Imagine Education Group is a growing childcare management company with 30 bustling early education centres across four Australian states.
Their programs are designed to inspire children and set the foundations for a successful onward learning journey. Modern age-appropriate classrooms complement every child’s learning journey, and exciting outdoor playgrounds invite exploration, adventure, and fun.
With almost 3000 children enrolled across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the scale of operations and vast distances between many centres made it difficult for management to know how compliance was being followed on a central level.
After three failed compliance software trials, Administration Officer Kerry Roberts had almost given up hope of finding a solution that would meet their needs as a childcare organization.
User-friendly and affordable compliance software
“I trialled three different platforms before we came to 1Place. I’d set up forms and everything on three others and had immense trouble with them.
“1Place just blew them out of the water regarding the usability and cost,” says Kerry.
While the other providers left new users to learn the software, 1Place provided valuable training and a dedicated support person from the beginning.
“It took me one to two months to learn the other software before I could do anything – I’m not a technology person – but 1Place got the ball rolling a lot quicker.
With 1Place, I can flick our Account Manager, Natalie, an email when I get stuck, and she gets back to me quickly.”
1Place Childcare doesn’t come with hidden costs either, she says.
In the few months that Imagine Education has been with 1Place Childcare, Kerry has rolled out the software to nine centres on a centre-by-centre basis.
These centres now have 1Place set up in every room for room leaders to carry out the daily bathroom, outdoor, open/close checklists and associated maintenance ticketing.
“The maintenance ticketing has taken off. Now, rather than being bombarded with emails from each of the centres, it’s all in one place – that’s what it’s all about.”
Kerry receives daily reports in her inbox, which tell her immediately how each centre tracks their compliance, and their maintenance person receives just one weekly email.
“It means we can identify issues quickly, particularly in new centres with new staff and new environments, giving management a better overview.”
Imagine’s future looking bright.
While it’s still early, Kerry and the management team hope to incorporate more features soon.
Once the software is established in their remaining centres, they will look at added health and safety forms and staff satisfaction surveys.