Our staff are loyal, dedicated and are committed to creating a caring environment where the children feel safe and happy.
All staff are experienced in working with pre-school children and are fully qualified. They work together as a strong team and we are committed to ensuring that training is kept up to date by attending relevant courses, such as first aid, safeguarding children and ensuring current knowledge of EYFS best practice. Our setting uses a key person approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom they are particularly responsible. We promote the role of the key person as the child’s primary carer in our setting, although all staff interact and work with all the children and promote the establishment of relationships between children. Each key person maintains the learning journeys (record of learning) of their key children.
Jo Smith
Hi, my name is Jo. I am the manager of Christ Church Pre-School. I have the NNEB qualification and have been working in the early years sector since 1989, and as a manager for the last 16 years. I am also a mum to two boys, so I have an extensive amount of knowledge and experience.
I am committed and passionate about the Pre-School and have a fantastic team who work with me. Together we create an environment of care and creativity for all children to learn in. It is essential that children learn through a play based environment and develop in a caring and supportive Pre-school setting. Here at Christchurch we aim to provide this constantly!
Laura Grandfield
Hello, my name is Laura, and I am the Deputy Manager here at Christchurch Pre-school. I am a mum to two girls who both attended the pre-school where they were very happy and thrived enormously. Both are now at secondary school but speak of their time at pre-school with great fondness so when a position came up to join the team, I had to take it.
I hold an NNEB (Diploma in Nursery Nursing), certificate in Child Care and Education, Food Hygiene certificate and am paediatric First Aid Trained. I have worked solely as a private nanny gaining over 25 years’ experience which I bring with me into pre-school.
I have loved being such a huge part of each family’s life working diligently on developing the children’s skills and fostering curiosity with them that are key to the Early Years. It brings me joy to witness the children developing, growing, and having fun whilst learning to become life ready through their time at Christchurch pre-school.
As we are established as a charity, our fantastic team of staff are supported by the Parents’ Committee, who, together with the management team, are responsible for the overall management and smooth-running of the Pre-School. To find out more about our Parents’ Committee, including how you can become involved, please see our section on Parental Involvement.
Ofsted say:
‘Children are inquisitive and eager to learn. They make good progress from their starting points.’
‘Staff support children’s language development very well. For example, they encourage plenty of interesting conversations and encourage children’s ideas well.’