Other software companies said no. Nursery in a Box said yes.
His family has run nurseries since 1985; today Hayden McCann owns eight across the North West and has tried plenty of systems along the way. He is used to hearing ‘no, the software won’t do that.’ For nearly ten years, Nursery in a Box has kept saying yes.
Hayden McCann is not an easy man to sell to. He has run his family’s nurseries for forty years, grown the group to eight across the North West, and tried plenty of software along the way. So when he says Nursery in a Box is unlike the rest, it is worth hearing why. The clearest proof he points to has a name: Chester.
Why his verdict carries weight
Chester City Council changed the rules. Nursery in a Box changed the software.
A few years ago, Chester City Council brought in a policy that sat outside the usual DfE guidance — the kind of local exception that stops most systems dead. Hayden picked up the phone to Milesh. Within days, the development team had reworked the platform to suit. Within weeks, the change was live across all eight of his nurseries. Another supplier would have explained why the software couldn’t do that. Nursery in a Box simply made it.
“This is what we face all the time. Every council is different. Every nursery in every council is different. The Nursery in a Box team adapts to that. They went away, got the design team on it, changed the system, and it worked.”
“They changed the system, and it worked.”Hayden McCann · Owner, Early Learners Nurseries
He had asked the others first. They said no.
That responsiveness is exactly what Hayden had not found elsewhere — and he had looked. Running a group this size, he has had access to other platforms and trialled several competitors over the years. The pattern was always the same: the software was the fixed point, and the nursery was the thing expected to bend around it.
“They won’t tailor-make anything for your business,” he says of the others. “Nursery in a Box is the opposite. They listen, and they come up with a solution quickly. That’s the bit that I like.” He has compared them directly — and for an operator who has seen how differently every council and every setting works, that flexibility wasn’t a nice-to-have. It was the whole decision.
A question now. An answer in ten minutes.
“I love that I can pick up the phone and speak to Milesh, and he sends me a WhatsApp back, ‘speak to you in ten minutes.’ There’s a person at the end of the phone. The support, I love it.”
Hayden McCann · Early Learners Nurseries
Eight times the size, and the answer is still yes
A supplier can say yes once to win you. Harder to keep saying it for nearly ten years. Hayden has grown eightfold and never watched that change. Early Learners keeps acquiring nurseries, each arriving with its own habits and records. One he took on was still being run on Excel, the manager’s week lost to spreadsheets. Nursery in a Box absorbed it without anyone building an admin department around it.
“The amount of time the manager was spending on spreadsheets — Nursery in a Box does it all for them.” Eight nurseries on, what Hayden chose still does the job he chose it for. He won’t put a number on what that has saved him over the years, and he doesn’t need to.
Hayden has tried the alternatives, run eight nurseries through it, and seen how Nursery in a Box behaves when the real world doesn’t fit the template. When another owner asks him if they should choose them, this is what he says.
“If you work with them, they’ll find a solution. That’s the best thing about them.”Hayden McCann · Owner, Early Learners Nurseries
You’ve heard Hayden’s story. We’d love to hear yours.
It all started with a phone call. Dave ran nurseries himself before he built any software, and he’s still the person at the end of the line — the one Hayden has rung for nearly ten years. Tell him about your nursery, and where you’d like to take it.
“After 40 years in this industry, that kind of partnership with a supplier is incredibly rare — and incredibly valuable.” Hayden McCann · Owner, Early Learners Nurseries