Swings + Roundabouts Autumn 2021

STRENGTHS • Our centre has 25 successful years providing quality education and care to thousands of young children • We have a strong image and reputation in our community • We have good compliance and quality improvement practices and systems in place, recognised in our latest ERO review • We have a waiting list OPPORTUNITIES • We can identify the characteristics of our ideal parent more accurately and review our communications to better meet parent needs • We can build a new graduate programme to support the growth of new, quality ECE teachers • We can build our relationship with our local primary schools to better understand our programme, what we achieve with our children and how this compliments the school’s curriculum ASPIRATIONS • We want to be a leader in the quality improvement and curriculum delivery aspects of our service • We want our teaching team to feel proud to work at our centre RESULTS • We want to build a data profile of the performance of our centre and our children, in support of the story-based practices we already engage in • We want to be recognised for our success as an independent centre AND TO FINISH, SOME HOMEWORK! I trust that this article has got you thinking more about the benefits of using the SOAR model instead of doing a SWOT, because “that’s what we have always done”. At the end of the day, which model you choose is going to reflect what you are most confident and comfortable using to help you finalise a great strategic plan. To make the learnings from this article more real, why not delay whatever you were planning on doing next just for 15 minutes and have a think about where your centre is now. If you are like me, then pick up a pen and paper and put the four headings across an A4 page, or if you prefer, just open up a Word document and create a 2×2 table. The ECC receives regular approaches and comments from centres needing to review their current strategic plan as a result of the continually changing environment we find ourselves in with COVID-19. There’s never been a better time to stop for a few minutes and think about your strategy. I guarantee that the time spent writing this down now will provide some greater clarity for you in the priorities for coming weeks and months. If you’d like any assistance with reviewing or developing elements of your strategic plan, please check out the ECC’s Calendar of Events for the next Strategic Planning Workshop in your area or contact us on 0800 742 742. removes such a heavy focus on the Weaknesses and Threats (which make up two of four elements, or half of the SWOT model), and focuses more on Opportunities aligned to the Aspirations. The Aspirations part of the model also helps to provide a greater alignment to the centre’s vision and purpose. The Aspiration and Results help people contributing to the SOAR to be more positive and future oriented. In discussions with a centre about the SOAR model, we found there may be value to add a new element in to the model, which is the Constraints. The centre wanted to document and consider both the internal and external Constraints that could stop them getting to the Aspirations and Results. With this addition, the SOAR model was adapted to SOCAR. There was a suggestion from someone who thinks that acronyms used as management tools need to sound like a real word, and that the new element be Barriers, so that the model would be SOBAR! Here’s an example of SOAR used with a centre: March 2021 { 23 }