Helen Luddington of the Playroom Nursery, Musters Road, has now received her MBE medal at an Investiture at Windsor Castle held by The Princess Royal.
Helen received the prestigious award for services to Children and Families in Nottingham.
Helen is the owner-manager of the Playroom Nursery and two WBOOSC kids’ clubs in West Bridgford and has been organising childcare to an exceptional standard throughout the past 26 years, achieving ‘Outstanding’ recognition by Ofsted on four separate occasions.
Being one of the first cohort of Early Years Teachers in England, Helen has taught childcare qualifications and assessed individuals up to Teacher level.
She recognises that highly qualified staff provide the best education for children and encourages her team to be the best they can be.
She developed her own skill-set in order to support other members of her team in their pursuit of professional qualifications and skills.
An MBE is the third highest ranking order of the British Empire Award and is a way of giving recognition to those who have made achievements in public life.
Helen was absolutely thrilled to receive this special honours. She was astonished to find that members of her team grouped together to put the application together with such high levels of respect for her.
Helen said: “I am truly humbled. I have always felt that children’s voices should be listened to, no matter what and at all ages.
“I have been so lucky to be involved, in some way, in hundreds, goodness if not thousands, of children’s lives and to work with their families.
“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has put their trust in and been part of the Playroom/WBOOSC family over the years who have made my role truly fantastic and so rewarding, from the children and their parents, all the wonderful individuals who have been part of our team, the schools and external professionals, but most of all to thank my lovely husband Ian who has been by my side throughout the whole journey and three amazing children, Charlotte who supports with HR, Ed who is the kids’ clubs manager and Milly our Playroom Nursery Manager. I am proud to lead such a wonderful happy childcare business.”
