Last Friday and Saturday (29th and 30th April) SSES had a stand at the Nursery World Show. As much as I tried not to, I found myself comparing the show to the Childcare and Education Expo we were at a few weeks ago.
For me there were both positives and negatives.
- The show had been rebooked several times because of Covid. Initially it should have been February 2021, which was cancelled early (and there was the virtual show) and then it should have been February 2022, which was deferred to the other weekend.
- This meant it fell soon after the Childcare and Education Expo and also landed on a bank holiday weekend. On top of that there was limited transport around London due to strike action.
- We haven’t had football numbers yet, but it felt quiet compared to the previous two shows we have exhibited at.
- There were definitely less exhibitors than both other shows, which may have had an impact on people choosing to visit, approx.60 instead of around 90.
- The free workshops were good.
- We had a great position, having booked two years ago we had had a choice of stands.
- We had the opportunity to chat with some friendly exhibitors. The team from Enlighten were there again, and Stuart from Active IQ had popped in to visit.
I do believe it is essential to get out there and exhibit. As we’ve mentioned before we are small and sometimes feel insignificant, compared to the big EPAOs, but hopefully over the past two days we have had the opportunity to explain the advantages of using a small EPAO to visitors. If you choose a specialist End Point Assessment Organisation, (and remember as the employer it is your choice), they know their sector inside and out. Our owners have a career history in the early years, children and young people sector and on occasion are actually the people carrying out the End Point Assessment.
If you would like to know how we can help you, whether you have 1 or 100 apprentices, please email on contact@sseducationalservices.couk
