Nurse Ring Project Development Research Paper

Nurse Ring project will focus on children aged below five years. The non-formal education setup will relieve working mothers from the stressful childcare role, as the school will provide all the custodial needs of the enrolled children. Children aged three years and above will be enrolled into an educational program where they will learn and gain enough skills to enable them to join the kindergartens. Children aged below 3 years will obtain the day care services.

Parents will have the privilege of leaving their babies who are as young as two weeks to the nursery school’s caretakers who will take full responsibility for the custodial needs of the babies. The nursery school will remain open until the late hours of the evening to allow the parents to pick their children at their convenience. Nurse ring nursery school will have four operational quarters in the entire academic year. Enrollments will be open during the short summer, fall, winter, and spring quarters. The project will admit all children of the mentioned age group regardless of their sex, ethnic backgrounds, or disability.

Goals and objectives of the project

Play is very important in the development of a child (Sen, 2009). Nurse ring nursery school will focus on offering the children with the best learning environment that will enable children to learn various activities in a playful manner. Every staff in the school setup will act as the custodian of the children during their daytime stay at the school. The teachers will ensure that they offer the children with the opportunity to discover and understand phenomena. Essentially, the goals and objectives of the nursery school centre are as described below.

1. To ensure that there is a balance between the child and teacher initiatives in the course of learning;
2. To ensure that the children have access to various indoor and outdoor activities;
3. To ensure that children learn through their natural curiosity, discovery, and social interaction;
4. To ensure that the children develop a strong, trustworthy, comfortable, and friendly relationship with the teachers and their peers;
5. To ensure that children are fully prepared to join the kindergartens by the time they finish their nursery school education program.

Types of services offered

As mentioned, Nurse Ring nursery school will enroll toddlers and children who are old enough to learn some elementary education. Other than the feeding and nursing services, the enrolled children will have an opportunity to obtain elementary education. The toddlers’ program will encourage the growth of social awareness and the development of physical skills (McCain & Mustard, 2002). Extended care will be offered to children who will play indoor games and go for outdoor explorations.

The main activities for the toddlers will include painting, playing with clay dough, and playing with water. Children will do some small motor activities during their outside play. Essentially, all the activities aim at developing the peer social skills, where, the teachers and caretakers will act as overseers. Children aged about two years will learn to acquire their first language in the schools setup. Tales and stories will be the daily final activity and parents are encouraged to join the class during the tales and stories session.

The learners’ program will involve children of ages three, four, and five. The teachers in this program will offer services that will work towards increasing the physical, mental, and social growth of the children. The children will learn elementary skills using special study materials. The blocks, paints, and clay dough will play a great role in enhancing the learning of basic skills. Children will learn sounds and letters; they will learn how to cite the alphabetical codes using signs and letters, and they will learn basic writing skills. By the end of the nursery learning session, children will be competent enough to join the kindergartens.

Possible problems in the nursery school project

Dealing with children is quite challenging, and thus, the provision of the nursery school services would have some problems. Firstly, many people have a negative perception of the early childhood education studies. People view nursery school teaching as an odd job that ought to be done by failures. Therefore, it will be difficult to obtain qualified individuals to hire. Some unqualified staffs may struggle to have the positions and they would end up being disappointed if they do not secure the job opportunities. Such people may end up destroying the reputation of Nurse Ring nursery school. Secondly, it is quite difficult to convince parents to enroll their children in an upcoming nursery school.

Parents will entrust already established nursery schools more than the upcoming Nurse Ring nursery school. They may doubt the competency of the caring and nursing services of the new nursery school. In the first year of operation, there is a very high possibility that the nursery school may run at a loss. The project director will be obliged to prepare all the staffs to have patience with the progress of the nursery school.

It is evident that the licensing procedures in establishing a nursery school are quite hectic. The various ministries involved in authorizing the issue of the operating license may delay the whole project. The government intends to protect the children and ensure that they learn in a safe environment. Therefore, the project director of Nurse Ring nursery school will be obliged to obtain licensing from the ministry of social affairs, the ministry of education, the ministry of labor, and licensing from the knowledge and human development authority. Another very essential license is obtained from the municipality after the municipal investigates and approves the school’s buildings. Essentially, the licensing procedures would be the major causes of delays of the establishment of the project.

Indeed, establishing the project is quite costly, and the project director may have to seek funds from credit institutions (Verry, 2000). In that case, the project director will have to develop a committee that will provide the necessary signatories. The whole process is tedious and time consuming. The committee team, facilitators of the project, and the credit institutions may be another cause of delays in the establishment of the project.

