Lewissa Koulis

Finance Director

Qualifications: HNC in childcare, First aid for childcarers, Child protection management level 4, ROSPA Managing safely.

Personal History: When we launched Pinocchio's at Lasswade in January 1997 I had a wonderful time working in the baby room. I am qualified HNC in child care and education which gave me a great grounding and understanding of the venture we embarked on and  hold Child protection management level 4, ROSPA Managing safely.

As the company expanded, I took a leadership and operational role and now I support the management team, mainly in the areas of: accounts, forward planning for children's places and staffing. 

I’m currently over seeing all planning in the company for the implementation of the 1140 hours grant funding for all 3-5 year old children by August 2020. We will be extending out opening times to Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm with flexible options of 38 and 50 weeks placements. With session from 4-6 hours and full days from 8-12 hours long. We are currently starting to take registration for 1140 hours placements for eligible children currently using our Pinocchios nurseries. Pinocchios aim to pay the real living wage by August 2020. This starts at £9 per hour for an 18 year old. By being more flexible with our opening hour’s means we can accommodate more families with different work patterns. All our nurseries aim to be above the national care standards of grade 4 Good with Care inspectorate. 

I’m delighted to see when our team are recognised for their hard work and commitment for example the Scottish NMT nursery award’s winners Kirsty and Emma in 2017 & 2018- can’t wait to see who shines this year! I believe it’s important to be part of the community and love hearing stories about the children visiting local care homes and adventures with forest schools. I really appreciate our families support with our main local charity ‘Edinburgh Childrens hospital charity’. In the past 10 years we have jointly raised over £60,000. This charity is close to family’s hearts and many have had direct support in their time of need.

Hobbies: My passion is yoga; I’m finishing a 500 hour training course which I have loved every minute of. I enjoy traveling, Greece feels like a second home now. I travelled a lot as a child and got the bug… I love to plan our families' next adventure and explore different places around the world.

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