Nursery World Awards 2022 - Outstanding Contribution

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Sheila’s 44-year career began in a children’s home in London, where she worked for several years before leaving to have her son.

She returned to work as a teaching assistant at Galleywood Infant School for over 20 years, and has been at Little Chums Nursery for six years, working 50-hour weeks as a key person.

Throughout her career, Sheila has supported all children, but her real passion and talent lies in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.

She currently supports a child with extreme needs at Little Chums, and despite her own struggles with arthritis, she will lie on the floor with an angry, distressed child or to support their sensory needs. Her calm manner diffuses any potential conflict.

She builds strong bonds with children others find hard to reach. She follows their daily routines methodically to help them cope with their time in the setting. She understands what they need and when, whether that means standing outside in the snow or rain or reading a Peppa Pig Christmas book every day for a year.

Meanwhile, she works hard with other children too. Children queue to join in her writing group.

She makes resources for children in her own time, such as books showing a child’s favourite things, to help them learn and engage with something they have previously found difficult. One little boy who had left the nursery to start school was struggling to keep up in class, and Sheila visits him regularly during the holidays, free of charge, to help with his learning.

She supports a young boy with autism in the setting who is non-verbal. He is tall for his age and has extreme sensory needs, but despite the physical and mental challenges, Sheila works with him throughout the day and supports his mother, who brings up three children under four on her own. Sheila invites her to her house so the children can play, and their mother gets the opportunity to talk while knowing her children are safe.

Not only is Sheila good with the children, but she is also a vital member of the team. Everyone likes and respects her, and she gets on with everyone, regardless of age or seniority. She is a patient sounding-board for her colleagues and will voice her opinions in an honest, helpful and constructive way.

She is always on time, rarely sick and always ready to give anything a go. When Sheila is not in the nursery, staff 30 years younger can be heard wondering aloud how she does what she does. Her contribution to the lives of children for over 40 years makes her more than worthy of this award.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Katie Watson, Northumberland County Council

In her 40-year career, Katie has worked as a nursery nurse, as manager of Riverside Children’s Centre in North Shields, where she completed her Early Years Teacher qualification, and for the last eight years as early years adviser at Northumberland County Council.

At Riverside, she found funding to support a team member through higher education, creating the foundation for a later doctorate.

In her current role, her leadership has seen continuous improvement in child outcomes at the end of the EYFS.

In the last four years she has mentored three members of the team through higher level qualifications, including the development of an innovative financial management system which has won awards and supports two other councils.

She has made a difference to the lives of many children, from making a nursery outing to Saltwell Park feel like a holiday for a child who had never left Newcastle, to working intensively with a deprived setting to role model good practice around circle time, aiming to close the attainment gap and develop children’s communication skills. She has also developed Northumberland’s EYSTAR inclusion fund from scratch.

FINALISTS

Mandy Farrar, Diamond Wood Community Academy, Dewsbury

Carole Henderson, Bright Horizons

Ursula Krystek-Walton, Thrive Childcare and Education

Alison Owen, Bolton Start Well-Harvey Nursery, Bolton

CRITERION

For an ‘unsung hero’ – an early years practitioner whose long service and dedication in day-to-day work with young children are truly inspiring.