Summary of the Kids Allowed Parent Satisfaction Survey 2010

Summary of the Kids Allowed Parent Satisfaction Survey 2010

We were delighted that so many of our parents took part in our 2010 Parent Satisfaction Survey (over 40%), as your feedback is vital in helping us improve the service that we offer you and the care we give your children. We asked around 90 questions covering the following topics: Childcare services Joining and settling in Learning and development Health and safety Nourishment Facilities Central support Centre team Parent concierge We asked a series of yes/no questions. In addition, we asked questions where parents could choose from the following responses: Strongly Agree Agree Slightly Agree Neither Agree or Disagree Slightly Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree To be able to analyse the results, we consider the combination of Agree and Strongly Agree to be a positive response. Our Top 10 strengths identified by the feedback to the questions are: Percentage Positive Response The centre is maintained to a high standard 98% The centre team are enthusiastic 97% The centre team are positive 97% The centre team are caring 96% The centre team are friendly and welcoming 96% The centre team are professional 95% The outdoor play area is appealing to children 95% There are lots of opportunities for my child(ren) 93% to partake in outdoor play learning The team at Kids Allowed offer fantastic childcare to my child(ren) 92% I am warmly welcomed by a member of the team when I drop off my child(ren) 91% Answers to the Yes/No Questions: Question Knutsford Perecentage Positive Response Christie Fields Cheadle Royal Overall Do you feel valued as a customer? 98% 100% 94% 97% Kids Allowed have a primary purpose of Making Children Happy by raising the Standards and Status of Childcare. Do you believe we achieve this? Would you recommend Kids Allowed to other families? Do you believe you get the best child care nursery experience at Kids Allowed? Do you feel proud when you tell people your children go to Kids Allowed? 100% 100% 99% 99.5% 96% 98% 97% 97% 100% 92% 97% 96% 90% 93% 97% 94% Our top 10 areas to improve based on the feedback to the questions are: Percentage Positive Response I am happy with the quantity of trips out of the centre 45% I have a clear understanding of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) 47% Staff turnover is low 52% I access/utilise the information made available on the Kids Allowed website 54% I found the welcome booklet useful 65% My child(ren) has a special bond with their Key Person 67% There are diverse resources and learning opportunities 70% that reflect my culture / religion / festivals etc. The Policies and Procedures are accessible to me 71% The Sickness and Exclusion Policy is clearly communicated and implemented 74% Would you be interested in attending social events hosted by Kids Allowed to meet other families and parents? 79% 79% 92% 83% I know how and where I can view the menu 78%

