5 mins with Caroline Wright, early childhood director at Bright Horizons

Bright Horizons' early childhood director, Caroline Wright, heads up a team responsible for developing and leading best practice in teaching and learning across all of its nurseries. Recently she and her team created a wellbeing curriculum which is used in all of Bright Horizons' nurseries.

She has worked as an Ofsted inspector, an early years director at Kidsunlimited as well as a lecturer of Early Childhood Studies at Doncaster University College.

Can you tell us about Bright Horizons and what you do?

Bright Horizons has been supporting the evolving needs of working families for 35 years. At approximately 300 community and workplace nurseries across the UK, our caring and experienced teams create inspiring learning experiences that encourage children to be curious and confident.

I am the director of Early Childhood at Bright Horizons in the UK and that means that I am the strategic and pedagogical lead for our Early Childhood Specialist support team. My team collaborate directly with practitioners to offer support in the nurseries and share best practice strategies for teaching and learning in the early years.

Over the past two years, we have been developing our new child-centred wellbeing curriculum, Bright Beginnings, which is now being used across all of our UK nurseries. Bright Beginnings focuses on children’s emotional wellbeing as the key to learning and was designed to acknowledge the importance of giving children a voice and promoting decision making, to grow their confidence, promote their wellbeing and inspire a genuine love for learning. It is based on extensive pedagogical theory and research and focuses on the significance of the adult’s role as the educator.

Can you tell us about the path you took to get to where you are today?

I always wanted to be a teacher and always a teacher of our youngest children. They fascinate me and keep me thinking. I love nothing more than watching children at play and trying to understand what is it that they’re trying to explore and how I can help them to do that.

Most of my working career has been in Early Childhood. I started work as a Level 3 NNEB, working with children in the care of the local authority, and since then have worked in almost every type of care environment, including hospital, out of school clubs and of course day care. I have an ambition to be a childminder when I finally retire. It’s the only thing I haven’t done yet!

I was a single parent for a while and my earning power was limited, even though by this time in my life I was a nursery manager. So, I decided to do a degree in Early Childhood. That was the hardest thing I ever did. Working full time, with a teenage son and doing a degree was backbreaking; but I knew it was my key to professional success and financial independence. Since then, I went on to do the Early Years Professional (EYP) / Teacher status and achieve a master’s level degree – I had got the learning bug!

That was the turning point in my career, and I went to work in the Local Authority, transferring to Ofsted and eventually moved into senior leadership roles in the private sector. I spent some time working alongside the National College of Teaching and Leadership and designed EYITT modules before teaching on an Early Childhood degree and supporting graduate and post-graduate dissertations as a university lecturer.

I have been very lucky to have lots of support, but essentially it was hard work and tenacity that led me to this place. I am proud of my achievements and thankful for the support I’ve had from my managers who have helped me to be successful over the years.

Who inspires you the most and why?

I think my greatest inspiration has always been other people I work with. Throughout my working life I have seen the difference that my fellow colleagues have made to the lives of children.

What is your biggest achievement in your career and in your personal life? My biggest career achievement was getting a degree, then a master’s degree. It was really hard work and I know from experience that you have to really want it to be successful. I still occasionally read my post-graduate thesis and am so proud that I completed it.

Since my university days I’ve led and produced a few research projects, all related to Early Childhood, and I’m really proud of that too. I am really keen that any new aids to teaching that I promote actually have a positive impact on the children who experience it. That is why research is so important to me. I don’t just want to make a change; I want to make a positive change.

On a personal level, my biggest achievement is my son. I love him dearly and I am so humbled by the path in which he has chosen. He’s a research scientist and every day he makes a difference to the lives of people all around the world.

What do you think is the biggest threat facing your organisation?

Recruitment and retention are definitely the biggest challenges we face as a sector, and other sectors are experiencing the same strains too.

For us, we have a great recruitment team who are really pushing forward to ensure we have the best people and that we keep them. As a company we have a lot of benefits for our colleagues but most importantly we have career progression initiatives so they can come to us to grow in their career and not just be with us for a year or two. Professional development is absolutely key to supporting our colleagues and opening up new career avenues for them within the sector.

It is a challenge that will remain for a while but there are ways we can improve it and that is what we, at Bright Horizons, will continue to do.

What do you think the government should do to improve life in your nurseries? I think we should work collaboratively with the government agencies, such as DfE (Department for Education) and Ofsted to make life in nurseries even better. Whilst the obvious answer to some of the issues we face is poor nursery education funding levels, and this is an ongoing topic for debate, I do believe we can do more work ourselves to raise the profile of the important work we do to support working families. Many families who struggled with working from home during the pandemic have really become aware of how important Early Childhood provision is, both in terms of the care aspect but also in supporting their child’s development.

This year, Bright Horizons has made a significant investment into the salaries and benefits of our early years educators to ensure that we offer some of the most competitive salaries in the UK’s early years sector, and to recognise differences in the cost of living across the UK.

Bright Horizons is also adding to its award-winning benefits package with a focus on colleagues’ emotional, physical and financial wellbeing, recognising that improved educator wellbeing not only benefits the individual, but also the quality of their care and education provision for the children and families they support.

What is the biggest opportunity for your organisation currently?

Through innovative nursery care and work-life solutions, Bright Horizons is redefining support for employers and families. From the unique learning experiences we create at our nurseries across the UK, to trusted back-up care, expert coaching and eldercare, our comprehensive solutions help everyone to thrive. We know the needs of every family are different, so flexibility and an innovative range of services are tailor made to provide exactly what you need, when and where you need it. What do you hope to introduce in your organisation in the next five years and what are you most excited about implementing?

In terms of Early Childhood, we have lots of ideas for the future. Our Early Childhood philosophy and guiding principles dictate that we will be ‘responsive and reflective.’ So, what we are thinking now, might not be relevant in five years’ time. For us, it is about constantly looking at what we do; how it impacts on children and families and looking outside to see what research is telling us about children’s lives.

One example of this is our Bright Beginnings Curriculum. This came about because we were reading about the number of children in the UK alone who presented with mental health referrals. There were over one million in 2020. This was one of the reasons why we diverted our attention during the Covid pandemic to thinking about not only ‘what’ we wanted our children to learn, but more importantly ‘how’ we wanted them to learn.

Our process of reflection will continue, and we will make sure we are agile to adapt. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be a teacher. I used to sit my friends on cushions in the sitting room, whilst I sat at my desk and was the teacher, even when I was five years old. I was going to be a teacher of dance, but that changed when I realised, I simply didn’t have the body or the stamina for that!

What is your favourite book and why?

Ooh! Professionally, my biggest influence has come from ‘Doing Foucault in Early Education’ – it made me always consider ‘who says, why and do I believe it?’

On a personal level, I think my favourite book I’ve read is ‘Brick Lane’ by Monica Ali. It is a beautiful, painful, and inspiring story of an Asian woman and her life in 1960s London. It made me cry, laugh, and simply wonder ‘how could this happen?’

What is the best present you have received?

The best present I ever received is my foster daughter. I always wanted another child, and then she at last came to live with us full time. I have the most beautiful son and now I am blessed by having a beautiful daughter. What more could I ask?

How do you like to spend your free time?

Haha! This varies. I work really hard and like many of us these days I will work remotely on occasions. I am not good at switching off, so often the only thing I will do on weeknights is watch TV. I confess to watching some really tacky programmes, just to wind down!

However, my real interest is walking. I love long walks and especially fell-walking with my husband and the dogs. Tuning into nature is something that really helps me to relax.