Park People: Stephanie from Bright Horizons

It’s back to work and school for many of us in September, which is why we’re focusing on Milton Park’s very own early years education centre, Bright Horizons Nursery.

Perfectly encapsulating a typical day at Bright Horizons, the nursery is located on Park Drive, at the what3words location ///subjects.snack.celebrate.

Nursery Manager Stephanie explains more, revealing how to make best use of the facility and the benefits of its unique location.

Hi Stephanie! Can you tell us a bit about Bright Horizons in your own words?

Bright Horizons Nursery caters for children aged three months to four years before they attend full-time school. Currently, we have ten rooms and seven gardens for the children to explore, play and learn.

Excitingly, we’re hoping to open a new toddler room in the near future which will allow us to offer more spaces to children on our waiting list and grow our community.

I feel very lucky to be surrounded by a team that cares deeply about working in early years and finds working at Milton Park such a joy. Everyone loves the feeling of community here.

What does your role as Nursery Manager involve?

I can definitely say that no two days are the same! I have a team of 43 staff who are incredibly dedicated practitioners, responsible for around 100 children on a day-to-day basis. As you can imagine, it’s very busy – but I love it.

I started out with the nursery as part of a summer job, whilst I was still studying at college 13 years ago. When I qualified as a Level 3 Nursery Nurse, I progressed my way through numerous roles before becoming Nursery Manager.

Bright Horizons has always supported me through my career development and continues to provide all its staff with ongoing training.

With every day so different, I must be ready to plan and adapt to whatever happens in the moment, whilst always prioritising the safety of the children and staff. One minute I could be on a Teams call, the next supporting and playing games in the children’s rooms – it’s what makes the role so exciting.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

For me, it’s all about my team. It makes me so proud to lead a team that’s continuously inspiring young children to grow and flourish in their early years, which is so special to see.

Every morning I go to work excited to see the happy faces that greet me every day – it really does make all the hard work worth it.

How does your life and work connect at Milton Park?

The nursery greatly benefits from being on the Park. It’s a useful and convenient amenity for parents working in the local area to know Bright Horizons is here and able to provide high quality education, supporting each child’s need whilst being conveniently located for work.

Personally, I’ve always lived locally to the area and am very grateful that my son attends Bright Horizons nursery with me. The expansive green and open spaces at Milton Park make it a safe and nurturing environment for both adults and children.

The Bright Horizons team also makes very good use of the great sustainable travel links to the Park, including the subsided £20 annual bus pass. 

What do you enjoy most about working at Milton Park?

It’s great how the Bright Horizons team has been able to form strong relationships within the Milton Park community, getting involved in events that provide the children with new experiences.

For example, helping at the Christmas lights switch on at Bee House and having the Park’s Nurture Landscapes team visit us for our very own ‘meet the bees’ session – teaching the children how to waggledance like honeybees.

We’d love to continue participating in Milton Park community activities like these, particularly as these aren’t opportunities that are typically readily available to most nurseries and young children.

For more information on the Milton Park day nursery and preschool, please visit Bright Horizons’ website or make an enquiry via miltonpark@brighthorizons.com.