Case Study:
Buttercup Corner Day Nursery

The whole team at Buttercup Corner Day Nursery are devoted to providing the highest quality of education and care to all children.

All nursery staff are chosen to join the team due to their passion and dedication to ensuring every individual child is inspired, nurtured, and educated.  

Kimberley Woodward, Managing Director, provided an insight into why the nursery decided to join The National College to enhance its professional development.

Vikki Gibbison and Sarah Chadwick, part of the Buttercup Corner Day Nursery team, also shared their thoughts and revealed why they decided that it was a ‘no-brainer’ for the nursery to take advantage of our comprehensive range of training and resources.

An inspiring, nurturing environment for all children

Kimberley explained: “Buttercup Corner Day Nursery has been open since 2015, and last September, we were rated outstanding by Ofsted. That’s something we’ve worked hard to achieve.”

“We take children from 0 to 5 years old in the nursery, and our play club takes children from reception to year six. We have quite a busy holiday club too,” she added.

“We’re a fully inclusive nursery and we pride ourselves on that. We have quite a high number of children with a range of different, additional needs, too.”

“Our motto is to nurture, to educate, and to inspire, not just the children that are coming into the nursery, but all of our staff too,” she commented.

“It’s really important to us that every child feels nurtured and everyone that visits the nursery leaves feeling a little bit more inspired than they did when they arrived.”

“We teach our children about mindfulness, and we use yoga across the whole nursery too,” she continued.

“One of the things that is important to us is physical outdoor play. All our rooms have their own playground, it’s not timetabled, and they all have their own outdoor play space.”

“Hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into who we are and why we do what we do,” she said.

Joining The National College

Reflecting on her decision to join The National College, Kimberley said: “We didn’t want to just buy another package that wouldn’t benefit us. So, I told Vicky and Sarah to look at what was included and come back to me with their thoughts. They were extremely enthusiastic about the platform.”

The National College delivers an unparalleled professional development experience, with a platform  likened to that of global streaming brands, and deep-dive filters that make it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Vicky confirmed: “It was just so easy to use. It reminded me of Netflix, with everything in one place and available to watch.”

“There are so many different courses and webinars. I love to keep learning, so I think that’s why I was so positive about the whole thing,” Vicky continued.

"Our staff have worked together for a really long time. Professional development is really important to us. It's crucial that everyone is up to date with the latest guidance and updates."

“So, when Vicky came to me and said that it’s really easy to use, it’s engaging and the content is brilliant, it was a no-brainer,” she smiled.

State-of-the-art professional development platform

Buttercup Corner Day Nursery gained unlimited access to everything they need to plan, track, report, and evidence professional development for all staff, in one place, on one platform.

Kimberley said: “Our jobs are so demanding, and things change so quickly. We didn’t want something that was time-consuming and difficult to manage, with staff not enjoying the training.”

“There are thousands of courses and webinars to access, which can be shared with all staff,” she enthused.

Sarah added: “I think for me, I liked the huge range of content available on SEND, as that’s something that I’m passionate about. I’ve been learning about SEND for the last 12 months.”

“I thought it would be great for me. It’s all regularly updated and relevant too,” Sarah agreed.

Vicky said: “I liked the fact that there are different types of content. So, you can watch a webinar, or watch a TED Talk. It suits a range of learning styles and there’s something for everyone.”

Keeping children safe

Our online safety category has provided the nursery with an opportunity to increase parental engagement, meet DfE online safety requirements and empower staff with the knowledge and skills they need to keep children safe in the digital world.

Kimberley said: “Along with that, there are guides that we can use with our parents as well. Working with our parents and carers is something that is very high on our agenda, and we think we're very good at that, but we can always do more.”

“Safeguarding is huge in early years settings, and it’s something we need to stay up to date with,” she added.

One Platform membership enables nurseries to meet their statutory training requirements, ensure safe practice and upskill staff quickly and efficiently, with hundreds of courses developed in line with government policy and best practice, delivered by leading industry experts.

Kimberley said: “You do the hard work for us and gather the information in newsletters, webinars, courses, and guides. It’s going to make things so much easier for us.”

Exceptional feedback on our multi-award-winning platform

All staff at Buttercup Corner Day Nursery have been overwhelmingly positive in their response to our platform. Kimberley said: “The platform is brilliant. It’s going to make our jobs a lot easier, and staff will become much more informed about so many different areas.”

“We can listen to the webinars as a podcast too if we are busy or struggling for time. It’s fantastic that we can pause, rewind, and return to the training when it’s convenient too,” she revealed.

“As an employer, I really liked the fact that everything is available in one place. I can view certificates and evidence staff training and see where they might be gaps in learning.”

“We have a WhatsApp group with all of our staff, and Vicky will often share content in there and people will recommend training to each other,” Kimberley added.

She highlighted: “The biggest benefit is that there is professional development for everyone.”

“Staff will keep their brains active, and the training is so current,” she said.

“It bridges that gap of knowledge between the more senior staff and newer team members too.”

“Everyone will have the same opportunities, for the same training and knowledge, regardless of their role.”