With a new school term around the corner, the YMCA Childcare team has welcomed a new Assistant Operations Manager for Childcare and Early Years; we are excited to have Kirstie Rock joining the YMCA family!
Kirstie brings a wealth of knowledge to the role, with her career in the Early Years sector spanning over 24 years. Most recently, Kirstie has worked with Busy Bees Nurseries, overseeing areas such as talent development, compliance and HR.
We caught up with Kirstie to find out what she finds so rewarding about working with young people.
“I am passionate about delivering a safe, inclusive, exciting and challenging environment for our children, which enables them to thrive as individuals. I am also equally as passionate about creating a culture where our employees feel invested in and fulfilled in their individual roles.”
Steffen Benbow, Operations Manager for Children, Young People and Families, is delighted with the new appointment, “Kirstie will be a great addition to the department and drive our dream goal of successfully achieving our first nursery and growth of before and after school clubs while solidifying our childcare operations.”
Kirstie will be supported in her new role by Liam Draper, our Children, Young People and Families Support Officer, as well as our team of talented play leaders.
Values-Based Learning
We are sure many parents and regular attendees of our childcare programmes will join us in wishing a very fond farewell to our outgoing Childcare Manager, Mel Rooney who will be a familiar face to so many of our guests. We are so grateful to Mel for all his incredible work over the past 14 years and we wish him all the best in his future adventures.
Amy Oakes, Sports and Family Service Manager and YMCA Adventure Guides Leader, recalls Mel’s journey with Nottinghamshire YMCA:
“We watched him grow from a boy to a man and into a dad; we worked together for over 10 years and he has been an integral part of the YMCA Childcare service throughout that time, working hard to see it grow and develop. We are all really excited to see what he does next, and how this brilliant childcare programme that he built at the YMCA will continue to expand with Kirstie in this new role.”
Our childcare provision is inspired by Nottinghamshire YMCA’s core values of caring, responsibility, honesty and respect. We encourage all children to achieve their best, act responsibly and set a positive influence for their peers.
Our childcare sessions include STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) activities perfect for keeping young minds engaged and for learning key skills. Children will encounter everything from making slime to buildings dens to help them dream big for their future careers.
A Strong Track Record for Childcare Services
Nottinghamshire YMCA’s childcare services began at Middleton Primary School in 2009 and with Camp Williams in 2015. Over the past 10 years the service has grown exponentially now operating at seven different venues engaging nearly 200 children every day across Nottinghamshire.
We have over 20 dedicated staff in the childcare team with a huge range of skills that work hard to make sure all our venues are Ofsted regulated and offer a safe, varied and fun programme. All Play Leaders are fully trained in environmental learning, sports coaching, risky play, health and safety, first aid and safeguarding.
The next chapter for the childcare team will begin when the brand new 92-place nursery programme opens at YMCA Newark and Sherwood’s Community & Activity Village in 2021.