how you'll be keeping parents and carers informed about their child's day, celebrating their child's learning, and how you'll hold any more serious conversations that may come up.

Have you considered parents for whom English is an additional language, or educators who are less confident in written communication?

How do I welcome my new starters?

So, the opening day is in the diary, and you're getting ready to cut the ribbon and finally open your setting. What can you do to make those first few families through the door feel at home?

Whether your Early Years setting is brand new or not, new starters mean new information (and a fair amount of paperwork). Make sure you've crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's with our new-starter checklist, so you can spend the child's first day getting to know them and not chasing their parents for information.

This All About Me form template supports you to learn more about your new cohort, and we even have one so they can learn about you, too!

Where can I find more Early Years support?

Fortunately, even if you're not part of a group or chain, you're never alone in the Early Years. There are plenty of membership organisations like the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) or the Early Years Alliance (with whom you get a discount on Famly).

Famly customers also have access to Village, our online Early Years community.