Background and Message From The Management Team
We would like to thank you for the interest you have shown in Playworks Early Days Nursery, a nursery that we are all very proud of.
Playworks Early Days Nursery Bedwas Ltd (formerly Bedwas House Private Nursery Ltd), is part of the Playworks Group of Businesses. Playworks Childcare Ltd was established in 2004 by Katherine Watkins who saw a vision to set up childcare facilities primarily for schools needing out of school childcare (breakfast clubs, wrap around clubs, after school clubs and holiday clubs) for children aged 3 – 11 years.
Our clubs are mainly based on school premises and operate from early in the morning through to mid evening. for more information on these services, click here
Our Head office and Management Team is based at The Meadows, Gypsy Lane, Cardiff, with our Out of School Clubs being based over 8 local authority areas and employs over 100 staff.
At Playworks, we have helped to set up and run a number of Out of School clubs. For schools looking to establish their own After School, or Wrap Around Club, we are happy to talk about how that could work for their school. We’ve learned what works – and what doesn’t, and we provide advice and support via our trading arm called Playworks One.
Our main service is payroll support for around 80 providers. We also provide consultancy support for a number of childcare settings and can also assist to train staff in different areas such as Paediatric First Aid and Emergency First Aid. Playworks One details can be viewed here
Playworks The Meadows
In October 2019, we launched Playworks The Meadows. The Meadows is a Farm Village Retreat which specialises in offering a unique experience to interact with a mixture of farm animals including Micro Pigs, Pigmy Goats, Alpacas, Dexter Cows, Donkeys, Reindeer, Horses amongst others, in a tranquil setting.
The Meadows spans over 21 acers providing opportunities for not just animal interaction but opportunities for natural county side experience linking to forest school and the current national curriculum for schools.
Members mornings are run weekly, each week our members will earn about a different animal gaining hands on experience as if you owned the animal yourself. If you would like more information about Playworks The Meadows visit our Facebook page
Playworks Early Days Nursery Bedwas Ltd
Katherine Watkins, Director, purchased the Nursery from Karen and Gordon Pritchard in July 2017. The nursery, which was formerly known as Bedwas House Private Nursery Ltd, was a long established nursery and registered with CIW to care for 71 children.
For Playworks as an experienced provider the aim was to apply our skills to a day nursery setting. Within months of owning the nursery we had made significant changes to the nursery. This has included making a larger and more staff and child friendly baby room and the introduction of a large play area at the front and improved the rear garden.
Our aims are to become a registered Early Years Setting, working in conjunction with Caerphilly County Borough Council. This facility will build on the already operating Flying Start provision and to compliment the Flying Start provision we now offer part time playgroup sessions from 9am – 11.30am daily for 2 and 3 years old.
Playworks Early Days Nursery Bedwas will aim to excel in all areas and become a very high standard childcare setting.
The Management Team
There is a Management Team in place which ensures that the Nursery runs smoothly. The team are responsiable for overseeing the management of the nursery and consists of the following colleagues.
Katherine Watkins
Katherine is a qualified chartered accountant who prior to setting up Playworks Childcare in 2004, worked for Caerphilly Council as an Internal Auditor of schools. Prior to this Katherine worked as an External Auditor for PriceWaterhouseCoopers Accountants.
Katherine is registered with CIW as the Responsible Individual (RI) for the nursery (CIW require settings to have a nominated Responsible Individual to work with the Nursery Manager to ensure the minimum standards are maintained and that we work within the law).
Sarah Gardner
Sarah is joint Responsible Individual (RI) with CIW. Sarah is NNEB qualified and holds additional qualifications, Level 4 ADCE Advanced Diploma in Childcare and Education, Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management, Level 5 Diploma in Principles of Leadership and Management and a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Children’s Care Learning and Development (Management).
Sarah has worked for Playworks for 16 years and prior to this has managed two day nurseries. Within Playworks Sarah’s role is Senior Childcare and Development Manager, providing support to Club Managers and to other settings which Playworks provides consultancy support services to.
Laurie-Beth Davies
Laurie provides the support to manages the nurseries finances on a day-to-day basis. Laurie is AAT qualified with 17 years’ experience within Playworks. Laurie is responsible for Playworks day to day finances and ensures that’s all fees are collected for all our settings including some settings which we provide consultancy support service to.
Annmarie Thomas
Annmarie oversees the daily running of the nursery and ongoing development in her role as Nursery Manager. She is the approved Person in Charge (PIC) with The Care Inspectorate for Wales (CIW). Annmarie has over 14 years’ experience in managing Day Nursery settings. She holds a CACHE Level 3 in Early Years Care and Education, Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Children’s Care Learning and Development (Management) and a Level 3 Diploma in Playwork.