Staff Spotlight with Daniela

We are lucky enough to attract talent from all over the world. Daniela is from Italy, and has shared with us what she loves about working with young children at Little Harvard.

 My name is Daniela. I am from Italy. I have been here in Ireland for nine years. I have been here in Maynooth for the last three years; I have been with Little Harvard since 2020 so for two years. The area is good, in the beginning I felt it might be a little bit weird to be away from Dublin city center but over time I have grown to love it. It’s quiet but it’s not too far away from the city center so you can go anywhere you want. In Maynooth… it’s a young town, it’s a small village but because of the college it’s full of young people which always makes the atmosphere nice.

The first thing which motivated me to get into childcare was to teach children, to help equip them with skills to deal with life in general, and to give them the basics to approach difficult circumstances. I Italy I was a primary school teacher. When I moved here I wanted to start in primary but in Ireland you need the Gaelic language. I was having enough trouble with English at the time so Irish was out of the question!

I have been involved with children for twenty years. 15 years professionally. In Italy I worked with disabled children. In Ireland it’s a little bit different because you have specific schools to help disabled kids

A typical day at Little Harvard is one whereby I arrive in the morning and organise for the staff and the rooms. To be sure the rooms are in ratio. The main goal for me every day is to ensure the staff are happy to come. To make sure the setting and environment is as nice as can be. If my staff are happy, the children are happy. Before I also was a staff member when I was working as a teacher in a primary school in Italy. Some days I was happy, and some days I wasn’t. You can see the difference in the setting when the staff is happy. It seems silly but for me it’s the main thing. I believe every company should prioritise the happiness of the staff first and foremost. In childcare, the main issue is to find staff. You can have the money to open twenty creches, but you might not have the staff. Working with kids can be quite a demanding job. Staff are here for nine hours a day. If, behind the scene, you have a manager who makes things complicated, or if what’s expected is very strict, your staff will leave. Childcare companies all over the country are desperate for staff so there are offers everywhere. All of the staff, they can find another job this afternoon if they want. Not tomorrow, but today. But I cannot find staff tomorrow. This very thing happened with us last year. I did an interview with a girl from a different creche, and she accepted the job. Five of her friends followed her and that creche lost six staff in one month. The sole reason they left was because they had difficulties with the management. They liked the way I treated their friend and they all joined. It wasn’t about the money. They offered them more money and they refused. If you can provide a happy environment for your staff, you give them reason to stay. End of story. Especially now after covid, it’s not about the money. It’s about the quality the job, of the environment. How… they… are… treated…

The reason I love working here in Maynooth is mainly due to the atmosphere. I like the atmosphere we are a team. We only opened in September 2020, and almost all of the staff I have here have been with us since we opened. Whoever is new has been here a year. The only people that have left have found a job outside of childcare. That or they were pregnant, in that case she was in maternity leave so I couldn’t keep her, my loss!

I think that I enjoy most about working for Little Harvard is the fact that you are treated very well. They take into consideration your thoughts, what you think, and your feelings. And that’s important. One of the main reasons I looked to work for Little Harvard was because I wanted to work for a company as opposed to a small creche. This gives me a chance to learn more and improve your skills. With Little Harvard you can learn. There are lots of things they provide and the training is good. Even from the other managers.