Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pre School Business Plan
Pre School Business Plan
Prepared for:
Pratham IGNOU Community College
Prepared By:
Mayuri Gathe
1st year PGDM, Institute for Technology and Management
Approved by:
Mr. Smitin Brid
This is to certify that the submitted report entitled PLAN FOR PRE-SCHOOL is an
original work done by Mayuri Gathe under my supervision.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Nanda Gole and Mr. Smitin Brid,
for giving me an opportunity to research about the preschools in India by giving a
report on PLAN FOR PRE-SCHOOL.
7. Preschool budget
a) Start-up budget
b) Operating budget
8. Setting up fees
9. Playschool infrastructure
a) Rooms
b) Outdoors
13. Courses
a) Craft ideas
b) Play centres
c) Music for education
d) Learning activities
e) Necessary skills
14. Facilities
15. Playschool curriculum
a) Montessori method
b) Reggio Emilia Approach
c) Waldorf Kindergarten
21. Marketing
1. INTRODUCTION
Owning and operating a child care business can be a very challenging and
rewarding career. Success in this field requires dedication, love and patience.
The work day is longer than a normal eight-hour day, but the satisfaction of
watching children grow and develop will be worth the extra effort.
If you are interested in starting a child care business, this publication will help you
plan, prepare and operate your business. It explains the step-by-step process of
starting the business, from assessing the need for child care services to selecting
the service, setting up your business and preparing for opening day.
A sample business plan outline for child care businesses is included, in addition to
a sample parent survey, a typical undergraduate curriculum in early childhood
instruction, general resources and a list of related national organizations.
Many play schools have come up in recent times. The different ways adapted by
people are:
1) Choosing a Preschool / Play school Franchisor. There are as many as 100
franchisors offering their brand name and support to those who want to start a play
school in India. But the benefit of going for a franchisor is not, what the
Franchisors generally communicate to prospective franchisees.
2) Play school Consultancy. There are many play school consultants available,
who can help you in setting up your preschool with your own brand name.
They provide guidance about location, equipment, curriculum and promotion and
offer support.
3) Consulting a play school owner. You can get good guidance from a friend
or relative who has a successful running play school. They can advise you
on budget, costs incurred, safety measures, teacher recruitment and many others.
Be sure that you get continuous support from them.
3. PERMISSION TO START UP A PRE-SCHOOL
Many people aspiring to start a preschool are worried about the legal permissions
and conditions involved in setting up a preschool. Heres the good news for all of
them!
In India there are no rules and regulations for starting a play school, preschool or a
day care centre. So if you feel capable of setting a good play school, then there are
no legal issues you have to face.
5. FINDING A LOCATION
An ideal location for a play school would be a place in a residential area with
sample space outside filled with greenery. Usually play schools require a minimum
area of 900 sq. ft to no actual upper limit.
An independent house, duplex house, a full fledged building will all prove to be a
good location.
Commercial and traffic filled areas should never be opted for preschools. A serene
and natural environment around the school would be a boon.
The cost of the centre itself, especially for a location outside your home, will be
one of your major start-up expenses. Many child care providers operate from their
homes, but you may want to build, buy or rent space for your centre.
Operating a Centre outside Your Home
Finding adequate space and the right location requires money, time and thought.
Look for space that is accessible and will require few, if any, repairs.
Sources of information on possible locations include
Classified real estate advertisements
-- Project utility costs based on last year's costs plus inflation. If a deposit is
required or opening a utility account, how much will it be? Will your account be
based on commercial (business) rates or private home rates?
Maintenance and repair
Lower overhead.
There are, however, certain safety regulations that may require changes to the
rooms you will be using.
You also are required to have adequate insurance protection for the centre. If you
don't have them already, you will need fire and theft insurance for your home. If
you have insurance, make sure your policy covers the supplies and equipment that
you purchase.
6. FINANCING YOUR PLAN
With an investment of 5 lacks or more, one can start a preschool in India. Many
popular school chains offer franchise units to establish a branch. The deciding
factor is not the low capital required, but the space. Even that has been taken care
of by acquiring a leased property.
