A West Wickham woman has scooped a female entrepreneur of the year award for her work with young children.
Samantha Baldwin, 41, is a former Next manager in Bromley who started her own business, Phonics Stars, four years ago.
Phonics Stars offers families with young children high energy play based learning classes to improve things like movement and speech and language development.
Samantha, who grew up in Beckenham and Hayes, retrained as a registered childminder after the birth of her first child before becoming a qualified early years educator.
She said: "Having experienced the challenges by both children and schools, I decided that I could make a positive contribution to children’s futures by founding Phonics Stars.
"I am determined to make a difference to the lives of children, families, teachers and offer license franchise opportunities as well as opportunities for others working behind the scenes."
Her business was boosted this month after she won the female entrepreneur of the year prize at the Club Hub UK awards.
She dedicated the award to everyone working for Phonics Stars.
Samantha added: "A big thank you to our parents and preschools for all of your love and support."
Phonics Stars currently has classes in Bromley, Sevenoaks and Croydon and works with various preschools in those areas.
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