What are we doing well? This year, 7 of the top 10 questions relate directly to the team. We know that we have a fabulous team of dedicated childcare professionals at Kids Allowed and looking after them and offering a great place to work continues to be our number one priority. This may surprise you, but I genuinely believe that if we attract and retain the best team members, then we ll automatically be able to deliver the best childcare. Our outdoor play areas and our approach to outdoor learning is also very highly valued, with 2 of the top 10 answers relating to these areas and our facilities. Over the last 12 months we have invested a lot of money in re-painting and generally re-vamping the centres. We now have two people (Paul and Tom) who are dedicated to the maintenance of the buildings and gardens, and this concerted and ongoing effort have clearly made an impact. What are our areas for development, and what are we doing about them? I am happy with the quantity of trips out of the centre We are now auditing the number of trips we do per room. As a starting point, we want to ensure that every child goes on a trip at least once a month. Once we re settled into this routine, we ll look at getting out and about more often. We ll also improve communication with parents about the trips we go on. We have already stocked up on group 1 car seats for all centres, in addition to the existing group 2 and 3 seats, so the younger children can go on ad hoc trips more often. After succesfully trialling a 6 seater buggie at one of our Centres, we have ordered them for all our Centres which will make getting out and about much easier. I have a clear understanding of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) Not understanding the EYFS clearly was raised last year, so we ran a parents event at each of the centres to explain it more fully. Not many parents attended the events, but those that did enjoyed them and found them informative and valuable. We are planning to hold them again in 2011 on the following dates. Cheadle Royal 17/02/2011, Christie Fields 24/02/2011. Knutsford 03/03/2011. The session starts at 6.15pm and lasts an hour. Please email claire.garner@kidsallowed.com to confirm your place. After these dates, we will re run them on a rolling programme once a year. Staff turnover is low The childcare sector is known for its high staff turnover, but at Kids Allowed we are trying hard to break the mould, to give our children more consistency. I ve found that we have a high turnover of staff who have been with us less than 2 years, and are still in their probation period. Staff that reach this 2 year threshold, tend to stay with us much longer. 46% of our team have been with Kids Allowed for over 2 years and, in February, 22 team members will be celebrating 5 years service with a spa day. To help reduce turnover, we have introduced new recruitment processes which require much more upfront commitment from potential recruits, so that we can make better decisions about new team members. In the last 3 months, our staff turnover has improved on average by 6%. It s also important to take in consideration their reasons for leaving: 26% of leavers left to travel or go back to university, and we don t think we can, or indeed should, try to change their minds. 24% did not finish their probation period. We can significantly improve this through our new recruitment process to make sure people joining the company know the high standards we expect and therefore are more likely to be successful. 5% leave the sector altogether due to salary considerations. 13% are asked to leave. Again, this will improve through our new and improved recruitment process. The remainder leave for personal reasons. Only 7% of the team members that left (who we would have liked to stay with us) went to work for other nurseries. I hope you can see that this is a priority that we are working hard to improve and appreciate that, while there will always be some turnover of staff that we can t influence, the significant improvements we re making to our recruitment process will ensure more staff will successfully complete their probation period. I access/utilise the information made available on the Kids Allowed website We have commissioned a new website this year and, in mid January, we ll be going live with a password protected parents area which will contain lots of interesting information. We look forward to hearing your feedback and hope you ll find the site really useful to log onto again and again. I found the welcome booklet useful When we looked into it, we found our welcome booklet had not been kept up to date. We have decided to put this content onto the new parent section of the website. My child(ren) has a special bond with their Key Worker We have made some progress since last year (the response rate has improved by 4%) but we need to do much better. You ll be seeing a big push in the coming weeks, including the introduction of an information card which your child s Key Person will give you to tell you more about them. I also have the commitment of the centres to make sure every child has a Key Person from day one, both for new children joining and for children moving rooms. There are diverse resources and learning opportunities that reflect my culture / religion / festivals etc This is an area parents feel has got worse since last year (response rate has reduced by 6%). We have invested in this area but it must not be making the right impact. We have sent a list of 2011 festivals to all unit leaders and managers and we will be giving our equal opportunity coordinators at each centre time out each month to develop resources and activities. As ever, we are open to suggestions on what you would like us to cover. Your input would be greatly appreciated so that I can better understand which cultural and religious events are significant for our parents and improve our learning opportunities. Please email me at jennie.johnson@kidsallowed.com The Policies and Procedures are accessible to me I believe the new website will cover this issue. Our policies and procedures are available to view at reception, but making them available online will be more convenient for parents. The Sickness and Exclusion Policy is clearly communicated and implemented We have added this information to the parent induction, but I suspect that it only becomes an issue when a child is first excluded due to an illness. We have now made the information available on the website, which means that when your child falls ill, you can log on to see how it affects their attendance, and I m sure this will help. I know how and where I can view the menu The menus are currently on display in reception. We have also ordered a large computer screen to trial at Christies for parent communication on which we will display that day s menu (along with other important parent communication). If this is a success, we will be rolling it out to all centres. The menus will also be going onto the new website.

