Riverhead Montessori Preschool.

Transcript

• Riverhead Montessori Preschool.

  I had no vision of starting a preschool. I’d been doing some music in another preschool. That preschool had actually changed ownership, they sort of weren’t delivering what people had wanted. So I was approached by parents going – “Why don’t you start a preschool? You’ve got the educational background”. So I did some research business-wise saw that there was definitely a place in the market for it. That’s what I do, I get ideas and then I run with them. We’ve been recognised by the Ministry of Education, by Auckland University that what we’re doing is quite special and unique. There’s a lot of time in education where you are ticking boxes and making sure that compliance is absolutely adhered to. Not only do I have Ministry of Education requirements, health and safety is obviously a huge component because you’re looking after other people’s children – and staffing employment issues. I have to employ two extra admin staff to be able to make sure that our compliance is current and up-to-date and timely. But for a small business, two extra salaries as you can imagine is detrimental. Be really, really clear on what you want to achieve, your vision, your philosophy where you want to be. If you’re clear on that everything else falls in place. Policies, procedures really, really important. If your back end is sorted it allows you to work on your business, not in it. And staff relationships – everything is about relationships.