As our lives have become far more influenced by technology, from the way we communicate with friends and family to the way we do our shopping or conduct our work, some business sectors have struggled with how to move into the online world. Childcare providers possibly being one of those… until now! Whether you are a nursery business owner or manager, it’s time to explore the transformative potential of Early Years software.
What is Early Years Software?
Early Years or Childcare management software systems refer to digital solutions designed to help nurseries manage their daily operations efficiently, reduce administrative tasks, empower staff and enhance the quality of early years education.
These systems mainly offer tools to:
- Streamline processes: Automate time-consuming tasks like invoicing and scheduling.
- Reduce paperwork: Shift to digital records for children, staff, and parents.
- Improve communication with parents: Build stronger partnerships through transparent and efficient updates.
The result? A smoother, more efficient and scalable operation that benefits the children, parents and staff.
Key Features of Good Early Years Software
If you are in the market for new Early Years software, ensure you look for tools tailored to meet the unique needs of your nursery. eyworks offers a suite of tools, each designed to address a specific aspect of childcare management:
Nursery Management
eymanage is a nursery management system designed to streamline administrative and operational tasks within nursery settings. Its key benefits include:
- Simplified Child Financials: Automate the generation of branded invoices based on child attendance and funding schedules. Facilitate in-app card payments, direct debits, and automatic payment reconciliation to enhance financial efficiency.
- Efficient Scheduling and Occupancy Forecasting: Manage child schedules and allow parents to book additional sessions online. Access weekly and monthly occupancy forecasts, ensuring effective resource planning and staffing.
- Comprehensive Funding Management: Set up funding terms across multiple branches, record local authority funding rates, and bulk allocate funded hours to eligible children. Automatically calculate and apply funding consumable charges to invoices.
- Centralised Document Storage: Securely store important documents for children and staff members within their profiles, ensuring easy access and organisation.
Online Learning Journals
eylog is an Early Years learning journal software designed to observe and record children’s developmental journeys within your nursery settings. Its key benefits include:
- Comprehensive Observation Recording: Capture and assess the children’s learning development through individual and group observations. Upload photos, videos and audio clicks to the platform to instantly share them with parents.
- Compatibility with Frameworks: eylog enables you to use over 15 assessment frameworks as well as create your own to evaluate learning development across your nursery settings.
- Daily Log Management: Record daily events such as attendance, meals, nappy changes, and toileting from an easy-to-use group diary screen. Share this information with parents in real-time, fostering trust and collaboration.
- Safeguarding and Wellbeing Documentation: Easily document accidents with body maps, log administered medication, and access your children’s routines, allergies and SEND requirements.
Enquiries and Registration
eyenquiries is a nursery enrolment management software designed for the Early Years sector. It’s a CRM-style tool that allows you to help streamline your enquiry process. Key features include:
- Simplified Enquiry Tracking: Manage and track your enquiries, from the initial contact with parents to child enrolment.
- Bespoke Workflows: Customise your enquiry workflow to fit the process of your nursery business.
- Automated Parent Communication: Reduce administrative tasks by automating emails to prospective parents keeping them informed and engaged throughout the enquiry process.
- Waitlist Management: Easily manage your waitlists, helping you maximise occupancy across your settings.
- Enhanced Reporting: Access detailed reports on enquiry sources, conversion rates, and waitlist activity to make data-driven decisions that improve your nursery’s performance.
- Intuitive & User-Friendly Design: eyenquiries features a user-friendly interface which helps staff easily adopt the software system and quickly begin improving their enrolment processes.
Recruitment
eyrecruit is comprehensive nursery recruitment software designed to simplify and enhance the hiring process within Early Years settings. Its key benefits include:
- Customisable Job Listings and Application Forms: Create job descriptions, benefits and employment details specific to your nursery brand and settings. This helps provide potential candidates with everything they need to know about your business. Design custom application forms to capture relevant applicant information, adding a personal touch to your recruitment process.
- Streamlined Recruitment Pipeline Management: View all vacancies with a breakdown of candidate stages, ensuring consistent processes for each applicant.
