Monday Morning Early Years
Sector expertise nurseries can't get from a generalist.
Specialist people, compliance and business support for nurseries, childcare providers and Early Years settings — grounded in real experience of ratios, safeguarding and inspection reality.
The approach
Running a setting means running two organisations at once: a childcare provision with statutory obligations, and a business with staffing, budgets and paperwork. The second one usually happens after the children have gone home.
Monday Morning Early Years exists because generic HR advice doesn't survive contact with this sector. Safer recruitment isn't ordinary recruitment. A staffing shortfall isn't an inconvenience, it's a ratio breach. Policies aren't paperwork, they're evidence.
We support managers and owners with people, compliance and the business side of the setting — so leaders can spend their attention where it belongs.
From 1 September 2026
The updated EYFS and Ofsted changes, in plain terms.
The Department for Education has updated the EYFS statutory framework for group providers and childminders, and Ofsted is inspecting against its updated early years toolkit and operating guide from the same date.
Safer sleeping arrangements
The EYFS update sets out clearer expectations for babies' sleep. Inspectors will look for evidence that your setting understands the statutory guidance and is actually following it day to day, not just referencing it in a policy.
Safer weaning and eating
How you manage weaning, food preparation and supervision at mealtimes is now looked at directly under children's welfare and wellbeing, and again under leadership and governance.
Care practice and safeguarding are linked
Where care practices fall short, that can affect whether safeguarding is judged 'met' or 'not met' — poor day-to-day practice is no longer treated as separate from safeguarding.
Both the EYFS and the grading standards
To reach the expected standard, a setting has to meet the relevant EYFS requirements as well as the grading criteria in the toolkit. Meeting one is not enough on its own.
We help settings work through what these updates mean in practice — sleep, weaning and mealtime procedures, staff briefings, records and the evidence behind them. Guidance is checked against what is published at the time. Support helps you prepare; it cannot guarantee an inspection outcome.
What's included
The work, in plain terms.
- Nursery support
- Day-to-day guidance for managers and owners on staffing, structure and running the setting well.
- Early Years HR
- Contracts, staffing levels, conduct, absence and employee relations with sector context built in.
- Safer recruitment
- Careful recruitment and vetting: adverts, interviews, DBS, references and a defensible record.
- Administration
- Records, registers, staff files and the administrative backbone of a well-run setting.
- Compliance
- Staff suitability, recruitment and vetting records — including DBS checks, references, qualifications and right-to-work evidence — organised and inspection-ready.
- Policies
- Policies written for your setting and reviewed on schedule — not downloaded and renamed.
- Training
- Sector development for room leaders, deputies and managers, including core and role-relevant training.
- Early Years business support
- Occupancy admin, supplier coordination, systems and operational support for the business behind the setting.
What changes
Inspection preparation becomes a review, not a fortnight of panic.
Recruitment stays thorough even when you need someone in the room next week.
Managers get answers from someone who already knows the sector's rules.
Owners can look at growth instead of firefighting paperwork.
Next step
Not sure what support you need?
That’s okay. Tell us what’s going on and we’ll help you work out the next step.