Gill Jones, Group Chief Quality Officer at Busy Bees, shares her hopes and ambitions for the business in 2024:
After my first year at Busy Bees, I am thrilled with the success and achievements that the business has seen over the last 12 months and want to take the opportunity to reflect on our aspirations for the year ahead.
Last year, we celebrated our 40th anniversary, marking four decades of providing children with exceptional care and preparation for school.
I am proud to have joined an organisation that has always been committed to giving every child the very best start in life, and 2024 will see us continue to provide the most nurturing environment possible for the children in our care.
Each year brings new faces and families putting their trust in us to deliver the outstanding childcare we are known for, and I am excited for every child beginning their journey with us this year.
Alongside this, we look forward to welcoming new team members into our community, investing in their talent to maintain our exceptional support to parents, families, and children.
Ranked 13th in the UK Top 100 Apprentice Employers, Busy Bees hopes to recruit 300 new apprentices across the country over the coming year, embracing their enthusiasm for childcare and growing the next generation of future talent.
As we await the outcome of elections in some of the key markets in which Busy Bees operates, it is more important than ever that we provide our new colleagues with stability and the best possible start for their career in the early education sector.
In the UK at least, childcare will be a key issue in the election campaign. I hope this will be an opportunity to give serious consideration to the support the childcare industry needs to allow us to recruit and retain talent, expand our childcare provisions, and make sure even more children have access to early years education, which we know does so much to improve their lifetime outcomes.
As Busy Bees looks towards the future, we are also helping the children in our care prepare for the next steps in their own journey.
We are committed to preparing those children who will be starting school, so that both they and their parents make the transition feeling confident and empowered.
Having worked at the English regulator and inspectorate Ofsted for over 15 years and prior to that as a headteacher and teacher, I appreciate the positive impact that preparing children well for school has throughout a child’s education, and I know that Busy Bees will equip children with the skills they need to thrive.
Each year we work to enhance our curriculum across our centres to ensure that every child learns to be socially, emotionally, and physically well-prepared for the next chapter.
This constant development has been aided by our global footprint, which provides us with unique international insight into childcare and educational approaches.
Sharing learning from our centres across geographies, cultures, and communities has enabled Busy Bees to lead the sector in creating a learning environment that serves every child and champions diversity.
Children leave Busy Bees with strong educational foundations supported by high standards of care that allows them to discover their individuality and truly flourish.
It is part of what makes working at Busy Bees so rewarding and the dimension of our work that I am most excited to continue expanding this year.
When Busy Bees was formed 40 years ago, the safety, education, and happiness of children was at the centre of our mission.
As we grow, it continues to lie at the heart of everything we do.
Moving forwards through this new chapter of change for the sector, we will continue to provide industry-leading care and education, driving early years towards an even brighter future.