My name is Ann Briley and I have worked in childcare for 35 years. After many years of babysitting whilst at school I developed a passion for childcare and decided this would be my chosen career. I started my journey by being a live-in nanny in Surrey (many miles away from my home in Manchester). I went onto work as an apprentice nursery nurse before qualifying and eventually progressing to managing settings. I have also  enjoyed a role as a Quality Development Manager supporting failing nurseries before returning to Millennium Minis as a Nursery Manager in 2019.

I have always had a passion for childcare as you can really make a difference to children’s lives and help shape their future by encouraging them to reach for the sky and embed a real love for learning. I have loved meeting and working with all the families who I have had the pleasure of working with and I have found that each and everyone of them has brought a uniqueness to the settings that I have learnt so much from.

I love to work as part of a team and truly believe that the team are the beating heart of any nursery and the most precious resource we have. I feel that you learn so much from each other’s experiences, backgrounds and interests and we can use this to support each other to be the best practitioners possible, delivering quality care and interactions with the children daily. I have recently trained to be the ‘mental health first aider’ for Minis as, as a company we recognise the importance of talking to and supporting our team who may just need a friendly ear and someone to sense check with.

In my spare time I love to go walking, read or listen to audio books but my real passion is for traveling. I have travelled extensively around the world, and I love to see different ways of lives and try lots of local dishes (sometimes I try to recreate these but overall, not too successfully).