Meet Our Nursery Team
Our experienced and dedicated team are at the heart of Whytebeams Nursery. All staff are experienced in early years education and committed to safeguarding and child development
Nursery Owner & Administrator
Kate Searle
Kate Searle joined Whytebeams in September 2010. Becca, who is both her aunt and godmother, previously held the role, and Kate stepped in after her. Kate is the administrator for Whytebeams and deals with all enquiries, emails, invoicing, ordering and makes the staff their teas and coffees! Her children both attended Whytebeams, her daughter is now at university and her son is at college. Kate does the tours of the nursery for prospective parents and enjoys the variety of the job. Kate enjoys meeting families and getting to know them and understands how hard it can be to leave your child for the first time. She says the whole team are amazing and totally dedicated to the care of children at the nursery and will go above and beyond for them.
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Qualifications:
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NVQ Level 3 in Administration
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NVQ Level 3 in School & College Administration.
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Fun facts:
Kate likes to socialise with friends in her spare time and enjoys walking her dog. ​
Nursery Manager & Designated Safeguarding Lead
April Alderton
April has 17 years experience in the Early Years sector, all at Whytebeams which is very close to her heart. She started with us as a 1-1 carer for children with special needs, and worked as a keyworker before becoming manager 12 years ago.
April is a dedicated and experienced Nursery Manager with a calm, nurturing approach to early years education and development. She loves her job and is passionate about creating a safe, stimulating and inclusive environment where children thrive, staff feel supported and valued and families are warmly welcomed as part of our Whytebeams Family.
April has a rich knowledge of the EYFS and is committed to maintaining high standards. She ensures the consistent delivery of high quality, compliant, early years education, outstanding care and excellent learning opportunities for every child to reach their full potential.​​
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Qualifications:
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NVQ level 3 in Childcare, Learning and Development
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Full paediatric first aid certificate
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Level 3 in Safeguarding children.
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Fun facts:
In her spare time April enjoys taking gentle walks within nature, looking at the night sky and reading - her favourite children's book is the touching story, ‘How Big Is A Million?’ by Anna Milbourne. April lives locally with her husband and adores her grown up son and daughter.
Deputy Manager
Julie Perôt
Julie Perôt has worked at Whytebeams for 18 years, she is a deputy manager, and one half of the SEN team. Julie has 40 years of experience in childcare.
Julie began her career as a nanny and childminder a role she continued after starting her family, bringing both professional experience and real life parenting knowledge to her work.
Julie enjoys working with children as they bring honesty curiosity and joy to every day, and it’s important to help children to feel safe, welcomed and confident.
One of Julie’s favourite things to do are interactive stories, bringing stories to life and encouraging children to join in.
Julie has been with her husband for 38 yrs and has a daughter aged 24 and a son aged 22.
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Qualifications:
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NNEB qualification
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Safeguarding Level 1 and 2
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Full paediatric first aid certificate
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​Food Hygiene Level 2 certification
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Special interest:
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outside of work Julie likes to read and loves all kinds of crafts and is always happy to try something new, her favourite craft being card making for all occasions.
Deputy Manager
Emma Colliety
Emma Colliety is one of our deputy managers and joint send coordinator
Emma has 40 years of childcare experience working as a nanny, childminder and 18 years as an early years practitioner with Whytebeams.
Emma truly loves her job and works hard to create a fun, stimulating environment so little people feel safe, happy and ready to learn through play
Favourite Children’s book ‘Guess How Much I Love You’
Emma lives in Purley with her husband and two grown up daughters, she enjoys music, reading and spending time with family and friends
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Qualifications:
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NNEB qualification
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Safeguarding Level 1 and 2
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Full paediatric first aid certificate
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​Food Hygiene Level 2 certification
Nursery Practitioner
Antoinette Sabesan
Antoinette loves the opportunity to be part of these children's lives - helping mould their personalities, sharing in their little adventures and making sure they have a great learning experience that would hopefully be a thread throughout their lives.
She loves to see the children in our care blossom and grow throughout their time at Whytebeams and move on to primary school with such confidence.
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Special interests or strengths
Antoinette is our Sustainability Lead and is always on the look out for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and to help children understand the importance of looking after our home planet.
Keen gardener and is already planning how to create a new growing area in our new premises.
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Qualifications:
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4 years' experience as a Nursery Practitioner
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Nearing the completion of tue Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification
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Full paediatric first aid certificate
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Fun fact:
In what little spare time she has (two tweens at home!) Antoinette enjoys reading and travelling. Her favourite children's book is " I want my hat back!", closely followed by " Room on the broom".
