17 lessons from owning 17early learning campuses
Jae Fraser Founder and Managing Director September 2026
I bought one small Yatala early learning campus in 2014. We now own and operate 17.
I wrote the first thirteen of these lessons in March 2023, when we were at thirteen campuses. I have left them as they were, because they were true at the time and most of them still are. Four campuses later, I have added four more at the end. They are the lessons I could not have written in 2023, because I had not learned them yet.
Seventeen lessons
One campus to seventeen
Lessons one to thirteen were written at thirteen campuses and have been left as they were. Fourteen to seventeen are new.
The first thirteen, written in 2023
1. Industry experience is not business experience
Just because you have industry experience does not mean you have experience in business management. Running a business, lining up approvals, getting licences in place, budgeting, marketing ourselves against the noise. My previous experience, not just as a teacher but as a general manager at Australia's largest publicly listed childcare provider, certainly helped me understand the order of what was involved, but it was still daunting. Legal, funding the business, purchase and operations, lining up everything to open, besides cleaning up and renovating the old Yatala site. It was a lot.
My suggestion to someone starting their own company would be to set up information interviews with successful industry owners, pick their brain about the processes involved and when, get an idea of the need in the area you want to open in, know the demographics, and make sure there is need. It is also essential that you develop your vision and philosophy. What are you trying to achieve, and what is your purpose. Even if you are going to run the business yourself, pay a consultant for a few months to guide you. There is too much at risk not to do it properly.
When starting a business, you need to believe in what you're offering. My commitment to early childhood education and care, and to setting children up for successful futures, is why I think Little Scholars works. If you care about something you are going to do it well. And find a great lawyer to work with. Whether you are starting a new campus or purchasing an existing one, a favourable contract or lease can make all the long-term difference.
2. Hire good people
Finding reliable, trustworthy and dedicated people to work for you is imperative to running a service that exceeds expectations. When I started, I brought my former colleague and good friend Melanie with me. She was group operations manager at the large childcare company I left, and I knew she'd be exceptional as my operations manager. Together, along with my partner who had 15 years of experience in marketing management, and other former colleagues who we knew could bring us forward, we opened Little Scholars Yatala in October 2014.
Good relationships are key. I love that my team all have varying skill sets and we are constantly building on that. It is important that the good people you hire are retained, so we need to constantly develop them and allow them to grow in their career.
I also think people shouldn't be hired on their qualification alone, but equally or more so on their energy, their love of children and their commitment to education. When we're recruiting, we make sure our teams know they are contributing in a meaningful way, making a difference to a child's life and to Australia more broadly, by educating our future. We celebrate great results and good work, so our teams have a constant sense of accomplishment.
3. Treat employees like family
Because we started as a close-knit group, I appreciated from the beginning how we couldn't do what we do without all the people who work with us. We're a mid sized group now, but we love to do things to make each person feel appreciated and let them know we're glad to have them at Little Scholars. I try to know as many of them as I can so I can greet them when I visit.
We throw a big Christmas party every year, every employee gets a Christmas present, we send treats to each campus to mark certain days each year such as Early Childhood Educator's Day, or accomplishments as a campus, and we host an annual Learning and Development Day where we bring everyone in to listen to expert speakers, play games and share knowledge. And every employee gets a personally signed birthday card.
I also believe our families understand we're family owned and operated, and that we truly care about each other and the children and families who decide to be part of our extended home. Our company philosophy and pillars were developed with educators and families to make sure they reflect and uphold our beliefs and values.
I think because I was an early childhood educator who started out as a trainee, I know what our team go through each day. I have been there, and that experience lets me support them better in their roles.
4. Nothing worth something comes easy
When we started out, all of our savings went into purchasing our first campus, so we had to do a lot of physical work ourselves to get ready. We painted the entire campus ourselves, got the landscaping underway, mowed the lawn on weekends, stained all the timber in the playground, made a million trips to Bunnings, worked in the kitchen making lunches, stayed back and had valuable conversations with parents at pick-up.
Being in the campus lets you see so much more. I worked in our first campus alongside our team every day, open to close, while we built it up and worked out what Little Scholars was. Parents loved seeing me in the campus working, and the team enjoyed seeing that I was a hands-on owner who genuinely cared about what we were doing. My team still laugh about me watering the lawns and gardens. That was my stress relief. If anyone was ever looking for me, they'd come outside to the playground where I'd be tending to the gardens.
The original goal was to own five exceptional campuses. We're well past that now and I couldn't be prouder. But none of it has been easy, and it's been really hard at times. Parents constantly ask us to open more in their area. I will never let myself forget that quality over quantity matters in this field.
5. Know what makes you stand out
Develop your philosophy and vision, and try to offer something your community wants that is different to your competitors. You will need to shout it from the rooftops to get people interested in and investing in your business.
