‘A Day in the Life’ of Polly Collingridge from Parental Choice.
Polly’s role as Family Global Mobility Manager at Parental Choice is to connect families with the right childcare when moving back to the UK from overseas. We caught up with Polly to find out what goes on in the ‘day in the life’ of a mobility manager.
What does an average day with you look like?
My job is really varied so it’s hard to say what my average day is! My role consists of serving existing clients and getting new business, focusing both on clients moving to and from the UK.
I get up early to make sure my kids have left for school by 8am. I might then hop on the train to get into London for a 10am meeting with a property agency or other specialist Destination Service Provider with whom we might be able to collaborate. For example, I recently met with an agency specialising in assisting Italian expats coming to London. Alternatively, I might be going with a colleague to pitch for a corporate contract or attending a Global Mobility networking event. I’ll then head home and do follow up or catch up on emails until school-pick up time.
Another day might be office based, which might involve liaising with a corporate client about the needs of their employee and then having a detailed conversation with the employee themselves to establish their school/childcare needs.
We pride ourselves on providing a very tailored service. For example, if a family cares a lot about piano and ballet lessons for their daughter, we do our best to find schools that can cater to that and if they can’t, we look at other options such as private tuition. If the family has no idea yet where they want to live, we try and find out as much as possible about them (where they will be working, what their priorities are in terms of house, school, quality of life,) before suggesting an area to them.
If a family has particular challenges such as a child with special needs, we need to speak closely with the parents in order to be clear what kind of school or care is going to work best for them.
Being in the office also means a chance to catch up with colleagues, particularly those I work with most closely such as the head of our childcare team, Sharon Betts, who oversees all nanny searches and is personally responsible for UK school and nursery searches.
What are the most asked questions you have about schooling?
It depends on whether the client is looking within the private or state system. Often there are concerns about what year group their child should join and whether they can be held back if their English isn’t very good. This will depend on the school. Language issues are probably one of the biggest worries that parents have.
If the family is looking at state schools there are questions about the catchment system and the process of securing an address and making an application, usually clients want to know what they can do to be as ready as possible to start applying once they’re in a position to do so.
Those applying to private schools want to know about registration fees, the application process and whether this involves an exam, the pastoral care and transport services on offer, as well as what secondary schools or universities children go on to from the schools they are considering.
What do you enjoy about your job?
The thing I most enjoy is talking to our clients and solving their problems. It’s particularly satisfying when an individual family’s situation is especially complex, but we manage to find satisfactory solutions for all concerned. In cases where our client is receiving no other relocation assistance from their employer we are able to provide a very extensive service and it’s wonderful to see them happy and settling in at the end of the process.
Education consultancy and school search agencies are common in the relocation space, but a one-stop shop service offering both childcare and school searches is unusual, and I love working for a company that is so family focused and solutions driven. I also really appreciate the hours I can work! Parental Choice is an all-female team working part-time. Core hours are school hours – we practice what we preach i.e. valuing flexibility in terms of allowing mothers to juggle work and family life.
Where do your clients come from?
Our clients come to us in a variety of ways. Many are employees of companies who contract with us to provide corporate family support in the form of childcare, school searches and parenting/wellbeing talks. Others are referred to us by DSPs and relocation companies. Still others are private clients who are funding their own relocation and are referred by other individuals or have found us online.
Who are your typical clients?
Families with children of all ages. We can find both in-home and out of home childcare so on any given day can be looking for a maternity nurse, a full-time nanny, an au pair, a nursery and/or a school. Sometimes we’re asked to find housekeepers too.
We work with UK and international families, whether they are relocating or not. For example, we have helped many UK families where the mother is going back to work after maternity leave or their child is going to school for the first time. Some examples of our relocation work include helping a UK family repatriate from Singapore or a family from Brazil relocate from Nigeria to the UK. Obviously assisting relocating families requires a more extensive service with more hand-holding.
How did you get into helping families find childcare?
As is so often the case, my own life experience has led me to this job. Finding high quality, reliable childcare is the holy grail for every mother, and I’ve struggled with this in the past. There’s nothing more stressful than having to go back to work if you’re not comfortable with the childcare you’ve put in place, or if you’re constantly let down. Parental Choice’s core mission of supporting working parents in order to enhance wellbeing and performance resonated with me very strongly – not to mention the part we play in getting more women back into the workplace.
Working with relocating families was a dream come true for me. Ever since my own family relocated to San Francisco, and then back to London again 3 years later, I’ve been passionate about using what I learned during this experience to help other relocating families make a smooth transition. I am fascinated by the whole process of moving between cultures and how it impacts on people, both practically and emotionally speaking. I recently completed an MSc in Cross-Cultural Psychology, which has helped me understand the extent to which we our influenced by our own culture and why it can be so difficult to get used to a different one!
Beyond childcare you also help with elder care this is a much overlooked element to relocation, how does this work?
Although we have only recently launched our elder care services we have been surprised to receive considerable interest from other agents working with relocating families – it seems that leaving elderly parents behind is a significant concern for many families.
To date our services have consisted of corporate presentations and advice about what elder care options there are in the UK (i.e. the different types of homes and in-home care).
However, we are able to run customised searches for both in-home care and different types of care homes.
Finally if people want to get hold of you which is the best way?
Phone Polly in the office on +44 20 8979 6453 or over email on
p.collingridge@parentalchoice.co.uk
www.parentalchoice.co.uk/
