“I was excited to learn that the union values early years settings. Equally interesting was that the chair of the early years national committee also owns her own nursery.

"At last a union that understands the needs of the early years sector. It will give us a national voice to express our views and opinions. Hopefully this will help change the early years settings for the better.

"I invited Claire and other managers of local preschools to visit Murrow Preschool in Wisbech and as a result, 14 of us were very pleased to sign up.

"We are in the Fenlands, which is quite remote and can feel isolated at times. That is why as managers of four local preschools we work closely together and contact each other for support.

"This has been vital over the past years because cuts in the local councils’ budgets have meant us having no, or very few, visits from early years advisers.

"We have all been in post for many years and have seen so many changes that are not always for the better.

"As a preschool, we collectively pay for our staff to be members of a union. I understand this is unusual, but due to the low wages in our sector I feel this is something I can offer my hard-working staff for their own personal well-being and also to protect the preschool’s reputation if something was to happen.”