Running a preschool or nursery: the daily work parents notice

Arrival: record it once, at the door

The most common worry of a parent is simple: did my child arrive? Take attendance in the first minutes of the day, from a phone, by the teacher of each group. When attendance is saved, the parent can see it. That removes many calls to the office.

• Mark only the absent children. Everyone else is present by default.
• Agree on a time when attendance must be complete, for example 8:30.
• Call the parents of absent children who did not send a message. In small children, an unexplained absence is worth a call.

Pickup and transport

Keep the list of people allowed to pick up each child in the child's record, not in a notebook at the door. If you run a bus, set the route and the pickup point for each child, so the driver and the parents use the same list.

Daily updates without a flood of messages

Teachers of young children are often asked to send photos and notes all day. This takes time from the children. A better rule is one planned update per day:

1. A short announcement to the group at the end of the day: what we did, what to bring tomorrow.
2. Photos in the gallery for the group, once a day or once a week.
3. A private message only when something is different for one child.

Fees that parents understand

Nursery fees often mix a monthly fee with optional items: meals, transport, extra hours. Put each item as a separate fee type, mark the optional ones, and publish the schedule at registration. Parents pay on time more often when they can see exactly what they pay for.

Staff and ratios

Record which staff member is responsible for each group and keep staff attendance and leave in the same system. When a staff member is absent, you can see at once which group needs cover.