Michelle

Hi! My name is Michelle and I am super excited to be bringing Bloom baby classes to Northern Ireland South, to the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon postcodes. It will be the first Bloom franchise in Ireland and I can’t quite believe it’s me that will be the one to provide Northern Ireland with these magical sensory classes. I’m a first-time mum to my little girl Cliona born in the pandemic.

I am a qualified primary school teacher, with experience working full-time and subbing/supply work across all year groups. When working as a substitute teacher, I found I loved working in the reception classes most, getting to sing and dance and be silly with the little ones was part of my motivation to start baby classes. My main motivation however is my daughter Cliona, having her in a pandemic is something I never imagined and although I have loved getting to spend time bonding with just me and her, it has also been extremely difficult. I dreamed of bringing my first to sensory classes, baby swim classes and meeting other parent friends to share the journey with, something that so far has not been possible. I have found this at times very lonely and wanted to bring these sensory classes to my area so that other new mums wouldn’t need to feel that way. I came across Bloom when I discovered their Bloom well-being page, which offers support parent to parent across all issues of parenting. I was so impressed with the ethos of kindness, welcomeness, and respect that I investigated Bloom further. I came across the opportunity to franchise Bloom classes and bring them to Northern Ireland. An opportunity to provide to the area’s parents, classes that will give them a safe place to connect with other parents and give their babies an enriching experience that each week helps them to develop and grow. An opportunity also to gain that work/life balance that teaching couldn’t give me and spend more time bringing Cliona to those places she has missed out on. An opportunity I simply couldn’t turn away from. So, although sad to leave my teaching career, I am eager to start this new chapter.

I’m excited to share this new journey with you and can’t wait to see you all in September.