Our Team
Our Team


The Proprietors of Bears Hideaway are Debbie and Stuart Hooper. Debbie has an active part in the running of the nursery. She qualified for her NNEB in 1994 and she has worked in local nurseries before establishing Bears Hideaway with her parents in 1998. She then went on to buy the nursery with Stuart in June 2006. Stuart takes an active role with Debbie in running the business and is in charge of maintaining and developing the nursery.  

As Nursery Principal, Debbie has gained over 20 years experience in different aspects of childcare from working with children with special needs, to working in nurseries overseas. In addition Debbie completed her NVQ4 in May 2007. With a young family of her own Debbie works closely with her Senior Management Team to manage the nursery on a day to day basis. The teams consists of:

Nursery Manager
Charlotte joined us in 2011 and is a Level 3 Qualified Nursery Nurse (2004) and has been the full time manager at Bears since 2012. She is constantly adding to her professional development and has recently completed her NVQ3 in Management (2015), a 6 month intensive SENCO course (2015) and a 10 week Elklan course which specialises in speech and communication. 
Charlotte's particular area of interest is safeguarding, and after completing her Level 3 Training in Safeguarding Children she has added additional specialist courses to strengthen her knowledge. she is our designated safeguarding lead and our prevent lead.
She holds a Level 1 Qualification in Sign-along. We believe it is important to have our senior staff working directly with the children so Charlotte is the room supervisor for our Big Bears. Charlotte has a child of her own.

Deputy Manager
Sam is a Level 3 Qualified Nursery Nurse (2019) and has worked at Bears Hideaway since 2018. 
Sam has recently been promoted to deputy (February 2023) and is being trained up for this role with the support of Debbie and Charlotte.
Sam is responsible for  the preschool room and supporting the children in their last year before the go to school!
Sam is our 3rd designated safeguarding co-ordinator.

The Nursery Staff
The nursery is staffed by a strong team of trained professionals, qualified to level 3 or equivalent as well as enthusiastic trainees who are working towards their qualifications in childcare. Our nursery cook provides freshly cooked meals for the children everyday and supports over the lunchtime cover.
All our staff are DBS checked and all the senior staff have had their paediatric first aid training, as well as most of the other staff members.

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