6 key steps to opening a nursery
Follow these 6 steps to open your nursery
You should now have a better idea of whether opening a nursery is a viable option for you, by starting your business plan. You should also know how much finance you will need to open your nursery.
The next step is to begin opening your nursery. This involves the following:
Step 1: Finding a location
Most people will want to find a location that is close to their home, which makes sense logistically.
Though, it is important to research the area you want to find out whether there is demand there and what the likely competition is.
This can include visiting other nurseries to find out what they offer and giving you an idea of how you can stand out.
Step 2: Finding a building
You can find a nursery building just like you would, looking for a house to rent/ buy. Most sites that you would use also allow you to search for commercial buildings.
When looking for a building you need to make sure that it is able to be used for a nursery, otherwise you will need to apply for planning permission. Which can be a long process.
Any building you find will also need to adhere to Ofsted regulations with regards to size and safety, as well different legal obligations.
The local council will likely need to approve you opening a new nursery so it is important to liaise with them when you are planning to open.
You will also need to decide whether it is better for you to buy or to rent. Generally renting is better if you want little risk and lower initial costs. Though, for the long-term buying would be better.
Step 3: Organising finances and applying for funding
This is where our business plan is essential. You will know how much you need to start up your nursery and be aware of when you will potentially start to be profitable. This allows you to know how much you will need to start up.
This is important, as if you can not raise the funding yourself you will need to get outside funding. Almost all funding sources require a business plan, as it allows them to see whether they are likely to get their money back.
You will also need to look into how to pay tax and whether to register as a sole trader, company or partnership. All three have their own benefits and drawbacks.
Step four: finding staff
Getting recruitment correct is essential to the success of your business. As you should already be aware, staff will be your biggest expense as well as your biggest resource.
You will need to have a stringent recruitment plan to ensure that staff fit your ideology and can provide the service that you and your potential parents will expect.
The recruitment process involves
- planning your staff needs
- creating good job adverts to ensure you get the right candidates applying
- safeguarding aspects of recruiting e.g. obtaining a DBS check
- Interviewing – asking the right questions
- Hiring – collecting all the necessary information for PAYE and Ofsted suitability checks
After hiring staff, processes need to be in place so that these staff remain motivated and continue to develop whilst at your nursery. This involves supervisions, staff meetings and providing training.
You will also need to know how to register and pay staff, though there are companies who will do this for you. This can be quite expensive, though I teach how you can do it yourself easily in the full course – ‘Open Your Nursery In Just 6 Months Without a Massive Budget’
Step five: Registering with Ofsted
You will need to register with Ofsted before opening if you live in England. For Scotland, Wales and NI you will need to register with the Care Inspectorate, Care Inspectorate Wales or the Health and Social Care Trusts.
These are the governing bodies who regulate and monitor childcare within the UK.
The registration process is fairly simple, there are just a few forms to fill in on their website and guidelines to follow. It is important that the guidelines are adhered to and you are aware of everything that they require as a delay or refusal of registration can be extremely costly.
Ofsted take up to 6 months to register you, and you need to be ready to open when they come to visit.
Step 6: Planning your marketing
This is so important to your success.
You do not want to open your fantastic nursery, with so many benefits for children and have no one enrol.
Parents need to know you exist.
There are various different ways to get parents to hear about you. This includes:
- Using Word of mouth
- Leaflet distributions
- Creating your brand
- Creating a website
- Paid online advertisements
- Using social media
You will undoubtedly come up with your own unique ways to market your nursery.
We go into more detail about how to market effectively using the methods above on our full course as well as other methods you can use like SEO. Though, this list will help to get you started.
Remember, it can take up to a year until you start to fill up all your places so don’t stress if parents aren’t all banging down your door on day one. Having an effective marketing strategy can help reduce this time.