Our Team
The nursery has been run under the management of Ian and Lindsay Smith since purchasing it in 1998.
Lindsay has been involved in childcare since gaining her N.N.E.B. at Kingston College in 1992. She has since gained her A.D.C.E. and has plans to begin working towards a degree in Early Childhood Studies in the near future.
Lindsay's role in the nursery is to manage and support the staff within their role with the children. Lindsay is supernumary to allow time for necessities such as paperwork. Lindsay works closely with the nursery staff in particular the nursery deputy Kealey when planning nursery activities and learning experiences.
Lindsay loves being around the children and always makes time in the day to spend time with them.
Ians role at the nursery is mainly administrative and financial dealing with the invoicing and purchasing, as well as minor repair work to the nursery building and toys etc. Ian is well loved by all the children and he does spend time in the nursery with them, particularly helping them with the gardening, cleaning out the rabbits etc. Ian has recently gained a diploma in business management.
Ian and Lindsay are also parents of three children who have all benefited from their years at Playways.
Our Deputy Kealey has been working at Playways for six and a half years Kealey is qualified to NVQ3 and also holds her first aid certificate. Kealey also attends regular training courses to update her knowledge and is in charge of planning the children's learning experiences and activities.
In the Baby Room we have four permanent members of Staff these are Eva, Veronica, Gemma and Charlotte. Eva and Veronica have been working for us since we first bought the nursery back in 1998. Eva passed her PPA foundation certificate in 1989 and Veronica passed her Diploma in Pre School Practice in 1999. Gemma has been working for us for the past six and a half years, joining us in 2001, Gemma had already completed her C.C.E and continued studying whilst working with us and passed her N.V.Q Level 3 in August 2003.
Gemma already has a son of her own who has also attended the nursery and is expecting her second child in August. Charlotte is the newest member of the baby room team and joined us as a trainee in August 2006, we are very pleased to say that Charlotte has been studying very hard with her N.V.Q level 2 and has very recently completed all of her work, we are now waiting for an internal verifier to confirm that Charlotte has passed before she begins studying for her N.V.Q level 3. All of the baby room staff hold a current first aid certificate and keep their knowledge updated by regular training sessions, which include courses such as food and hygiene, storytelling, training for the EYFS and many more.
Kealey works with the older children alongside three other permanent staff. Naomi and Sheriese have been working for us for nearly a year now since joining in the beginning of July 2007. They are both working towards their N.V.Q. Level 2 and have proved to be valuable members of the nursery team who work very hard with Kealey to ensure that the children are all offered a wonderful range of learning experiences and activities.
The newest member of the team is Judith who started working for us at the beginning of April 2008. Although she has only just started officially working for us we are all very familiar with Judith as she had been working at the nursery between September and December 2007 whilst she undertook her EYPS qualification. Judith brings with her lots of experience with children as she already has four of her own. Whilst training with us Judith proved herself to be a very reliable, hard working team member and we are very pleased that she has decided to make her stay with us more permanent.
We are also looking forward to Puspa joining us in July, Like Judith Puspa has been training with us since September 2007 until the end of March 2008. In order to complete her qualification Puspa needs to attend training for a term in primary school and will then be joining us afterwards to take up a post as a nursery practitioner. Puspa has also proved herself to be a very valuable member of the team and we look forward to welcoming her back. Whilst she has been with us Puspa has done some wonderful activities with the children and offered them some lovely learning experiences, in particular the children enjoyed learning about Puspa's home country and her way of life back there.
Lastly we have a new trainee starting with us from the beginning of April named Karen-Anne. Karen-Anne is about to start studying for her N.V.Q Level 2 and we would like to wish her every success for her future.
All staff at the nursery are CRB checked before they are allowed unsupervised access to the children. Newer staff members are also awaiting first aid training, there is always, however, a qualified first aider on site.
We are very proud of the loyal and reliable staff that we have working for us. They all work very hard whilst maintaining excellent relations within the staff team and the nursery environment.