Our Team
Mel Hawke and Suzanne Meredith are the co-owners of Courtyard Nursery. Both Mel and Suzanne manage and run the nursery on a day-to-day basis. Mel qualified as an NNEB and has worked at the nursery for 30 years alongside nannying and Suzanne began as a volunteer after her daughters left before qualifying and becoming a member of the staff team.
Mel and Suzanne took over the full-time ownership of Courtyard in 2015.
Both Mel and Suzanne are experienced, knowledgeable, and approachable owners with many years’ experience between them in educating and caring for children. They strive hard for each child to benefit from their time at the preschool and continue to seek to create an environment where children can learn, develop, explore in a well-resourced and dynamic space.
They understand the importance of creating and sustaining positive relationships with the parents and carers of the children in their care and are accessible active listeners. They welcome being able to talk and support parents and carers with any parenting and childcare issues aiming to create a joint approach to problem solving and managing together.
Mel and Suzanne are described as being:
‘Warm, friendly and very easy to talk to. I had a difficult issue with my son who was not able to share toys/games when he played with others. This meant other children found it difficult to interact with him. Mel and Suzanne and I talked and worked out a gentle and thoughtful strategy for him to learn to start sharing that did not cause him to become distressed. This was so helpful for me and him both at the nursery as well as at home’.