Nursery Practitioner
Kirsten Youll
Kirsten has been a valued member of the nursery team for 14 years. She has passion for working with children aged 2–4 years, as she loves seeing the world through their eyes and feels privileged to support them as they grow into confident, independent little people. Building strong, trusting relationships with both children and their families is very important to her, as she believes this creates a happy, fun, and secure environment where children can truly thrive.
She especially enjoys time spent with the children sharing books, creating artwork and crafts, and watching children explore, problem-solve, and develop their own ideas. Married for 26 years, she is a proud mum to three grown-up boys, two of whom attended the nursery.
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Qualifications:
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NVQ Level 3 in Childcare
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Fun fact:
Family is central to her life, and outside of work she enjoys walking, reading, and going to the gym.
Nursery Practitioner
Lucy Verdi
Lucy has worked at the nursery for 10 years. After experiencing the setting as a parent when her daughter attended, she realised it was a role she would truly love to do. Seeing first-hand the positive impact the nursery had inspired her to become part of the team and help create the same supportive and nurturing environment for other families.
She has a particular passion for creative activities and enjoys encouraging “loose parts” play in the garden, where children can explore, imagine, and build freely. Lucy also loves joining in with the children’s construction projects, supporting their problem-solving skills and teamwork. She enjoys sharing her varied knowledge and bringing it to a level that engages young learners, especially when exploring celebrations from many different cultures and traditions.
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Qualifications:
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EYE Level 3 qualified
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Full paediatric first aid certificate
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Food Hygiene Level 2 certification
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Fun fact:
family is everything to Lucy, and she is happiest when spending quality time with her loved ones.
Nursery Practitioner
Nursery Practitioner
Fiona Bradshaw
Fiona has worked at the nursery for 14 years, joining the team after both of her sons attended the setting themselves. Having experienced the nursery as both a parent and a practitioner, she understands how important it is to create a warm, nurturing, and welcoming environment for every family. She is committed to ensuring that all children feel safe, secure, and supported.
She especially enjoys reading with the children and sharing stories together, as well as drawing and seeing the wonderful creations they come up with. Fiona loves being outdoors whenever possible and makes the most of opportunities for outdoor learning and exploration.
Married with two teenage sons, she loves spending quality time with her family.
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​Qualifications:
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Safeguarding Level 1 qualification
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Nearing the completion of Level 3 Early Years Educator qualification
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Fun fact:
She enjoys watercolour painting, cooking, and finding out about new places to travel to — hobbies that reflect her creative and curious nature.
Fiona Malone
Fiona has worked at Whytebeams for 13 years, joining the team after her own children attended the nursery. Now aged 18 and 19, her “babies” have grown up, but her passion for early years care has remained just as strong. enjoys supporting children as they grow, flourish, and gain confidence in themselves. Fiona loves the honesty and humour that children bring to each day, especially the wonderfully unfiltered things they say — seeing the world exactly as they do. She feels privileged to be part of their early learning journey and to help nurture their curiosity and individuality. It’s often said you must be mad to work with children and animals — and Fiona happily does both! A true animal lover, especially when it comes to dogs, she can usually be found out walking them when she’s not at Whytebeams.
​​Qualifications:
NVQ Level 3 in Childcare, Learning and Development​
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Nursery Practitioner
Leah Perôt
Leah has worked at the nursery for over a year and a half. She enjoys using her knowledge to support children’s development in a fun and nurturing way.
Having attended the nursery herself as a child, she feels a special connection to the setting. She loves reading stories, doing creative crafts, playing music and dancing with the children — and isn’t afraid to be a little silly to make them smile! She especially enjoys seeing children’s confidence grow and helping them feel happy, safe and valued.
​​Qualifications:
BSc in Psychology​​​
Musical Theatre
Musical Theatre Teacher
Penny Parks
Penny Parks is the school principal and founder of the The Parks School of Dancing which she opened nearly 50 years ago. Miss Penny trained on a scholarship at Bush Davies School under Miss Noreen Bush and then danced professionally for several years before travelling abroad with her husband. While away she taught in places such as Singapore and India, learning a lot about dance in different parts of the world. On returning to the UK she opened her Ballet School which offers pupils from age 2.5 years and up to 18 and adult classes in RAD classical ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre and Singing. Miss Penny has always raised money to help charities and is thrilled to have started her own, many years ago now, which helps children all over the world in times of trauma and crisis. This includes taking her Students abroad to work for the Charity in places such as Sri Lanka, South Africa and India giving them a fantastic life experience.
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Miss Penny served as a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Dance for 9 years and now sits on the Artistic Committee.