OUR TEAM

OUR AMAZING TEAM

Debbie Appleby is the Nursery Director and an Early Years Teacher. Debbie lives locally in Verwood with her husband Chris and their four children. Debbie opened the nursery in 2005 and her youngest daughter Eliza was the first baby to start in our Pips room at 6 months old! Debbie leads the pedagogical approach at Orchard and mentors our dynamic staff team, guiding and supporting their outstanding practice at nursery. Debbie is passionate about promoting positive relationships with parents and relatives, providing a high level of support and taking the time to get to know all of our families. She has developed close links with other professional services within our local community and ensures that the children are at the centre of everything we do.

Hannah McMullen is our Nursery Manager here at Orchard. She started working at Orchard in 2009 as a Nursery Apprentice and since then, has gained many qualifications including a degree in Early Years; she completed this alongside working full time. Hannah takes great pride in her management role, leading practice and supporting her knowledgeable and experienced team. Hannah is the SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator) for the nursery. Hannah works really closely with our nursery families & has a wonderful bond with the children, so much so that they come back to say hello years later after going to school.

Our whole staff team consists of passionate and driven individuals who strive towards developing the bright minds of tomorrow, by providing the best experiences for children today. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have a very well qualified and experienced team, many of whom have been with Orchard for several years. Please come and meet us!

The Key Person System

The Early Years Foundation Stage emphasises the importance of key relationships for children, including those relationships between children, their parents/carers and a key person within a setting. At Orchard Day Nursery we recognise and value the importance of these relationships and allow plenty of time, opportunities and experiences for strong relationships to build.

We implement and maintain an established key person system at Orchard to ensure we can effectively meet the children’s needs and care for them to the best of our abilities, helping them to feel safe, secure and settled at our Nursery.

Our secret to successful, strong relationships with our children and their parents and carers is through our thorough settling in process, which starts with a home visit if you require. This essential settling period is planned around each individual child giving them enough quality time to get to know the whole team, their new surroundings at nursery and most importantly their key person.

Your key person will complete a ‘Famly’ learning journal for your child outlining the day’s highlights and developmental milestones. Please login to your child's learning journal below: