Hannah Cooper is the Nursery Manager at Merrydale, having previously been the Deputy both at our Hazebrouck nursery a few miles away and most recently at Merrydale itself. Hannah is a Graduate in Child Development and has a wealth of experience both through private schools and Early Years work at Hazebrouck.  While Deputy at Hazebrouck she introduced many innovative and stimulating ideas which the children still enjoy there. 

Hannah is very ably supported by Anneliese Mostert as our Deputy Manager.  Anneliese has a Batchelor of Education Degree and has worked in both South Africa and Switzerland.

Bluebells – 0- 2 Years

Bluebells has capacity for 12 children and we work on the basis that there is one adult for every three children. The Room Senior is qualified to NVQ3, and the remaining three staff members are NVQ3 and NVQ2 qualified.  Each staff member has their own key group, meaning they plan activities for those particular children and tend to their hygiene needs.  This helps the child form a strong bond with their key worker, and supports both children and parent by providing consistency.  Bluebells have a creative room to encourage the children to get involved in lots of messy activities and an heuristic room to allow the children to get involved in a range of natural experiences. 

Snowdrops – 2- 3 Years
Snowdrops have a capacity for 12 children, and work on the basis that there is one adult for every four children. The Room Senior is qualified to Level 5 and half the staff thereafter is qualified to Level 2 or above. The children enjoy the small friendly environment where they know all of the staff and other children.

Garden time is an important part of the Snowdrops' routine and we take every opportunity to get out into the fresh air and explore the outdoors. The children benefit from our large garden with plenty of room to run around with there friends. The children develop there physical skills in the garden and benefit from the climbing frames, tent, sandpit and other outdoor resources.   

Forget-me-nots – 3- 5 Years
Forget-me-nots has capacity for 18 children, and work on the basis that there is one staff member to every eight children. Our routine is slightly more structured than the other rooms, incorporating time to learn phonics through fun activities, games and singing, and preparing children for the challenges that lie ahead when moving on to school. The children have regular access to the computer, using the internet, and many different software programmes promoting music, creativity and knowledge and understanding of the world.

Spending time in the garden with their friends and sibling is an important part of our routine, and encourages the children to socialise with their peers, and to develop physical skills, using a variety of physical resources, including stilts, balance beams, cars and bikes. We also have a large tent, climbing frames, swings and a covered sand pit which the children love using all year round.