Jo Jingles

Carla (00:01.22)

Hello everybody and welcome to My Bumped Babies Expert podcast today. I am delighted to be Joined by Jo Jingles, Lucy Hammond and Lucas Farmer from Jo Jingles. Hello guys, how are you?

Lucy Hammond (00:16.192)

All good thank you.

Lukas Farmer (00:17.18)

I am.

Carla (00:17.47)

How are you both? Yes, very well. Thank you very well. So Jo Jingles has been around a very long time. Lucy, you’ve been there quite a long time yourself. So can you tell us a little bit about you and the fantastic classes that you guys offer?

Lucy Hammond (00:35.488)

Yeah, of course. So yeah, I’ve been part of Jo Jingles for 21 years myself now. Started my Journey as a franchisee and did 10 years loving every minute of my Job, jumping around and singing with the children. And then I went on to help the franchisee. So I’m now like the support and development head office and have been for the last quite a few years doing that in different forms. So I go out and do consulting and also training with the franchisees and the new training courses for everyone that comes in as well. So lots of different elements to what I’ve done over the years. But I’ve obviously seen a huge Journey with Jojit and Ghouls over that time and it’s been around for 29 years. It’s our 30th anniversary of franchising next year. So it’s pretty amazing. And we do actually have a franchisee who has been with us for 29 years. So yeah, it’s…

Carla (01:27.788)

Waaaa

Lucy Hammond (01:28.864)

 Yeah, we have been around a long time and still doing what we do and all loving it as much as we always have done. So yeah, it’s great, great company.

Carla (01:39.332)

Oh, that’s amazing. Can you just touch on a little bit about what makes Jo Jingle’s classes a bit different? Because they are, aren’t they?

Lucy Hammond (01:48.64)

Yeah, I mean, obviously what we do is we have children from three months old up to five years attending our normal public classes. And then we also go into nurseries and different settings all over the place. So obviously we do sometimes have children a little bit older than that in the schools that we work in as well. But what makes us really different is obviously the longevity of how much we’ve been around, how long we’ve been around and the network that we have, because obviously the network of people we work with.

have been around from sort of a year to 29 years. So there’s so much knowledge within that network. There’s lots of changes in lots of things that we’ve done over the years that have evolved. And it’s just made the brand stronger and even better. But what’s the element really of Jo Jingles is the classes and what they learn through the music. So, you know, I always say to people, how many poems do you know off the top of your head that you can recite?

and how many songs do you know all the words to? So there’s going to be a library of songs that we all can sing and we all know the words to really easily. You know, things from our childhood like, Row, Row the Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We would know those kind of things just straight away all the words, but we know them because they’re set to a rhythm and a tune and that’s what makes it easier to learn. So through the classes, having fun, we can also teach an educational slant of language.

developing speech, communication skills, literacy, numeracy, the things are endless, the list is endless of what we learn through music.

Carla (03:21.828)

Wow, it sounds amazing, it really, really does. And I mean, obviously that was something I was going to mention actually, really helps with child development, doesn’t it? But what other benefits is there that parents have noticed when their children come to your classes?

Lucy Hammond (03:36.672)

One of the biggest things I think is speech development because children pick up so many words because they’re just singing and then learning through the song and they don’t even realise they’re picking up all these different words and that’s one of the biggest things that we have. But obviously when you’re looking at babies for example in a class you can see that they are picking up different motor skills, their fine motor skills and their gross motor skills are developing. They have excellent hand and eye coordination through some of the songs we would use with

the instruments and the props that we use in the class. So there’s many, many elements, but obviously one of the biggest things is the social skills. And that’s not just for the children, but that’s also for the adults and the parents that come along with their child, because obviously it can be lonely when you have a child and you don’t know anybody else and you want to go along to one of these groups and you want to feel welcomed and you want to feel part of it and not that it’s embarrassing or that you’re going to have to sing a solo or anything like that in the class.

