As the daughter of a teacher I have been involved with education and children from a very early age. I worked in schools in Leicestershire, starting as a TA before moving to Higher Level and qualifying with an Honours degree in Teaching and Learning. I have followed this up with further professional training in identifying risk factors, behaviours in educational settings and counselling.

In parallel with this, I founded and managed Jumpers – an organisation running playschemes for hundreds of children within Leicestershire.. I then moved on to the role of Extended Schools Coordinator working with a large group of schools in the Vale of Belvoir.

I was also involved working as a class teacher in an SEN unit within a mainstream school and providing education for children with varying needs. This required working with multi-agencies in compiling Common Assessment Frameworks (CAF) to help children and families needing support.

On moving to Sheffield I began working as a Learning and Behavioural support worker at a large primary school, before taking time off to give birth to my son. When I returned to work, I took a break from education and founded Childs’ Play concentrating on crafts and creativity, but soon found that in doing so there were many links to my previous role in providing a positive experience for children and families needing that little bit of extra support.