Our leaders are Marie Coutand, Rebecca Rickett and Sarah Eldridge who took over the running of the playgroup in September 2018 and January 2019. We have an enthusiastic team of 3 nursery assistants who are all qualified or working towards relevant qualifications as well as a long term volunteer.

MARIE COUTAND (MANAGER)

My name is Marie – the new Manager at Chalfont Saint Giles Playgroup.

Originally from France, I have lived in the UK for 15 years now. Before moving to England I grew up in a big family in Brittany, with four siblings and many cousins. As a teenager I spent my summer holidays as a nanny for English families, where I discovered a love of children and the British culture!

I moved to London to be a full-time nanny when I was 17, originally for a year but ended up staying a lot longer. I was a nanny for 6 years, to four families in total, whilst also studying and private tutoring.

I began work as a Teaching Assistant for a Bilingual French-English nursery in West London, where I also provided support for children with Special Education needs. Over the 7 years I was there, I became a Teacher/Class Leader for 2-3 years olds, continued to build upon the my special needs training, as well as English as an additional language, studying “Early Years” education with the Open university and learning Makaton sign language.

I’ve also tutored children from nursery to GSCEs, especially in English and French but in many other subjects too. I’ve worked with children with Dyslexia, autism, anxiety and school phobia.

I’ve also worked in admin and as an office manager, in an interior designer company whilst I also taught in a charity-run french school in London where I still continue to teach every Saturday.

I live in Berkhamsted with my partner and our cat Mocha. Our love of the outdoors means we are always gardening, trekking and exploring the National Parks. We’ve climbed many of the UK’s peaks, and love travelling the World to discover more places to explore.

Living up to my French stereotype, I am a massive ‘foodie’ spending my time baking and cooking. I enjoy trying food from across the world, and watching the odd cooking show too!

I am a huge book worm, preferring a good novel over a TV to entertain myself 🙂

I love doing arts and crafts with the kids, and explore “sciences” with them. My love of books is also something I inspire to share with all the children!

TRISH SEWELL ( DEPUTY MANAGER)

I began my life in Nepal high in the Himalayas as my father was in the army. Since then I have continued to travel to most of the continents of the globe with my fathers profession and then on my own , absorbing all the cultures and history as I enjoyed my journey. This has enabled me to bring all my knowledge into the teaching environment and share it with all the little learners. After traveling I began nannying for many families, one of which lived in the Cayman Islands , so everyday was a dream . Another took me to Brazil on holiday, a fabulous experience.
I changed career direction and gained a Montessori teaching diploma level 4 , and set off to London to start my new teaching occupation. Here I met my husband to be . I have two boys now both taller than myself and I am hugely proud of the young men they have become.
I have dedicated the past nine years to Playgroup , seen possibly 400 children though the doors, changed a million nappies, given them all my knowledge and shared a special rapport with each and everyone. I have a passion for the outdoor environment, whether it’s at boot camp or with the children down in the woods. As long as I have a great view I feel alive.

REBECCA RICKETT (ADMIN MANAGER)

Hi there! My name is Rebecca and I am a mum to, two beautiful children Mia and Mason.

My career has always been in Retail and people Management. I started my working life after university at Primark where I became a Senior Department Manager in their Kingston store. I opened many new stores and saw the company grow enormously at such a fast rate.
I have also worked for Marks and Spencer where I managed the Womenswear department in their Kings Road Store. I then ended my career in retail in Harrods where I spent 5 years experiencing the delights of the worlds most famous Department Store.

After having my first child Mia I continued my role at Harrods but once my little boy came along I decided that it was time to take a break from my career so I became a full time mummy!

I became the Chairperson of the playgroup in 2017. Then when the role of Administration Manager came up I thought this would be a new challenge for me and a great way to work more closely with staff and parents that I had made relationships with already.

My hobbies these days are following cleaning experts on Instagram (Mrs Hinch is my favorite!), dog walking my gorgeous Cockapoo poppy and eating out with friends.

