WILLOW TREE KINDERGARTEN TEAM
Hiroka Dathan
Manager, SENCO & Lead Teacher Share
Hiroka has always been passionate about Early Years Education. She has studied level 3 childcare, has a BA in Early Childhood Studies and completed a level 6 post graduate in Early Years Professional/ Teacher Status. Hiroka has worked in and managed a range of childcare settings including day nurseries and children's centres. She also has experience as an Early Years Inspector.
Steiner Education has always been close to her heart, having attended Steiner schools from the age of 7 to 18 in Japan and in the UK and then to seeking Steiner education for her own children.
Hiroka was involved in setting up the 'Little Kindi' in Fishponds and was part of The Apple Tree Steiner Home Education group in Bristol.
She feels very fortunate to be part of the Willow Tree team to spread the joys of a gentle and unhurried childhood and continue to create a beautiful space for children to explore and grow.
rose douglas
Deputy Manager & Lead Teacher Share
Rose is our Afternoon Lead Teacher, and has been working with us at the Willow Tree since 2018.
Rose has had a lifelong involvement with Steiner education, having herself attended a Steiner school, and her children having also received a Steiner education.
After completing a BA degree at Bath Spa University, during which Rose took modules in Education and did placements in a Steiner Kindergarten - doing her final dissertation on Steiner Education; Rose went on to do the Steiner kindergarten training in London.
She has a Level 5 qualification in early years.
Rose has spent her life working with children and in education, working as a nanny and in early years nurseries, and working with 16-25 year olds with autism and other learning difficulties at the Steiner inspired education centre Ruskin Mill College.
Rose has a passion for child centred, unhurried holistic education, where creativity and imagination and the aspects of head, heart and hands are celebrated and nurtured. She loves celebrating the seasons and festivals with the children and within her family home, nature walks, baking, wild swimming, music, reading, travel and adventures!
Magda Palinska
Kindergarten Assistant
Magda has been at Willow Tree since January 2026. She has worked as an educator for the past 20 years, 15 years at various Steiner Waldorf settings. She has a BA in teaching and an MA in linguistics. She worked with young children and teenagers with neurodiversities at the Sheiling school as well as in the SAB kindergarten and Bristol Steiner School with main school children as a LSA/classroom assistant. She has just started Level 3 early years training.
Magda strongly believes that Steiner/Waldorf education, especially kindergarten, provides invaluable experiences for children that will stay with them for life, like awe and respect for natural environment and all living creatures and creativity.
Magda enjoys reading, walking, sailing and languages.
Abi Oborne
Kindergarten Assistant & Admissions
Abi joined Willow Tree in the summer term of 2025. Abi has a degree in Fine Art and has worked in a variety of roles including an art technician in two secondary schools and at a community arts and creative hub in Stokes Croft. Whilst her children were young, she worked at a nursery chain doing their accounts and bookkeeping in the back office and a little seed was planted realising that she might like to spend her days with the children rather than in an office.
It was during the Covid lockdowns when her daughter was at home learning, that Abi realised she might like to go back into education but this time at kindergarten level.
Abi has three children, all of whom she took to parent & child and two of her children also went to Willow Tree Little Kindy in Fishponds and has been encorparating Steiner rhythms into her home life ever since.
Abi is currently studying for her Level 3 in Childcare. She is also a practicing artist and enjoys anything creative but especially printmaking, drawing, knitting and sewing. She'll also be found gardening at home and on her allotment or exploring woodlands with her family. She values creativity, ecological sustainability and is passionate about learning through play, especially outside in nature.
Nicola Bohlen
Kindergarten Assistant
Nicola grew up in a Camphill community and attended a Steiner school from age of 3 to 18, both of which have given her a greater appreciation for community and spending time outdoors.
Nicola then went on to study acting at Falmouth University and later completed an MA in Collaborative Theatre. Her love of play and creativity led her to work with children and has since gained experience across early years, childminding, forest school and inclusive theatre settings. She has recently worked at Millie's Garden Early Years Hub and with Travelling Light Theatre, supporting disabled young people through theatre, play and storytelling.
