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Victoria’s compassion for staff, children and families at Smallville Nursery oozes from her very being. In her role as manager of the standalone setting, she manages a team of 12 staff and is solely responsible for the day-to-day operations and business development of the Kent-based nursery, along with working in ratio.
She is passionate about her work and has a very strong work ethic. She shows devotion to the development of every child, making sure inclusivity is at the heart of every provocation, and demonstrates consistency with the way she addresses parents, staff and children’s concerns. As a result, she has received many positive testimonials from parents. Some parents have even applied to join the staff team because Victoria’s vision for childcare is infectious.
Victoria is described as ‘a font of ideas’ and is always looking to make improvements. As part of her drive for quality, she appreciates the power of her team and holds quarterly Development Workshops with the staff to hear their visions for the nursery.
Staff members’ praise for their manager include, ‘I’ve never worked in a place so calm and that’s because we all know Victoria’s here to help. She’s not like a normal boss that watches for you to make mistakes, she gets us training and makes us feel valued’, and, ‘She’s got such a “can do” attitude that rubs off on all of us, nothing is ever a problem.’ Victoria is as invested in the development of staff as she is the children and has recently encouraged a staff member to complete her Level 6, along with recruiting and supporting apprentices.
Her devotion to inclusivity is obvious, with three children now attending the nursery who were turned away by other settings because of their behaviours. Victoria individually speaks to every parent and helps the key person and family jointly develop support strategies for home and nursery. The flexibility in her offerings, tailored to the unique needs of the child and family, mean these children are settled and learning when the parents had been previously told that they were unmanageable in a mainstream setting.
As part of her role, Victoria has challenging conversations with parents about safeguarding concerns. During these, parents are made to feel supported, rather than judged, and often actually thank her afterwards.
When Victoria established that one parent was struggling to bring her child to nursery because of severe physical and mental health problems, she arranged for additional funding to allow taxis to collect the family and bring them to nursery, a discounted rail card to help with days out, and she even set up a Walking Bus with staff to collect the child on some days. She contacted local charities for support and helped fill out benefit forms. When Social Services reviewed the case, they phoned Victoria to thank her personally, saying they had never known a nursery manager to go so far above and beyond their role.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Kate Campbell, Defence Children Services, ESBA Early Years – Dhekelia and Ayios Nikolaos, Cyprus
Kate is a ‘driving force’ for the whole team and strives to ensure the military children have the best outcomes, including introducing a curriculum inspired by Adventures with Alice and the Curiosity Approach. Often military parents can be away for months, leaving families isolated in Cyprus away from family, so Kate has established a nursery community to ensure they are supported. Tragically last year, a colleague died on a work night out. Despite Kate coping with her own grief, she ensured children, families and staff were also well supported and has created a beautiful memorial garden as a tribute to their valued team member.
FINALISTS
Jane Noble, First Friends @ Wootey – Alton, Hampshire
Catherine Stones, Tiddlywinks Nursery Group – Higher Blackley, Greater Manchester
Kirsten Ward, Willow Tree Nursery School – Clacton on Sea, Essex
CRITERION
Open to any nursery manager in a full daycare or sessional setting who displays exemplary leadership and management skills in running their setting and providing the best possible service for children, families and staff.
