Free tech for ‘forgotten’ early-years sector

Free tech for ‘forgotten’ early years sector 

Connect Childcare has launched its free childcare tool, foundations™ – the software is aimed at smaller nurseries, childminders and after school clubs, helping to provide support for a ‘forgotten’ early-years sector and a drive towards a paperless future.

The foundations™ platform, which has taken approximately two years to develop, aims to save childcare professionals circa 22 days per year usually spent on paper-based administrative tasks.

It will allow practitioners to digitise paperwork and log individual and group child events, such as meals and sleep, communicate easily with parents – via Connect’s ParentZone app – create bookings, track drop-offs and pick-ups, and take cashless payments. 
 
ParentZone is already used by over 460,000 parents across the UK.
 
The tech aims to help early years (EY) professionals dedicate more time to children and equip settings with the tools to foster extended learning inside the home – also helping to create a safer way for providers and families to communicate, especially in the current climate.
 
Commenting on the rationale behind the development, Chris Reid, Connect Childcare’s CEO, said: “We’re passionate about helping EY sector professionals to be able to focus on what’s most important and what they love the most – child development.
 
“With many smaller sites having paper-based systems in place, this not only takes time out of their day to create and locate documents, but data can easily be misplaced, whereas housing confidential information in one centralised system helps to streamline operations and safeguard sensitive details.
 
“Physical safety is also a key benefit of the software. By automating more tasks and reducing parent-practitioner contact, this will play a vital part in helping to reduce the transmission risk of Covid-19.”
 
A study – conducted by research specialist Ceeda – recently found that approximately 31,000 nursery and pre-school staff and almost 3,000 childminders have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of December 2020.
  
Chris said: “Smaller providers often feel even more left behind in an already ‘forgotten sector’, and we want to make savvy tech solutions accessible to all providers – empowering and supporting them in their day jobs.”

The foundations™ product has been under a beta-testing phase for 12 months, during which time, it has received positive feedback from its 130 users. Childminder Deborah Foster commented: “Connect’s foundations platform is very time-efficient for me. I don't have to recall what happened earlier in the day because I can record things in real-time – allowing me to spend more minutes with the children instead of on lengthy admin tasks. It’s been a game-changer in how I run my business.” 
 
The tech can also save settings up to £5,000 per year, based on in-house research discovering some customers spending this amount on ink cartridges alone, annually.
 
To download the free app and find out more, visit: www.foundations.software.

Connect Childcare is a nursery management software provider with over 15 years’ experience in the industry. The Lancashire-based firm provides over 3,500 UK nurseries with the technology to streamline their operations, abandon the paper-based approach, and save valuable time spent on administrative tasks.

Following the news of a £4m investment from Mobeus Equity Partners and this latest product launch, Connect Childcare is aiming to grow its 3,500 customer base – which includes 70% of the UK’s top 25 nursery chains – to over 10,000 in the next five years. Longer-term plans include exploring how it can expand its operations globally.
 
The information in this article is provided by Connect Childcare and these views do not represent Morton Michel.