Managing a successful nursery: focus on Qatar
Nurseries worldwide are faced with many unique challenges. However, regardless of their location, they all have the same fundamental ambition - to provide the very best childcare service to their community. This month we spoke to two nurseries in Qatar. Here, the majority of the country's population are expatriates from surrounding Arabic countries, Europe, America and Australasia: a challenging mix for nursery owners. Both Central English Speaking Kindergarten (CESK), the first nursery to open in the country, and Little Cherubs Nursery, established in 2008; have embraced NurseryCam webcam technology to bring families closer together, regardless of distance.
Published on January/February 2009, Nursery Management Today

Little Cherubs Nursery has a growing reputation for meeting parents' diverse requirements head on, whist providing the highest levels of childcare at all times. The large, five room nursery offers a comprehensive range of activities to balance the needs of European and Arabic cultures, including French and English lessons.

When asked about their decision to install webcams, nursery owner, Zeina Naja says "Children have a great capacity to learn and parents love to see their progress, so we introduced webcams to include parents in nursery life. They have really helped us stand out from the competition as parents love the idea that they can 'drop in', without leaving their office."

CESK also puts children first. Established for over 18 years and with 140 children from 25 nationalities; CESK comprises a range of indoor and outdoor areas, including a new all purpose room on the roof to protect children from the heat during PE. Ensuring children are happy at nursery is their priority. Although teachers are English speaking CESK employs teaching assistants from different nationalities to help children feel at home or comforted when they are ill. They also introduced webcams throughout the nursery to encourage communication between families and children; nursery staff and parents.

Nursery owner, Louise Al Jaidah says "Families, and a sense of familiarity, are important for children to feel secure; helping to bring them together is an instrumental part of nursery life." Parents or grandparents can use the webcams for 15 minutes a day to see the child at play. Louise continues; "The cameras are loved by all, especially grandparents abroad and also fathers (who are often constrained by long working hours and unable to speak to teachers directly)."

Both nurseries chose UK based company, NurseryCam, and believe that the webcams help bring families together, no matter how far apart they really are. As an established company, NurseryCam work with nurseries from the UK to Qatar to the technology capital of the world, Japan. Both CESK and Little Cherubs Nursery installed NurseryCam's solution partly due to the support offered.

Zeina says, "NurseryCam are unique because their solution is specifically designed for the nursery environment. They supported us from the outset giving us complete reassurance that the cameras were easy to install and use. And they were!"

Louise agrees. "NurseryCam are on hand if ever we need them and their advice is always easy to follow - even for a technophobe like me!" She concludes; "Distance is always an obstacle for families abroad; however our webcams really help families feel close again."

For more information contact CESK on +974 413 5675 or email info@ceskonline.com and Little Cherubs Nursery on +974 411 3803 or email info@littlecherubsqatar.com.

If you would like further information about parental webcams, CCTV or security for your nursery, please visit www.nurserycam.co.uk or contact NurseryCam Ltd on 01344 751688 or email info@nurserycam.co.uk.

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