To further assist the entrepreneur, banks and financial institutions provide loans to
help in starting the business. In cities personal loans of amount 3 to 5 lacks are
provided without any mortgage and in just a week or so.
Getting funding for your business can pose a problem, especially if you don't know
where to go or whom to see.
There are many sources for financing your centre. However, that financing
depends on whether you are beginning a nonprofits or for-profit organization.
These sources of financing can be divided into five categories:
private sources, venture capitalists, commercial banks, government agencies and
other sources.
a) Private Sources
Private sources include your own savings or funds from friends or relatives, and
are among the most common methods of financing.
The advantages of using your own money are
(1) there are no finance charges .
The disadvantages are
(1) you lose the interest you could be earning on your money and
(2) you lose the use of your savings as a cushion for any future emergencies.
The advantages of borrowing from friends and relatives are
(1) they are less likely to make demands on your style of management,
(2) there is no legal limit on how much you can borrow and
(3) the terms of borrowing can be negotiated and usually are more flexible than
those of commercial sources.
b) Commercial Banks
All banks have a commercial division. Since the banking industry was deregulated,
many savings and loan associations also engage in commercial banking. All
commercial banks offer business loans -- both short-term and long-term -- at
prevailing interest rates.
When applying for money from a bank or individual investor, show a willingness
to invest your own money. You must be willing to risk your assets if you expect
others to risk theirs.
c) Venture capitalist
venture capitalists are the most unlikely to finance your centre; they tend to invest
in growth firms rather than start-up businesses because of the significant long-term
capital appreciation and the high yields generated on investment returns.
d) Government Agencies
Local government agencies offer special financial assistance to small businesses.
Many loan programs, administered under government guidelines and funded by the
government, are available. Each program is designed to assist a special type of
business.
e) Other Sources
Credit unions and life insurance companies also can be a source of funds. Credit
unions offer personal loans to members, usually at interest rates lower than those
of commercial banks.
Insurance companies will often loan money against a life insurance policy for up to
95 percent of the policy value. Their interest rates also are generally lower than
those charged by commercial banks. Interest payments may be deferred as long as
your premium payments are made. But until the loan is repaid, your coverage will
be reduced by the amount of the loan.
7. PRE-SCHOOL BUDGET
Setting your budget is the most important step in starting any business.
If your operation is to succeed, you'll need a sound budget, i.e., a plan that provides
a realistic projection of actual estimated expenses and income.
Preparing both a start-up budget and an operating budget will tell you what you
will spend, now and in the future, and where the money will come from for starting
and operating your centre.
Most important, these budgets will indicate whether your projected income will
meet your expenses.
Your money should accommodate the following necessities. Though this list is not
complete, it gives an overall idea about the minimum requirements.
Location and building cost (Lease / Rent)
Play school set up cost (includes indoor, outdoor and other equipment)
Curriculum
Paper Work for office purpose like, receipts, fees, forms, report cards.
Teachers training and staff salaries
Marketing / Promotion costs
Transport facility
Web development costs
Do keep a good margin between the money you want to spend on setting up
a preschool and the money you can invest (the former being lesser). This is
because you can never predict when indispensable expenses turn up.
a) Start-up Budget
The first step to building a sound financial plan is a start-up budget. This will
usually include such one-time costs as major equipment, renovation, utility
deposits and down payments.
Additionally, your start-up budget should include at least 60 to 90 days of
operating costs.
Table 1 -- Start-up Budget
Expenses Amount
Personnel (costs prior to opening) _______
Occupancy
Down payment or purchase of building _______
Remodelling costs _______
Rent deposit _______
Utilities deposit _______
Equipment
Office _______
Program _______
Installation fee _______
Supplies
Program _______
Office _______
Housekeeping (toilet paper cleaning supplies) _______
Food service _______
Miscellaneous
Advertising _______
Food (first month) _______
____________________________________________________________________________
Occupancy
Monthly rent 12 months ________
(number of square feet amt/sq.ft.) ________
Heat/air-conditioning ________
Electricity ________
Telephone ________
Insurance ________
Equipment
Educational ________
Kitchen ________
Housekeeping ________
Office ________
Depreciation ________
Supplies
Educational ________
Housekeeping ________
Office ________
Food
2 meals and 1 snack (cost x no. of children x
no. of days in the centre/year) ________
Other expenses
Advertising ________
Licensing fees ________
Liability insurance (cost/child/year) ________
Annual payment on start-up loan ________
Total expenses ________
Income
Fees (Assess 90% enrolment; no. of children x
enrolment % cost/week x no. of weeks) ________
Fund-raising/donations ________
Your play school fee has to be competitive. Conduct a small survey by visiting
few schools in your area.
