Biddulph Kindergarten
Biddulph Kindergarten opened in January 2024 offering full day care for children aged 8 weeks – 5 years. We have four spacious and well-equipped classrooms and exceptional outdoor spaces including a designated baby area. All children access outdoor play every day at Biddulph Kindergarten providing our children with the opportunity for fresh area and an appreciation of the natural world as it changes through the seasons. We work in close partnership with the Family Hub in order to ensure that the children and families within our setting can access the local services they might need at the earliest opportunity.
Biddulph Kindergarten also offers Before and After School Club for children attending Kingsfield First School and holiday club for children aged 3-11 years throughout the whole of the Biddulph area. The kindergarten feeds to all of the primary schools in the Biddulph area.
All of the children’s meals are prepared fresh, each day on-site by the nursery’s Catering Manager.
The nursery benefits from having onsite parking.
Meet The Team
Natasha Richards – Managing Director and Director of Educational Development
I founded the Kindergarten Group with the clear aim of delivering high quality childcare, in an environment where children can flourish and be happy. I started my career in education over twenty years ago and have always had a huge passion for supporting children to become the best that they can be, both academically and in their personal and social development. I have taught children from preschool, right through to students in higher university education and I have a BA Honours Degree in Primary Education, a Masters in Education and have worked as an early years inspector for OFSTED.
I am a proud mum of twin teenage boys, two dogs and a cat. When not at work I enjoy travelling the length and breadth of the country with my family on camping holidays.
Favourite Childhood Memory
As a child I always loved Christmas and still do! Even though I’m the eldest of four children, I’d always be the first one to wake up on Christmas morning, as I’d be so excited to see if Santa had been. I’d sneak downstairs to see if there were any presents, then I’d get my younger siblings to wake up my mum and dad who would insist that Santa hadn’t yet been (secretly hoping for a bit longer in bed), to which my brothers and sister would shout “oh yes he has – Tash has seen all of the presents!” With my own children it’s always been important to me to try and recreate the same magic and excitement of Christmas for them too.
Favourite Children’s Book
‘What Katy Did’ by Susan Coolidge
Favourite Children’s Film
Up
Favourite Season
It has to be winter as not only do I love the whole Christmas season, but I think there’s something really lovely about wrapping up warm in a big coat, scarf, woolly hat and gloves and heading outside for winter walks.
Siblings
I am the eldest of four children, I have one sister and two brothers.
Rebecca Jones – Director of Learning
When I was growing up I used to love helping to look after my sister who is ten years younger than me, this had a big influence on my decision to study child care at college. After I graduated I joined the team at Wolstanton Kindergarten and have since progressed in my career to work across all six of our settings within The Kindergarten Group. I find the most rewarding part of my role is to see the children in our care develop and learn new skills. Like many of the staff, I particularly enjoy the messy play and outdoor activities that we do with the children as it’s so much fun! In my current position I support all of our staff in their roles and deliver training across the six nursery settings to ensure the consistency and high quality of the care that we deliver.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my husband Jake and my little boy Levi and heading outside for walks with my Border Collie dog Olly (named after Olly Murs!).
Favourite Childhood Memory
We always used to visit my Nan and Grandad's house on a Sunday for Sunday lunch, as a special treat we used to have a chocolate bar and this was a surprise each week. My favourite was a diam bar!
Favourite Children’s Book
‘Guess How Much I Love You’ by Sam McBratney
Favourite Children’s Film
Elf
Favourite Season
I’ve always liked the wintertime the best, as I absolutely love Christmas and my birthday falls at this time of year too. I think it’s lovely to wrap up warm and head off outside for winter walks.
Siblings
I have two sisters and I’m the middle child.
