Do I Want To Run A Nursery

[Guest]

Can i ask any managers who are supernumery

 

Do you still get to do activities with the children?

Do you miss all the day to day running of a room?

Do you miss planning activities and the sheer joy of watching the children play and learn?

Do you miss those wonderful spontaneous moments that happen every day?

Or

do you still get to do these?

 

My boss is taking a back seat and has asked me to take over but this means i cant be room based any more.

I simply love everything about the role i currently have. I love planning for the childrens learning and play. I love all the spontaneuos moments. I just love my job.

This is a great opportunity, but im not sure if it is right for me. do i really want to run a nursery,

My main goal has always been to care for children and i just love being a Montessori teacher,

Oh why are decisions so complicated. xjojomx

[hali]

i suppose to each of us it is different with the settings we are in. I manage mine in a hall so yes there are a lot of times when i am not involved with the children s i am organising other things but mean as we run from one room im still there and see what goes on and get drawn in as i am still in the room (if you see what i mean)..its hard either way but you just have to do what you think is right for you..good luck

[Guest]

First I'd like to say well done for the offer of promotion, your employers must think very highly of you. I agree with hali, it really depends on individual settings. What does your current manager do in terms of 'hands on' work, either as additional or covering absences.

Have a good chat with your boss and let him/her know your concerns, maybe initially you could shadow the current manager and get a feel for the role before you decide if it is what you really want to do.

In my preschool as the owner, based in a hall, I am totally hands on during the sessions, playing, involved in planning etc, but I do spend a lot of 'evening hours' on the business side and do home visits for new parents and children after session hours. I did step back last year, putting a manager in post, but missed the daily goings on. Your current manager may find it hard to let go ( or may not ), this is another consideration, which requires good communication on both parts when deciding what to do.

Good luck, keep us informed won't you.

 

Peggy

[Rea]

My friend manages a nursery and spends the bulk of her time in the office, but she does still get to spend time in the rooms too. Not long and not very involved but she says it depends how much work she wants to do through her lunch break. Most places I've been to have managers who are really office workers rather than childcare workers, I personally wouldnt swop with them, but it would offer new challenges and allow you to have a different set of experiences, if you dont like it I supose you could always go back to a room at some point. You'd really need to talk to the current manager. Hope your decision turns out well

[Guest DeborahF]

Once you become supernumerary it is very easy to always find something that you should be doing or getting on with rather than spending time with the children - there is always paperwork that needs seeing to, policies and procedures that need thinking about, phonecalls to make, etc. etc. However, if you work on getting your time management right and prioritising your time effectively, you should always be able to find time to spend doing the "hands on" stuff that you really love and which made you go into this profession in the first place.

 

Being involved with the children, ensuring that the environment that they are in is fun, stimulating and meeting their needs on a daily basis will still be a crucially important part of your job and can only be evaluated effectively by you if you are involved on a regular basis. From a management point of view, I think the staff will also value your continued regular involvement and support and this will lessen the feeling of "management vs staff" that can sometimes develop if you're not careful.

 

Like others have suggested, have a chat with your boss about it all - jot down all the questions that are going through your mind, all the things that you most enjoy about the job, all the things you really love doing and wouldn't want to give up. She obviously thinks highly of you to have offered you the promotion and will no doubt be expecting you to think about such a move long and hard so this shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

I never managed to get the balance right - when I opened my nursery I was teaching full time and by the end of the frist term was ill with exhaustion through trying to do all the other bits in the evenings and at weekends. So I gradually stepped back from the teaching, taking on more staff, unitl I was supernumerary after four years; what I didn't get right was making sure that I was still in with the children on a regular basis...the bit that I actually enjoy the most!!! I rented to rooms from the village school and when they were keen for me to expand into provision for babies and toddlers I decided to call it a day and sell up because I could just see myself "office bound" for ever. Maybe if I had made sure I was still room based on a regular basis I would have been able to keep hold of why I opened the nursery in the first place and had a better perspective on it all. O well, we live and learn!

 

Good luck - let us know what you decide!!!

[Andreamay]

on the plus side you sound a wonderful room leader and if that enthusiasm rubs off to make sure all the other rooms are being run your way then what a bonus to the nursery.perhaps you could cover parts of the day while staff do obs or write up diarys,have a break etc

[Guest]

Congratulations Jojom they obviously think highly of you and think you are capable.

I agree with hali and peggy. I'm still in with the children, I'm in a large hall so are there every day. On days when I feel like a bit more quiet I take my paper work out of the room to our other one and sit quiet. If I have a day with only a little bit of paper work I sit in the large hall but to one side. this way the children come and see me and tell me things.

i also do the odd toilet run and change the children. go outside with them for 10 mins. I find its the best of both worlds. I try to delegate some of the paper work so that we all get a bit, I'm all for equality!!!!!

I have been called a hands on manager which i thinks is takeing the best of both bits and doing it. i still know most of the children by name and once a week do a song session with all the children to give the leaders a bit of a rest.

Don't let the paper work over take the reason why you work with children. Children!!!!!!!thats what you're there for if need be take on some one part time to do some admin if that gives you the time with the children that you want.

Balance is the key word good luck and hope you find it!!!

[Guest]

Thanks for all you advice i have been giving this a lot of thought and as yet i havent reached a decision. I will have a word with my boss tomorrow. On a plus side it would mean more flexibility for the family i am the sole carer to my daughter who has severe learning difficulties and autism it would be great to be able to work shorter hours and be there more for her than i am at present. your right about striking a balance and remembering the reason i wanted to work in childcare in the first place. I'll let you know what i decide thanks again xjojomx

[Guest]

I went supernummary in September after 16 years working in the room, 9 years of that with babies. I am office bound a lot of the day but I answer the door and greet the children throughout the day, I deal with parents, I relieve staff while they have their breaks and I cover lunches, The children do come to talk to me in the office as it is right by the toilets so they stand nicely outside my office which always has an open door. I do if I get chance spend time in the room with the children. I know all the children by name and their parents.

I enjoy my job a lot better now as I was trying last year to manage the Nursery and run the Pre school area as well and I felt that the Pre school was suffering as I kept getting called away to deal with proplems or to talk to parents, and my work load to take home was really heavy!

Now I can try to get most of my paperwork done at work which leaves me more time to concentrate on Family and my Foundation degree and my staff are able to concentrate on working with the children while I deal with the phone, door and visitors. It has worked for me but you have to do what makes you happy.

[Guest]

Hi guys ive decided that i'll take the job all your comments and advice have helped me so much i reckon that i'll enjoy the challenge and will definatly make sure i still get to be hands on with the children whenever possible xjojomx

[Guest]

I'm sure you've made the right decision for you, and a happy mum makes for a happy daughter

 

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

 

Peggy

[hali]

excellent news well done

[beth1]

Well done you, good luck in your new job.

 

 

Beth

[Guest]

Good Luck Jojom I am sure you have made the right decision, see it as a challenge, there are never two days the same for me now. and I definitley don't regret going supernummary.