SARAH ELDRIDGE (ADMIN MANAGER)

Hello All! My name is Sarah and I’m a proud Mother of two boys Olly and Archie.

I started my working life as an MFL teacher at Dr Challoner’s for Boys. I then went on to be a student achievement manager within the MFL department at Waddesdon C of E school. After marrying my husband Steve in Cyprus, I became the head of languages at the Cavendish School in Hemel, where I also became an associate assistant head before having my first born Olly. I have always wanted to be a teacher and whilst working at all of the schools I continued to learn how much I loved teaching children and helping them become all round young adults in the big wide world.

Through my working life, I have always had a passion for children and education and I knew that after having Olly I wanted to get back out there and support young learners. I began tutoring GCSE, primary and even toddlers. This has been great because it has kept my brain ticking whilst bringing up Olly. I also took on the role of a trustee at CSG playgroup, because I wasn’t busy enough! It is there that I got involved in fundraising and supporting the staff at playgroup. So when the role of admin manager came up it seemed perfect, even with a new-born baby!

I don’t have many hobbies these days unless you include cleaning, online shopping and meeting friends for a “quick” coffee! I used to dance and maybe one day when my boys are older I will get the ballet shoes back on!

LISAMARIE SAUNDERS (LEVEL 2 EYP – LEVEL 3 TRAINING IN PROGRESS)

SARAH BELL (EYP – LEVEL 2 TRAINING IN PROGRESS

JANE ROBERTSON (EYP)

NATASHA KING (VOLUNTEER)

All of our staff are very passionate about children, their development and learning and they take pride in their work. Our staff are kind practitioners and take a very gentle approach towards all children, working on the basis of promoting positive behaviour rather than focusing on negative behaviour, children seem to thrive in this environment. We use many positive rewards such as the Pre-School reward chart, stamps and stickers (you may find your child covered in stickers at the end of a Pre-School day).

We follow Ofsted’s requirement to have enhanced DBS criminal reference checks (the highest level of checks currently available) on all of our staff. All employee’s undergo a vigirous interview process to ensure we are employing the highest quality of practitioners, during this process a minimum of two references are required from their previous employers.

In order for us to support your child’s development in the best possible way, we employ people with different educational training backgrounds. They all attend regular training courses, which enables them to bring new ideas and updated practices to the setting.

All staff hold a Paediatrics first aid qualification and have attended safeguarding, Manual Handling, Allergy and food hygiene training, these are revised every three years to ensure we are up to date with all current policies and legislation. Safeguarding training is updated every 2 years.

Ratio

We are currently registered for Children aged from 2 years to 5 years old. The Ratio’s set by The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, 2014) are:

2 year olds = 1:4

3 years old plus = 1:8

Key Person System

Every child at the preschool has a member of staff who they will spend special time with and build a special bond with. This is their Key Person. The key Person knows your child really well and will ensure your child feels cared for and safe and secure.

The key Person will help with settling in to preschool and respond sensitively to your child’s needs. They will usually attend to your child’s nappy changes or toileting, development and learning and their need for cuddles or someone to talk to.

They will help your child build relationships with other staff and children in the preschool. They will usually be the person to feedback to you on how your child’s day at Pre-School has been. A key Person is also there for the family as well and we like you to build a close relationship.
The key person will also monitor your child’s progress and carry out regular observations to ensure your child’s progress is appropriate for their age and to help plan for your child based on their interests and direction of learning.

The Committee

The Pre-School Trustees and Committee have the overall responsibility for ensuring that it runs successfully in accordance with its aims. The Committee is formed at the Annual General Meeting (usually September) of parents of Pre-School children and meets once every half-term with the Pre-School Leader and Deputy.

Our Committee currently consists of:

Chairperson – Natalie Zealey

Treasurer – Celia Farschi

Secretary – Sally Mclaren

Emma Farrell

Hayley Southgate