Karen has worked in the early years sector for 16 years, starting her career in a local nursery. After spending time travelling and working abroad, Karen came back to the UK and the early years sector after her son started school.
Lily has been working in early years for 13 years, having previously worked in the same nursery since leaving school, where she worked her way up to manager. After having her daughter, Lily decided she wanted to spend more time with the children and has found the deputy manager role at Toddletown fits the bill.
Karen Fish ‘There’s always room for new thinking, and you have to be open to try things in a new way’
What does your role involve?
‘My role as manager involves a bit of everything. Me and Lily are glorified practitioners really, and we like it that way– being in the rooms or outside with the children most of the time.
'At Toddletown, we take children from six months to school age, providing lots of activities and experiences to encourage natural curiosity through engaging play. We also encourage free-flow outdoors play in all weather, and have a mud kitchen, water play and a sand pit, plus lots of physical play equipment for children to explore. Our curiosity cabin is a great way for children to lose themselves in imaginative play and experiment with lots of small parts and interesting objects.
‘Naturally I have admin to take care of, but mostly I’m with our children, with no two days being the same. I love that about the job – the fact that you never know where the day will take you, and that it never gets boring.’
What makes your working relationship work?
‘I have a great working relationship with deputy manager, Lily, which is surprising because we’re actually chalk and cheese. I can honestly say that a day doesn’t go by without a healthy debate, and I think that’s why we get on so well, everything is talked over.
'The secret is to find the happy medium, and sometimes you have to be prepared to roll with another person’s ideas, trusting in their judgements. Early years is a constantly evolving sector, so there’s always room for new thinking, and you have to be open to try things in a new way.
‘This is actually my first manager role, so I’ve learnt a lot from Lily, as she comes from a managerial background and her experience has brought a lot to the nursery.
‘The secret to a really good working relationship is trust, and not being too hasty in the way you think a relationship is forming.
'It takes a while for communication and understanding to develop. I know I can be quite sarcastic – that’s my sense of humour, and at first, Lily wasn’t sure if I was joking with some of the things I’d say – she’s well used to me now, though.
‘Also, we both know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and actually, being two very different personalities has been an asset in our relationship as it makes us challenge our own thinking about ways to go about things, and to see them from a different perspective.
'You need that willingness to stop and think; “actually, that could be a better idea – we’ll try it your way”. Me and Lily love to discuss our thoughts on activities, the running of the nursery, training – everything.’
What have you achieved together?
‘One of our biggest achievements is our staff retainment. In a sector where staff come and go so frequently, we manage to keep a dedicated team, which makes the world of difference.
'We put a lot of effort into staff wellbeing, making sure staff know they are appreciated, thinking of little ways to show this by putting a fruit hamper in the staff room once a month, for example, and me and Lily are always involved in ways to get everyone together for a bit of socialising.
‘On Saturday, we are all going out for a staff meal; something we do quite regularly – just nice to meet socially and spend time together away from the nursery.
'We’ve actually organised a few events, such as our Waffle and Walk, a group walk as part of a wellbeing initiative where we went for a walk in the countryside, followed by a stop at a waffle van – it was lovely! This was really special as it’s important to include some activities children can join in with too.
'Some of our staff are single parents, it’s not easy for them to go out without their children, so this was a way everyone could come along, buggies, bikes – all welcome.
‘We also recognise the importance of valuing specific areas that staff are interested in, and we supply mentoring and training to support this. We want to keep our staff with us, and by investing in their early years career, we not only show we value them as part of the team but we’re also strengthening our team by bringing in more knowledge and ideas to pass on to everyone here.’
Lily Martin: ‘I think our relationship works really well because we bounce off each other’
What does your role involve?
‘My day at Toddletown starts with making sure everything is ready to go for the day ahead and, importantly, that any messages are passed on. After that, I’m a spare pair of hands to go wherever I’m needed. I use Fridays as my admin day, but as soon as I can, I’m back with the children.’
What makes your working relationship successful?
‘I have a great working relationship with Karen, something we have built up over time.
'We each came to Toddletown with experience of different areas of early years. Karen has more experience with staff, while I came here with more corporate knowledge.
'I think our relationship works really well because we bounce off each other – it’s about finding that thing that makes you gel. We definitely balance each other out – we have each other’s backs.
'The thing is, we love to talk through everything and discuss the best way to approach the ways of running the nursery – what’s going to be best for our children. We don’t always agree on everything, but we always show a united front and keep any disagreements in the office. Disagreements are a good thing, but we keep them behind closed doors.
‘I think a good relationship depends on honesty. You don’t have to be the same sort of people and do things in the same way as long as you can have that honest conversation about it.
'Talking things through is always the best way to sort anything out. If you have something weighing on your mind, then it’s best to get it off your chest – that’s what we do. If you can talk things through, you’re going to be ok.
'You also need trust, of course – that’s vital. The thing is, when it comes to the important stuff, we’re on the same page, we just sometimes have different ways of doing things. We know each other so well we can say what’s on our mind without worrying that it’s going to harm our friendship – a sign of a strong working relationship. And, of course, we’re really good friends now, inside and outside of work.’
What have you achieved together?
‘The nursery I was working at before I came, 75 per cent of staff were from an agency. I eventually thought to myself, I can’t do this any more. I’m a parent myself and could see this wasn’t working out, there was no consistency.
'One of the perks of working for a small company is that we’ve grown a dedicated team – once we find the right person, we want them in the door and we’ll find a suitable way to get them working here. We’ll be flexible– if you can only work on certain days, we’ll find a way to accommodate you. We appreciate how difficult it can be to juggle family commitments with work, especially if you’re a single-parent family.
‘Finding and keeping a really good team is so important, and by taking a more flexible approach, we can make sure we encourage the staff we want to work with us – and keep them too. Me and Karen really do appreciate our team – working with motivated people in a happy environment makes all the difference.’