Part of what makes Little Scholars stand out is that I'm a qualified teacher, so as the owner I have hands-on experience developing educational programming for our curriculum. Melanie, our operations manager, is also a qualified teacher and a mum, so we both care deeply about what we're doing for children in the first five years. We make sure that experience shows up in our programming and in our indoor and outdoor learning environments, sparing no expense on equipment or resources that help children learn while having fun.
Our campuses are designed around theory and research, with a strong focus on environment design and rich learning experiences in a natural, landscaped outdoor setting. We make sure to highlight all of this in the community, in our marketing and to our stakeholders. We also put children and educators at the front of every decision we make.
We knew we were on the right track when families started talking about Little Scholars at BBQs on the weekend. Word of mouth is the ultimate form of marketing for any business. It takes time to build your reputation, and while that's happening, consistency is everything.
6. Challenges teach you what you are made of
During the pandemic, when vaccinations were mandated for our industry, we lost a lot of employees who decided their stance on vaccines or mandates mattered more than their roles at that time. We understood it was a contentious topic, but it made it difficult to run our campuses at 100%.
We increased our paid marketing on social media, offered refer-a-friend bonuses and talked to the schools that certified educators and teachers. Staffing in this climate is still not perfect, but it's much better, and thinking outside the box helped us get through that time. We changed our focus from trying to hire people, when everyone was trying to hire people, to showing what it's actually like to work with us. We promoted what we stood for and how being a Little Scholars educator would make a difference.
I think people are glad to be part of something bigger. This is not just a job. We are shaping tomorrow's movers and shakers.
7. Do not underestimate yourself.
There have been times in my career when I've felt discouraged, generally connected to feeling overwhelmed. In those times I remind myself of everything that's taken me to where I am now, that I'm capable and driven, and the feeling passes quickly.
Don't compare yourself to others. Focus on doing an amazing job, offering exceptional programs for children any delivering outstanding care. You may not have the flashiest campus, but parents can tell when educators are engaged and making a difference in their child's life.
Listen to your team and get their input. Let them be part of the decisions you make, and ask them what they think. It's our team that has allowed us to get where we are, and they teach me something new every day. My motto is never apologise for having high standards, because life can't rise any higher than the standards you set.
8. Make time for play
I'm lucky. I spend my days in a sector that focuses on learning through play, so my visits to our campuses often end up in the studios with children reading, sitting at the table exploring a sensory activity, or helping someone down the slide. I live by the FISH philosophy: be there, play, make their day, choose your attitude.
In my personal life, I make sure I find time to have fun and to relax. Exercise does as much for my mental health as it does my physical health, so I'm training almost every day. It's not always easy to fit in. Oh, and a lot of chocolate. Chocolate helps everything.
9. Be consistent
In this sector, consistency in routines matters enormously for children to feel secure, and it matters for our employees too. We hold weekly Monday morning meetings at our support office to catch up on what everyone is working on, and monthly campus manager and lead educator meetings for learning and development, updates, concerns and achievements.
The look and feel of our environments is consistent across every campus, so that when someone talks about Little Scholars, an image comes to mind. The campuses vary in size and layout, but they all have the same homely feel. We only use natural resources and equipment because we're focused on sustainability, and we use local suppliers as much as we can. The toys, the resources and the aesthetics make people feel calm. Many families tell us that when they walk in, the smell and the look make them feel welcomed.
Our educator uniforms are consistent too, so when a parent walks into the playground at pick-up, they can identify an educator to talk to before they leave.
10. Know when to have the hard talks
Know when to have the hard talks, and how to deliver them. I've never apologised for having high standards and expectations of what our services offer and what our educational programs deliver. If someone isn't prepared to rise to those standards, we have to talk about it. We are looking after people's children and shaping their future. What we do is important, so hard conversations are sometimes necessary. If someone doesn't want to deliver the very best for children, we have to say so, and let them know we may not be the employer for them.
11. Keep learning
Working in education, I hope it's clear that I have a vested interest in learning. When I started out, I learned how not to treat employees. That was a good lesson. I also saw that this is not a business you can be in if you're focused on profit. The focus must be on the children and the educators. Do a good job, deliver a great service and an exceptional educational program, and families will come and support you loyally, so the business side will always work.
We engage constantly in professional development, and I strongly encourage my teams to grow as professionals. As an executive of the Australian Childcare Alliance, both the Queensland branch and National, I'm constantly learning about the sector from its members, from state and federal governments, from regulatory authorities and other stakeholders. But I also learn from my colleagues, from our educators, and from the families and children who come into our campuses each day.
I learn from mistakes too. Starting out, we tried to do too much and offer too much, and everything we did was only average. So we learned to peel it back, ask our families and children and team what mattered to them, reduce the offering, and exceed expectations in the things that were left.
12. Listen to feedback
We have thousands of voices in our Little Scholars community. It's important to listen not only to educators but to families, and to the children in our campuses. Everyone has an opinion. Some of it can be met with "I appreciate your feedback" and left there. Some of it is genuinely valuable.
