How Astute can help you.

Overview

We get it! Running an early childhood service is big, it’s complex, it’s beautiful but it can also be very challenging. Sometimes you don’t know where to start or feel your problems are too big to face alone. We’re here for you.

Owning a service is a large responsibility and a huge commitment to many people. The health and well being of the children and your team members must be your priority and at the forefront of your mind, while the trust and respect of your parents and the community is critical to your success.

Then, there are so many laws, rules and regulations – what happens if one slips through the cracks and you are no longer compliant? No wonder so many service providers think it’s all too hard or place too much pressure on the director to be a superhero.

Astute Early Years Specialists understand the complexities service providers face daily. Your service has a unique context and so needs an individual solution to the challenges you experience. This can be multiplied if you have more than one service or can become very complex if your services have challenges or contexts that differ from each other.

Childcare management
New service acquisition
Childcare consulting
NQF, mock assessments, A&R preparation
QIP support
Marketing and communications support
Social media management
Operational and business management

Problem solving

Need an operational review? Don’t know what you need, can’t quite put your finger on the problem. Know deep down things aren’t ‘just right’ or are you new to this and just need support with your annual operational plan? Maybe you have so much going on that you need us to take the reins for a while! We will work with you to get to the bottom of your problem, big or small, and then help you to build a plan for the future.

Service management

Tired, sick, want an extended holiday or just need a break from running your own service to do other things? Happy to hand over the reins but not the bank account details? Short term or long term support is our thing. We have two select and serve options. 1. Operational and business management 2. Educational and practice management Our ops and business managers and education and practice managers will assess your needs and tailor a support package to suit your service and your budget.

New service acquisition and establishment

Are you a new owner, school Principal or P&C thinking about starting or building your own service, then congratulations! The rewards for owning and operating an early years service are immense, however there are a few hidden gems you will need to learn along the way – most often these only become apparent once you begin the program management and transition to operating the service.

It really can be sink or swim! But don’t worry, having built, acquired and opened more than 200 services in our careers, we’ve got this.

Strategy and business planning

Do you have one service, two services or multiple services and know you need a strategic and business plan but don’t know where to start? Do you want to grow or downsize your service portfolio? We’ve got this!

We will work with approved providers and your teams to get you from thinking and operating day to day to being planned and purposeful in all that you do. We’ll help you build an Annual Operations Plan, budgets, operating models and more.

Marketing & social media management

Our team of marketing experts can help your centre connect with your ideal customer, and drive occupancy results. Let us transform your business with our full marketing support.

We provide full marketing & communication support:

Website development, maintenance & SEO
Social media management, set up & advertising
Content development including blogs
Communication plans & development
Marketing & Community Engagement Plans
Stakeholder Engagement Plans
Printed collateral development & printing
Videography & Photography

Recruitment & people

Need help with building the perfect team and culture?

Our Early Years Specialists can support you with full cycle recruitment to help you:

create rosters that will work for your centre
workshop centre values, philosophy
leadership training & mentoring 1:1 or through our Leadership Program
Role clarity exercises
communicate with your team and hold effective staff meetings
write and advertise job ads,
manage your job ad accounts and conduct phone screening
schedule your interviews & conduct referee checks, and
develop employee contracts.

National Quality Framework solutions

Don’t know your NQF from your NQS? You wouldn’t believe how many services we see and professionals that we meet, that don’t know the difference. Sometimes we meet people that have never read the standards don’t know the National Law or haven’t seen the Early Years Learning Framework.

We don’t think that is good enough if you want to own and operate an early learning service or if you are in day to day change (or, work with children). We can help in understanding the legal frameworks and requirements for you and your team. This could include:

coaching the team through the process,
mock assessments,
QIP review, and
A&R preparations to ensure a great result and a quality program for children and families.

Digital Tools

Astute’s going digital and we know you are just going to LOVE it. Check out our current products below, that you can access anytime, anywhere.

Have you taken the Five Points of Quality Assessment for your centre yet? Do it now and get your free report instantly! Okay let’s do this.

If you’re truly stuck or need intensive support on-the-ground, get in touch to book your confidential Discovery Call today.