About Us

Fionna

My name is Fionna and I love working with kids! When we grow up we can lose that sense of magic and wonder… Being around children is a source of constant joy when everything can be turned into a fun game and any kind of miracle can happen!
I was born in South Africa (hence my interesting surname), where I used to see lions and tigers. I love reading mystery stories. My family has a caravan (a house on wheels), and we love going to other countries in it, like Italy and France. It makes me feel like Dorothy out of Wizard of Oz!

Your might not believe that originally I was a fully qualified and practicing Solicitor. I was a very serious lawyer, with very serious clients, doing very serious things, in a very serious environment with a list of very serious responsibilities… In February 2014 I decided to have a complete change of career in order to spend more time with my two young children, Jack and Ava. I began training as a childminder with a view to opening an after school club at Maes Yr Haul school in Bridgend. Whilst training I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity to run the club under the “Simply Out of School” banner, with all the knowledge and experience that the franchisor has of running such clubs.

Just 5 months after opening my first club, I had the chance to take over another club -and my childcare business has grown from there. I now own 6 such clubs and having the time of my life!
I opened my first playgroup in 2019 and can’t wait to see where this journey takes me and my great team. It’s my priority to build warm, long-lasting relationships with the children, their families and staff at all levels, including school staff members.

I have gained qualifications which include a Level 3 in Children’s Care and Development, a Level 3 in Playwork, Food Hygiene, Health and Safety, Child Protection and Pediatric First Aid, as well as gaining the knowledge of the CIW regulations.
Professional development is vital and as such both myself and my staff have also carried out a number of additional short childcare courses.
It is such a privilege to watch children grow and develop. It is extremely rewarding and I look forward to many more years of caring and working with your children and your family.
Yours, Fionna.

Mark & Ava

I am Mark, Fionna’s husband. I help her with the club by playing with the children, inventing funny games, taking kids on exciting trips and lifting heavy things! I love welding – it is a way of putting pieces of metal together using fire! I also love lighting the barbecue and cooking delicious food, so I guess I just love playing with fire (of course, in a very safe way).
I travelled a lot and lived in Australia, where I saw lots of koala bears and kangaroos. I even learned how to jump like one, and I can show you when we meet. I do it very well.
Can’t wait to welcome you to our club – until then, stay safe and have fun!

I am Ava and I am 8. I love Barbies, and have lots of them. I think about 20. My favourite colour is pink, but Mum says I will grow out of it. I won’t though, I will love pink forever!
I also have a big house for my dolls and like to have my girlfriends around to play together. I can show it to you, if you want. I write a diary and draw pictures in it, but you can’t see it, because it has my secrets!

My favourite food is pasta and chocolate, is it yours too? It would be brilliant if they could invent chocolate sauce to put on pasta, that would be amazing!
Let’s play together soon!

Jake

Hi, I am Jake and I am 11. Fionna is my Mum is I spend a lot of time after school playing with other kids that come to her clubs. I love making new friends!
I really like playing on my X Box, but Mum says it is not good to do that all of the time, so I also play tennis and do Parco. Parco is so fun – it is running very fast and jumping on and off things, sometimes very high! Makes me feel like a Superhero! My Dad Mark taught me how to ride a bike and I really like to do that too – I can even teach you, if you like.

I used to be very picky about my food and was driving Mum and Dad crazy. Last year we went to France and I tried mussels with fries, they call it Moules Frites. I liked it so much I now love trying new food! What is your favourite thing to eat?
I will be starting High School next year and can’t wait to be a grown up. Holidays are coming soon, so maybe we will meet up and do something fun together! See you soon!