Milton Keynes childcare provider gets Royal approval

The awards, presented by Princess Anne at St James’s Palace, celebrate exceptional training and development programmes across the country.

Employee-owned Childbase Partnership, which has 43 day nurseries in the South of England, including Meadow View in Newport Pagnell and Woodlands in Milton Keynes, was the only Early Years group to feature in the list of recipients.

Chris Jones, chief executive of the City and Guilds Group, which organises the awards, said: “These remarkable employers demonstrate the power that comes from investing in people and training as a vehicle to strengthen organisations and open up opportunities for people.”

The ‘Teach to Reach’ programme, introduced in 2016, recognises the importance of the EYFS in establishing and judging minimum standards in the sector, but aims to go much further in meeting the needs of children, and enabling nursery professionals to become outstanding teachers.

Like the EYFS ‘Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning’, the programme celebrates the greater emphasis now being placed on wellbeing; the importance of communication and language skills for the very young and is one of four focus areas guiding quality provision in the company’s nurseries.

The award-winning, employee-owned Childbase Partnership, which has over 2,000 employee owners, was rated the gold standard for business excellence in the prestigious European Business Awards 2018 when it won three awards.