We ask for community feedback in various ways: online, through our social channels, and at breakfasts where we host food-for-thought sessions with families at drop-off. When we renovate a campus or install a new playground, we get the children involved. They draw pictures, or cut images out of magazines, and we build what they've asked for. The campuses are for them, so the facilities should be what they want.
We don't always get it right. Sometimes we need to refocus an initiative, do more training, or fix a problem. It's all in how you handle it and move forward.
13. Stay positive
Even though this sector is constantly challenging, it's worth it. We have to remember why we're doing what we're doing, remind ourselves of the impact we're having on the future, and never forget the opportunity we have to set children up for successful futures.
Any time I walk into one of our campuses and see children laughing, running and playing, and see how our educators interact with them, I smile and think how proud I am of what Little Scholars means to the families and educators across South East Queensland who are part of it. Whenever I have a bad day, I take myself to a studio and interact with the children. It fixes everything.
I also remember that one of these Little Scholars will one day be the Prime Minister, or a scientist who cures cancer, or a teacher who goes on changing the world through education. How can you not be positive?
We went from thirteen campuses to seventeen. I assumed that would feel like more of the same. It didn't, and these four are what I got out of it.
14. Thirteen to seventeen was harder than four to thirteen
Nobody warns you about this one, because the people who've done it are usually too busy to write it down. When we were at four campuses, I could be in every campus every week and still have time to think. At thirteen, I couldn't be everywhere, but I could still hold every campus in my head. The weekly catch-up with each Campus Manager was the whole operating system. Nothing was written down that didn't need to be, because the conversation carried it.
At seventeen, the conversation stopped carrying it. Not dramatically. No campus fell over. But small things I used to catch in a hallway or a classroom started reaching me a week late, and a week late is where problems get expensive. The systems that had carried us to thirteen were still running. They just weren't enough anymore, and the failure was quiet.
What we did was stop treating my presence as the system. We began restructuring the group into regions, with a Regional Manager holding a cluster of campuses, so the weekly catch-up still happens for every Campus Manager, it just doesn't always happen with me. I still visit campuses every week. I just visit them as the founder now, not as the person who would notice the roster was thin. Somebody closer than me notices that.
The systems that carried us to thirteen were still running. They just were not enough anymore, and the failure was quiet.
15. The families who started with us are still with us
The families who started with us at Yatala in 2014 are still with us. Every operator measures new enrolments. I understand why. New is exciting, and it shows up on a dashboard the samevweek. But the number I actually watch is how many families are still here years later, because that's the only score thatvcan't be bought with a marketing budget.
Some of the families who walked through the Yatala gate in 2014 are still with us, either with additional children or with bother members of their family now enrolled. Some have had a second or third child come through. What that taught me is that a family doesn't stay because of the fit-out. They stay because the same educator greeted their child at the door in
March who greeted them in February, and because when something went wrong, someone called them before they had to call us. So the how is unglamorous. We invest in keeping educators, which means paying attention to rosters, workloads and whether people feel seen, long before we invest in the next campaign. And we treat a family leaving as something to understand, not just something to replace. If a family leaves, a Regional Manager rings them. Not a survey. A phone call.
16. The Campus Manager hire is the one that matters
Everything else is downstream I can give a campus the best building, the best curriculum and the best support office in the country, and if I put the wrong person at the front desk, none of it reaches the children I've done this. At one campus I hired for experience and qualifications, and missed that the person didn't actually like being in the rooms. It showed within a term, and the educators felt it before I did.
What changed is how we hire for the role. We don't hire Campus Managers on a CV and an interview anymore. Candidates spend time on the floor of an existing campus, and the educators there give feedback before I do. I'm looking for someone who is drawn to the rooms rather than the office, because a Campus Manager who is in the rooms is the reason everything else in this list works.
17. You cannot delegate being the approved provider
You cannot delegate being the approved provider. This is the lesson I'd least like to write and the one I'm most sure of.
Through The Scholars Group we run services on behalf of other approved providers, so I've seen this from both sides. Even when a management company is running everything, the roster, the compliance, the families, the approved provider still carries the responsibility. The regulator writes to the approved provider, not to the contractor. That's how it should be.
For Little Scholars, we are the approved provider for all 17 campuses. Not a franchisee network, not a licensing arrangement, not a brand sitting on top of someone else's approvals. So whoever a family speaks to on the day, the accountability for their child's safety and education runs back to us, and I've built the organisation so that's a real thing rather than a line on a certificate. Every Campus Manager knows they can reach me. Every serious incident reaches my desk.
If you're an operator considering a management arrangement, understand that clearly before you sign. You can outsource the work. You cannot outsource the responsibility, and you shouldn't want to.
The Scholars Group
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We've focused on the future and what we want to accomplish. We don't compare ourselves to others, we know we're good at what we do, and personally I remind myself frequently of what I'm grateful for: supportive family and friends, close-knit communities that have welcomed and embraced us, and doing work I care about, helping small people learn and grow.