Additional Common Themes Common themes where parents have given written feedback that also needs action to be taken: Better information at the end of the day Parents want to know more than just what food, how many nappies etc. We need to improve the handover so that you know exactly what your child has enjoyed and participated in, and can take away any artwork (there won t always be pictures, as we vary activities each day). We also need to feedback on anything your child hasn t enjoyed during the day. Better information about the different rooms and their routines Over the next few weeks we ll develop an information sheet about each room, so that when your child moves room, you ll know all the differences and routines in their new room. An option for longer settling in sessions From January, for new bookings we ll start offering either standard settling in sessions or give parents the option of building sessions up over a longer period. Parents will be able to decide which they d prefer when they book the place. Of course, if a parent goes for the standard settling in period and the child actually needs more time to adjust, then we ll try to schedule more settling in sessions, subject to availability. From the feedback we ve received, most parents are happy with the current set-up, however, by introducing a new option, we can keep everyone happy. More information about team changes in the weekly newsletter and different pictures each week From January we ll add a team section to the newsletter to share more information about the team. You will hopefully have already noticed that we now change each Centre s pictures each week. Cleaner faces / noses This is an ongoing issue at any nursery I ever visit, including our own centres. We are working to improve this with lots of tissue dispensers and a robust refilling system to ensure there are always tissues handy. Menus not varied enough I must admit, I m a little perplexed by this one, as we do change menus regularly. They run on a three week cycle and change three times a year in line with the seasons. There are also rumours circulating that we add salt to our meals, but I can confirm this is an urban myth. We most definitely do not. Ever. The company that independently verifies our meals as being nutritionally balanced says we have by far the best menus they look at for nurseries. This feedback is coming primarily from Cheadle parents, so if you have any specific feedback, please get in touch with me so I can understand the issues better. You re also welcome to set up a meeting with the chef at Cheadle where you d be able to discuss any concerns. Emlyn s kitchen has just secured a 4 star rating, which he is rightly proud of. Not receiving a weekly newsletter We always email weekly newsletters, so if you re not getting them, please confirm your email address to claire.garner@kidsallowed.com. We can then update our records and make sure you receive them. The newsletters can also be viewed on the website at the following link: http://www.kidsallowed.com/about/latestnews/newsletters (We re in the process of uploading back copies of any newsletters you might have missed). Not always being acknowledged at drop off and collection time We need to start getting this consistently right. I think it can be a confidence thing with some members of the team, rather than anything else, but we need to work on it as a priority. Testimonials At Kids Allowed, we can t help ourselves. We are passionate about getting better and better in every aspect of our care. But while we focus on the areas for improvement, we mustn t forget all the great feedback we ve had, especially about the teams. Seeing Ena s face light up when she sees her key worker Rachel in the morning makes me feel less guilty about being a working mother! Knowing she s contented, happy and allowed to get as messy as she wants at nursery makes me happy too. If Ena could talk I m sure she d say she loved it too! Evie has only been at Kids Allowed for 4 months and has settled in really well, all credit to the warm and friendly staff who treat her like one of their own. As an assistant head teacher of a secondary school, an outstanding Ofsted grade for me is impressive but more importantly I wanted my own child to be happy and safe and he is! After looking around at a lot of local nurseries, this is the only one I would consider leaving my daughter at. The centre is safe and clean, the facilities are fantastic and the staff are extremely warm and caring. For such a big company they manage to give a personal touch. I am very happy with how my daughter is developing at Kids Allowed. She has a cow s milk allergy and her feeding was always treated with care by the team. She was also having problems eating textures, and the great support given by the staff plus the great tasting and varied menu helped her a lot. She is eating great now. Thank you Kids Allowed! Mia is always happy to attend. She gets very excited when she realises that we have arrived at nursery; waving, laughing and screeching. That reaction from her tells me everything that I need to know about the care she is receiving. Entrusting your children to someone else s care is always a daunting process. The staff at Kids Allowed made everything very easy and have demonstrated strong bonds with my children, and I know I can trust them. There is lots of messy play and learning activities which is fantastic and individual likes and dislikes are taken into account which ensures they have a happy day! I couldn t imagine a better team of people to look after my children. They are first class. The training and support to new members of the team is obviously good - I have noticed how quickly new members gain confidence and soak up the KA amazingly upbeat and professional attitude. Kids Allowed have helped Alex to blossom into a happy, confident child. He loves to be able to access the outdoor space whenever he likes. He has developed a lovely group of friends and is always on the lookout for more wherever we go, I am sure this gregarious nature is a result of his experience at nursery. My daughter loves after school club, in fact she s quite annoyed if I come to collect her too early! Kids Allowed is the most fantastic childcare provider I have come across. I am proud to tell people my daughters attend and always recommend it. My daughter is happy and fulfilled there and I m always amazed at her development. I love that with all the playing they do there is always a subtle learning underlying it so it s the best of both worlds. The staff are always friendly and enthusiastic. Keep up the good work. Finally, thank you so much for your participation and for your lovely comments, ideas and thoughts. The survey has given us a lot of valuable feedback which will help us improve our service even more and care for your children even better than before. Kind regards My son s confidence and speech has improved a lot since moving him to Kids Allowed and I wish I had done it sooner. Jennie Johnson, Chief Executive

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