Real people.
Real experiences.

The courses feel like they were written by someone who has actually done the job. We’ve used other online training where the examples technically relate to childcare, but you can tell the course itself was made for everybody. Hubba feels different. The situations are things our staff actually come across, and we’ve had conversations in the room afterwards about things they’ve learned.

Most of the courses are short enough to fit around the working day too. Staff can get one done without disappearing from the room for hours, which makes training much easier to fit in.

As a SENCO, I’m always looking for training that goes beyond the basics. So much of what’s out there on inclusion and SEND is either very general or written for schools rather than early years, and you end up translating it for your own team.

These courses felt like they were written for the children we actually work with. The examples were realistic, the strategies were practical, and I started seeing some of those ideas being used in the rooms afterwards. That’s really the measure that matters to me.

I also like being able to point someone towards a specific course when a need comes up, rather than waiting for the next training day. Support happens when it’s needed, not months later.

We’ve used online training before and it always felt like a box-ticking exercise. People would put it on in the background, click next until they reached the certificate and forget about it the following day. I didn’t think changing platform would really change that.

Hubba has been different. The courses are practical and built around situations staff deal with in the room, so people actually talk about them afterwards. I’ve overheard conversations at lunch about something from a safeguarding course, which never happened with anything we used before.

It has made my side easier too. When someone new joins, I can see straight away what they still need, certificates are already there when I need them and I’m spending far less time chasing people.

One price for the whole team was honestly one of the things that got our attention. I don’t have to think twice about adding somebody new or work out whether we have another licence available. Everyone gets their own account from day one.

It just makes much more sense for a nursery where people join, move rooms and develop all the time.

Before Hubba, I had a spreadsheet for training dates, certificates saved in different folders and reminders in my calendar for things that were about to expire. None of it was particularly difficult on its own, but when you’re managing a nursery there are already a hundred other things competing for your attention.

Now I can open the matrix and see the whole team in one place. I know what has been completed, what needs renewed and where the gaps are without going looking for it.

The courses have gone down really well with the staff too, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. I spend far less time reminding people to actually do their training.

It’s nice having somewhere that actually feels like it’s for early years people. You can ask a question and hear from people dealing with exactly the same things you are.

Managing a nursery can sometimes feel like you’re working things out on your own, so having somewhere to ask, share and see how other settings approach things is really useful.

I’ll be honest, I expected staff to treat it like every other online training we’ve had, where you click through as quickly as possible to get to the certificate at the end. That hasn’t been the case.

Our newest apprentice completed three courses in her first week without anyone asking her to, and then came and told me about something she’d picked up in one of them. That doesn’t happen often.

The little things help me too. Certificates are there as soon as someone finishes, I’m not chasing paperwork, and if I need help I can speak to somebody who understands what I’m asking.

When I need help, I get an answer from someone who understands what I’m asking. That sounds like a small thing, but after years of ticket numbers, automated replies and trying to explain how a nursery works, it makes such a difference.

Having the training and policies in the same place has made things much simpler. Before, I’d email a new policy round, print a copy for the office and then spend weeks trying to work out who had actually read it.

Now staff know where everything is, and I can see who has read and signed each policy without asking. When someone new starts, they can work through their policies and core training together, which has made induction much more organised than it used to be.