Setting up a Day Nursery

Starting a Day Nursery
There is a growing demand for full day care from working parents.  Day Nurseries provide care and education for pre school children aged from six weeks to five years of age.  They must be registered and regularly inspected by Ofsted.  Strict guidelines on staff/children ratios must be complied with.  Hours tend to fit in with an average working day of 8am to 6pmand is usually provided all year round.

Starting a Day Nursery may be your lifelong ambition, or a recent interest.  Either way you will need to be prepared for the business side as well as the care and education of the children.

You will need to:

• Research your market
• Cost the project
• Raise finance
• Decide on your business structure
• Produce your Business Plan
• Forecast your Cashflow
• Draw up a Profit and Loss Account
• Set up an Opening Balance Sheet
• Consider the geographical area you want to work in
• Secure a premise and all necessary equipment
• Ensure it meets Regulation Standards
• Recruit Staff
• Comply with all Employment Legislation
• Plan how you will develop your staff
• Organise Marketing/Advertising
• Investigate a Quality Assurance scheme 

There is an NDNA publication available which offers full details of each of these aspects.  It is called "Starting a Day Nursery - the essential elements" and can be purchased directly from them.  In addition they also have a "Policies and Procedures" pack.  www.ndna.org.uk

Support available to you
In the first place, please contact the Children’s Information Service(CIS) on 023 8083 3030.  They have a lot of information that will assist you in your research, and can ensure you have contact information for the many relevant organisations that you will need to make contact with over the next 12 months.

Thereafter, the Early Years Development and Childcare team can be contacted on 023 8083 2045 and can offer a wealth of advice and support with all aspects of running a Nursery for example:

• New business 
• Pre-regulation 
• Training and Quality 
• Recruitment and selection of staff
• Marketing
• Business and Finance 

The Business and Funding team have a wide selection of relevant publications available for loan, please contact Sue on 023 8091 5490 or email susan.saunders@southampton.gov.uk