Meet the team

"Hello, we are the Hatherleigh SureStart Children’s Centre team. This page is to introduce ourselves and tell you a little about what we do"

Jenny Mackenzie Centre Manager
Hi, my name is Jenny. I have worked with young children for over 10 years, formerly at Hatherleigh preschool followed by work in Hatherleigh primary school. I started working for this project in 2002, and have also recently been awarded a BA (hons) Early Childhood Studies. I currently line manage the project workers and sessional staff and am responsible for the planning and implementation of new and current activities and am responsible for the overall management and development of this project.

Alison Dennis Administrator
Hello, I’m Alison; I have worked for Hatherleigh Surestart since May 2003 and have had prior experience of working with young children at Hatherleigh preschool, and through various voluntary school and out of school committees involved with children and families. I also manage the admin and accounting side of my husbands business. At the Children’s Centre I am responsible for all the administration and managing the budget and accounts.

Tina Friend Project worker
Hi I’m Tina. I joined the project in November 2004 after working for several years in a nursery setting after gaining my BTEC award in early years and childcare. You will usually find me doing the music and singing sessions at Bounce and Rhyme and doing the outreach toy library sessions. I also help provide activities and support for local toddler groups and enjoy meeting all the families at our special holiday sessions. I am currently involved in developing our dads session on Saturdays.

Liz Baker Project worker
Hello, my name is Liz and I began working at Hatherleigh at the same time as Tina, in November 2004. I have worked as a primary school teacher for several years and with an art degree background, I enjoy the creative activities at the Children’s Centre. I am also the project worker responsible for health and safety and you can meet me at Bounce and Rhyme sessions and Busy Babies. I have recently organised a couple of very successful library/storytelling events and enjoy the challenge of providing something new and exciting for families and children.

Maria Farrow-Jones
Speech and Language Therapist
Hello my name is Maria I work part-time with the team at Hatherleigh 1 day a week for 6 weeks each term. I also work with the mini SureStart project in Buckfastleigh. My aim is to support speech and language development in young children in a variety of ways, which include baby signing, make and take, funtime storytime and training for early years workers. You can contact me through the Children’s Centre.

Playworkers

We have a small team of dedicated and hard working support staff who are; Paula Clark, Claire Dennis and Treena Stacey. They have a whole range of duties within our daily programme ranging from running our Stay and Play sessions, helping provide outreach services to cleaning returned toys and creating wonderful displays. All have early years experience and/or qualifications in early years and they all work in local preschools as well.

Come and meet us all!

  © 2006 Hatherleigh Mini Surestart