My first career, as a journalist, was interesting and often exciting. I worked on 4 weekly newspapers, ending as news editor of the Henley Standard. I left at the arrival of our son and freelanced for a while, at which time I became involved in Allsorts Preschool – the predecessor to Brightwell Preschool – Brightwell Toddlers, Musical Praise and ran a children’s club at my church, Wallingford Methodist, the start of 30+ years of children’s work there.
When our daughter was due to start school, I started to help-out at a preschool in Didcot while I was completing my training, initially on a temporary basis. Sixteen years later I was still there having discovered a passion for helping children to communicate through signing, building language through singing and stories and learning how to support them in their play. Many training courses were undertaken, and I became SENDCo, supporting many children 1-2-1.
Briefly I helped to establish a nursery a primary School before, happily, joining Brightwell Preschool in 2019 to provide 1-2-1 support, which I love.
My aim is to help children achieve their potential. I also want them to enjoy reading as much as I do and being able to communicate is a key part of that. The ongoing language lead training, the song bags and the many story sacks I have created help to support this.
In my spare time I sing in a gospel choir, read, garden, walk my dog and support my church through cooking lunches, arranging flowers, running fundraising events, leading junior church and safeguarding.