Community childcare champions from Hazel Grove were honoured at a reception in Downing Street recently.
The event was hosted by David Johnston OBE MP, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing and Paul Athans, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove invited two local early years childcare providers, who were joined by others from around the country.
Sarah Street runs Sarah’s Little Angels Nursery on Dean Lane in Hazel Grove. She has built a very popular local nursery that has been rated as Outstanding by Ofsted. She also raised funds for a defibrillator outside her nursery for use by the community.
Alongside Sarah, Wendy Hartley was also invited. Wendy runs Brown Bear Nursery and Pre-school in Bredbury. She has worked in childcare in Stockport for 42 years and set up her Brown Bear Nursery chain in disadvantaged areas 21 years ago, supporting parents into work and providing high quality learning for children and families. She set up Stockport Preschool Provider network in 1999 and ran this to support all nurseries and pre-schools in the area, acting as voice of the sector, working in partnership with the local authority.
Praising the work the pair do Paul said:
Education underpins our society; it is important to understand that early years’ providers are not childminders, they are early educators.
I was proud to be able to recognise two of the hardest working and passionate Community Childcare Champions, Wendy and Sarah. Their commitment to giving our children the skills they need to succeed, no matter where they started in life, is truly inspirational. It was also invaluable to hear about the rollout of the Government’s free childcare plan in practical terms, understanding what it means for both parents and early years providers in our area.”
Thanking Paul for the invite, Wendy said:
I am deeply honoured and grateful to Paul Athans for nominating me as a Childcare Champion to attend the reception at 10 Downing Street. This nomination not only acknowledges my efforts but also reinforces the importance of our collective dedication to the early years and well-being of children in our community.”
Sarah added:
I was extremely honoured to be nominated to attend No 10 by Paul and represent local level childcare providers who are everyday delivering the best quality childcare to our children within Stockport. It was a fantastic opportunity and an excellent day.”
David Johnston OBE MP added:
It was great to be able to say thank you to some of our fantastic early year’s workforce, who do so much to help give every child the best start in life and support parents to work. This Government is making the single biggest investment that's ever been made in childcare and we're delighted that the attendees yesterday have already helped us provide more than 200,000 people with the first 15 hours of funded childcare for their 2-year-olds."
