Expanding children’s nursery group, Thrive Childcare and Education, has appointed Michael Forrester as head of nursery acquisitions

Before joining Thrive, Michael, who is a qualified chartered accountant, had a varied financial background, working in audit for Deloitte before moving into corporate finance. Michael also has valuable experience in education, working as a teacher of English as a foreign language for three-to-six-year-olds in a kindergarten in Hong Kong. 

Forrester said: “I am really enjoying my new role and am finding my experience of working in a kindergarten very useful as it helps me to understand nursery settings, the role of the practitioners and the challenges they face.” 

Michael is spending time visiting Thrive nurseries in Scotland and North West England and talking to the teams to learn more about the business. He continued: “It is a tough, but rewarding, sector and my role involves using my financial, business and people skills to ensure we acquire the best nursery settings, and the vendors know they are selling to a company that will continue their ethos and values and continue to put children first.” 

“It is important to understand, when meeting prospective vendors, that many of the nurseries we acquire are family businesses that people have started from scratch and have been in charge of for a long time – they are like loving parents, with the nursery and team being an extension of their family.   

“We are often taking ownership of a part of someone’s life, so it is important for me to provide reassurance that we will respect and build on their legacy and their teams will be well looked after.” 

Any nursery owners interested in selling their nursery, or who would like to have a conversation to explore the process, are invited to speak with Thrive’s acquisitions team by contacting Michael Forrester at  [email protected].