The all-in-one platform for your Early Years setting

I first met Joanna Shall at the end of 2022 when she reached out, as a new Famly customer, to tell me about the preschool she was opening. Somehow, her central London setting was planning to pay staff well above industry averages and offer 1 in 5 places for free. I had to hear more.

Intrigued, I set up a call, and Joanne shared her vision for a more equitable Early Years, her plans for the future of Two Hands Preschool, and how the bursary programme was going to work. She showed me rendered images of a bright and welcoming setting, yet to be enjoyed by children.

And now?

May 2025, I finally got to see the now very popular and Ofsted Outstanding-rated Two Hands Preschool in the flesh. Joanna and her team are now at full occupancy, with many families benefitting from the Two Hands experience, completely for free.

Who are Two Hands Preschool?

Two Hands Preschool was opened by teacher Joanna Shall because, as Joanna puts it, “Early Years is where it’s at in education. You can make a real difference to a child’s life.” 

Based in Shepherd’s Bush, London, Joanna’s focus for the preschool was a better start for every child who attended. “We know that Early Years is not inclusive,” says Joanna, “That’s why we reserve 20% of our places for children on bursary. That's really the mission and the driving force behind why all of us do what we do here. To make sure that the children who come here interact with children from all walks of life. We think it's better for everybody.”

Alongside Two Hands Preschool, is the Two Hands Educational Trust that oversees the bursary places at the setting and helps to raise funds to pay for the free places. The children on the bursary have a place all year round, from 8 am to 6pm.

“It has that dual benefit for a child's life. It means they get a leg up and a great start to their education. But it also enables their parent or parents or carer to work if they want to. The first child that came through from Two Hands Educational Trust was a little girl whose mother had started a nursing course before she was pregnant. She felt unable to continue her nursing course, but then she found us and got accepted into the bursary. The mother restarted and she's now trained as a qualified nurse. When the little girl arrived, the parent had concerns that she wasn't responding to her name. Now, she's flourishing. Her communication language is superb. She's got great friends here. She's going off to reception more than ready next year.”Joanna Shall, Director, Two Hands Preschool.

How does Famly support the preschool’s mission?

Joanna explains that Famly enables efficient management of bursary children, while maintaining confidentiality. The platform's flexibility allows for discreet tracking of bursary students without visible differentiation. 

“Our bursary children are not invoiced in the same way, and we found that Famly has the flexibility for me to put a code or a ‘tag’ on those children, that nobody else can see except for me. It allows me to separate how that invoicing works in a way that isn't cumbersome.”

Joanna Shall, Director, Two Hands Preschool.

How Famly supports the link between home and preschool

Famly supports the educators at Two Hands to share important information with the parents and carers of the children at the touch of a button. The parents receive pictures every day, details of what each class is going to be learning the next week, and suggestions for how parents can build on that at home. But, as Joanna explains, the parents and carers share through Famly too.

“Our parents are really good at sending in photographs of their child's time on the weekend or on holiday. And that's promoted show and tell here, which actually is such a great tool for communication here. So we have children standing up, families projected on the wall, They've got their photographs and the children are proudly telling their friends about what they've done last weekend.”
Joanna Shall, Director, Two Hands Preschool.

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Who are Famly?

Famly is an Early Childhood Platform. More than nursery management software, Famly is the place for Early Years educators and families to collaborate, share the workload, and nurture children together.

“Famly is worth the money because it does a lot of different things. Other apps or other software might solve some of the problems that Famly solves. For us, it's everything. It's the streamlined invoicing, it's the clear communication, it's the management of the setting, day to day, who's here, who's in ratio, who's not. Everything we think that we could use it for, we can. And actually, what's really nice is that if we ever find something that it doesn't do, Famly is really responsive.”
Joanna Shall, Director, Two Hands Preschool.