It’s all about, you know, being part of that class and enJoying every minute while interacting with your little one and building the special bond between you and your child, as well as having a great time doing it.

Carla (04:50.884)

love that because when I became a mum I honestly loneliness it really you do feel it don’t you and I think you can get a bit nervous when you’re going to groups like oh what to expect like is it is it going to be really clicky and is it not you know like it’s really difficult and it’s really reassuring that your classes I mean that’s one thing I used to dread actually the solo part you know it’s your turn next so I was thinking right you know warming up at home on the way so yeah no I

Lucy Hammond (04:57.568)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (05:06.24)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (05:14.016)

Yeah.

Carla (05:20.948)

I love that, no that’s really really nice. And how long are your classes? How long do they last, your classes?

Lucy Hammond (05:21.632)

Yes. That’s pretty important.

Lucy Hammond (05:28.64)

The classes are normally 45 minutes long. There may be special occasions where they’re slightly shorter classes, but standard Jo Jingles classes are 45 minutes. So it gives you a real chance to sort of have that time to, you know, engage with the children in the class as well as your own and for your child to go and be sociable, as well as interacting with the parents and the teacher in the class too. And most importantly, Jo Jingles, our dull mascot that’s at the front.

Carla (05:57.156)

Oh, that’s lovely. I think as well, going to classes like yours, it’s really beneficial because you can often feel, especially during maternity leave, you’ve got all these ideas in your head, all my house is gonna be pristine, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that, food cooked every night, and you end up kind of, well it doesn’t happen, does it? But you end up kind of trying to do all this all day, and it’s so nice to take your baby out, go somewhere else, meet other people, you know, and actually do that.

Lucy Hammond (06:12.808)

No.

Carla (06:24.44)

special bonding and then come home and you feel like you’ve done something, you’ve achieved something with your little one so it’s really really important for the baby and you as well really.

Lucy Hammond (06:34.304)

Yeah, exactly. And that is one of our biggest things. I think I appreciated that much more after I’d had my franchise because I actually didn’t have children when I launched my business. I was quite young when I did take over. But then when I came back as a mum with my little one, obviously I felt completely different because I was very confident walking into the room, singing songs and everything else, because I’d done it for 10 years myself. But then, you know, for others, you can see people walking in who are not as confident and who need that little bit of…

warmth as they come in the room and I do think that’s what we do really well at Jo Jingles is everyone is so lovely at encouraging the group atmosphere and not having cliques in the class, it’s all about interacting all together and that’s what’s really important and I think that that’s one of our strong points in our classes for sure.

Carla (07:25.38)

Definitely, we’ve heard a lot of positive things about that as well, and with your classes and them being really welcoming and things like that, which is really important. That’s what you want. So could you share a memorable story from one of your classes that encapsulates the spirit and Joy that you bring to children and families?

Lucy Hammond (07:33.728)

Oh, that’s nice. Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (07:49.536)

Well, one of the things that I sort of really remember is having a group of babies starting who were three months old. And you can imagine when they’re sort of three months old, they don’t do a lot. So, you know, they’re not going to be sort of clapping and singing along just yet, but they will get there. So obviously when they started, the parents come in and like we say, they’re quite nervous. They’re all strangers to each other. They didn’t really know each other. And this particular class just grew and grew with me.

Carla (08:04.342)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (08:16.576)

for the whole time they were there and they started at three months and they left when they were three years old. They all stayed in the same class and we just kept changing the age group of the class so that they could progress with us. And they all became friends, but also you just saw like we had a couple of dads in the class as well and they were really nervous because they were like, I’m walking into this room with like, you know, all women and they felt.

straight away at ease because we’d always have a bit of a banter with the adults as well as like then taking it down to the level with the children and it was just really fun and that was that was something that was really stuck in my mind because I can remember photos of them like all dressed up for Christmas it’s like Christmas puddings and snowmen and stuff and having that for social media and just the pictures were gorgeous but also it was just the atmosphere that was created within that class because

Carla (08:45.22)

Aww.

