Meet The Directors

Company Director

After the birth of my second child in 2003 the time came for me to return to work, I started to explore the various nurseries in the area and not feeling comfortable at any of the places I’d visited I decided this was something I was sure I could do at a higher standard and a more competitive cost and that’s when I decided to start Top tots day nurseries.

The new John Pounds Centre in Portsea was just being built and after a few calls I was asked to meet with the Trust to talk about running a part time crèche for them two hours a day. Immediately I fell in love with my new career and the opportunity to teach and care for children. The two hour crèche became a full time Ofsted registered nursery caring for local children and people working in the area at the Naval base, Gunwharf Quays and Town. We have gone from strength to strength with our Mountbatten Leisure centre site opening in 2016, following the success we had there in 2020 we took over Goldsmith Avenue day nursery giving our long term area manager and good friend Sue an opportunity to come on board as a director. Shortly after we took on an amazing space in Fort Purbrook together.

We then proceeded to look at a Nursery that was closed and left empty just round the corner from the John Pounds Centre in Union Street Portsea, With the recent closure of this nursery and the nursery in the university we felt the need to reopen this setting for the community and surrounding businesses, we again invited two of our area managers Taylor and Nicole to join this new venture as directors to which I’m pleased to say they accepted. we are very keen to continue offering opportunities to join as owners in the future with other long term employees as they have been a massive contributor to the foundations of our success.

We are the only nursery in the whole of Portsmouth to have achieved An outstanding Ofsted rating for over 15 consecutive years and our Mountbatten nursery was also rated as outstanding in its first ever inspection.

I’ve always believed every child deserves as many opportunities as possible and a great early education no matter where they live or how affluent their parents may be and we continue with this ethos as the basis of everything we do.

The vast majority of parents given the choice would no doubt rather be at home with their children however we all know this isn’t always possible so we do all we can to do our very best and provide the friendliest, most professional teams we can be to make going back to work as painless as possible for all mums and dads and use our expertise, experience and love for education to give your little ones the best possible start to their journeys in education xx”

Company Director

After the early success of Top Tots Day Nursery opened by my wife in 2006 I came on board full to help with the increasing paperwork and admin to allow Mel to focus more of her time on the children. I have now worked full time for the nursery since 2009 and it’s been a very fulfilling career change seeing all the children thrive and develop on their journeys. My main roles are HR and finances along with a bit of DIY.

Company Director

Hi, I’m Sue, Mum of two young children and Nursery Director at Top Tots Hedgerow House & Fort Purbrook. I have been working at Top Tots since 2007 as a qualified staff member, I worked my way quickly into management and spent over 10 years managing our John Pounds site gaining Outstanding by Ofsted consecutively for over 10 years. During my time at Top Tots I have completed my level 3, 4 and FDA in Early Childhood studies, as well as a vast amount of training ranging from Special Educational Needs to being the Safeguarding Designated Office. I have been a registered Foster Carer and supported children in Transitions. Since returning to work from having my two young children, I provide support to all Special Needs Coordinators across all Top Tots sites, and I am currently working on our procedures and strategies for supporting children with additional needs. I love to ensure we are using the most effective methods and supporting children in ensuring they are having the best possible start to their early years journey.

Company Director

Learning & Development Area Manager and works across all sites.

Hello, my name is Taylor and I have been part of Top Tots since 2011. Along my journey I became a Mum to two boys who are now 5 and 9. When I started my childcare journey as an apprentice and instantly found a passion for providing the best learning and experiences to children within early years. I have attended a variety of training over my years some of which are the Portage training and Level 2 Send Accreditation. The rewards of watching children grow inspired me to further my career and knowledge and I am now a learning and development Area Manager and recently was given an opportunity to become a of director of Union Street alongside (names) within my role I am able to work across all sites offering guidance and training to our Top Tots staff teams ensuring we provide the best quality of education.

Company Director

Manager at our Goldsmith Avenue Site

Hi my name is Nicole, I have worked in childcare for 14 years. I started off as a level 3 nursery practitioner slowly working my way up to room leader, Deputy and nursery Manager. In August 2020 I became part of the Top Tots team when they bought Goldsmith Day nursery. I have leadership and management training which has supported my progress as an area manager helping and supporting all of the nursery managers throughout all our settings. In July 2023 I became a director of Union street, I pride myself on having great relationship with parents and children as well as supporting all staff and managers across all our settings.