Pivoting into the Virtual Space
Tuesday March 17th – 8:57am, I received a call from one of our corporate partners that they will be cancelling their upcoming program for April. By 5pm, 80% of April programs had been cancelled.
Being a workplace initiative that operates onsite we were faced with two options for KidsCo:
- Option 1 – shut the doors and send everyone home.
- Option 2 – get those creative juices flowing and innovate!
You don’t have to guess which option we chose.
We certainly didn’t invent childcare, but we did identify a new model – school holiday programs in the workplace, with a purpose to make family life and work life co-exist.
What we’re doing now is revolutionising childcare via online virtual programs. The idea of a virtual program sparked from the fact that our clients and the working parents of Australia still needed a solution to having their kids at home during the school holidays.
At KidsCo we strive to ‘Change the game’ (it’s literally written on the wall), we ask ‘why’, we rethink ‘how’ and we always do things differently.
So we pivoted overnight.
I spent day one speaking with our partner companies, understanding their requirements to continue operating. We brainstormed how we could build an offering that would be most beneficial for them, support their working parents to continue delivering their work responsibilities and provide support when they needed it most.
And… the KidsCo Virtual School Holiday Program was born.
Based on the feedback from our partner companies, our team designed a program that will support parents from 8:45am – 4:30pm, a full day, every day of the holidays, to ensure kids are engaged and most of all, having FUN (without realising they’re actually learning).
There are many resources already out there online, in terms of pre-recorded video content and downloadable activities but what is vital at times like these is social interaction. With school closures and playdates being cancelled – it is required more than ever.
What we’re launching will not only provide children live interaction with a qualified school teacher in real-time, it will also provide interaction with one another. They will be able to socialise with the children in the program, as a class, as well as smaller groups based on age. Activity kits with all the resources and materials for the day sent directly to their homes and our teachers online all day to assist and engage.
This past week (which I’m sure you’ll agree feels more like a month) has been nothing short of amazing, taking on board what is undoubtedly our biggest project & innovation yet. I am incredibly proud and thankful for our team’s ability to come together and bring this project to life in such a short period of time, this has been an undeniable highlight for me.
In addition to this, in a time where so many are finding themselves unemployed – we have created work for teachers (the real superheroes).
High Five’s (or toe taps),
Adrian