Observe the community around your school. You can have an estimate about
the affordability of parents towards the preschool education.
For example if you are going to set up the school in a posh locality, you can build a
high quality preschool (if your budget permits). Parents will be willing to pay good
amount of fees for sending their kids to a preschool maintaining good standards.
Ambience attracts parents to join their kids in your preschool. Make your play
school colourful and buy as many toys as you can.
Heres a quick list for your reference which will help you in planning your layout.
Rooms
Reception
Class rooms
Nap room
Audio Visual room
Activity Room
Ball room / Play room
Dining room
Kitchen
Outdoor
Swimming pool
Garden
Assembly
Play area for see-saw, slide
Play is the most interesting thing for any child. The preschool owners have to
take utmost care in choosing the play equipment. Play and learning equipment
at your preschool increase the scope of admissions in your school.
Safety being first, your play school equipment should serve the following
purposes
Entertainment
Learning through play
Health and exercise
Increase the ambience of your school
Here is a brief list of the things you need for setting up a good quality modern
preschool.
School Furniture :
Plastics melded or Wooden tables, chairs and desks, Reception table,
Chair, furniture for staff. Dining table
Play equipments :
Slide, Rockers, Cycles, Ball rooms, Play stations, Play houses, Sand
pit, Gym
Miscellaneous :
Stationery items, Uniforms, bags, Projector, Interactive CDs
10. SAMPLE OF PLAY SCHOOL
Play ground
Study place
Storage place
Day care centre
Health centre
11. MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
Planning and developing a program that adequately manages your centre is very
important. There are many factors that you must consider, such as finding and
hiring qualified staff, determining staff size, setting working hours, deciding on
staff responsibilities, establishing salaries and fringe benefits and developing
personnel policies.
Any school require a group of people to manage a school, which includes:
a) Director /Manager :
Every profitable day care centre requires a sharp manager or director. This person
might be yourself, or someone you hire for the job.
The director should have an empathy with people, be an excellent judge of people,
be sales oriented, and have an outgoing personality. As much as anything else, this
person must have the ability to listen to, and really hear what other people are
saying without the influence of preconceived opinions, or making snap decisions.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervision of your other help
and the budgeting, scheduling and overall day-to-day operation of the business.
A good director for a day care centre will command a salary equal to teachers in
your public schools, plus fringe benefit allowances such as free enrolment for their
children and perhaps medical and dental insurance if you choose to provide group
coverage.
a) Safety
You must be confident that all areas the children will use -- indoors and outdoors --
are safe. To check, you might want to crawl around on your hands and knees,
asking, What could a child possibly get into here? How might a child be hurt here?
What other problems could be caused here?
Make sure
All items children should not use are safely locked away or on high,
inaccessible shelves.
Precious breakables are put away.
Poisonous plants are out of reach.
Stairs are well lighted and secure underfoot.
Chemicals, medicines and other dangerous items are behind safety locks.
Toys are stored on shelves to avoid injury from falling lids on toy boxes.
All play materials, furniture, shelving, outdoor equipment -- everything with which
children will come into contact -- should be checked every few days for loose parts
or any safety hazard. Broken toys and missing pieces discourage play and should
be fixed, put away or discarded.
d) Storage
Adequate storage is especially important for child care providers with limited
space. Well-designed storage reduces clutter and increases play space. Boards and
cement blocks make sturdy, inexpensive shelves for preschool and older children.
Heavy cardboard cartons and wooden crates from grocery stores can also be used
to build storage units. Make sure shelves are stable enough that children won't tip
them over when they use the furniture to pull themselves up to stand or walk.
