Our founder

“When we first opened Young Friends Kindergarten in 2010, my mission, together with my father (now sadly passed), was, in his words to create ‘the best nursery in the UK’.

I’ve lived and breathed the place all that time, always fascinated by nature alongside child development and wellbeing. More recently, in tandem with a passion for this at home, I became intent on merging natural early years education with sustainability. It felt like the morally and educationally right thing to do.

It’s been a sweeping learning curve for me in many areas and my passion has increasingly become about creating sustainable citizens and helping the team get excited by this. I want to help them to understand what natural sustainable learning truly means in practice and to child outcomes, and how to facilitate it whilst remaining loyal to the EYFS. It’s an exciting journey we are all on, and far from over yet.

As the Young Friends Kindergarten grew, it was clear that we had something that could be passed on to other early years settings. People started asking me to write for different magazines, and to speak at events. I’d never really thought of myself as a thought leader, but people wanted to hear what I had to say.

As I talked to leaders of other nurseries, I realised that we just had to share what we’d learned and developed here in Brighton. We’d learned so much, and we could help others learn from our experience (and help them to avoid our mistakes!)

From that, grew the idea for Young Friends Tribe, a way of turning what we’d learned into a framework that other Early Years settings could follow. I’m truly passionate about helping others to adopt sustainable early years education.

Not everyone can do everything, but everyone can do something. Whatever baby steps you can take, makes a difference. At the start of the journey, it might seem daunting, but we’ll be here to support and guide you through every step, and before long you’ll be able to look back and see how far you’ve come.

“I can’t wait to see the transformation!”