Carla (08:59.746)

Oh.

Lucy Hammond (09:08.544)

the friendships that were built but also how much fun everybody was having. They wanted to come back each week and they looked forward to that class each week and that was yeah that was really lovely.

Carla (09:21.7)

Oh, I love that. That’s so nice. And with the Jo Jingles classes, obviously a relationship between parents and children is key in the learning process. But how do you guys foster that through your classes? And do you offer anything or any advice for kind of continuing that music and movement Journey at home?

Lucy Hammond (09:44.288)

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, what we tend to do is, especially when you’re starting off with the baby classes, we will give lots of information in the classes about how that song or how that piece of music is helping your child to learn, or if they’re shaking their instrument up high and down low, that’s helping their hand and eye coordination or enhancing their sensory through motor skills and things like that. So we…

We offer lots of bits of information within the classes, but also most people will take home like a few songs that they may never have heard before. And a couple of the favourites are things like Sleeping Bunnies, which is a massive favourite song. And lots of parents will sing that at home because they’ll use that as a calming down time. So obviously, like, you know, baby might be kicking off when they’re having their nappy changed or something and mum starts singing Sleeping Bunnies.

And then obviously they can go to sleep nice and quietly until they have to jump them up and down, of course. But they, you know, it’s just calming to hear. It just keeps eating the songs. But there’s lots of songs that you can use that are lullabies. And obviously it goes back years and years and years that they use lullabies to put babies to sleep and things. And that’s still, that still is the case. And I think it just gives parents that confidence to come along, learn a few songs and then take that home.

Carla (10:42.788)

Yeah. Just keep repeating that sleeping thing.

Lucy Hammond (11:07.712)

and use at home because they may not have had that confidence to do that previously. And I think that’s a lot of the takeaways from the class and it’s simple songs that are repeated each week within the classes because repetition is very important in early years because then they can take that away, go home, practice, come back the following week and then obviously know those songs inside out. And then, you know, there’s things that you can use around the house. You know, you can use your…

Lukas Farmer (11:33.628)

Thanks.

Lucy Hammond (11:36.062)

wooden spoons as claves or they can get a saucepan and be banging that and making a sound like a drum. So there’s things that you don’t have to go out and buy everything but you can use things from around your home that will also make those sounds and encourage the children to have fun and everything at home too.

Carla (11:55.172)

brilliant I love the sleeping bunny idea actually because my little one she’s too and honestly changing a nappy literally take it off and she’s off chasing her out so I’m gonna try that because she loves that song so thank you for that and I wouldn’t have thought about that so with Jo Jingles obviously you guys have been around so so long and you’ve got quite a lot of franchise members and things like that now but

Lukas Farmer (12:00.348)

Thank you.

Lucy Hammond (12:01.408)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (12:07.264)

Yes, it’s very true.

Carla (12:21.54)

How have you guys evolved over the years? Because a lot of things have changed, haven’t they? You know, we’re online, then there was COVID and oh, it’s just… So how have you guys changed? And have you got anything new coming up?

Lucy Hammond (12:26.848)

Yeah, massively.

Lucy Hammond (12:36.16)

There’s lots of things that have changed in the time that I’ve been involved and it’s from the fact that when we first started people were using tape machines for a start. Then it went to CD players and then it was iPods and iPhones and docking stations and Bluetooth. So it’s evolved quite a lot. So emails and things were just coming into play. Facebook was not around when I first started and then when that came in, that was a game changer for us.

Carla (12:45.988)

Ha ha.

Carla (12:53.412)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (13:05.728)

So there’s, you know, social media is massive now, isn’t it? And that’s just sort of developed over the last few years. But even things down to our character, our Jo doll, he evolved from being a puppet to the boy that he is now in the class. It is the doll that we use in class. And the logo and everything like that, the branding has evolved and it’s just become more refined.