It is a good idea to rotate toys and materials: put away items the children are tired
of for a few weeks; bring them out later and the children will enjoy rediscovering
them. You may want to assemble theme boxes containing all the materials you
need for a specific activity.
Every child should have a personal storage area, even if it is only a shoe box or an
ice cream tub. Label it with the child's name and a special symbol. Each child's
special area should be off limits to the other children. This gives the child a feeling
of belonging and the security of knowing special things can be kept safely.
As a businessperson, you will need office space. Efficient storage of administrative
and financial records will save you time. You may not have the money to purchase
a file cabinet or desk when you open your centre
It is a good idea to find a secure place to keep your business records because these
records will be used to file your federal and state taxes at the end of the year. If you
misplace any of your records, filing accurate taxes will be virtually impossible.
13. COURSES
Play group,
Nursery,
LKG/PP-1,
UKG/PP-2
Day care program : decide on your regular day care hours. Generally, these are
from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m.
After-school care program.
For making maximum utilization of resources, play school owners today conduct
other events. Keeping the above factors in mind, list the different courses you
would like to offer .
Materials:
b) Play centres
Through play children learn to imitate animal noises, recognize alphabets and
numbers, understand about sharing and getting along with their peers. They
develop their large muscle skills by running, walking, climbing or riding a bike;
their small muscles skills by colouring, cutting, pasting and painting. And this just
scratches the surface.
Learning centres can be set up at home on trays, little tables, or on a shelf as is the
case with the reading centre. Different centres allow caregivers to guide a child's
learning by providing suggestions or guidance on what to do with the materials
provided.
Make reading a daily part of the lives of your preschool charges by reading to them
everyday from storybooks and what are known as big books, large-sized books
with many pictures and items of interest that can be seen from a short distance.
Make children a part of the experience by allowing them a chance to choose the
stories to be read at story time.
e) Necessary skills
Undergo Nursery teacher training / Montessori Teacher training / Pre-primary
teacher training / Early childhood care training. You can also work as a teacher in a
good play school for a short span to have a complete insight about pre-
primary education.
14. FACILITIES
Providing breakfast ,lunch, snacks
You'll also need to decide whether you want to offer breakfast for the
children. If so, you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morning
meals. You'll already be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because
you will be serving a noon meal.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states, but even
where they're not required, they are pretty much standard fare . Fresh fruit,
cookies, and juice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centres.
This entails a cook, dishes, planned menus, food supplies in bulk, and
perhaps even small size table and chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen
help and facilities for washing the dishes.
Travelling facilities such as school bus.
Emergency ambulance
Curriculum is the back bone for a preschool. The quality of curriculum offered in
your school will lift the standards of your school to great heights.
a) Montessori Method:
The Reggio Emilia approach to teaching young children puts the natural
development of children as well as the close relationships that they share with their
environment at the centre of its philosophy.
Parents are a vital component to the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Parents are viewed
as partners, collaborators and advocates for their children.
Teachers respect parents as each child's first teacher and involve parents in every
aspect of the curriculum. It is not uncommon to see parents volunteering within
Reggio Emilia classrooms throughout the school.
This philosophy does not end when the child leaves the classroom. Most parents
who choose to send their children to a Reggio Emilia program incorporate many of
the principles within their parenting and home life.
c) Waldorf Kindergarten:
You can choose any method or a combination of the above as a basis of your
curriculum. Ample material is available on internet for your reference. However it
is a tedious work to frame good curriculum. You should again search for books to
match the curriculum.
THE CURRICULUM
learn to co-operate, for example, in block play when they build together;
learn to take turns, for example, when a new pram or tricycle is provided;
learn to share, for example, in water play where they share containers and other
equipment;
experience the therapeutic value of working with materials, such as clay, dough,
paint, sand and water;
can explore their emotions, for example, in hospital play where they may learn to
come to terms with fears.
The environment
Most children are interested in and curious about living things. They should be
given guidance on how to care for plants and animals, and encouraged to consider
the needs of others in the environment.
