My Guest Blogger - Kim Rielly
This article will take approximately 3 minutes to read
Published 23 Jul 2021 in Phil's blog
With Phil being on holiday this week, the reins of the blog have been handed over to our guest blogger, Kim Rielly, Nursery Manager at the Hounslow site.
Fresh from her recent visit to 10 Downing Street, Kim tells us all about where it started, her career journey, a tough last 18 months and meeting Boris himself!
Where it all Started
Not really knowing what to do when leaving school, I ended up working for my Dad’s blinds installation business, typing up invoices…making tea…running errands, etc. I never really thought about a career in childcare until my Aunt saw something in me at the age of 18 while looking after her very young children. She said I had a very natural and maternal connection with my cousins, being calming and creative. With encouragement, she helped me seek out further education and after a few months into my Nursery Nurse Diploma, I knew I had found my passion and future career!
After qualifying, like many Nursery Managers, I worked my way up from Nursery Nurse to Supervisor/Room Manager, then Deputy Manager within the first company I worked for – Happy Child Nurseries in West London. My area manager kept pushing me to go one step more and take on a manager role, so I took the plunge in a 32 place Nursery and absolutely loved it! I learnt so much from that first experience, especially my communication and leadership skills, and soon became an inspiration to others to pick out their individual talents.
My Midcounties Journey
My Midcounties journey began in 2011 after accepting the Manager role at our Waterloo Nursery (no renditions of Abba winning Eurovision Song Contest 1974 please!)
I started right on the cusp of the acquisition of Buffer Bear Nurseries, so my initial few months were full on! Refurbishments, re-branding, marketing, moving existing colleagues onto Midcounties contracts, as well as getting used to commuting into London – something I’ve never done before. For me it was great timing, I was able to really put my own stamp on the Nursery as these other changes were happening. It felt wonderful to ‘Have My Say’ with the renovations and make decisions on how our nursery would look by merging our smaller rooms into one bigger space. I was able to plan out our garden to create a natural, serene space for our children to explore, discover and be inspired.
In 2015 I saw from our internal vacancies that Hounslow Nursery was looking for a Manager. After 4 years of commuting, I thought it was time to consider returning to my hometown! Not only would this benefit my work/home life balance being nearer to home, but I could use my local community knowledge to drive our occupancy forward – knowing where to market the nursery and find new Little Pioneers to join our Co-op family.
Hounslow Nursery
It wasn’t long before Ofsted came knocking at our door in May 2016, and we went from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Outstanding’ – making this one of my proudest achievements. My teams hard work, motivation and passion really paid off.
With a very tough Local Authority to please, we finally got noticed by them and made some really strong relationships to push us further.
The Last 18 Months
So, this worldwide pandemic, AKA Covid-19, hit the UK in February/March 2020 and was definitely a big test for all of us. I am super proud to be part of Team Childcare, as I really feel we made a huge difference to our children, parents/families and colleagues lives during such a scary and uncertain time.
The early ‘Covid’ days began with submitting last-minute reports and very short deadlines asking for data to ascertain who was/wasn’t a Key Worker, all amidst myself and my Deputy Manager both having to isolate due to our partners at home. There were a few teething problems at first while setting up my access to emails and data systems so I could work from home and support my Room Manager who was left in charge of the Nursery but once they were sorted, we were fine. There were some very emotional discussions with colleagues on who was going to furlough and who would stay behind to care for the 18 Key Worker’s children, our team went from 25 to 10 colleagues.
Cleaning Hands to stay safe
We all had to adapt very quickly to new policies and safe operating procedures, taking daily temperatures, wearing face masks, making social distancing markers and risk assessments. We had to teach our children new hygiene routines, where ‘Happy Birthday’ wasn’t just sung on a birthday! Our team became very close and we had a huge support network now between us.
Singing songs to teach new hygiene routines
Facebook sessions
We shared Facebook posts with activities, music sessions and story times so our families at home could still be involved in nursery life. It was so important for us to ensure this communication was present, that children were still learning and achieving while being away from the nursery. We had some amazing feedback from our families, who were so appreciative of the support, ideas and communication links to nursery – many of which were really struggling to juggle working from home and keeping children happy & learning.
Handa’s Story session
Health & Wellbeing at the Nursery
At Hounslow, we had many new Key Worker’s families join us as their own nurseries had to close their doors – we were only 1 of 5 day nurseries in the whole borough to remain operational. Our local authority asked us to become a Hub for those in need of childcare, particularly all those vulnerable families in the community known to social care. To help, we created Home Activity Buckets with resources and handouts for our children with special educational needs who were not attending – these were hand-delivered to their homes by our fantastic team. Childcare infrastructure is so important, as it showed from the pandemic. People need support in order to continue to work, so we made that possible as key workers.
Home Activity Buckets
Meeting the Prime Minister
So, I thought I couldn’t get any prouder achievement than jumping two grades and gaining an Ofsted Outstanding inspection…up until now that is! Meeting Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street last week, to represent Co-operative Childcare at a Thank You reception for the Early Years sector playing their part during the pandemic.
This was so surreal…from receipt of our invitation to walking out Number 10 after the reception for a photo opportunity (of course!).
After going through security, we walked through the famous door and had to store our mobile phone away. The entrance hall was immaculate, we walked through a long hallway and down the stairs, all lined with photos of past PM’s and groups who visited Downing Street.
Once in the gardens, we had some welcome drinks and a wander. Six tables were set up with six chairs around each – one of which had a reserved sign on. We were offered canapés, sandwiches and wine while waiting for ‘Mr Prime Minister’ (apparently the correct way to address him I was informed) who was running late.
Myself and Colleague Monica Jandu, Room Manager at 10 Downing Street
Vicky Ford (Minister for Children) was there, and she was interested to hear how our nurseries managed children’s wellbeing through the pandemic and the impact for families attending. Mid conversation we could hear a lot of hustle & bustle and there he was, looking exactly as he does on TV! The Prime Minister went around each table introducing himself and giving his ‘Boris elbow pump’, asking which nursery we are representing. At this point I was personally ecstatic because Co-op Childcare was more recognized to the PM than Busy Bees, one of our competitors.
Then Mr Johnson made his speech, thanking the Early Years for staying open, ensuring Key Workers were able to work and keeping our country going during the lockdown.
The Future
The last year has been a challenge for many of our trading areas but within Childcare, we have exciting future plans. The growth of our areas with the opening of Cheltenham Park in September and Emersons Green, Bristol early next year, shows great potential for our Little Pioneers. They are perfect examples of the Board’s commitment to expanding our pre-school & nursery operations as well as educating the next generation starting out in life.
A thank you from the children
The CGI tour of our new Cheltenham Park Nursery
If you would like to see more of what to expect at Cheltenham Park, why not check out our exclusive CGI tour? Click here to find out more.
If you enjoyed Kim’s guest blog, why not let her know by commenting below.