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Big players warm to NDNA

Some of Britain's largest nursery chains have joined the National Day Nurseries Association in recent months as a result of the rapid expansion of the childcare sector and the need for a single voice to represent the interests of nurseries. John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees, which has 45 nurseries and 1,200 employees, said, 'We've been around for 19 years and we believe it is time for us to contribute by joining the NDNA, which has a commonsense approach and a good understanding of the realities of the sector. In the past, we've been reluctant to join anything just to promote the company.'

John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees, which has 45 nurseries and 1,200 employees, said, 'We've been around for 19 years and we believe it is time for us to contribute by joining the NDNA, which has a commonsense approach and a good understanding of the realities of the sector. In the past, we've been reluctant to join anything just to promote the company.'

Mr Woodward, who founded Busy Bees to meet his family's own childcare needs, said that from being 'very much a cottage industry', the sector was now rapidly growing, and would benefit from having a single voice. 'In the next few years, there will be larger companies, more consolidation and, with the investment from Government, a booming sector and, therefore, we are not really in competition with each other. We have no trade secrets, what we want is the spread of best practice and the NDNA will help that.'

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