Our staff play a key role in the high quality care and education that we offer.

We are proud that many of our staff are long-serving, including several who have been here over three decades and many who have been here for a decade! One of these staff is Elaine, who has been with us for over 30 years. This year she has been shortlisted for the national "Outstanding Contribution" Nursery World Award.

Our staff are also very well qualified. Unusually for a nursery, our staff team includes many graduates, teachers, Early Years Professionals and Early Years Teachers (EYPs/EYTs). Hannah, one of our pre-school team leaders, won EYT of the Year in the Nursery World Awards 2019 (a national award!) We encourage all of our staff to continue their professional development as we feel this has a big influence on the quality of our provision. Kelly, our other pre-school team leader, was shortlisted as Practitioner of the Year in the Nursery World Awards 2019.

 

 

 

What parents say about our staff:

''We would like to thank you for ensuring that the nursery is run efficiently with wonderful, caring, creative staff. You have clearly invested a lot in ensuring your staff are well trained and well motivated.''

''Very dedicated, professional staff who are very friendly, supportive and willing to help, talk and listen.''

''It is easy to see that the staff are dedicated to all children and my daughter certainly feels cared for by the staff. ''

 

Our team includes;

> Five teachers with a PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate of Education).

> Four staff with ‘Early Years Professional’ or 'Early Years Teacher' status.

> A resident artist who works with the children to create large scale and environmental art

> Several staff with the Level 2 Forest Schools Assistant qualification.

> Numerous staff with the Level 3 Forest School qualification.

> A qualified Forest School trainer who won the Nursery World Trainer of the Year Award 2018.

Holmsdale was the first nursery to offer Forest Schools in Leicestershire, in 2007, and the first nursery in the UK to recieve the top level Forest Schools Quality Mark a decade later in 2018. There are still only a small number of local schools and early years settings in Leicestershire with forest school qualified staff- many of whom have come to us for training.

Although our staff team are already highly qualified, we believe that ongoing training is important. Well qualified staff are key to ensuring a secure, happy learning environment for your child.

We therefore value training very highly and expect all staff to work towards higher level qualifications. Current and recent training undertaken by staff includes NVQs, forest schools qualifications, foundation degrees and post-graduate research at Northampton, Warwick, Birmingham and Sheffield Universities.

We hold regular team meetings, involving teams within the nursery or the whole staff group, to ensure that information from training is passed on across the nursery. For example, two of our staff attended art and science training at Chatsworthm House and cascaded this to the staff team.

All of our permanent staff hold a current paediatric first aid certificate, exceeding requirements.

For further details about our staff team, please ask for a brochure or make an appointment to visit Holmsdale. Click here for more details.