Looking beyond our own expertise: bringing a fresh perspective to parent support

At Monkey Puzzle, we know early years education, but we also know there’s real value in looking beyond our own expertise and learning from others.

That’s why we’ve partnered with Dr Morvwen Duncan, Founder and Lead Clinical Psychologist at The Lotus Psychology Practice, to create our new ‘Understanding Your Child’ campaign. Designed to connect with parents early in their childcare journey, it offers practical, expert-led guidance to help families better understand their child’s development and behaviour.

Supporting families from the start

At the heart of the campaign is an interactive quiz, alongside free webinars, parenting blogs, at-home activities and personalised resources, giving families different ways to access advice that works for them. From there, parents can find their nearest Monkey Puzzle nursery, visit its website and enquire directly.

Grace Cole, our Managing Director, said, “This is about giving our franchisees valuable resources they can share with prospective families, while allowing parents to discover Monkey Puzzle in a helpful and more meaningful way before making decisions about their child’s next steps.”

Bringing different expertise together

Morvwen has more than a decade of NHS experience working with children, young people and families. She founded The Lotus Psychology Practice, where she leads a team of psychologists providing specialist psychological assessment and evidence-based therapy, and has conducted research at Harvard Medical School, the University of Cambridge and University College London.

“One of the things I enjoy most about being a psychologist is helping parents and carers to develop a deeper understanding of their children,” said Morvwen. “A significant part of my work is helping people look beneath the behaviour and think about what might be happening developmentally and emotionally.

“Understanding why children behave, feel and develop as they do changes how we see those everyday moments and often helps parents feel much more confident about how they respond.”

For us, working with Morvwen is also part of a wider approach to building a strong franchise network and making sure our franchisees have access to expertise both inside and outside Monkey Puzzle.

“Early years education is our business and we’re confident in our expertise, but that doesn’t stop us seeking out sector-leading advice, research and innovation from outside our organisation,” explained Grace. “For us, it comes back to giving our franchisees access to the best people, systems and support for success within their own communities.”

A richer understanding of children

The partnership brings together different perspectives surrounding a child, combining Morvwen’s psychology expertise with the everyday experiences of early years practitioners and parents.

“As a Clinical Psychologist, I bring an understanding of child development alongside research and clinical experience,” added Morvwen. “Early years practitioners at Monkey Puzzle see children learning, playing and building relationships every day, while parents bring something different again – they know their individual child better than anyone.”

Grace added, “When those perspectives come together, we get a much richer understanding of children. That’s very much what we’ve tried to do with this campaign – take Morvwen’s psychological evidence and make it meaningful to the realities of parenting.”

For our franchisees, it’s another example of how being part of a wider network can bring new expertise, ideas and resources into their own nurseries, helping them build meaningful relationships with families in their communities.

If you’d like to explore our ‘Understanding Your Child’ campaign, click here. And if you’re passionate about building a business that makes a real difference in your local community, we’d love to hear from you. Find out more about joining our franchise network and becoming part of the Monkey Puzzle family.