Laura Young – Nursery Manager
I am a mum of two wonderful children and three fur babies, one dog and two cats. When not at work I enjoy days out with my family making lots of fun memories, I also enjoy family walks with our dog and going to see extended family. I have worked in childcare since I left college after doing my NNEB and have 23 years experience with children from birth to nine years of age. I have worked in a couple of settings working my way up from a nursery nurse to nursery manager and completing my foundation degree and BA honours in Early Childhood Studies and more recently have achieved a level 3 SENCO award. As a nursery manager I am passionate about being hands on and supporting my staff, watching the children learn and grow and building strong relationships with the parents. I am also proud to have joined new teams and to have worked with them to improve nursery practice in a positive way and increasing occupancy. I feel working with children is really rewarding, watching them progress and learn and seeing them develop into their own characters.​
Favourite Memory
My favourite childhood memory is when we went away on family holidays to Dorset in our static caravan with my Nanny and Grandpa. We enjoyed lots of lovely days out at the seaside with plenty of crabbing and lots of lovely evenings enjoying delicious BBQ foods.
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Favourite Children's book
Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson.
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Favourite Children's Film
The Lion King.
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Favourite Season
My favourite season is Winter time when we decorate the house all cozy and warm for Christmas with lots of family favourite Christmas films and a warm hot chocolate snuggled up with a nice biscuit or two.
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Siblings
I am the second child of three, I have an older half sister and a younger brother​
Reyah Cope – Deputy Nursery Manager
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After finishing college, I started working in a nursery and I’ve worked in the same setting ever since! I recently had my first child who has made me learn so much more about myself and life. After finishing school, I knew I wanted a role working with children, I went onto study childcare at college. It’s always so rewarding when you work with children, they make every day special. I love spending time, making memories and experiencing new things with my partner and our son. I love theme parks and anything Disney!
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Favourite Childhood Memory
My favourite childhood memory was waking up every year on Christmas to Frosty the Snowman playing and opening my stocking with my siblings and parents.
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Favourite Children's Book
My favourite children’s book is The Gruffalo.
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Favourite Children's Film
My favourite film is The Little Mermaid.
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Favourite Season
My favourite season is Spring, I love all the flowers blooming and going to farms to see the baby animals.
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Siblings
I have 2 younger siblings; I am the oldest of 3.​​​​​
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Annette Hill - Early Years Practitioner
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I have recently become a grandmother to Oliver who is now 6 months old. I have worked in early years for 23 years now, the part of the job I love the most is getting to know the children and their personalities. I also love getting to know their families and watching the children learn and develop. Its a very rewarding role, as I watch the children flourish and develop!
Favourite childhood memory
Holidays with the family have to be the best memories. We would go in a caravan to Blackpool when we were kids and have some great family holidays there.
Favourite childhood book
Enid Blyton – The magic far away tree
Favourite Childhood Film
Little Woman
Favourite Season
Autumn is my favourite time of the year as its very colourful and cosy.
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Siblings
I have a sister who is older then me and a brother who is younger than me.​​​​​
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Chris Morris – Early Years Practitioner
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​I have 15 years experience working in a childcare nursery setting with a variety of knowledge behind me working with children aged six months to five years, working mostly with children between two and five years of age. I always wanted to work within childcare, I used to baby sit for family friends before going into the profession, I enjoy looking after and watching children flourish and grow, meeting their milestones and have always found children to be funny and full of character with the little sayings they come out with. I’m a big kid at heart and love to get involved in the various activities that I provide whether that be taking part in sensory/messy play experiences or making the children laugh through role play characters and making characters in stories sound funny.
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At home I enjoy my time with my Fiancée Laura and our two wonderful children. We like to spend quality time together and a good favourite is cuddling up watching a family movie with popcorn and nibbles in hand. We also love time with our fur babies, we have a dog who is very bouncy and full of character and two cats.
Favourite childhood memory
My favourite childhood memory is at Christmas time, my nana came every Christmas eve to stay overnight and to stuff the turkey and prep the vegetables. I remember I would sit and watch my mum and nana get all the food ready for Christmas day while snacking on some treats. When the food was all prepped and we had had our special Christmas eve tea we would sit down with a warm hot chocolate and watch my nans favourite Christmas film which she chose every year called “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby, then I always got to choose the next Christmas film to watch before going to bed ready for Santa coming. On Christmas morning I would go into my mum and dads bedroom to show them what I had in my Christmas stocking and then place them all back in to take into my nanas bedroom to show her as well.