- Integrated Jobs Board Posting: Advertise your nursery vacancies on the Jobs by eyrecruit job board, which integrates directly with Google Jobs. Post to multiple external job boards such as daynurseries.co.uk, Indeed and Totaljobs with ease.
- Efficient Interview Scheduling and Communication: eyrecruit features an in-built calendar allowing you to book and reschedule interviews seamlessly. Communicate directly with candidates through the platform’s messaging system, to help inform and engage with them throughout the recruitment process.
Nursery HR Compliance
eypeople is comprehensive nursery HR software that helps streamline employee management and staffing within Early Years settings. Its key benefits include:
- Organised Staffing Management: Define employee contract details, including holiday, sickness and training development. Create staff rotas and export working hours directly into your existing payroll system.
- Supercharged Staff Management: Create and link required qualifications and training courses to specific job roles. Monitor all employees’ training, bulk update staff training records and assign expiry dates to ensure ongoing HR compliance.
- Simplified Record Keeping: Maintain online personnel files for employees, storing essential documents securely. Schedule events like inductions or annual reviews, viewable on your branch calendar. Set up reminders for expiring events and documents to ensure critical deadlines are met.
- Payroll Integration: Log working hours and pay rates to automatically calculate wages, generating easily exportable reports for seamless payroll processing.
Community Engagement
Nursery settings create a sense of community. Not only do they help children make friends, but the children’s parents often do too. eyengage is a nursery newsfeed software that brings staff, parents and children together, fostering stronger relationships. Key benefits include:
- Dynamic Newsfeed Creation: A centralised newsfeed to share photos, videos, and updates with parents and staff, fostering a vibrant nursery community.
- Targeted Audience Engagement: Customisable posts for specific groups within your nursery, such as particular rooms or staff members.
- Interactive Polls and Feedback: Create polls to gather opinions or information from parents and staff, promoting active and valued communication.
- Event Promotion and Management: Promote upcoming events with date and time details, and receive attendance responses, streamlining event coordination.
- Social Media Integration: Share posts seamlessly across your social media platforms, extending your nursery’s reach and enhancing community engagement.
Parent Partnership & Engagement
eyparent is a parent engagement app that helps foster meaningful partnerships between nursery staff and parents. Key features include:
- Engaged Parent Partnerships: Enable parents to contribute to their child’s development and learning at home by creating observations at home. Parents can note significant milestones or behaviours that may not be observed at the nursery.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Share regular reports of the children’s developmental progress and next steps, and receive parent comments, promoting a collaborative approach to each child’s early years education.
- Real-Time Updates and Communication: eyparent seamlessly integrates with eylog, allowing you to share live updates of the children’s day, including photos, videos, observations, sleep, meals and toileting.
- Streamlined Administrative Processes: Allow parents to sign children in and out, using a unique QR code. This saves time for nursery staff and also ensures attendance records are accurate.
Why Choose Early Years Software?
Investing in Early Years Software is not just about saving time and money; it’s about creating a nursery environment where children, parents and staff thrive. By choosing Early Software solutions like eyworks, you’re equipping your nursery business to meet the demands of the industry.
Choosing the Best Early Years Software?
Choosing the best Early Years software for your nursery can be a daunting task, but there are several factors to consider. These include:
- Functionality: Does the software provide the features and toolkits that you need to manage your nursery?
- Scalability: Is the software scalable with your business growth?
- User experience: Is the software easy to use and navigate, even for non-technical staff?
- Integration: Does the software integrate with other systems and tools that you use, such as accounting software, payment gateways and CRMs?
- Cost: What is the total cost of the software? Are there subscription fees or support costs? Can you purchase tools in bundles?
- Reputation: What do other nurseries say about the software, and what is the company’s reputation for providing high-quality support and service?
By considering these factors, you can find the right nursery software that will help you streamline your operations, improve communication with parents, and provide the best possible care.
Ready to Learn More?
Explore how eyworks can help transform your nursery business. Learn more about our software tools or book a free demo. Alternatively, to discuss your needs with our team, contact us at hello@eyworks.co.uk.
