Award winning aarly years setting works with their community to adapt and thrive during crisis

New chamber of commerce chair (Image: Laura Woodward-Drake)

Working during a pandemic has been hard to adjust to for many and we've all had to face different challenges in our jobs. None of which have really been in our professional dialect for long – I mean, countless hours of HR companies’ time have been spent on defining what ‘furlough’ actually means!

As I’ve mentioned previously, a word that has been key throughout for all businesses, is ‘adapt’ and one sector that has done just that, is the educational sector.

The debate over closing schools has been going on for almost a year.

With a friend who has worked in an early years setting throughout the first furlough and beyond, I've seen how difficult it's been for those who have had to continue and navigate the ever-changing landscape, whilst being responsible for a range of young children.

Moreover, they’ve have had very little time between changes to implement safe working practices for both children and their team. I’m in awe of the effort and achievements of all the educational settings in our town and thank each one for persevering.

I’ve also been in contact with our amazing Chamber exec member, Paul Bartlett, throughout the year and he’s shared the challenges he and his team have faced whilst running Dolphin & Sunshine pre-school and nursery.

One thing I’ve taken away from each of our conversations is the positives they've gained from the experience and how they've learnt to adapt.

Paul said: “2020 was a roller coaster of a year. When I look back, it could have been much worse. We started lock down 1 with plenty of worries and concerns however we have an amazing team and amazing parents who supported us every step of the way.”

“One thing we were certain of - closing our doors completely wasn’t an option, we had to support our key worker parents who were leading the fight against COVID-19 right from the front - we had to do our bit by keeping their children as safe as possible. So we combined the settings, furloughed some of the team and ensured the remaining team were happy working/ felt safe.”

To keep children and parents entertained during lockdown, Paul and his team set up two private Facebook groups with live storytelling, online quizzes, set ‘homework’ to interact with parents and delivered survival packs to their front doors.

“Staying open during lockdown and having all these new ways of working in place enabled us to increase the number of children confidently and safely in the setting as things eased. Parents felt confident, children were happy and more importantly safe, the team rose again to the new challenges we faced, and with more children attending, we introduced/ managed bubbles.” said Paul.

I've enjoyed seeing how Paul and his team used these challenges as an opportunity to find innovative ways to ensure their ‘Dolphin family’ were looked after every step of the way. Managing people and businesses is difficult at the best of times, but leaders like Paul have shown how embracing their network and considering each person in every decision made, ensured that they would thrive.

Paul added: “So far, we have not had any cases and want to keep it that way - we can only thank our amazing team and parents for their support in following the guidance. Without them we would not be where we are now and we do consider ourselves the lucky ones. We cannot wait to throw a big party to thank everyone single person for their support or kind words that have got us through this year.”

I look forward to bringing the Chamber network together to discuss stories such as Paul’s and all share advice/ support for adapting to whatever the new landscape may be in our business community in 2021 and beyond.