Staff Spotlight With Caroline

My Name is Caroline, and I’m from Lucan. I’m born and raised in Lucan, and it’s only 10 minutes for me to travel to Beech Park by car.

What motivated me to get into childcare… I think growing up I was regularly around kids I babysat neighbours children, and other kids from my local school so the natural progression for me then after school was to go down the childcare route. So that’s exactly what I did going from Leaving cert straight into childcare, and then I did a two-year course initially. Then all the courses I’ve done since then I’ve completed while I was working. For me it’s been a continuous progression over the years.

A typical day at Little Harvard… Haha, as a manager, I can say relatively comfortably that there is no such thing as a typical day! You have a plan in place or a to do list each day of things that you want to do. But then… something might happen, or someone is out sick… or someone is needed in elsewhere. So you have to be continuously adapting and thinking on your feet. Which leads into another one of your questions … That’s “what do I enjoy most about the job?” … And that’s that it’s never boring. You don’t really have time to be mundane in it because things are constantly changing.

What I like about working in BEECH PARK… Is that, while it’s a big creche it’s quite a family-oriented atmosphere. We as a team know and have a very good relationship with all of the parents. Everybody is very familiar with each other in that kind of way. As a team we have a family-oriented team-like ethic. A lot of staff have changed with covid so it’s important for us to be able to create a welcoming environment for new staff coming on board.

Working for Little Harvard as a company… I always feel like there’s a lot of support. There’s always people you can rely on if you need help or if you’re having an issue with something. Coming from our HR department, the head office, other managers, Regina, Joan, and/or the area managers, there’s always people to get in touch with. I have a strong relationship with the other managers in Kildare. I can pick up the phone once or several times a day to discuss bits and bobs. You’re always supported, and if there’s an issue to be delt with you can call someone and their going to help you out. As big as the company is, it’s great that you still have support behind you. Which is great.