Mary Rees-Williams, a Qualified Level 3 Senior Educator at Busy Bees St David’s, has worked for Busy Bees for 32 years
Published: 21/11/2023
Mary Rees-Williams, a Qualified Level 3 Senior Educator at Busy Bees St David’s, has worked for Busy Bees for 32 years and is our longest serving member of the team (after our co-founder Marg Randles).
Mary has been a consistent figure at the centre for both the children and the team, so much so that Busy Bees St David’s would not be the same without her.
It is evident that she still has the same love for working with children that she had when she first joined the nursery and there will be so many lucky children who have been able to call her their ‘key person’ over the past three decades.
Mary shows us all the definition of finding your purpose in life and we are incredibly humbled that she has chosen Busy Bees to dedicate the majority of her working life to.
My name is Mary Rees-Williams, I am a Qualified Level 3 Senior Educator at Busy Bees St David’s and have worked for Busy Bees for 32 years. I am proud to say that I am the longest serving employee at Busy Bees (after Marg Randles of course).
Over the last 32 years there have been too many moments to mention and I can’t pick just one. It has been an amazing experience watching the children grow up in our care, I have enjoyed every moment watching them become more independent and gain their individual personalities. I am always filled with such pride when we say goodbye and wish them good luck on their next stage in life.
As you can imagine quite a lot has changed over the last 30 years but one of the main differences is the amount of paperwork we now have to complete!
The simple answer to this is the children I’ve cared for and the friendships I’ve made with colleagues. I have had the pleasure of working with a fantastic team of educators over the last three decades and I’ve made so many memories here that there’s no other place I could see myself working.
The best thing about working with children is just spending time with them, their innocent nature, the sweet things they say and watching how they observe the world is something I cherish. It’s also incredibly heartwarming to see how they change and develop into little independent people during their time with us – I love seeing them grow up knowing we’ve had an influence on their upbringing.
One of the most valuable things I’ve learned is that we are all unique. Each and every child I’ve been fortunate to care for has taught me that we are all individuals and bear different qualities from one another in so many ways, and so the way we care for children should be tailored.
We often have a team rotation in our rooms to help aid staff development. I’ve had the opportunity to work with all age groups and so I would encourage anyone thinking of starting a career with Busy Bees to get to know the variety of ages we care for and look for the positives that each age and stage comes with.
I feel very lucky to have my work family who look out for me in the way that they do. They’re always there for me and I’m so grateful for that.
I believe that every child should have a chance to dream big and follow their passion. At Busy Bees, we enable children to follow their interests, encourage their imagination to flourish and offer them experiences that may not be possible within their home.
During a child’s time at Busy Bees, I hope we have instilled our children with good values and that they will look back at their time with us with fond memories.
If you’re interested in a career with Busy Bees please visit Working at Busy Bees - Careers in Childcare
To find out more about our apprenticeship programmes, please visit Childcare Apprenticeships