From "We're working on it" to "We NAILED it!"

Alright, nursery managers, let’s have a heart-to-heart about action plans—those sneaky little game-changers we think we don’t have time for. I mean, with a million things on our plates, who’s got a spare sec to jot down what we’re already tackling in our heads, right? Spoiler alert: I learned the hard way why writing it down is the secret sauce to nursery success!

Picture this: I’m deputy manager at a nursery, and it’s Ofsted inspection day. Cue the butterflies! We’d been prepping a lot for this day, and honestly, we were rocking it. Our Ofsted inspector? Amazing person. We nailed a “Good” rating—high-fives all around! Our inspector shared with us some comments on what she observed. She noticed a few areas for improvement: behaviour management (staff using a mix of techniques), and inconsistent routines across rooms (washing hands song here, waiting in line there - think hand-washing chaos). She suggested syncing up those routines to make transitions smoother for the children across the whole nursery.

Here’s a thing: we knew about these improvements. We were working on them! But did we have a single scrap of paper to prove it? Nope. Nada! Without a written action plan, it was like we’d baked a cake but forgot to show off the recipe. If we’d had a shiny, organized action plan—detailing what we were improving and how—we might’ve been getting an “Outstanding” rating instead of “Good.”

That inspection was my lightbulb moment. Now, I’m the action plan queen! I document everything—big wins, tiny tweaks, you name it. It’s not just busywork; it’s proof we’re spotting our weaknesses and leveling up as a nursery. And because I’m all about making life easier for my fellow nursery bosses, I created the Action Plans Notebook—your new BFF for staying organized and Ofsted-ready.

This notebook is pure magic: a 100-space summary table to keep all your plans in check, plus 100 pages (one per action plan) to detail what needs improving, how you’ll do it, and how it went. It’s super simple to fill out, and ticking off completed actions? So satisfying. Want to see it in action? Get it on our website or check it out on Amazon.

Let’s turn those “we’re working on it” moments into “we nailed this!” Who’s ready to make action plans their nursery superpower?

Let me know how you're working on improvements in your setting!

Have a lovely day!

Agata

Nursery action plans notebook