Hello Everybody,

My names Jackie Noakes and from September 2014 I am going to be the new owner of Woodentops. I thought I’d better introduce myself as Carol and myself are going through the handover of Woodentops. I have already applied to Ofsted and am waiting for them to visit.

I have been working as a Registered Childminder since Feb 1997. Previous to that I qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1986 and then trained as a Midwife, qualifying in 1990. I always wanted to work with children so in 1995 with the birth of my second child, I decided to register as a Childminder.  I have looked after numerous children over the last 18 years and have really enjoyed working with them and their parents, by owning Woodentops I will be extending my Early Years role further and looking forward to integrating myself more into the community.

I completed the BA in Early Years with the Open University in 2011 and qualified with Early Years Professional Status in 2012. I have also completed a ‘Preparing to teach in the lifelong learning section’ course to enable me to tutor adults. In March this year, I finished an online Childminding Montessori course which gave me a good overview of how a Montessori setting works. I set up the Potton Childminding group in 2007, I was Chair until 2011 and am currently the vice chair supporting the chair, Fay Jellis. These courses and roles have prepared me for this next step of my career.

I enjoy learning about children, how they develop, how we as professionals can help them thrive and also enable them to reach their individual goals. I am really passionate about enabling the children to develop at their own pace and working with others such as parents, carers and staff.

I have been associated with Woodentops as a parent and an Early Years worker for over 19 years and would like to continue the quality care and support that Woodentops has always provided for the children and their families.

With regard to my Childminding I am intending to continue with the current children I have and have 3 part time assistants and a Childminder working with me. Having the current reliable team at Woodentops, I feel that there will be no compromise between both of my businesses, I am continuing to work 4 days a week but will have some mornings off to manage the paperwork side of the 2 businesses.