Katy, a Preschool Room Leader at Bright Horizons Kingswood Day Nursery and Preschool in Hull, is in the running for the ‘Nursery Practitioner of the Year’ title.
She is one of only five nursery practitioners to make this category shortlist as one of the finalists in the Nursery World 2023 Awards. These prestigious awards are open to everyone involved in childcare and education and highlight truly inspirational work.
Katy is the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) at Bright Horizons Kingswood and is also one of the nursery’s designated safeguarding leads. At the recent Ofsted inspection, when the setting received an ‘Outstanding’ grade, the inspector mentioned Katy specifically during their feedback and said that it was very rare to meet someone who is so passionate about their role as a SENCO. She consistently gives advice and support to all the team and puts in place support plans to help children and families.
Families certainly agree, as one parent explained: “Katy noticed an issue with our son’s speech at an early stage, she took it upon herself to work with him on a daily basis in an effort to improve the situation. This involved more one on one time with him, giving us exercises to do with him at home and even contacted the speech & language department for us. As a result of this, we have seen a marked improvement in his speech, pronunciation, sentence building and vocabulary. We cannot thank Katy enough for her efforts, she went above and beyond to help our son and we shall be forever grateful.”
Katy said: “I am so honoured to be nominated for a Nursery World award this year. I have been working in early years for 20 years and absolutely love it. I feel so supported here at Kingswood to reach my own individual career milestones. Through our wellbeing focused curriculum, I know I can support each individual child, promoting confidence and a genuine love for learning. I want to inspire others so that the biggest possible impact is achieved, ensuring that young children develop the resilience they need to thrive in our ever-changing world.”
Winners of the Nursery World awards are chosen by a distinguished panel of expert judges and will be revealed on 30 September. If you’d like any further information about the Outstanding Bright Horizons Kingswood Day Nursery and Preschool, book a visit today to see everything that this beautiful nursery has to offer.