Is Famly’s Early Childhood platform worth the price?

Who are Acorns Pre-school?

When Acorns Pre-school say they’re a family setting, they really mean it.

Husband and wife pair Michelle and Mat Stephens took over the setting from Mat’s mum and dad, Debbie and Tim, so it’s been family-run for over 30 years. Mat and Michelle’s children went to Acorns, Mat’s aunt has worked there, and Mat and Michelle actually met at Acorns.

But it’s not just the Stephens who make up the Acorns family.

“Everybody's part of the Acorns family,” explains Mat, “We've got children that came here who are now bringing their children. It's a constant cycle. Families continue to be part of us when they leave.”

Even Acorns’ recent work experience student, Nadia, was once an Acorns child. 

“Nadia came here, her brother came here, and now she's coming here to do work experience for her level three in Early Years,” smiles Michelle.

But what keeps families coming back to Acorns? As Mat and Michelle explain, it’s all about connection.

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Famly supports connections with parents and families

At Acorns, children are at the very heart of the work they do. From enhanced training in trauma-informed practice, a detailed, sequenced curriculum, and a keen focus on resilience and belonging, Acorns strive to meet the needs of the specific cohorts of children they serve.

But, while children are at the centre, Acorns consider the rest of the family too. It’s the connection between parents and carers and the setting that makes the real difference.“We want children to have confidence here,” says Mat, “We’re building those relationships and making it feel like a safe space. They need to feel connected and they need to feel like this is an extended part of their family. Like it's just another family home that they're going to.”

So how does Famly help maintain those precious relationships?

Instant messaging in the Famly app means all parents have access communication to the setting without having to make a phone call. 

As Mat explains, “We love having the ability to communicate in a way that’s accessible to all parents, through a smartphone or a laptop or a computer. Being able to translate it into different languages means you can make sure that every multilingual child is able to have that voice. That parent has a voice.”

But it’s not just the messaging feature that the Acorns team loves, live, online meetings with parents mean a great deal too. Mat adds, “We’re able to just press a button and have a live meeting with a parent who’s stuck in the office -  just have a quick chat and say, ’This is what’s happening.”

Famly saves the nursery time and money

Without Famly’s financial functionality, Mat and Michelle would have to hire an administrator to take on the role of administering fees, bookings, communication, and invoicing. The setting used to have a receptionist, a position that’s now no longer needed as everything is done in the app.

Mat estimates that “It would take five months to put everything in place that we do in Famly - to turn it off and have everything in place to replace all the different things that we use. You made us realise just how much of a cornerstone Famly is! So much of what we do is based around Famly.”

Famly is also enabling the setting to move quickly through their busy routines, with minimal friction. A recent example of this was a last-minute trip that required parental permission. Mat explains that they quickly added the permission for the trip in the app, sent it out to parents, and watched the replies come in instantaneously. The result was that the children could take their spontaneous trip and the educators could pursue the learning with the administration taken care of.

Michelle also loves the ability to oversee everything that’s happening in the setting from the Famly platform - saving her time on running in and out or rooms or rummaging through filing cabinets.

“We see everything - there’s nothing to hide. It’s all on there,” explains Michelle, “It’s easier than when we had papers or books as now we can see what everyone’s done. We can see the messaging or accident forms. It enables us to review the practice that’s happening in the room and it is so easy. It makes everything transparent,”