Busy Bees Nurseries
Busy Bees Nurseries is a nursery group with 390 nurseries worldwide.[1]
History
[edit | edit source]Busy Bees was founded by Marg Randles in 1983 in Lichfield in England.[1] It has subsequently acquired nursery chains such as Bush Babies,[2] Leapfrog,[3] Kids 1st,[4] Just Learning,[5] Kindercare,[6] Tibbitots,[7] and Caring Day Care.[8]
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan[9] acquired Busy Bees Nursery Group in October 2013, with Busy Bees management maintaining a significant minority share in the company. Busy Bees completed its first international acquisition[10] in Southeast Asia with the purchase of 48 nurseries and Asia International College in Singapore along with a further 12 nurseries in Malaysia, the number of nurseries has now increased further to 52 in Singapore. Busy Bees also founded a childcare voucher company in 1998, which they later sold in 2008.[citation needed]
In 2017, Busy Bees acquired BrightPath Early Learning Inc. a Canadian early child care and educational facility provider.[11]
In 2022 Boots partnered with Busy Bees, to offer its team members access to discounted childcare fees.[12] In 2023, Sky partnered with Busy Bees to offer a workplace childcare solution to its working parents.[13]
In 2023 Busy Bees expanded internationally with the acquisition of New Zealand-based Provincial Education Group and completed the acquisition of Australian childcare provider Think Childcare Group.[14] It also acquired the Malvern Group in the United States, a network of 27 childcare centres in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.[15]
Education
[edit | edit source]Busy Bees nurseries in the United Kingdom are supported by learning programmes in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework.[citation needed]
Staff
[edit | edit source]In 2015 two of the founders of Busy Bees Nurseries were awarded an OBE for their longstanding service to the childcare sector.[16] Margaret Randles is both the co-founder and chief academic officer.[17]
In 2023, Gill Jones MBE[18] — former deputy director for early years education at Ofsted — joined the group as group chief quality officer.
References
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- ^ Bush Babies[permanent dead link]
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- ^ Just Learning
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- ^ Lichfield Mercury[permanent dead link]
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