Our People

I am very approachable, humorous and a good listener.

I am passionate about leading our children to become confident lifelong learners’ and love working with the children, families and team here at Lollipops Ruapehu

We have one dog – Kronic and a cat – Cairo.  In my spare time my pets and grandchildren keep me well entertained.

I really enjoy working with the children, families and the team here at Lollipops Ruapehu

I have started here at Lollipops in March 2022 and am really excited about my role here working with the infants in the Kiwi Room.

I have two children, Hailee who is 19 and training to be a Jockey, and Jayden who is 16 and is finishing his High School Education at Feilding High School before pursuing a career with the NZ Army.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my four dogs, Emig, Pia, Sez and Lucy who are all English Pointers.  I enjoy hunting, fishing, riding my motorbike, baking for my son and his bottomless pit stomach, reading and watching movies.

My interests are gardening, variety of art and crafts and travelling.

As an enthusiastic and educated professional with a commitment to facilitating outstanding first educational experiences for young children. My background includes more than 40 years in preparing   various preschool classroom activities, enforcing safety policies, tracking children’s social and emotional development, and in partnership with parents.

I am flexible in my approach to working within a team environment.

Working alongside children and families has been a lifelong passion. I’m excited to be working here at Lollipops Ruapehu

My personal motto is “Children are my passion, profession and responsibility”. To me, every child is a unique individual who deserves to be given the best we can in every aspect, be it physical, emotional, intellectual or social. Hence, having been in this field for so long, it has driven me to be versatile and sensitive in my styles of teaching and methods of nurturing. I believe they are our future leaders and we should provide nothing but the best for them.

I enjoy reading and travelling, which had led me to be smitten with this exhilarating town in New Zealand. I look forward to connecting with all of you here at Lollipops!

I have a great passion for children’s learning and care and enjoy implementing literacy and numeracy programs for young children through play. As well as a moving smart programme which focuses on developing children’s motor skills and provides the foundations necessary for early success and transition into school. I find it extremely rewarding seeing a child progress and the happiness they show when they have achieved something for the first time. By giving children opportunities and confidence I believe this can help them reach their full potential.

I look forward to being a part of the Lollipops Team as I continue to nurture and foster your tamariki/children’s early learning years as an educator.

When I’m not studying and working, I love to spend as much time as I can with my three dogs, Brax, Dusty, and Teddy. I am a big family person and enjoy being surrounded by friends and family, I’m an easy going, thoughtful and caring person, who always thinks of others, which are the key characteristics I implement in my practice every day.

As I continue to soak up all I can through my work and study, I have and continue to create and extend my philosophy of values, ideas and strategies about how to provide the best quality care and support for all children and Whanau.

One value I implement within my work every day is creating ongoing trusting and responsive relationships. I do this through creating a warm and caring environment and being attentive and available to all tamariki needs. Another strong value I embed into my practice is creating strong links to Whanau, culture, and community through every individual’s learning journey.

Over the past year I have loved getting to know and build positive relationships with the all children and Whanau here at Lollipops and look forward to strengthening these bonds throughout Lollipops life.

I grew up on a farm in the Manawatu and the Hawkes bay, but all my education has been in the Manawatu which means I had to go to boarding school from a young age, after leaving High school I stayed in Palmerston North for work and to live with my Partner, I consider Palmerston North to be my home now.

When I am not at Lollipops working, I enjoy playing and watching sports (mainly rugby), I like going to the beach as I enjoy surfing, I love spending time with my dogs pepper, samba and benny at my parents farm and my dog Koda who lives with me in Palmerston North, I spend a lot of time with my Partner and my family because it is important to me and  I try to get out and be active as much as I can. I find myself to have a fun, humorous, kind, and caring personality and am easily approachable.

As I am still quite new to the centre, so it is my goal to get to know every parent, tamariki, whanau, and staff member as I believe it is important to create these relationships and trust with each of you. I look forward to supporting, caring, and building relationships with/for your tamariki while also learning with them along the way of their lollipops journey.

I have had 4 years experience in a busy kitchen at Coffee on the square, where I learnt a lot about cooking, baking, food health and safety and much more. I have also been vegan for 6 years and have learnt a lot about gluten and dairy free foods that are very fulfilling! I’m so excited to bring these years of experience to Lollipops. I then worked as an ECE reliever for Staffroom Solutions. I loved this job and learnt a lot about early child care. I found that I have a great rapport with kids and can’t wait to get to know yours!