The artwork we have in classes, I used to hand draw pictures and colour them in myself and then now we have these beautiful pieces of artwork with Jo, our cartoon character, where he’s going to the seaside or he’s off to the jungle or the farm or whatever. So yeah, loads of things have changed over the time.

Carla (13:53.316)

Oh wow, yeah I know the tape players that made me laugh because I remember top of the pops on a Sunday night, the top 40 or something, I’d be like sat by my machine trying to record it but cut out the adverts. So no, that’s amazing, you guys have come so far, it’s really inspiring. And obviously a lot of our listeners are people, they might be on maternity leave.

Lucy Hammond (14:01.778)

Yeah!

recording it.

Carla (14:20.42)

And this is where I started my Bunk2Baby, during maternity leave, it was just like, I want to do something different and you don’t necessarily want to go back to your 95 full -time role, especially when you’ve got a family. So obviously you guys offer fantastic franchise opportunities as well, don’t you? And I’d love to hear a little bit more about those so we can share that with our listeners today. Oh, in fact,

Lukas Farmer (14:44.22)

Yeah, so…

Carla (14:45.604)

In fact, sorry, Lucas, I’ll introduce you actually. This is Lucas, and he looks after the franchise side of things, don’t you, Lucas?

Lukas Farmer (14:47.834)

Yeah

Lukas Farmer (14:54.108)

Yeah, so thanks, Carla, for having us. And yeah, we’re, I look after the recruitment and the marketing side of things. And Lucy is the kind of maestro behind all of our franchisees and the support that’s needed. So when you, when you are thinking about this time now where you might want to start your own thing,

Jo Jingles is amazing in how much support you get from network. So we could sit here and go through, right, start your own business and things like that. There’s so many legal, there’s so much to do, whereas a franchise opportunity, all of that’s done. And we’re just looking for people who want to have an impact on children and the education.

and then we’re going to help you put that business in place. So I think that’s what we do really is help a lot of teachers in early years as well come across to Jo Jingles and the franchise. And we have women from all walks of life in our network. So we’ve got 44 franchisees at the moment.

We’ve got one male, so big shout out to Andreas. But, we’ve got really loads of support behind everybody and what you would be Joining within a JoJingles franchise isn’t just a business, it is very much a family environment and we’ve all got each other’s backs. So,

Lucy Hammond (16:21.472)

Ha!

Carla (16:23.204)

try us.

Lucy Hammond (16:24.544)

you

Lukas Farmer (16:45.436)

I think the franchise opportunities, we’ve got them across the UK. We’ve got some in Australia now, so we are looking to change and we are looking to grow as a company. You mentioned in the previous question about some change and what’s coming up and innovation. And I suppose one thing is we’ve got more in -house work now with our marketing team. We’ve got more…

support externally as well, so from experts within the franchise world and we’re really kind of on this Journey now to take us really far and yeah we’re just we’re happy to be here educating children and impacting lots of lives really.

Carla (17:31.428)

It’s amazing, it is and when you mention about the businesses, I think that’s what holds a lot of people back because it’s that nerve -racking feeling like, yeah I want to launch my own business, I know what I want to launch but it’s like where do you start? And it’s a little things even as simple as making your own Facebook page and sharing it and the tips like that really that you don’t get really if you are on your own.

I can see the benefits of coming over to you guys and being a franchisee and having that strong network of people that have been there and done it and grown their business. So that’s amazing.

Lukas Farmer (18:07.196)

Yeah, I think that’s it. It’s that network of people who’ve been there and done it and the training you get. So you get a five day training course and that seems intense, I understand, but at the same time, the amount of stuff that you pick up from that five day training course will just propel and accelerate your business and a lot of people will have that fear of failure and we understand that, but we are here to support you. We…

We understand the cost of living crisis at the moment and we’ve even now got a 50 % reduction. So if you wanted to come on board with us, there is actually now you only have to pay 50 % upfront and then a two year payment plan. So again, we’re really working to allow you to have your dream Job because if you want to work with children and you’re worried about the money and you’re worried about business, we’ve got your back. If you’re…

If you’re not worried about standing in front and having a solo and singing and dancing and being a bit silly, then yeah, let’s go for it. Come to Jo Jingles and we will most definitely be behind you and supporting you all the way.