Personal health and hygiene
Children eat and drink together every day. This provides adults with opportunities
to talk naturally and informally with children about healthy foods and healthy
eating habits. As they engage in various types of play and other activities, children
become aware of the importance of personal safety.
CREATIVE/AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT
Children should be given opportunities to develop their creative skills and aesthetic
appreciation through play activities and other experiences. These may include the
following:
with various media and tools such as paint, crayons, pencils, brushes, fingers,
sponges and
combs.
Children should be given opportunities to work with large amounts of clay and
dough and should be given time to explore their properties and to develop their
creative abilities.
Music
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
children have access to a wide variety of play activities and are encouraged to
talk about their experiences, ideas, feelings and achievements to one another and to
adults during the course of their play;
adults are available to listen to and talk with the children in a relaxed atmosphere;
children have opportunities to listen to stories and rhymes told or read to them in
one-to-one situations or in small and large groups;
children enjoy and share books with each other and engage in role play;
Children use their own everyday language to talk about mathematical concepts and,
with the skilful help of adults, will begin to use mathematical language as they
develop an awareness of space, size, order, pattern, number and relationships. For
example, as children play they develop an awareness of:
space as they build with large blocks on the floor or push a pram through a
confined space;
order and pattern as they thread beads of different sizes, shapes and colours;
number as they help to lay the table in the house corner for dinner;
relationships as they pretend to cook and place the correct lids on saucepans.
encouragement to discuss their experiences and findings with adults and peers.
Rhymes, stories, songs, seasonal events, birthdays, routines, such as tidying away
toys and equipment, and incidental occurrences in the course of the day also help
children to develop mathematical concepts.
EARLY EXPERIENCES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Children can also learn about themselves, their environment and about how things
work from books, pictures, posters and photographs.
observe and explore, for example, in water play when they explore the properties
of water and observe how different objects behave in water;
use their senses, for example, in sand play when they feel the texture of dry and
damp sand and make comparisons or when they identify sounds such as the
telephone ringing, blocks falling and birds singing;
explore, for example, in creative/aesthetic play when they work with malleable
materials such as dough and clay, becoming aware of how these materials behave
when poked, rolled, squashed and pulled;
observe and respect living things, handling them with care and sensitivity, for
example, by helping to attend to plants and helping to keep the nature/ interest
table fresh and attractive;
make models, for example, in construction play when they assemble, rearrange
and build with a variety of sizes and shapes of blocks and other materials,
observing that carefully stacked blocks are less likely to fall than those that are
stacked haphazardly and that a broad surface of blocks gives a better base for
building;
learn about themselves by talking with adults and listening to appropriate stories,
rhymes and songs.
KNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
experiment with a wide variety of play materials. Through talking with adults
and other children, they learn the names of materials and equipment and observe
how these behave. They develop an awareness of space as they help to tidy away
equipment. They become familiar with some positional and directional words;
talk about topics which arise naturally from the children s own experience, for
example, holidays, festive seasons and birthdays;
talk about the weather and the seasons at appropriate times during the year;
talk about themselves, for example, where they live, the members of their
extended family and events in their lives both past and present;
listen to stories and rhymes which have some reference to the past;
use their senses to explore the immediate inside and outside environment;
play with simple floor maps and small vehicles, discussing road safety when
appropriate;
learn about their pre-school setting, for example, the name of the setting and the
people who work in it, the names, function and position of different rooms, and the
name of the school to which they will transfer;
play with materials associated with different places and occupations, such as the
seaside, the farm, the fire station and talk about related ideas with adults.
talk about the work of some of the people in the local community, for example,
the shopkeeper and the dentist.
Preschool Sample Timetable
The first step is to give the full information about the school to the parents. Then
the procedure will start step wise.
a) Interview of parents:
This is the first step in which all details about the children is taken from the
parents. The certain questions are to be asked in such interview these are:
Can you tell me about your child in brief?
Tell me something about your family?
Where do you work?
What do you expect out of the school?
What is the role of a school in a childs life?
Who takes all decisions in your family?
What time do you come back from your work?
How much do you travel?
How do you manage alone?
In your absence, who takes care of your child?
Do your parents live with you?
