Position: Operations manager at Paint Pots Nurseries, Southampton
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Congratulations on becoming the third in your family to achieve graduate-leader status. Did you enjoy the course?
The Early Years Teacher course was great, but sometimes hard to decipher, so it helped that my parents had been through EYPS.
How did your parents influence your decision to get involved in the early years?
They set up Paint Pots in my house, so I grew up with it. I've obviously got a fair bit of their DNA, so I'm pretty confident with children. Being a family is sort of our USP. The idea is to provide care and love and create a home away from home. That's something I strongly believe in, and my parents do too. It was the main reason for starting the business.
Is it difficult living and working together?
There can be some challenges! We talk about nurseries non-stop over the dinner table - I think my sisters are sick of it. But I was always going to do this job, and when my parents offered me this opportunity I knew I'd take it. I can continue it when they retire.
I have a responsibility to the people here not to abandon it to someone who might bring in a different ethos.
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