Favourite children’s book
My favourite children’s book is by Julia Donaldson I am a huge fan of her books and often enjoy reading her stories to the children. I enjoy them all and cant choose just one but my first choices out of these would be “Tiddler the story telling fish”, “The smartest giant in town’ and “Zog”
Favourite children’s film
My favourite children’s film is Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Lumière was my favourite character.
My favourite season
My favourite season is Winter time with all the excitement leading up to Christmas and enjoying Christmas activities with the children.
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Siblings
I am an only child.​​​​​​​​​​​
Jade Vardy - Early Years Practitioner
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​I enjoy helping children learn through play and watching them develop. I have worked in childcare for many years and I love nothing more than providing the children with varied activities in order for them to achieve and learn through play!
Favourite Childhood Memory
Family summer holidays are a favourite memory of mine, spending the holidays with my family.
Favourite Children's Film
The Grinch.
Favourite Children's Book
The Wizard of Oz.
Favourite Season
Summer is my favourite season when the warmer weather comes and the light nights are here.
Siblings
I have 2 sisters.
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Joanne Mosson - Early years Practitioner
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I always knew from an early age that I wanted to work with children, so when I left school I studied Childcare and education at my local college. Its such a special and privileged role helping the children in your care to grow and flourish. As well as working in nurseries I’ve also regularly volunteered at the school my children attend, whether that be listening to the children reading, assisting swimming lessons or going on trips with them. I have three children of my own, my daughter who is 11 and my two sons who are 7 and 3.
Outside of work I am usually kept very busy with my children and their activities, dance, taekwondo and swimming to name a few. We love to go for days out to the seaside, we love visiting museums and going on long walks. If I get any spare me time I love to bake cakes, make jams etc and I’m always on the look out for new recipes to try. I love to read too.
Favourite Childhood Memory
My favourite childhood memory was our family holidays to the beach, I loved as a child and still love as an adult to be by the sea.
Favourite Children's Book
We are huge bookworms and we have so many favourite children’s books, our favourite at the minute is Stick Man.
Favourite Children’s Film
My favourite children’s film has to be the new Wonka, we watched it at the cinema and absolutely loved it. We bought it on dvd and have watched it at least once a week since, we are always singing the songs at home.
Favourite Season
My favourite season is spring, I absolutely to see the trees full of blossom and all the flowers bursting into life, lots of animals being born and the lovely spring sunshine and lighter nights.
Siblings
I have two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister.​​​​
Rachel Hill - Early Years Practitioner
I have worked in nurseries since I was 18 and have always known that this was the career that I wanted to do. From a very young age I always said I would need a bus for how many children I wanted when I was older.. from that I knew that working with children would be perfect for me! I have 5 siblings so our house was always crazy and full of fun and from this it made my decision to take childcare in sixth form easy. After completing my childcare course I went straight into a job in a nursery where I worked for 3 years and since then I have worked in the nursery I am today! I have one son who is my absolute world and love being a mum and having my own little person to love and care for.
Favourite childhood memory
Going down to my Nan and Grandads caravan with all the family and all sitting around playing games. Also Christmas mornings with my mum and dad and brothers as it was always so magical to see how many presents Santa had brought for us and we would just spend the day playing with all our new things!
Favourite Childhood Book
The Gruffalo
Favourite Childhood Film
101 Dalmatians
Your favourite season
My favourite season is Autumn and all that is celebrated this time of year.. Halloween and Bonfire Night and also my birthday! I love this time of year and going on fresh walks and getting all cosy as the dark cold nights come in.
Siblings
I have 5 siblings all are boys so I’m the only girl out of 6! I am the second oldest.​​​​​​
Samantha Gidman - Early Years Practitioner
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After leaving school I went on to do my Level 3 in Childcare, from there I went to university and progressed up to a Level 6. I have always worked with children since leaving university and I really enjoy it, especially watching the children grow and blossom. I have 1 lovely daughter who is 13 months old, who I cherish and I love to watch her grow developing her own little character.