What is the language spoken at home?
What is your qualification?
Who cooks in your home?
Do you have a live in maid?
What are your childs interest / hobbies?
What are your hobbies?
What activities do you do with your child?
What is your childs favourite cartoon character?
Why are you not working?
During school holidays, how will you manage with work and your child?
Where is your hometown?
How many times in a month do you eat dinner out?
Do you have another child in this school?
What would you look for in a good school?
Why do you want to move your child from that school?
b)Application form:
_______________________________________________
(in figures):______________________
3.Age on 01.04.08 (in words) __________________________
(in figures): ____________________
4.Address:_______________________________________________________________
________
____________________________________
PH No (Res): _____________________________
Particulars of parents: Father
a) Name:
_____________________________________________________________________
____
b) Educational qualification:
___________________________________________________________
c) Occupation / Profession :
__________________________________________________________
d) Monthly Income:
_________________________________________________________________
e) Office Address:
__________________________________________________________________
f) Office Phone no: ______________________________
g)Email: ____________________________
b) Mother
a) Name:
_________________________________________________________________
_______
b) Educational qualification:
__________________________________________________________
c) Occupation / Profession :
_________________________________________________________
d) Monthly Income:
________________________________________________________________
e) Office Address:
_________________________________________________________________
f) Office Phone no: ______________________________
b) Email: ____________________________
c) Sibling Details
a) Name ____________________ School ______________________
Class __________________
b) Name ____________________ School ______________________
Class __________________
1. _____________________
2. ____________________ _______________
c) Documents required
Photos
Parents id
Childs Birth certificate
17. FORMS, RECEIPTS AND PAPER WORK
You will be in need of a number of receipts
Enquiry form :
This form is given to the parents who arrive for the first time at your school. It
includes columns for knowing about their personal information. This will be used
later for making follow up calls
TC form:
This form is given to the students who are moving out of the school in the middle
of the course
Feedback form:
You can give this form to parents during parent-teacher meetings and receive their
valuable feedback
Diary:
A diary is the most important book to be printed for pre-primary students. It has to
be filled everyday by the teacher to make the parents aware of the happenings at
school. It is also used to intimate parents abut their kids performance.
It allows parents to get an idea about your school even before visiting it.
You can update parents about events and celebrations coming up in your
school.
You can upload latest photographs of celebrations. Parents love seeing their
kids pictures online and send the link to many of their friends giving free
publicity for your school.
With good optimization of your school website, your school can be seen in
search results when parents are searching for preschool for their kids
Design
When a website looks great, it sends the impression that the company or
product is great. Keep in mind that your website may be your first chance to
make an impression upon your site visitors, so make it a great one!
Structure
Have you ever been to a website and didnt know where to start or how
to check out? While structuring or restructuring your website, be sure that
your visitors can easily navigate through your website. A confused consumer
may easily say no to your service or product.
Content
Content is King! More over, it is the heart of your website. The first purpose
of a blog or website is to educate and build expertise. A really great site
offers content in the following forms: written articles, audio and video. This
is a great way to meet the learning preferences of your site visitors.
Optimization
It is a marketing tool that allows any online user to get more clicks in their
web copy writing efforts for their website by improving the search engine
results in the Web. Moreover, make sure that search engines can read your
website. This is a great way to attract website visitors from major search
engines such as Google.
Maintenance
b) Brochure:
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing your rates, your
services, an outline of the curriculum, and a statement of your benefit goals for the
children.
21. MARKETING
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign, you should be able
to be at 90 percent capacity within your first six weeks. In an area where a severe
shortage of day care facilities exists, and with the right advertising and promotion,
even sooner.
4. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV stations and
invite them out to your grand opening.
Word of mouth
Mouth to mouth publicity is still the first and best kind of reliable one believed
by many parents. Hence the performance of your school throughout the year leads
to creating good impression to parents who give the best publicity to their
neighbours and friends However good the above ways of publicity are followed, if
you fail to impress the parents of existing students, they can easily spoil the
reputation of your school. Parents can prove to be the best way to promote your
school. Offer some incentive like concession if they recommend another parent to
join their kid in your school.