Nicola is trained as a level 3 forest school leader and is passionate about giving children the freedom to follow their curiosity, play and build a relationship with the natural world. She believes strongly in every child's right to play and in the importance of a childhood filled with warmth, creativity and connection.
Outside of work, Nicola is a theatre maker and enjoys sharing food with friends and family, doing crafts and spending time outdoors.
Kindergarten Support TEam
Floredia hrissikou
Deputy Manager & SENCO
Floredia joined the Willow Tree Fishponds in September 2018. She has been involved with Steiner education for 20 years, since her first son joined the Rowan Tree KG. The other two followed and all three went through the Bristol Steiner School (BSS) from KG to Main School.
For the last 10 years,she has worked as a classroom Assistant, initially at BSS Main School and then at the Rowan Tree KG.
After that, she worked for 3 years as a KG Assistant at the Steiner Academy in Fishponds, when it first opened. She has a Level 3 Diploma in EY and Young People workforce. She is passionate about unhurried childhood, loves being part of the Steiner community in Bristol, supporting children and young families (both as a Steiner EY practitioner, but also as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor) and immersing herself in kindergarten life and craft projects.
Karolina Czyć
Kindergarten Assistant
Karolina supports us with occasional work.
PARENT AND CHILD (St ANNE'S)
Susy Jackson AZEVEDO
Parent & Child Group Lead
Susy joined Little Kindergarten in April 2023. She was a mainstream Primary school teacher for five years before having her two children. Susy discovered Waldorf when her children were small and lives a Waldorf inspired family life at home. Once her children were both at school, she went on to return to working in education as a Learning Support Assistant in a local primary school, before joining us here at Little Kindy. She loves sustainability, crafting, walks in the woods, camping and encouraging open-ended imaginative play.
ADMINISTRATION TEAM
Kate Harvey
Finance & Office Manager
Kate joined Willow Tree in June 2023 and is responsible for payroll and invoicing, plus all other financial responsibilities within Kindergarten.
Abi Oborne
Admissions
As well as working in the kindergarten as an assistant, Abi also manages our admissions. She has a wealth of experience working in community arts and nursery business management, accounts and bookkeeping.
TRUSTEES
jAN COLES
Chair of Trustees - Child Protection and Wellbeing Lead
Jan founded the Willow Tree with a group of parents in January 2010. She has a Steiner Waldorf Early Years Diploma graduating in 1996. She taught for many years at the Rowan Tree Kindergarten, part of the Bristol Steiner School. She is a mother of three who, all went through BSS from kindergarten to the age of 14. She is also now a grandmother. Having managed and been the lead teacher at the Kindergarten until 2016, Jan ran the Parent and Child groups from 2016 - 2020.
Siobhan Gilchrist
Treasurer
Tara johnson
Tara helped set up the Willow Tree with Jan Coles and other parents in 2010 and has returned as a trustee 16 years later. In that time she has completed her Steiner Waldorf teacher training, helped to create the Steiner Academy in Bristol in 2015, and worked with others to set up the Apple Tree Steiner home school group in 2019.
She now runs a Play Therapy practice in St Pauls, using the Waldorf picture of child development to help children make sense of their world through play.
Alice Masson-Taylor
Alice joined the Willow Tree family when her eldest started in 2023. Her interest in Waldorf early years quickly grew and she feels passionate about what the Willow Tree team offer to Bristol families. She became a Trustee in 2024 with the aim of contributing and supporting this. She worked as a Buyer for Film and TV and more recently as a facilitator in Community Garden settings with a focus on wellbeing.
Alex Harrison
I have worked in education for over a decade. Starting my journey teaching coral reef ecology in the Caribbean, then Dubai, returning to the UK to get my State School, Forest School and Waldorf certifications and ending up in St Michael Steiner School. Teaching is my vocation but I am currently raising a young family and hoping to be part of something for my children's education and my own career. Willow Tree is a rallying point for the Waldorf community in Bristol and I hope to support and bring my experience to the team and wider community.