No more bumbling along with guilt
Rebecca Scott has made it her business to stop parents feeling guilty about putting their kids into out-of-school care.
The former primary school teacher remembers the guilt when she put her first child into daycare. That experience was the impetus for Busy Bumbles.
It offers before and afterschool care and holiday programmes at 10 venues in the Selwyn district, near Christchurch.
Nine years after starting out with a single child enrolled, it now has 2500 families registered, and Scott is keen to expand further through franchising in other centres.
Scott spent a year researching the sort of service she wanted to provide and Busy Bumbles has received a number of awards for its programmes.
A post-graduate qualification in education management stood Scott in good stead to run a business, and she grabbed every opportunity to learn more.
‘‘I’m a member of the Chamber of Commerce, there’s a lot of free help out there in Christchurch you can get really easily.’’
Busy Bumbles employs 58 staff ranging from fully trained teachers and teacher aides to high school students and grandparents.
The out-of-school care sector is increasingly competitive and Scott has opted to charge an hourly rate, rather than a persession fee.
This caters for parents who might only want an hour’s care at either end of the day.
When parents phone or email to say how much their offspring enjoy coming along, Scott knows she’s on the right track.
‘‘These parents are not feeling guilty that they have to work and their kids actually want to be here; that’s winning and I love it.’’
Stuff is the media partner for Small Business Month, supported by CAANZ.