We are a group of Baby Room Leaders, Nursery Managers and Researchers working together to develop and improve Baby Room Leadership across the UK.
We believe that:
- The experiences that children have between the ages of 0-2 years are vital for their learning and wellbeing in childhood and into adulthood.
- It is essential that we get the nursery environments for 0-2 year olds (the ‘baby room’) right. This depends on the leadership of Baby Room Leaders.
We recognise that:
- Baby Room Leaders often receive less support in their leadership development than others within the nursery.
- There is an urgent need to step up the leadership development available to Baby Room Leaders across the UK.
In this project, we will:
- Respond to this gap by collaboratively creating an open access online training course for new Baby Room Leaders to develop their leadership skills.
Baby Rooms – Inspiring Leaders (BRIL) was originally funded by the British Education Leadership Management and Administration Society (BELMAS).
Dr Mona Sakr, Researcher and Lecturer in Early Childhood, Middlesex University
My name is Emma. I have worked at Trailblazers nursery for 8 years. I have experience across all the age groups but for the last 5 years have been in the baby room, the last two as room leader.
Debbie Brace -.babytalkandplay is a specialist trainer in early language development and behaviour of babies and young children.
Meredith Rose –
Course Leader/Senior Lecturer for BA Early Years/ Early Childhood courses at NTU. Also a part-time Ph.D. student with interests in leadership in early childhood, the recognition and value of those who work in the early year’s sector.
Laura Piper and Verity Green work as Early Years Support and Intervention Officers for East Sussex County Council, supporting early years providers. They led the award winning ‘Interacting with Babies’ collaborative research project. Laura and Verity are the leads for under two’s practice including baby room networks and training.
Tracey Greenfield –
I am Deputy Manager at Robertsbridge children’s services. We are in all year round setting looking after 0 to 5 year olds, our baby room can have up to 9 babies aged between 0 to 2. I am also a respite/emergency foster carer looking after 0 to 6-year-old children.
Mel Knight trained at The Norland College and has nannied for 18 years, she has now moved to working in nurseries. Mel is passionate about high standards of practice in the baby room, focusing particularly on the importance of settling in and the relationships with families to ensure that the children are happy within the setting.
Sarah Hinkin –
Having trained at the Norland College Sarah Hinkin started her career as a Nanny and has worked in day nurseries for 26 years, starting as a Nursery Nurse in a baby room. She has been the Nursery & Childcare Services Manager at Oxford Brookes University Nursery since 2004.
Shane Page –
I am a senior Nursery Nurse at Oxford Brookes University Nursery where I have been a practitioner for 19 years. I am passionate about the care of babies and children and enjoy every moment of it.
Hi, I’m Gillian. Manger and Director of Scallywags Children’s Nursery which is located in a small seaside town. I started as Manager when the nursery opened in 2007 taking a lead role in developing our provision and Team. 2015 brought an exciting additional nd life long commitment to our nursery when I became a Director. I love the excitement and wonder children bring each day.
Gemma Ainger –
I’m Gemma, I have been with Humpty Dumpties for three years. I am senior lead for the baby rooms where I support the group leaders and oversee the running of the three baby rooms. I have worked with under twos for twelve years and ten of those have been as a group leader. I thoroughly enjoy working with babies and find it so interesting to watch them grow and develop at their own pace.
James Martin –
Hi, I am James. I have been working for Humpties for five years and have been a baby room leader for the last two years. I have always been passionate about working with babies and discovering how each little one interacts with the world so uniquely. I hope with this project to be able to inspire others to further develop their own baby room leadership skills.
Tim Hopkins –
I am the Strategic Development Manager for Humpty Dumpty Day Nurseries Ltd. We are a family-owned childcare group with a mixture of all year round, school based and wrap around care settings looking after children 0 to 11 years old. We are passionate about offering the highest quality childcare and early education for all. We care for over 70 children aged 0 to 2 each day at our settings. I have worked in Early Years for over 15 years and my first paid position working with the under 5’s was in a baby room. I am the proud dad of two children.
Hello, my name is Nadine and I am the area supervisor in our baby room at Scallywags Children’s nursery. We are a private nursery based in a small seaside town in Scotland where I have been a part of this team for 8 years, becoming the baby room leader during lockdown. I love working with the babies and being a big part of the early stages of their life and seeing them grow and develop.