Hi, my name is Maria Holman, although everyone calls me Mia. I was born in Wisbech, Cambridge in 1976, then moved to Devon when I was two and a half. I now reside in Wimbledon.
I studied for NVQ levels two and three in child care and education with a modern apprenticeship. I also have certificates in managaing challenging behaviour, paediactric first aid, intermediate food hygiene and basic pre-school music and movement. I worked in a Montessori Nursery School for two years during my training and have been a nanny for over 15 years. A full enhanced police check, copies of my certificate and references are available on request.
My inspiration for 'Culture Kids', stems from the travelling experiences I acquired with the last family I nannied for. For two months we travelled around the world visiting culturally rich countries, this gave me a hunger to see and experience more of the world, so I decided to take a year off work and travel but this time with my best friend Rosie. We traveled through the West Coast of America, Hawaii, Fiji, Australia and South Africa. Our trip lasted one year and was the most awesome experience of my life.
During our trip we did some amazing things which included a 9 seater plane trip to the Grand Canyon for lunch, a skydive over the Great Barrier Reef, a scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef, walked around Ayres rock, camped in the bush, did a safari in the oldest game parks in South Africa and saw many native animals. During my travels I collected toys, books, costumes, puppets, music, photographs and musical instruments with the view that upon my return, I would educate and enrich the lives of children back in England.
It does not stop there, even now I still manage to travel during the holidays. Last year my husband and I went to The Gambia, this year we hope to go to Borneo and the Philippians. This enables me to add to my collection of wonderful equipment, which I look forward to sharing with you soon.
Culture Kids was established in 2004, and we now have over 700 children attending classes weekly.