Project Management Tools and Techniques

For successful completion of projects, project managers employ a number of tools. Project management tools outlay the processes, procedures, and the contiguous items in developing the project. Therefore, for the project manager and all involved stakeholders to implement the Nurse Ring project successfully, they must employ essential tools. A project plan is one of the important tools that are indispensable in the management of projects. According to Levine (2002), project plan is a master plan that shows processes and procedures that a project undergoes before reaching its completion. As a project comprises of numerous processes and procedures, a project plan gives a detailed description of all the items that a project manager should execute in every step until the completion of the project.

In this case, project plan is a critical tool in the management of Nurse Ring project, as it will give details of how constructors will create every part of the infrastructure. Fencing of the site, development of the site plan, construction of foundation, construction of classrooms, erection of recreational structures, and landscaping are some of the activities that project plan details for the project manager to follow strictly.

Milestone checklist is another important management tool that the project will employ in ensuring that the processes are on track. Projects that do not have checklist usually lose track or overlook some activities that are pertinent in the completion of the project (Levine, 2002).

In this case, the manager will enlist all the activities, processes, and procedures and use a checklist in the management processes. The milestone checklist mainly shows the project manager the progress of the project and thus provides a means of assessing the development of the project. The successful completion of each phase or section of a project is an important milestone that ought to be confirmed. The use of milestone checklist is not only a tool, but also a technique that guides construction managers on what to do on every stage of the development of the project. In this case, the project manager will develop each milestone for the Nurse Ring project and list them to form a checklist.

The Nurse Ring project is a very complex project; therefore, a risk management plan is an essential tool that will help in reducing risks associated with the complex project. In this view, the risk management plan will require that the Nurse Ring project experience minimal risks. Essentially, the risk management plan is part of the feasibility study, which ensures that the project is viable and thus supports the basis of funding (Levine, 2002). Project managers will utilize the risk management plan in alleviating or averting risks associated with projects. In this project, the risk management plan will aid in optimizing budgets, reducing deficits, saving costs, and construction of the Nurse Ring project that meets the set standards.

Organizational structure

The organizational structure for the Nurse Ring project will take the hierarchical form. The program director will head the whole project and an assistant program manager will help in the management role. The entire school will have six major departments:

1. toddlers department,
2. education department,
3. business management department,
4. administration department,
5. food and service department,
6. the nursing department.

The organizational structure is as presented in the following chart.

The program director will be in charge of the daily activities in the nursery school. The director will supervise all the activities in the school setup to ensure that the children are comfortable. With the help of the assistant director, the program director will involve the parents in the daily learning in the school. The director will work together with the school committee to ensure that the nursery school is managed effectively. The director will connect the nursery school with the government and external stakeholders of Nurse Ring nursery school.

The administration department will deal with all the admission services and direct the admitted children to their respective departments. The admin assistants will ensure that all the activities in the school run smoothly. They will receive parents and visitors and handle their queries in a professional and timely manner. The administration department will take the role of the central management and control of all the procedures in the school. The administrators will report to the assistant director who will address difficult matters with the program director.

The business management department will ensure that all the finances are managed efficiently. The finance manager will work together with the strategic planner to come up with strategic plans that would enhance the development of the school. Parents will address school fees matters with the finance manager in an efficient manner. The finance manager will take charge of the finances needed in the food and service department, and the nursing department. Most importantly, the finance manager will ensure that the salaries of all the workers in the school are disbursed at the right time.

The toddlers’ department will take care of kids aged below three years. The department will have a special unit to handle babies below six months and another unit that will handle the crawling and walking babies. Staff in this unit will give intensive care to babies who have special needs.

The educational department will have qualified teachers who will install the right education to children aged 3, 4, and 5 years. The classrooms of the educational department will have special materials to meet the indoor and outdoor learning activities of the children. The educational department will prepare children in an efficient manner for the readiness of the kindergarten status.

The nursing department will take care of the entire nursing needs of the children in the nursery. Children with specific medical conditions will have their needs solved at the nursing department. Essentially, the duly trained nurses will have the medical records of every child, and they will handle all medical emergencies within the school. The qualified pediatric nurses will ensure that the children’s health matters are handled in a professional manner.

The food and service department will ensure that all the children and staff in Nurse Ring nursery school are free from hunger. The staff in the food and service department will prepare special meals for children with special needs. The food and service department will be obliged to prepare nourishing meals whenever and wherever needed in the entire school.

Planning, Budgeting, and the Scheduling Process

Project planning is central in management of projects because it guides managers throughout the process of the project. The initial step of the planning process is very important. For the Nurse Ring project to takeoff effectively, the project director should ensure that necessary resources are available. Project control is also an important aspect of planning because it will optimize the progresses of the Nurse Ring project as well as direct the project managers to be on track throughout the process of project development. Complex project require rigorous project control as slight confusion has detrimental effects on projects (Levine, 2002).

