Little Angels Day Nursery & Pre-School Highbury

Caroline was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1952 and moved to England in 1959. She was educated in London at a Roman Catholic Day School. Caroline trained as a Nursery Nurse (NNEB) and went on to work at Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children. Married in 1979, she opened her own restaurant in Clarkenwell Green in 1981, EC1 which she kept for six years while having two children, Georgina in 1984 and Hermione in 1987. Caroline co-founded Little Angels Day Nursery & Prep-Prep School in 1991.

Born in New Zealand in 1962, I left to travel in 1985, finally settling in the UK in 1987. Having studied architecture at university before moving into accountancy when living in London. Married in 1987 to Gayna, Co-Founder of Little Angels Day Nursery & Pre-Prep School 1991. Being heavily involved in the Nursery from the outset I joined the company on a permanent basis in 1999. Having five sons and two dogs we live in a busy house. The family has a keen interest in travelling and sport, particularly football and Arsenal.

Hayley Maggs is the Area Manager, working across both our Highgate and Highbury nurseries. She joined having completed a foundation degree in Early Childhood Studies and started with the nursery as an Early Years Practitioner before progressing into management. Hayley is the Designated Safeguarding Lead responsible for overseeing safeguarding across both nurseries, as well as risk management, business continuity and writing and updating all nursery policies. She also audits and maintains the nursery’s statutory staff training including Paediatric First Aid, Safeguarding Level 1 & 2, Food Hygiene and Prevent Training as well as running the Staff Meetings and Inset Training days.

She grew up locally in Islington where she still lives with her partner and three children. Her two girls and boy attended Little Angels for 6 months until they went to Reception, giving Hayley valuable insights from a parent’s perspective in addition to being a member of the senior management team. Her involvement in the Little Angels family extends further, with her mother, Debbie Vaneyndhoven, managing our Little Angels Highbury Office.

Hayley acts as a mentor for the staff team, helping to support their wellbeing as well as professional development. With over two decades of experience in the Early Years, she guides the team to effectively support children’s overall development, working with them to adapt to the environment and pedagogical approaches to meet the individual needs of every child. She researched and implemented a bespoke software in 2016 which combines our children’s registers, parent communications, observations and nursery management and continues to oversee its development and train staff on its use within the nursery. Her professionalism, unwavering high standards and positive outlook were recognised by the Nursery World Awards in 2018 when she was nominated as a Nursery Operations Finalist.

Georgina is one of the Directors at Little Angels. She is the daughter of Caroline Thompson, a Founding Partner and the Managing Director. She grew up locally, first attending Dallington School in Clerkenwell and then Channing School in Highgate. She is responsible for the HR function, staff training and curriculum design. Prior to Little Angels, Georgina spent ten years working in the arts across Fine Art logistics, installation, conservation and framing.

Georgina has a Foundation Diploma from Chelsea College of Arts, an undergraduate degree from Glasgow School of Art in Fine Art and a Masters in Early Years Education from UCL’s Institute of Education.

Georgina is also a Trustee of Home-Start Camden and Islington, a local grass-roots charity supporting and empowering parents of young children under five. She has taken on the role of Trustee Safeguarding Lead and is on the Communications Sub-Committee.

She has published in the Early Education Journal (with Amanda Ince, 2020), co-wrote a chapter in Transforming Early Childhood in England (with Amanda Ince and Lyn Ang, Cameron & Moss Eds. UCL Press 2020), has spoken at the Early Education Autumn Conference 2020, been a guest speaker focusing on Leadership in Education at the IOE on the Early Years MA course and was invited to be on the Nursery World Roundtable Discussion centred on the updated 2021 EYFS.

She has a continued interest in creative learning approaches with young children. She lives with her children and husband near Alexandra Palace.

I began working at Little Angels in 2003 while studying for my BA (Hons) in New Media Journalism with Media Studies. After working alongside children for many years, I also qualified for the EYPS (Early Years Professional Status).

I am the Room Senior for children aged 2-5 years. My duties include overseeing the daily running of the room, ensuring activities provided for the children are linked to the seven areas of the EYFS, supporting staff with their roles as Keyworkers and ensuring safety measures and risk assessments are carried out regularly.

I am also the nursery EYP which means I am responsible for overseeing our practice as a whole; ensuring a high-quality play-based learning environment is always provided, keeping up to date with current developments and research in the Early Years and providing CPD training for staff. As part of this role, I help develop a culture of reflective practice through self-assessment leading to quality improvement and systems for effective planning, observations, assessment and record keeping. I am also the Parent Liaison officer; the first point of contact for parents when their children are potty training or making transitions between rooms as well as being there to support staff in their roles as key workers.

I have been the Office Manager since August 2015. I have four children and three grandchildren of my own. All of my grandchildren have been most fortunate to be able to attend our wonderful nursery. Before joining Little Angels, I was a private nanny. After getting bored of the financial world, I managed to obtain a Diploma in Childcare. My role is to facilitate the smooth running of the office and to ensure the safeguarding of the children as soon as they enter the nursery. I am a point of contact for the parents, and I also have the great pleasure of occasionally playing with the children when I can.