Our Staff
Our pre-school staff are a caring and highly qualified team, with many years of experience working with young children between them. They all have a bredth of qualifications and have passed enhanced checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service.
While at the Pre-School each child is assigned a Key person, who will take special interest in that child; helping them to settle in and make friends, assessing their progress and discussing this with parents, through our online learning platform, thus ensuring that the activities on offer are tailored to the child’s particular needs.
Please have a look at the profiles of our staff below, so you can get to know us all a little bit better.
Julie Hopkins - Manager
Advanced Diploma Child & Youth Worker (Level 3)
Designated Safeguarding Lead & Prevent
Paediatric First Aid
Understanding Common Childhood illnesses
Intent, Implementation & Impact
Mandatory Training
Christine James - Level 5 Apprentice
NVQ III in Childcare and Education
Safeguarding Children & Prevent
Prevent Duty
Paediatric First Aid
Safer Food Handler
Developing Emotional Intelligence Through Outdoor Play
Promoting Positive Behaviour
Our Trustees
Kyria Wright - Committee Chair
Hello, I’m Kyria Wright. I’ve lived in the village for thirteen years now & have taken an active role on the pre-school committee since 2017, in this time I have seen a lot of changes.
Before having children I was a secondary school teacher for ten years, so I have an idea of the education system and the development and learning of children. I feel this has helped in understanding the running of the pre-school.
Both my children, now nine and five years old, have gone through the pre-school & loved their time here and still enjoy returning for fundraisers, helping to maintain the garden and any other excuse to rekindle their early years by returning.
The pre-school is a very important part of the village & the wider community and so I value my role trying to develop and support Belton pre-school as best I can.
Abby Dainty - Fundraising Co-ordinator
I am delighted to be part of the Belton Pre-school committee. My eldest son started here at the beginning of 2018 and my youngest has followed in his big brother’s footsteps. I am part of the fundraising and marketing team and we welcome any ideas from fellow parents! Along with the rest of the committee, I hope to make a difference, so that our children continue to have such a wonderful place to spend their early years.
Belton Pre-school is a registered charity with CIO status, the three nominated Trustees are responsible for the overall leadership, governance and financial stability of the Pre-school and for ensuring that it complies with relevant legal regulations. As part of this, the Trustees will provide direction on the Pre-school's policies, manage and engage staff, and organise fundraising and organising social events. The responsibility for the implementation of the policies and the day-to-day running of the setting rests with qualified professionals, namely the Manager (Kathryn Pullan) and her team of staff.
The Trustees meet half-termly, unless more frequent meetings are required. Good communication between the Trustees, parents and staff is crucial to the smooth running of the Pre-school. At least one member of staff attends each Trustees meeting and we canvass parent feedback through questionnaires (once or twice a year) and on a more informal verbal basis more regularly. We also organise an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the Spring term for all parents to attend. Fundraising events occur throughout the year.
The Pre-school is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), which is a support network and provides all registered Pre-schools with help and advice for all areas of work.
Fundraising
As a Pre-school, we focus a lot of our effort on fundraising to fund specific projects which will enhance the children’s learning opportunities and improve their environment. In previous years this has included addition of a decking area to bring the classroom outside, new children's toilets and most recently changes indoors to create a free-flow environment.
We also carry out general fundraising each year to cover costs such as building maintenance. Regular events include our Halloween party, Christmas raffle and Spring fun day. We are always looking for parents/carers to join our Fundraising sub-committee to help out ad-hoc at our fundraising events.
Please contact Julie or one of the Trustees if you are interested in volunteering some of your time. Thank you.