Sunny Team

Talk to our team on 0345 88 88 123
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Supporting our little ones to develop through play, learning and fun

The Sunny Days story starts over 25 years ago in 1995, when our Directors and husband-and-wife team Joy and David Scadden set out to provide the best quality childcare for children in Dorset.

Flash-forward to the present day and our family-run nurseries continue to deliver exceptional childcare, encouraging little ones across the South West to discover their unique talents through everyday adventures.

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Trained Staff

We make big claims about our people, and that’s because we take extreme care in our recruitment, induction and training processes. Our staff, affectionately known as ‘Sunny Days Stars’, are either professionally qualified or they may be undertaking their apprenticeship through our sister company, Side by Side Training.

Parents often come to our staff for support, advice and suggestions of techniques to try at home.  Our staff are always on hand to chat to parents and build lasting relationships with them as well as the children.

Why not drop in and discover first-hand how we’re exploring how to be ‘extraordinary’ every day?

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Highly Skilled Professionals

The Side by Side trainers and assessors are highly experienced childcare professionals, not only providing training for Sunny Days staff, but also playing a significant role in supporting our quality through regular audits and adult engagement observations. These are an important way to monitor the quality of our education and care by teams and individuals and is further indication of how high we set the bar at Sunny Days.

See our Latest Job Vacancies
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Our Sunny Days Stars

Each year we look forward to rewarding our staff individually and as a team. Everyone particularly looks forward to our Sunny Days Awards Night, to which we are always excited to welcome parents.

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Our Teams

The people who work at Sunny Days share the vision and values of our community.

We’re driven by the idea that the best care is born from diligence, imagination and fun.

The Scadden family

David Scadden

David Scadden

CEO & Finance Director
Joy Scadden

Joy Scadden

Managing Director
Luc Scadden

Luc Scadden

Administration Coordinator
Aimée Scadden

Aimée Scadden

Sales and Marketing Director
Liam O’Connor

Liam O’Connor

Director’s Assistant

Leadership team

Julie Downton

Julie Downton

Operations Manager
Charlotte Palmer <br/>Acting Dorchester Deputy Manager & HR Manager

Charlotte Palmer

HR Manager
Sarah Halliwell

Sarah Halliwell

Children’s Chef
Bill Thompson

Bill Thompson

Property Manager
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Our useful guides to help you choose the right nursery for your CHILD

  • 13 Things You Need to Consider When Choosing a Nursery and Preschool
  • A Hands On Guide to Getting Your 'Little Star' Ready for Nursery
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High praise from our Super Parents

In possibly the most depressing January on record I just want to say thank you to you and your team for continuing to take brilliant care of L and giving him a pocket of normality in this weird world we are living in. It is a difficult and concerning time for everyone and I hope your team realise how much they are appreciated.

Laura Kent

I would also like to thank your entire team for delivering an outstanding service this autumn. The additional Covid precautions, regular updates, clear instructions, and Q-Bell have all made a difference. It is through your hard work that R has not been required to isolate at home (with me or my wife off work). I thank you for playing your part in fighting this pandemic as both R’s father and as the Clinical Lead of Critical Care.

Very child centred, I feel happy leaving my girls there. Staff are very accommodating and approachable. It feels like everyone takes the time to know the girls.

Duncan Chambler

Just wanted to thank SunnyDays staff for the fantastic care you have provided to both my daughters over the last 5 years - they both would really enjoyed their time with you guys and would highly recommend your service to other parents.

Chris & Claire Jones

Always been a pleasure to work with you and my boy has loved it. No complaints!

A Sunny Day Parent

Always smiling always ready to help always showing so much positive regard for the girls. It's a pleasure to stop the girls off a see them feeling so excited to spend the day at sunny days Bridport. Sunny days Bridport is amazingly well led and has a lovely supportive team. So impressed by all you have done over 2020 and now lockdown 3!

A Sunny Day Parent

My child is always happy and excited to attend. She has shown clear evidence of learning in her ability to start recognising colours, simple mathematical principles and starting to look at and recognise letters and numbers in books. She has gone from being too shy to talk to anyone outside her family, to having real fun and building relationships with her peers and familiar adults, as well as communicating with unfamiliar adults. Since being at Sunny days she has become really open and willing to engage with the world around her in way she would have been too frightened to do before. Her confidence has improved massively.

A Sunny Day Parent

All the staff at Bridport do an amazing job. My son is always happy to see whoever answers the door and talks about them when we are at home. They have all done a fantastic job throughout this pandemic to support the children and ensure they are happy and well looking after. Bridport team are amazing...cannot praise them enough!

A Sunny Day Parent

My son now only attends the holiday club but when he was attending the nursery full time he was always well engaged with activities and above all the nursery staff were kind and loving towards him.

A Sunny Day Parent

My little girl is always happy and excited to attend they keep us updated on everything they always make sure everything is clean and safe and my daughter has really come out of herself.

A Sunny Day Parent

Really happy with everything, my son enjoys his time at nursery and is always happy to go in. Staff are very friendly and kind.

A Sunny Day Parent

Our two girls have gone to Sunny Days over the past 4 years. The nursery owners and their team have been outstanding, and our children love it. We’ve never had tears and they love going to Dorchester Sunny Days each week. Jo (manager) and the team have been so accommodating throughout the pandemic (we are key workers) and the Scadden’s have explained all the COVID Secure procedures with clarity. We feel very safe sending our children there. Our eldest daughter has now moved up to school and despite being young for the year group (June birthday) she was more than ready to transition – Jane and the pre-school team delivered such great Early Years teaching and gave us great advice on how to support our daughter to reach her best potential. They even taught her how to ride a bike without stabilisers!! Also, worth mentioning how much our children love the food. They seem to eat everything at nursery despite being a little fussy at home! We cannot recommend Sunny Days enough. The discount for local NHS staff and the month to month flexibility on bookings also help significantly.

Duncan Chambler

The team at Sunny Days in Dorchester have been a lifesavers (maybe literally!) on so many occasions. Our three kids through here from the baby room to after school clubs. They have been so accommodating and flexible. I can't believe how well they have just dealt with things throughout the pandemic. I've no concerns about recommending Sunny Days.

Kyle Mitchell

Sunny Days Dorchester staff team have been outstanding in their support, our toddler who is fostered by us, was quite withdrawn, has totally blossomed whilst in their care, eager to go to and happy to return.

At what has been a difficult time for us, they have been extremely helpful and flexible, so would highly recommend their service and their lovely staff.

A Big Thank you!

Linda and Manuel Fraiz

Our little lady has been at Sunny Days since she was 8 months old and she has grown and developed so much with the help of all the amazing staff here. We chose Sunny Days as at the time of myself returning to work they were the only nursery in Weymouth and Dorchester that we’re prepared to be flexible and helped work around my roster allowing myself to return to a career that I love and most importantly gave me the confidence and reassurance that she was so well looked after. (as I’m often out of the country this was vital that she was happy) and I knew she was. I can’t Thank you all enough for all your dedication, hardwork and commitment to ensuring each and every day she came to nursery and now preschool she was thriving and happy. Special little Thankyou to Jane in preschool for going that extra mile to help Mila settle after returning back after the lockdown as most days we had lots of tears on drop off and now she is going in beautifully. You are all wonderful. <3

Lucie Gray

Our son loves going to Sunny Days. The staff are helpful and kind, the food is yummy, and the booking is flexible. It's great that they are happy to use reusable nappies too!

Vicky Ashby