Thirza Ashelford

I trained at Norland in the early 1970s so have been a Norlander all my working life. After working as a nanny in London for a few years, I spent the next 7 years working in Local Authority Day Nurseries in London and then in Somerset. After the birth of my two sons I worked as a childminder and was involved in setting up the local childminder group as well as working for the National Childminding Association where I wrote information books and leaflets, including “Minding Children with Special Needs”.

Going back to work had to fit in with home and family and I was fortunate to be offered a job in a school for children with severe learning difficulties, which I loved. But then an even more exciting opportunity came my way and I opened the first workplace nursery for Somerset County Council – what a dream: setting up your own nursery with someone else’s money! Eventually I moved into education; for the last 18 years I have been teaching early years students, joining Norland College again as principal three years ago.
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