After project managers have completed the projects, project closure becomes a critical stage. Project closure entails final assessments and evaluation of the project to determine if it meets the required standards. Any need for changes, additions, and subtractions of the procedures in the Nurse Ring project will be addressed at this stage. Essentially, initiation, control, and closure of projects have significant implications on the Nurse Ring project because they determine its completion.

Budgeting has great implication on the development of Nurse Ring project given that resources are minimal. According to Levine (2002), poor budgeting can lead to under-budgeting or over-budgeting. Given the vast procedures involved in the generation of finances for this project, poor budgeting would affect the development of project. Over budgeting would lead to stalling of the Nurse Ring project, as resources would be inadequate. Likewise, under budgeting would lead to wastage of resources. In this case, it implies that the project manager will need to take a stringent analysis of the Nurse Ring project budget to avert unnecessary stalling of the project or wastage of resources. Therefore, the project manager should consult financial experts, who can evaluate the cost of the project, and thus provide accurate basis of budgeting.

Scheduling of project is an integral aspect of project management because it enhances timely completion of projection. Fundamentally, scheduling of project entails assignment of activities, processes, and procedures within a specific timeline with objective of enhancing their completion (Levine, 2002). In this case, scheduling implies that the Nursing Ring project has a specific timeline that guides its completion. For example, activities such as fencing of the construction site, building of foundation, construction of classes, erection of recreational structures, landscaping, and recruitment of staffs will require scheduling so that the whole project is completed in time. Therefore, scheduling has significant implication in the development of the Nurse Ring project because it enhances expediency of project development.

Monitoring and evaluation of the project

Fundamental to any project planning is ensuring that there are means of observing and evaluating the progress of the intended program. An ongoing monitoring and evaluation of a proposed project enables the planners to assess the effectiveness of the strategies utilized to develop the project (Gudda, 2011). The Nurse Ring project will have a systematic monitoring and evaluation process to ensure effective achievement of the purposes and objectives stipulated for the proposed project.

Step one

Project developers sometimes may lose focus or manipulate the project for their malicious purposes. Gudda (2011) argues that to ensure smooth running of the project from its initial development phase to the later, developing an autonomous monitoring and evaluation committee is helpful. An independent monitoring and evaluation committee of approximately ten self-driven and ambitious project leaders will form members of the committee. The committee will undertake a series of progress assessment activities that will aim at evaluating the project development.

Step two

The second step in the monitoring and evaluation process after the formation of the committee, is formulating project appraisal goals. Apart from the goals of the initial project, the monitoring and evaluation committee will formulate progress objectives that will measure the development of the project. The objectives formulated for assessing the project development must be attainable, measurable, and they must be time conscious. The monitoring and evaluation committee must have the experience of documenting appraisal report and setting progress recommendations.

Step three

The monitoring and evaluation committee will be responsible for examining whether corporate members of the Nurse Ring Nursery including the teaching fraternity is working in accordance to the developed objectives, targets set and rules and regulations governing the project. The monitoring and evaluation committee will evaluate whether the progress of the project is following the stipulated service conditions. This means that the committee will be answerable to assessing whether the corporate members are working to provide the specified services, dealing with the right workplace activities, or serving under the given mandates. They will document progress reports and recommend on the project progress.

Business analysis and cost breakdown

Project planning involves the identification of all the necessary human and financial resources required for the successful development and achievement of the proposed project. Each planned project must have financial projections for effective employment of strategies. Effective projects require appropriate financial supporting and planning, and necessary facilities to achieve the intended objectives and goals (Gudda, 2011). The proposed Nurse Ring Nursery School will have financial projection as indicated in the following table.

Analysis of the findings

From the analysis, it is evident that establishing a nursery school is not an easy task. The program director has to develop an endurance strategy in every step of the establishment of the project. The huge amounts of monies needed in every step of the development of the project would lead to discouragements. The hectic licensing procedures are so distressing. Worse of it all is the fact that the project would require a minimum of two years before realization of profits.

However, the project manager and all the facilitators of the project should not be discouraged whatsoever. They should have the courage to establish the project and watch it grow into a big nursery school that can enroll as many children as possible. Essentially, every big school started small, and that should be the motivating factor for the directors of Nurse Ring nursery school. The school will start from a low level, and in about five years, it will have gained trust from the entire neighborhood because of its esteemed childcare and child education services.

References

Gudda, G. (2011). A guide to project monitoring and evaluation. New York: Author House. Web.

Levine, H. (2002). Practical project management: Tips, tactics, and tools. London: John Wiley & Sons. Web.

McCain, M., & Mustard, F. (2002). The early years study: Three years later. Toronto: Ontario Founders Network. Web.

Sen, A. (2009). Investing in early childhood: Its role in development. Washington: Inter-American Development Bank. Web.

Verry, D. (2000). Some economic aspects of early childhood education and care. International Journal of Educational Research, 33(1), 95-122. Web.