Pre-school Learning Alliance

People

The charity's Vice Presidents are Maureen Eade - a retired HMI, now active as an Education Consultant, and Graham McMillan - Director of Fishburn Hedges.

There are three NEC elected Officers.

• Judith Thompson has been Chair of the trustees since 1997. A qualified teacher, she became involved with the pre-school movement with her two sons and founded a playgroup which she ran for 11 years. She has served as Branch Secretary, as County Chair, as a tutor, and on the National Council and represented the charity both locally and nationally. She currently chairs the panel for the Alliance's accreditation scheme. She brings a passionate commitment to the charity's work to enable parents to enjoy their children and to embrace with confidence their role as their children's most influential educator.
• The charity's Honorary Treasurer is Betty Marlow who has been a member of the charity for over 30 years - 25 of which she spent as a pre-school leader. Based in Berkshire, Betty's rise to the trustee board came after stints as a Branch Chair, a County Chair and a member of the charity's National Council.
• Sue Thomas has been involved with the children's agenda and pre-school movement for more than 19 years, working within a number of child care and early education settings, managing services, staff and contracts and undertaking a variety of roles through the volunteer structure at branch, county and national level. Sue also has relevant external training and management experience of working with the public, private and voluntary sector to enhance the skills required to be a trustee of a large organisation.
• Anne Clark - who has three sons, three daughters and four grandchildren - hails from Lincolnshire and, as well as starting a pre-school and a parent and toddler group, has much experience of committee work, serving as she has done on the charity's Family Learning Development Group, Funding Identification and Grants-making Panel as well as the Community Health Council and the Lincolnshire Medical Ethics Council.
• Sylvia Hillan has over 20 years' experience with pre-schools. A former Senior Pre-school Development Worker for the charity, she has been on the board of trustees for over three years and is a member of the Accreditation Panel.
• Janette Parker, from Devon, first got involved with the Pre-school Learning Alliance when her children were three years old. Over 16 years later - and having trained as a pre-school leader and a tutor - she served on her county sub-committee for over 14 years, and as been a member of the charity's trustees since 1997.
• Shropshire-based Debbie Walsh, a qualified tutor, has been part of the charity for over 14 years. For much of that time, she has served as an officer for both her local branch and county sub-committee. An experienced business co-ordinator and lobbyist and a former external grant assessor for the National Lotteries Charities Board, Debbie sat on Shropshire's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership until recently.
• Lorraine Young first became involved with the Alliance over 18 years ago, when she set up a Parent & Toddler group - she became 'hooked' and remained involved in her sons pre-schools until recently. She has also been involved in a variety of roles both locally and nationally - including Treasurer, Secretary, Chair and an EYDCP representative.
• Peggie Baker has been involved with the Alliance for a number of years first as a parent within a playgroup and also at local and national level - from supervisor to a variety of roles within the volunteer structure of the organisation. She maintains her involvement at local level by helping out at a Parent and Toddler group.

Partners

The Alliance is funded by, among others, partners:

• Tesco Tesco are working with the Alliance to pilot a UK wide nutrition training programme to early years professionals and to identify barriers faced by families in deprived areas to providing a wholesome diet in the home.
• Fisher-Price Fisher-Price have been working with the Alliance for a number of years, particularly in relation to promoting learning through play.
• Abbey Home Media Abbey Home Media are a long-term supporter of the work of the Alliance, with recent support focussing on our nutrition campaign Feeding Young Imaginations.