Last Thursday and Friday, Hannah (our brilliant new Franchise Success Manager) and I travelled up to Oxford to meet up with all of our franchisees for Baby Squids Connect 2025, and I can honestly say it was one of the most brilliant, energising couple of days we’ve had as a team. So I thought I’d write a little bit about what we got up to!
Things started gently on Thursday, which was just what everyone needed. People arrived at their leisure for some much-needed connection, relaxation, and a dip in the pool, followed by some delicious food and drinks at the superb Oxfordshire Golf, Hotel & Spa. Huge thanks to Anthony and his fantastic team for hosting us brilliantly! It was the perfect setting to connect with each other and switch off from our busy lives.
Some Selfies I took on Friday!
Friday was all about celebrating our team’s growth and development. It was a seriously joyful day.
My biggest, biggest thank you has to go to my buddy and incredible Guest Speaker, Imogen Coleman of WOW World Group, Baby Sensory UK, and Toddler Sense! Her session was so uplifting. She took us through the Baby Sensory journey and gave us a brilliant deep dive into the human brain and the vital impact we have as practitioners working with early years children.
What truly resonated with me—and I saw it in everyone’s faces—was her powerful reinforcement on the impact we have on parents and children every single day. Our WHY really has to be our most important message.
Imogen perfectly tied this back to the Baby Squids HAPPEE ethos (Honest, Approachable, Positive, Progressive, Exciting, Encouraging), which felt like a real moment of clarity and unity for us all. It’s the compass that guides everything we do!
We were also very lucky to have some brilliant visitors helping us look at the year ahead! We had DJH Associates (Desirie Lea FCA QFP and Tom Burt) giving us a much-needed, straight-talking session on finance, followed by a look ahead at our Konfidence partnership and future product range with Max Patey (thanks for travelling all the way from Exeter in a day, Max!).
Of course, the real drivers of change are our franchisees, so we spent time in smaller group workshops to look at how we can improve our processes and give them exactly what they need to be successful.
Fancy joining a team that values connection and fun as much as business growth, they really are a fantastic team!
If you’re looking to build a rewarding career around your life and love your job, you can read all about the amazing awards our team has won in our previous post here: https://www.babysquidsfranchise.co.uk/dream-team-awards-2025/
If you want to find out how you can be part of this supportive network, take a peek at our franchise opportunities over on babysquidsfranchise.co.uk!