OUR TEAM

Hello, I’m Natalie. The Nursery Manager at Honeysuckle. For as long as I can remember I have always had a passion for working with children. My mum was a childminder and foster carer as I grew up so I can't remember a life without small children around me.

After leaving school I embarked on a BTEC National Diploma in Childhood Studies full time at my local college. I attended many different placements during the two-year course before I decided that 'Nursery Practitioner' was the role for me. I started my career in 2001 working at a nursery close to where I lived at the time.

I quickly progressed from Practitioner to Room Leader before becoming eventually becoming Deputy Manager. Whilst working there I attended university and completed a Foundation Degree in Early Years in 2010 followed by a BA Honours in Education in 2011. These courses gave me the aspiration to want to run my own setting one day.

I spent twelve years with that company until I had my own daughter in 2012. The exciting opportunity then came up to become a Nursery Manager at a brand new setting in Shinfield.......Honeysuckle Day Nursery. I have really enjoyed being a part of Honeysuckle's journey from the very beginning. I am now a mum to three children, all of which have attended the nursery over the years. Since taking on the Managers role at Honeysuckle, I have completed many training courses during those years such as Paediatric First Aid, Designated Safeguarding Lead training and Safer Recruitment to name just a few. I am passionate about providing that welcoming, ‘home from home’ environment to all our families. As the years have passed Honeysuckle Day Nursery has gained a wonderful reputation and an ever increasing demand for spaces is now a fantastic reflection of the quality of our service.

My career highlight so far has been when we were awarded an ‘Outstanding’ rating with OFSTED in 2019, just three days before I had my last baby. It felt that we had been on such a journey leading up to the inspection that day, the staff team and I were so very proud to show off our wonderful setting and we finally got the grading we felt we deserved.

I look forward to welcoming lots more new children and their parents to the Honeysuckle family over the years to come.

My name is Danielle Ball and I am the Deputy Manager at Honeysuckle Day Nursery.

I have been with the Honeysuckle family since 2014 and the setting is a homely environment, one that I hope the children and parents also feel when they choose their journey with us.

I understand what it is like to leave your young ones in the care of others, as I too had to make this decision, some time ago, for my own son. With this in mind I always try to be understanding, empathetic and helpful towards the parents who are placing their children in our care.

I have worked in day nurseries since 2004 and I qualified as a Nursery Practitioner in 2006. Since then I have continued to gain a range of qualifications to help the children and families in my care, learning about a variety of different subjects including Forest School Leader, Understanding Autism, Dealing with Challenging Behaviour, Neuroscience and self-regulation, Leadership and Management to name a few.



I work within the Bloom's room, helping the preschool aged children to become confident and independent learners so they are ready for their journey to school. Part of my role involves leading Forest School sessions where the children have the opportunity to be risk aware and develop important life skills.