Little Pioneers on BBC Breakfast!

Colleagues of the Little Pioneers nursery in Leamington Spa got up with the birds this morning to showcase how they’ve been keeping themselves, families and children safe throughout the last few months.

Last week, the nursery was presented with an opportunity to be live on television as the lead story on BBC Breakfast this morning – something they couldn’t turn down despite the 5.30am start! A big break for Nursery Manager, Leanne Bowen, and the team - the opportunity aligned with new childcare guidance which comes into play today advising that nurseries no longer have to keep to ‘bubbles’ of 16 children per room.

Colleagues getting ready to be filmed by the BBC team at the Little Pioneers, Leamington Spa nursery

Being sought out as a nursery group that has implemented innovative ways of keeping children and colleagues safe is something we can all feel very proud of and the parents agree. We managed to wake up one of our Co-op Energy colleagues and Little Pioneers parent, Richard Chavasse, early this morning too and he supported us by detailing his experience as a parent, “We're big advocates of the team, Vinny's return has been seamless - he had really missed everyone so the pre-emptive comms on what to expect (masks, door drops etc) were a huge help.”

Live BBC Breakfast filming taking place at the Nursery

Covid-19 has brought with it a number of challenges for our nurseries, but Little Pioneers have been able to respond and adapt quickly to maintain a safe, positive and friendly environment for children and colleagues.  The additional measures taken give everyone confidence in welcoming even more families back:

• Providing face masks for all colleagues for any public transport travel into work and have made face coverings mandatory for all colleagues when inside, unless they have a respiratory condition

• Installed hand sanitising stations and anyone entering the nursery must use this prior to entry

• Children and colleagues have their temperature taken with a contactless thermometer on arrival

• Social distancing in place for dropping off and collecting children

• Online video calls with new and returning children alongside virtual visits for new families

• Children in ‘bubbles’, using different spaces at different times of the day and staggering dinner time

• Enhanced cleaning regimes of all areas, every day and between ‘bubbles’

During the instructed lockdown period we were been able to keep approximately a third of the nurseries fully operational and open for critical workers. However, since re-opening all sites in June, and thanks to colleagues like Leanne and her team, everyone is feeling optimistic about the coming months. After a pre-recorded piece last week, Leanne went live at 6.20am and 8.20am this morning - to see how our very own media stars got on, watch the episode on iPlayer here - we appear twice! (please sign in accordingly)

• First interview 0:10:30 – 0:17:30

• Second interview 2:17:00 – 2:24:00

Phil Ponsonby our Group CEO also tuned in and echoed the sentiment of the Childcare team, “We came across really well and justified all the hard work by everyone. Leanne was professional and a great ambassador too. Very proud! “

For us, this was a great opportunity, a national platform to showcase our Little Pioneers nurseries. The continued efforts of our fantastic colleagues shine through and as nurseries gear up to welcome more families back today, we’re proud to be a business that really is delivering what matters to our families.

For more information please see here.