Carla (19:21.188)

amazing it really really is so how would someone find out if their area is available and how they can kind of speak who would they would they speak to you more Lucas about that opportunity?

Lukas Farmer (19:32.54)

Yeah, so the front end of stuff really would be coming from myself. If we were to go through that route, hopefully we’ve got a link that can be shared with this podcast, which will take you to our franchise opportunities page. Just fill in the quick form and then from there you’ll be given some brochures, an opportunity to speak to myself.

and an opportunity to speak to ex -franchisees as well. So you can really get a full picture of everything. And then as well as that, we do a discovery call. A discovery call is held once a month and it will be in the evenings trying to help with your lifestyles as well. And in that discovery call, you get to meet Tracy, who is a…

a franchisee at the moment. You also get to meet Jill, who used to be a franchisee, and then I’ll be on there as well. And there’ll be loads of opportunities for questions and to see the real Jo Jingles and what to expect if you are to Join us.

Carla (20:42.212)

That’s amazing. I really like the sound of it. It sounds great. I mean, I mean, the good thing is with Jo Jingles, you’ve been around so long. So the model works, you know, like it’s, there’s look how many franchises you’ve got. And I love the fact that you’ve got X franchises as well that come on and have a chat as well, because you know, it’s nice, isn’t it? Cause they’re gonna, they’re gonna share. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Lukas Farmer (20:59.298)

I’m

Lucy Hammond (21:00.864)

Yeah, it’s true. I mean, you just can’t leave. That’s the problem. That’s what’s happened to me is that, you know, like, you know, I was a French ISE and I’m still here. Because you just love it.

Lukas Farmer (21:06.268)

Yeah.

Hehehe

Carla (21:11.94)

many more years and that’s the thing isn’t it’s when you’ve got a good team and you’ve got that network and everyone wants you to be successful and everyone wants that for you and your family and things it’s just so nice I love that and if you’ve not checked out the classes I will put a link to those underneath this podcast and the franchise opportunities as well if that’s okay and yeah definitely get in touch with these guys it sounds amazing and they can also book classes on your website as well is that correct?

Lucy Hammond (21:42.848)

Yeah, each individual area has their own website but obviously if you want to just search an area to see if there’s classes in your area then you can just go online to our website and then obviously search your postcode and see which one’s the nearest one to you.

Carla (21:58.988)

brilliant and also there’s my Bunk2baby as well to find them on there. I we’ve got quite a few of you guys on there now so I’ll, right that’s brilliant I’ll pop all the links underneath this podcast and then if you’ve got any questions please please do get in touch with Lucy or Lucas, both names, L, there we go, I know Lucy and Lucas, there we go, right thank you so much.

Lukas Farmer (22:17.668)

Yeah.

Thank you. Can I just also say thank you to you, thank you for letting us come on here. I’ve listened to a couple of your podcasts just to see what’s going on as well. So that’s really great. And thank you to all of our franchisees who are basically doing every day what we really want to see, which is impacting children’s lives and having a positive impact. And,

Carla (22:25.078)

Nice!

Lukas Farmer (22:50.172)

Yeah, just want to say a real massive thank you. Thank you.

Carla (22:53.54)

No, and thank you so much because I’ve been wanting to speak to you guys for ages to be honest. There’s amazing groups out there and everyone is very different but Jo Jingles for me personally, I mean I remember seeing that as a child. I mean it sounds a long time ago actually, like you know years ago but you know it’s just so nice to learn more about it and the fantastic stuff that you guys are doing so thank you so much for coming on, I really appreciate it.

Lucy Hammond (23:06.848)

Yeah.

Lucy Hammond (23:19.392)

Yeah, no, thank you. It’s been great. Really enJoyed it.

Carla (23:22.244)

Thank you.