MEET THE TEAM

BEDLINGTON

BLYTH

Hayley Simpson

Hayley Simpson

Nursery Manager Bedlington

Nichola Barnes

Nichola Barnes

Nursery Manager Blyth

Nichola joined What A Hoot in January 2014 and manages our Blyth nursery. Nichola has a BA(hons) degree in Care and Education of Very Young Children and Professional Practice Studies with Early Years Professional status.

Likes playing outdoors with her two daughters. Dislikes Liquorice!

Amy Ridley

Amy Ridley

Bedlington Deputy Manager

Amy holds a level 3 qualification and has 7 years of experience working in day care settings. She joined us at Bedlington as a nursery practitioner in 2019 and is now our Deputy Manager and Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator. Amy loves spending time with her family and travelling to different countries. She hates spiders and mess!

Briony Wilson

Briony Wilson

Blyth Deputy Manager

Briony joined the team in October 2015 holds a Level 4 qualification and is our Deputy Manager. Briony is incredibly organised and excellent at leading the team!

She loves holidays and dislikes cold weather!

Leanne Cook

Leanne Cook

Bedlington Senior Nursery Practitioner

Leanne qualified over ten years ago as a level 3 early years practitioner and has lots of experience working in early years units in primary schools. She has worked with us at What a hoot for just over a year and has recently been promoted to Senior Nursery Practitioner. She lives with her son, her cat, and her 2 dogs! She loves visiting historical places, and watching Christmas films all year round, and dislikes wasps after being stung by one as a child.

Abby Errington

Abby Errington

Blyth Nursery Senior Practitioner

Abby is a level 3 nursery practitioner who leads our pre-school room. Abby is very intuitive and loves bringing new ideas and making resources for the room. Abby also has lots of experience working directly with children who have profound additional needs.

She loves football, sunny holidays and dislikes bananas!

Abbie Perry

Abbie Perry

Bedlington Nursery Practitioner

Abbie has recently returned to her home in Northumberland after spending two years teaching English as an Additional Language in Korea! Abbie was once a student at our Blyth nursery whilst she carried out her degree in childhood studies and early years.
Abbie likes baking, painting and cats, and dislike spiders, mushrooms and dogs (because she is allergic!)

Tegan Hindmarsh

Tegan Hindmarsh

Blyth Nursery Senior Practitioner

This is Tegan, she has a level 3 in Early Years, Tegan works in our 2 year old rooms and enjoys reading, walking her dogs and spending time with her family.

Suzanne Wilson

Suzanne Wilson

Blyth Senior Nursery Practitioner

Suzanne is level 3 qualified and leads our baby room. She joined What A Hoot Blyth in April 2015. Suzanne is incredibly fit, she is a keen outdoorswomen and travels to work on her bike most days.

Suzanne loves going to the gym but hates moths!!!

Lydia Ham

Lydia Ham

Bedlington Nursery Practitioner

Lydia has  worked in childcare settings for over 20 years! She did her training in her home town of Reading (Berkshire). She moved to Northumberland to be closer to family two and a half years ago.

Lydia likes spending time with her family, walking her dog Maple, shopping, watching films and seeing musicals.

Shannon Cheetham

Shannon Cheetham

Blyth Nursery SENDCO

Shannon is a level 3 nursery practitioner at our Blyth nursery and is currently working in Pre-school. Shannon started our her WAH journey as an apprentice and we are very proud of her for passing her apprenticeship and becoming a fully qualified member of staff! Shannon has risen to every challenge we have set her and has a lovely nature with the children extending their development well and planning fun and exciting activities.

Shannon loves cream cakes, dancing and dislikes spiders!!!

Kara Rogerson

Kara Rogerson

Bedlington Nursery Practitioner

Kara has worked in childcare for 6 years. She initially started at our Blyth nursery but moved to WaH Bedlington earlier this year.

Outside of work, Kara enjoys family time with her daughter, Isla, They love walks to the park, through the woods and other days out. Kara is expecting her second child in 2023

Rachel Moss

Rachel Moss

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

Rachel is a nursery practitioner at Blyth. She joined our team in September 2018 and  returned to work following maternity leave. Rachel is very experienced working with children who have additional needs.

Rachel loves family time and dislikes peas!!

Katy Buddle

Katy Buddle

Bedlington Nursery Practitioner

Katy has worked in childcare since January 2022 and started working at What a Hoot whilst she gained her Level 3 qualification. She qualified is July 2022.

Outside of nursery, Katy enjoys spending time with her daughter going on adventures out and about, doing arts and crafts and cosying up having movie nights.

Emma Morton

Emma Morton

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

Emma is a nursery practitioner at Blyth. She joined the team in August 2018. Emma recently returned from maternity leave, Emma is an excellent practitioner, she is calm and patient and very respectful of the children’s choices.

Emma loves shopping and spending time with her family. She does not like the dark or moths!!

Abby Edgar

Abby Edgar

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

Chloe Saul

Chloe Saul

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

Chloe joined us as an apprentice in January 2017 and is now fully qualified to level 3. Chloe works in the 2 year old room at Blyth. Chloe loves animals and has recently got a puppy called Peggy! Chloe is a fantastic practitioner and we are so proud she is part of our team.

She loves keeping fit and spending time with her family and friends. She dislikes wasps!

Chelsea White

Chelsea White

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

This is Chelsea, she joined what a hoot in January 2023. Chelsea has a level 3 qualification in Early years. Chelsea works in our baby room and enjoys going to the gym and going for walks with her dog. Chelsea does not like eating fish.

Kacey Weatherby

Kacey Weatherby

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

This is Kacey, Kacey began as an apprentice with us and past her course with a distinction! She is now a fully qualified nursery practitioner.
Kacey likes spending time with her ittle boy, anything Disney & Harry Potter. She doesn’t like spiders!

Nicola Mckenzie

Nicola Mckenzie

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

Jade Crowson

Jade Crowson

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

This is Jade, she is an early years practitioner and has been working with the nursery since September 2022. She is Level 3 qualified in early years. She has always had a passion for working with children since a young age. She loves her job and seeing the children grow, develop and creating a bond with each individual child.

Likes: Spending time with her son
Dislikes: Windy weather

Nicola Middleton

Nicola Middleton

Blyth Nursery Practitioner

This is Nicola, she has a level 2 and level 3 Early Years and Playwork and is currently studying towards a Bsc (hons) in Psychology. She loves messy play and hates bees or wasps.

Charleigh Proctor

Charleigh Proctor

Blyth Nursery Apprentice

This is Charleigh, she is one of our nursery apprentices. She is working towards her level 3 qualification.
She loves spending time with her family and doesn’t like spiders.

Kelsie Cherry

Kelsie Cherry

Blyth Nursery Apprentice

 

This is Kelsie, she is currently one of our Nursery Apprentices. She loves to travel with her family and make everyone laugh when she runs away from scary moths!

Learning opportunities for our staff

As well as gaining qualifications in early years care and education, all staff take part in further training to help them to keep up-to-date with current practices regarding early years care and education. We have regular team meetings to ensure continuity and consistency across the whole service.

Recruitment

We are always looking for dynamic and enthusiastic individuals to join our teams!

For information regarding current vacancies please contact blyth@whatahootdaynursery.co.uk or bedlington@whatahootdaynursery.co.uk