PUDDLEDUCKS DAY NURSERY - Key Persons
Cheryl took on the role of deputy manager in the summer 0f 2022, having worked as our baby room leader for almost 5 years. Alongside Amy, Cheryl supports Lucy with the smooth running of the nursery. Her true passion lies in baby room, and she still supports the baby team with cover when needed.
Chloe is a long-standing, highly valued member of our team. Having worked in our baby room, and then toddler room, she has now taken on the role of toddler room leader. Chloe seems to have the most natural way with children, with all our toddlers making instant connections with her. Chloe oversees the daily running of the toddler room, supporting the toddler team and ensuring our toddlers have access to a rich and varied curriculum.
Heather is another very long-standing, highly valued member of our team. Heather was first with us as a student on placement, and then joined us straight from college. She has always worked in our preschool room, and is extremely knowledgeable in preschool practice.
Holly currently splits her time between our two sites, dealing with a range of administrative, HR and financial tasks. If you need to call the nursery to discuss things relating to attendance, payments, funding, and a range of other queries, it might well be Holly who you will speak to. Holly deals with all registrations and is likely to be your point of contact during your early dealings with Puddleducks. She will guide you through and arrange the settling in process with you and will post all related correspondence out to you. Holly plays a really important role alongside Sarah and Lucy, providing invaluable support to aid the smooth running of the nurseries. We'd be lost without her.
Lucy leads and manages our Sheriff Hutton nursery.
She joined the nursery in 2016, as a practitioner in baby team. Very quickly she was promoted to a room supervisory role, before taking on the temporary management of the nursery while Sarah took maternity leave in 2018. Sarah refused to let her step back down and she's been at the helm ever since! Finding the right person who shares the same vision, commitment and passion for the nursery has been the most significant milestone. Sharing the load, and knowing that in her absence, things are done just as she would want them, has been a real turning point for Sarah. Lucy takes much flack in the office for her super over-organised approach to EVERYTHING.
Lucy's only babies to date are furry ones. Harley and Paddy, her cocker spaniels, fill her weekends and spare time with lots of country walks and cuddles.
Job Titles:
- Nursery Founder & Director
Sarah opened Puddleducks Sheriff Hutton in 2012 and has been at the forefront of leading the nursery ever since. As an experienced primary school teacher, she has turned her passion into a highly successful business, expanding and opening Puddleducks Malton in July 2022.
She is present at the nurseries in a full-time capacity and works closely alongside Lucy and Lindsey, closely monitoring the standards and quality of nursery provision. Having led the nursery to gaining Ofsted outstanding status in 2019, she then set to work on leading the team through the Curiosity Approach accreditation, gained in 2020. Sarah has an innate drive for excellence. It is this drive, combined with passion and commitment, which has led to the nursery being recognised with multiple awards by industry bodies. Sarah has also spent some of her career working as an early year's inspector of childcare providers across the north of England. She is also leading a project for the Department for Education (DfE), looking at the impact of Covid on children's early education.
Sarah's own children have always been the standard setter at the nursery. Sarah juggles being a mum to 3 children with running her nursery full-time. She is also a bit of an animal lover. As if she's not got enough to contend with, she's also mum to 3 cats, 2 goats, 1 goose, 14 chickens, and 2 guinea pigs!