Business can be a force for good, and we believe childcare should be too. Partou is now a Certified B Corporation™, one of a small number of childcare providers to meet the standard. But a badge only matters if it means something for the people it affects, so here is what our B Corp™ status means for you, your child and your family. It is recognition that we hold ourselves to account for our impact well beyond business performance, and a commitment to keep improving across everything we do in the early years.
B Corp is a global certification awarded to businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. To become certified, an organisation completes a rigorous independent assessment of how it is governed, how it supports its people, how it contributes to communities, how it cares for the environment and how it serves its customers.
Certification is not a one-off tick. B Corps recommit at regular intervals, so the standard has to be lived rather than earned once and shelved.
Being a B Corp means we don’t measure success by business performance alone. We also hold ourselves accountable for the impact we have on:
For us, B Corp isn’t a finishing line. It’s a commitment to keep improving.
Partou achieved an overall B Impact Assessment score of 84.1, exceeding the 80-point threshold required for certification. For context, an ordinary business completing the same assessment typically scores around 50, so the number reflects a meaningful standard rather than a pass mark.
The assessment looked at five areas:
It recognised particular strengths in the way we are governed, how we support our people and our commitment to children and families, while also pointing to areas where we can keep improving.
The five assessment areas each translate into something families can see in our nurseries.
Governance
We make decisions with children, families, team members and communities in mind, not business performance alone. In practice that means strong safeguarding and ethical standards, open ways to share feedback, clear accountability and a commitment to continually improving our nurseries.
Our people
Children thrive when they’re cared for by people who feel valued, supported and able to grow themselves. You’ll see well-trained nursery teams, ongoing professional development, career progression opportunities and wellbeing support for our team members.
Community
Every Partou nursery plays an active part in its local area, through local events, charity fundraising, inclusive environments and strong relationships with schools, libraries and community organisations.
Environment
Helping children care for the world around them starts with us. You’ll see us taking steps to reduce waste, using resources thoughtfully, encouraging children to care for nature and continuing to improve how we lower our environmental impact.
Children and families
Everything we do is focused on helping children feel safe, happy and confident, while giving families confidence in the care we provide. That shows up as high-quality early years education, strong safeguarding, regular opportunities to share feedback and continuous quality improvement across our nurseries.
Becoming a B Corp is the beginning, not the destination. Over the coming months and years we’ll keep sharing the progress we’re making, from lowering our environmental impact to strengthening our communities and measuring the difference we make for children and families. Where we fall short, we’ll say so, and we’ll show what we’re doing about it.
Choosing a nursery is a big decision and our B Corp certification is one way of showing that the values we talk about are ones we’re independently held to. It doesn’t change the everyday warmth of nursery life, the songs, the messy play, the small proud moments. It simply means the care behind all of it is built on standards you can trust.
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A B Corp nursery is part of a business certified as a B Corporation, meaning it has passed an independent assessment of its social and environmental impact. For families, it signals that the provider is held to account on how it treats children, staff, communities and the environment, not only on financial performance.
No. B Corp certification reflects how a business is run and the standards it holds itself to, not a premium service tier. It’s about accountability and impact across governance, people, community and the environment, rather than a change to what families pay for their childcare place.
Partou completed the B Impact Assessment, an independent review across five areas: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. We scored 84.1, above the 80-point threshold required. Certification is reviewed at regular intervals, so we recommit to the standard rather than earning it once.
It means the care your child receives sits within a business independently assessed on its impact. In practice that supports strong safeguarding, well-trained and well-supported nursery teams, and a genuine commitment to improving quality across our early years settings over time.
Partou Leaps and Bounds are delighted to have achieved ‘strong standard’ in inclusion and children’s welfare and wellbeing as well as ‘expected standard’ across all other evaluation areas.
Read more about the official report and the nursery’s approach.
Real life learning experiences are an important part of nursery life at Partou. Read all about how Partou Prospect House welcomed local police officers to the nursery to support children’s community awareness.
A serious motorcycle accident involving a close friend led Lydia Spencer-Plumb, Nursery Manager at Partou Habergham, to rally nurseries and schools on both sides of the Pennines for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Read how the team joined together to raise funds for this important service.