Favourite Childhood Memory
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My favourite childhood memory was going to the park on the swings and slides making memories with my siblings.
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Favourite Childhood Book
Were Going on a Bear Hunt is my favourite book.​
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Favourite Childhood Film
Polar Express.​
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Favourite Season
My favourite childhood season is Winter because I enjoy being cosy and watching my favourite film.
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Siblings
I am the youngest of 8 children.​​​
Madison Gray - Early Years Practitioner
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I wanted to work with children because I wanted to help give children a good future. I love to be creative with the room activities and find the job very rewarding especially helping the children learning through play and seeing their happy faces.
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Favourite Childhood Memory
My favourite childhood memory is going camping with my mum, dad and sister when I was younger. We enjoyed the outdoors and playing games in the nearby fields.
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Favourite Children's book
My favourite Children's book is Room on the broom. I remember reading this with my mum and dad when I was little.
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Favourite Children's Film
Toy Story is my favourite film, my favourite character is Slinky the dog!
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Favourite Season
Summer is my favourite season because I love the long, warm summer days and BBQs in the evenings.​
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Siblings
I have one older sister​
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Savannah Meredith - Earl Years Practitioner
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I have always wanted to work with children, I used to babysit young children and that's where my inspiration for working with children came from.
Favourite Childhood Memory
My favourite childhood memories are when me and my 5 younger siblings were all young and we would go out on big family days together, we would go on adventures exploring public attractions.
Favourite Children's Book
Julia Donaldson - A Squash and a Squeeze​
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Favourite Children's Film
My favourite childhood film is High School Musical and I also love Hairspray!!
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Favourite Season
My favourite season is late autumn when it begins to change to winter. I love the colours of autumn and the colourful leaves falling off the trees.
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Siblings​
I am the oldest of 6 children.
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Diane Cocking - Early Years Practitioner
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When my children were growing up I volunteered in a school setting. Whilst at the school I was encouraged to pursue my career in childcare because of my considerate nature which the children found very reassuring. I enjoy working within The Kindergarten Group as I enjoy helping the children achieve their personal education goals, in a safe friendly environment with their friends. I am a very proud mother of a daughter and son. I enjoy all outdoor activities, especially mountain pursuits, being able to complete the 24 hour three peaks challenge was fantastic.
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Favourite Childhood Memory
The Funfair! - When I was a little girl we took my dad on the Waltzer for his first time it was so funny.
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Favourite Children's Book
Jack and the Beanstalk.
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Favourite Children's Film
Beauty and the Beast.
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Favourite Season
Springtime - Nature starting to flourish and the birds are starting to make their nests.
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Siblings
I am the fourth child of five children.
Rachel Ellis - Catering Manager
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I studied catering and hospitality studies after leaving school at Cauldon college of further and Higher Education. Cauldon college gave me the opportunity to help with the preparation of food for the Royal Knock out which included the Royal Family and a multitude of stars and other events for entrepreneurs. I have cooked for old people and also children at a residential school. I also worked at a small independent bakery. I absolutely love children eating nutritional meals and giving them the best start in life. I have been a member of the Royal British legion for 14 years selling poppies every November. I help to make Biddulph beautiful with the yarn barms we make post box toppers out of knitting, crochet and macramé.
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Favourite Childhood Memory
Holidays in Wales and rock pool exploring
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Favourite Children's Book
Black Beauty I still have my book from childhood.
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Favourite Children's Film
Pete’s Dragon is my favourite children's film
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Favourite Season
My favourite season is spring with the burst of colour from the spring bulbs and blossoms watching the leaves gently unfurling, pussy willows fluffy and the catkins dancing in the wind my children and I love walking with a dog that we rehomed and enjoy amazing season of regrowth.
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Siblings
I am the oldest of four children the youngest siblings are twins’ brother and a sister.​
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