Teacher Led Childcare (TLC) is the name of a new movement with a mission to ‘improve early years education for all involved’ and was founded by myself, Simon Jay.

I left teaching in primary and nursery schools in 2015. It was the hardest but best decision I’ve ever made. I left due to the unrealistic pressures that were put onto teachers and I believed I deserved a better quality of life.

I set up ‘Karibu Childcare’ from my home in Bristol and it’s gone from strength to strength. I now have eight happy, part-time staff on payroll and love what I do.

I always hold on to Einstein’s famous quote “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” With this in mind, I wanted to capitalise on the success of Karibu. I have options to set up another Karibu and grow that way but something inside me wants to help more people. So I got thinking.

We built a good reputation at Karibu pretty quickly and I ended up supporting several teachers leave the classroom and set up their own childcare and educational services. Anna runs ‘Naturally Learning’ in Salisbury, Kat (who now works at Karibu and for the TLC movement) set up ‘The Nest’ and Cassie runs ‘Nurture Their Nature’.

If these lovely ladies had come to me through word of mouth, I wondered how many other teachers might be interested and want rescuing!

“You deliver so much more than ‘just childcare’. I think you need to rethink your name.” Former Karibu parent

A parent of a previous child at Karibu once said that she didn’t like my business name. I really respected, and still do respect this lady. She’s a business owner, human rights activist and a TEDx speaker, so she was worth listening to!

I decided that if I can support teachers to set up their own home-based childcare businesses, I could have a much larger impact and improve the lives of so many more teachers and children. Far more than if I just set up another Karibu.

Rather than providing ‘just childcare’, Karibu’s unique selling point (USP) compared to other childcare providers is that it is run and owned by an early years teacher. Having higher qualified staff has a direct impact of children’s attainment so I needed to include my USP into a name.

“The first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out”. Bill Gates

One night, several Novembers ago, it came to me at 2am. Teacher Led Childcare. TLC! I would rename ‘Karibu Childcare’ as ‘Karibu – Teacher Led Childcare’ (or ‘Karibu TLC’ as the awareness of TLC grows), and support teachers set up their own businesses. It does what it says on the tin!

In a future blog I would love to tell you about three other teachers I have supported to set up their own TLC businesses. Jenny set up ‘Flourish’ in Leeds, Cathy runs ‘The Bay’ in Lyme Regis and Maggie runs ‘Babushka’ in Somerset.

In a nutshell, very simply, TLC is home-based childcare, led by a teacher with early years experience on a 1:3 ratio.

Currently, I am building systems and a team that can support many teachers join this movement. I hope to build a community of like minded, passionate and driven teachers who believe in positive change for care and education. I look forward to keeping you updated.

Thank you for reading.

Simon Jay

Founder of Teacher Led Childcare

You can learn more at www.teacherledchildcare.co.uk

Firstly, I’d like to thank each and every one of you who read my previous blog ‘New Office. New Beginnings’. I was genuinely really surprised about how much interest and interaction it generated.

I’ve made lots of progress with Teacher Led Childcare (TLC) over the last few weeks. I’m delighted about this, however there seems to be so much more to do!

Minimum Viable Product – Build. Measure. Learn.

Having read Eric Ries’, ‘The Lean Startup’, which talks about creating the simplest model of your business; launching it, testing it and then reworking it based on feedback, I now need to apply this learning for TLC. Companies like Facebook and Google do this all the time and Eric calls this popular startup model a ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP). Build something, measure it, learn form it. Re-build it, measure it, learn from it.

Somehow, being the perfectionist that I am, this MVP model doesn’t sit well with me and I’m way out of my comfort zone sharing things that aren’t quite perfect.

This time last year, I was on a business course in Amsterdam. The lead trainer, Alex Mandossian, quite rightly said that the two worst enemies of an entrepreneur are:

• Procrastination
• Perfectionism

This is annoyingly true for me.

Like a lot of people, I want things to be perfect before people see them because I know that first impressions count. Taking my ‘perfectionist head’ off, from a TLC point of view, I am extremely close to my MVP.

I have a website (currently being checked for technical and grammatical errors), I have social media platforms which are ready to be made public, the new logo is finished, and I have set up Google G Suite as a communication platform.

To test the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of TLC, all I now have to do is finalise the website, launch it and use Facebook Ads to promote it directly to teachers. Easy. Bah!

Fear and insecurities

Seth Godwin, author or ‘Tribes’, talks about fear. This has now set in. So has self-doubt. Will people be interested in this? Will it all be worth the hundreds of hours I’ve already put in?

“The only thing holding you back is your own fear. Not easy to admit, but essential to understand.” Seth Godin

I often wonder if I’ve bitten off too much and most the time I believe I have, but I think I am addicted to learning, growing and helping others!

Maybe it’s my insecurities getting the better of me, or am I just procrastinating? I just don’t feel quite ready to launch this yet. I’m tired, my head is full and I need a break.

So next week, I’ll be taking the week off and spending some quality time with my brother as we travel to northern Lapland. We will stay in a log cabin, go snowshoeing, maybe catch a glimpse of the northern lights, cross country ski and keep a look out for Father Christmas.

I hope to return with a new energy, a clear head and the drive to push this through to launch.

Thanks for reading.

Simon Jay

TLC Founder

So the journey continues. After various personal and professional ‘speed bumps’, I am now installed in my new office in Bristol and am ready to progress with Teacher Led Childcare (TLC).

I will document how I develop ‘The TLC Movement’ with a vision of ‘improving early years education for all involved’ and endeavour to be open and honest.

Am I nervous? Yes. Am I feeling slightly overwhelmed? Yes. Do I think it will be a success? No, I know it will be a success and it is my duty to make it so.

In 2015, I had reached my pain threshold and made the tough decision to leave teaching in schools. Since setting up Karibu – TLC, I have never been happier and I now want to give other teachers a ‘nudge’ and support them to set up their own childcare business. I love what I do and I believe others could benefit hugely from either setting up, or teaching through TLC.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Today was the first full day that I’ve spent in my new office, whilst my own TLC, Karibu, still operated. I’ve heard that staff have had a lovely day with the children. They have enjoyed some crafts, a home cooked lunch of pesto pasta, grilled chicken breast and vegetables, a bit of yoga this morning, some outdoor play and lots of stories on the sofa.

I have been working hard to set up an inspiring environment where I can shut myself away without distraction and focus on the TLC Movement. It’s been a long time in the making but I know it was the right decision to employ an extra member of staff to be able to free myself up for a few days during the week. As I now have space and time, I can have a greater impact on improving the lives of others through Teacher Led Childcare (TLC).

It’s ironic that my new office is actually in a classroom of a former school that was closed down several years ago. Within this space, I’m sat here aiming to further shake up the education system for the greater good.

I’ll leave you with a quote that I heard whilst listening to an audiobook this afternoon. It fuelled me with a burning desire that we really do need to challenge a system that is failing so many.

“The organisations that need innovation the most are the ones that do the most to stop it from happening”

It begins here.

Simon Jay

TLC Founder

www.teacherledchildcare.co.uk (launching soon)