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“I’ve benefited in so many ways, you have access on the internet to all their policies and procedures, you don’t have to do the work, they’ve already done the ground work and you know it is all legal and abiding by Ofsted regulations.

They were very supportive in the 90s when the children act came out. My particular city council interpreted the act in a vigorous way so they were measuring footage of each room and discounting the amount of area that was taken over by furniture and they wanted to reduce the number of children and staff I had. NDNA was really, really supportive and fought the council with me and managed to maintain the staff and the children. I just feel as if there’s a friend, a well-informed friend on the end of the phone, if I’ve got any query whatsoever. My renewal is on direct debit; I wouldn’t ever dream of not having membership.”

“The main benefits for us are using the policies, we use them an awful lot. If a new policy comes out, we’ll always look on the NDNA website to see what they’re writing up. The local networks that we hold within St. Helens are great but also equally the ones you hold in the north west. It’s great to get out and see Ofsted on regular basis through NDNA events.

About six years ago I became a chair of the St Helen’s Network too. It’s great to just get out and meet people, just chat to people. If you’re in a nursery all day, every day, you don’t get chance to chat to people and listen to people and what is going on in the sector. At NDNA Networks you get to hear the moans and groans but also the delight together.”

“It’s a great collaboration because together we can work within the sector to really challenge those things that make life difficult for our families and for our staff so that together we can do the best for our children. Being a member of the NDNA brings many, many, benefits. TheNDNA conference and Awards is just one example of this. Members get to come together, talk and network.

As you progress within leadership it can become quite a lonely place. At Busy Bees we do have the benefit of teamwork and collaboration within our business, but NDNA offers this on a wider scale. For smaller providers who maybe don’t have colleagues that they can speak to, it’s a huge asset.”

“I’ve been a member of NDNA for many years, I was one of the original members when it was first founded. I joined because I felt that opening a nursery business was a big risk and I wanted to network and meet with others, share good practice and get information about nursery management.

In addition, we’ve got all the advantages of the networking and the local regional events, which are free of charge if you’re members. There’s also the tremendous advantage for staff with access to all the training both online and face to face, as well as schemes like Millie’s Mark, which we can all benefit from as an industry going forwards.

“I have been a member since 2005, when the nursery opened. I’m so happy I joined NDNA for lots of reasons. Current issues are normally discussed. I go to the NDNA Conference every year and it makes me aware of the things that are going on, new policies, lots of things happening with nurseries, training. I also have to pass it on to my staff so NDNA has also helped my staff develop as well.

Policies are renewed every year or whenever something changes, so there’s no need for me to start doing the work myself, it is already there on the NDNA platform. Through NDNA I was able to learn so many things about nurseries, policies, the current news – what’s happening with nurseries all over the UK – so it was really beneficial to start with NDNA.”

“I first heard of NDNA back in the late 90s. NDNA grew and we kept tabs on that growth and media statements and it came to the point that we thought: ‘yes, this group is going to represent our interests’ and at that point we joined.

NDNA membership benefits not just me but obviously our settings from the point of view of the conference which serves the purpose of training, but also more importantly it gives the network opportunities and the chance to understand more about the economic and political situation that factors so heavily on how we operate, particularly at the moment. One thing I would say I value most of all with NDNA is the local networks.”