In 1995, Directors Joy and David Scadden, launched Sunny Days with a simple vision: to provide the best quality childcare for children in Dorset.
Some years on, and now with grown up children of their own who also play an integral part in running the business, they have created what they set out to do with two ‘extraordinary’ high-quality nurseries in Dorchester and Bridport.
Finance Director and CEO
David started his early years career working in a Weymouth nursery in 1974, he worked in many nurseries including in Bournemouth, Brixton, Battersea, Brisbane, he launched Sunny Days with Joy in 1995 for their own children Aimée and Luc, and over the last 25 years they developed high quality early years services for 1000s of children.
Managing Director
Joy has worked with children for over twenty-five years. Originally caring for abused children in residential homes in London, she launched Sunny Day Nursery with David in Dorchester in 1995, with Bridport following in 2004. Together they have created two ‘extraordinary’ high-quality nurseries with a blend of experienced teams and apprentices, all working to provide learning with endless fun, encouragement and happiness. In addition to this, in 2009, realising the need for good quality, well-trained staff within early years Joy launched Side by Side Training Centre, and began to deliver training and qualifications to her own staff and those working in other settings throughout Dorset. As a fully qualified assessor, IQA and adult teacher Joy loves training and assessing, seeing people develop and become professional child carers. Early Years is her passion, as well as her family, cats and garden!!
Administration Coordinator
Luc first joined Sunny Days as a toddler in 1995 with his older sister, Aimée. After working in retail for several years and gaining valuable customer service experience, Luc returned to Sunny Days in 2017 as an apprentice working in the preschool team and has since taken on an administrative role incorporating a strong focus on customer care and is developing robust systems to support the Management teams. Luc has a real hunger for health and fitness – most recently he has adopted a vegan diet, so when he’s not playing rugby or at the gym, he is focusing on his cooking skills.
Sales and Marketing Director
After being one of the first Preschoolers to attend Sunny Days in 1995, Aimée joined the team in 2007 as a Nursery Assistant whilst undertaking her qualifications in childcare. Over the years she has worked her way up from room Supervisor to Deputy Manager in both settings, and is now Sales and Marketing Director. Aimée knows the importance of family and has the drive to ensure local Dorset families who use Sunny Days have the best experience, and their children start their lives with the brightest futures. Aimee’s son, Xander, is now following in her footsteps by attending Sunny Days too!
Director’s Assistant
Liam has been part of the Scadden family as Aimée’s partner for nearly 10 years but now, in addition, he has chosen to join the Sunny Days family. Liam served in the Navy as an aeronautical engineer for 8 years, based at Yeovilton, but with a new baby son, he decided it was time for a career change, so he is bringing his respected military background and experience of systems analysis to bear at Sunny Days. Working closely with the admin team and Directors, he is quickly become a vital person in the ‘engine room’ using his knowledge to improve and streamline our already robust systems.
Aimée & Liam’s son
My name is Xander and I’m nearly 3 years old. I started at Sunny Days when I was 7 months old and instantly loved it! I have loads of friends and enjoy all the fun activities, especially the messy ones! I’ve nearly mastered potty training and in a few months I’ll be visiting Preschool with some of my Toddler friends. One of my favourite activities is block play because I love to build the tallest tower to see how long it lasts before it all falls down. My favourite time of the day is snack and lunch time because the food is soooo yummy!!
The Scadden family couldn’t have achieved the extraordinary high-quality services without the support and commitment from their management team. Between them they offer over 50 years of experience and knowledge to Sunny Days and continue to strive, providing the best quality services to Dorset families.
Dorchester Nursery Manager
After travelling the world working as a Nanny, 18 years ago Jo joined the Sunny Days family with plenty of knowledge and experience. Starting as Baby room Supervisor at Dorchester, then Nursery Manager at Bridport, Jo is now established and extremely well respected in her Nursery Manager role at our Dorchester setting.
Dorchester Deputy Manager and Under 3’s Coordinator
Charlotte joined Sunny Days as a L3 qualified Nursery Nurse in 2010, and she has worked her way up through the ranks thanks to her strong work ethic, from Room Supervisor to now working alongside Jo to run our Dorchester Nursery.
Operations Manager and IQA for Side by Side Training Centre
Julie has become a very important member of the Sunny Days family since joining the team in 2003. Julie works closely with the Directorson a daily basis, providing support for the managers and childcare teams to ensure the care and education is of the best quality. In addition, Julie leads our training and quality team at Side by Side Training Centre and enjoys teaching learners from Sunny Days and other local early years settings.
Bridport Nursery Manager
Kirsty became a Sunny Days Star in 2013, first as a Room Supervisor at Dorchester and, thanks to her impressive knowledge and initiative, quickly developed into a very strong member of the team, now managing our Bridport setting.
Bridport Deputy Manager
Steph is a relatively new member of the management team and already extremely valued. She joined Sunny Days as a Level 3 Nursery Nurse in 2019 and has since proved herself to be an exceptional Deputy Manager, working alongside Kirsty at Bridport.
