Meet Our Family

It is our people who make Pebbles such a special organisation

Directors

Pebbles’ directors lead the growth and innovation of our company by setting strategic objectives and plans and ensuring they are consistently met.

Chris Strong

CEO

Chris has been employed in Education and children’s services all of his working life within numerous roles. Most recently he has worked at two of the largest organisations in the UK as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Children’s Services. Outside of work Chris enjoys spending time with his family either watching or taking part in numerous sports.

Antony Lambert

Chief Financial Officer

Antony is an ACA qualified chartered account with 25+ years’ experience across a wide range of sectors. Outside of work, Antony enjoys spending his time with his family and getting outdoors walking in the Yorkshire dales, where he is based.

Mark Williams

Chief Operations Officer

After a twenty year career in Cumbria Police Mark decided to take up a career in Children’s Social Care. Mark has worked in the sector for 16 years now in various senior management roles.

Valerie MacGregor

Chief People Officer

A graduate of Glasgow and Napier University, Valerie has worked for over 25 years in human resources. Valerie has worked in lots of different sectors including hospitality, technology, financial services, retail, engineering, oil and gas and most recently social care.

Grant Thomson

Finance Director

Since joining the Pebbles family in 2019, Grant has advanced from Finance Controller to Head of Finance and now holds the role of Finance Director. As a fully qualified ACCA accountant, Grant brings a wealth of expertise to our team and has introduced innovative systems and processes, significantly enhancing efficiency and productivity across the business.

Care Operations

We have a skilled and cohesive operations team that ensures we go above and beyond to meet the highest standards of care.

Joy Wakenshaw

Head of Care, Scotland

Joy is a highly motivated and dedicated manager who can demonstrate a proven track record in leading teams to support positive outcomes for children and young people.

Dave Hitchen

Head of Care, England

Dave has worked in residential childcare for 11 years in various leadership roles, with a proven track record as a successful Registered Manager, achieving an outstanding feature in Leadership and Management.

Maureen Cassidy

Senior Area Manager

Maureen has over 25 years experience working within residential child care in both Scotland and England. She is a qualified Social Worker and Registered Manager who has extensive knowledge and experience of trauma informed care.

Sheena Hannigan

Area Manager

Sheena holds her SVQ 3 in Social Care, the HNC in Social Care, the SVQ 4 in Leadership and Management Children and Young People, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Residential Child Care.

Luke Chadwick

Area Manager

Luke has five years’ experience working within social care, starting with Pebbles Care, where he has progressed throughout the company thanks to his passion and desire to improve the lives of children and young people.

Helen Sansom

Area Manager

Helen has worked in children’s residential care for nine years, progressing through the roles within Pebbles Care. She has experience of mentoring others in our therapeutic parenting approach to provide them with the skills to support our children to reach the best of their abilities.

Simon Morson

Area Manager

Simon has been involved in residential child care since 2005, he is level 5 qualified and was previously the manager of one of our Pebbles homes for 6 years before becoming Area Manager for the North East and Yorkshire homes.

Donna Watson

Resource Manager

Donna has held various management roles within the health care sector, is passionate about quality and Level 5 qualified. As Resource Manager, Donna oversees the company’s Rota Management System, provides managers with support and undertakes projects to improve the company resources and processes.

Education

Our passionate education team loves empowering young people who experienced early years adversities to access life-changing learning opportunities.

Glenn Gibson

Head of Education

Glenn has over 18 years’ experience in education, with a strong background in leadership and inclusion. He began his career as a PE teacher before moving into senior leadership roles within Additional Support and Learning Support in Fife and Perth. Glenn then spent three years as Executive Head Teacher with Pebbles and now holds the role of Head of Education, providing strategic leadership across all Pebbles schools.

Caroline Fraser

Headteacher at Darwin

Carrie has over 19 years’ experience as a teacher and leader across mainstream and specialist settings. For the past decade, she has led work supporting vulnerable and looked after young people to feel safe, supported and able to achieve positive outcomes in education and beyond. As Head Teacher at Darwin School, Carrie’s values-led, “no stone unturned” approach empowers young people to recognise their strength and realise their potential.

Katie Scott-Bennett

Headteacher at Dunfermline

Katie has over 18 years’ experience in education, with a background in pastoral leadership and inclusive practice. Originally a Physical Education teacher, she spent 13 years as a Principal Teacher of Guidance in a large secondary school, leading key pastoral initiatives. Katie is now Head Teacher at Pebbles Academy Dunfermline, providing values-led, relational leadership within a therapeutic educational setting.

Darren Gavin

Headteacher at Muirkirk

Darren has over 16 years’ experience in education, following a background as an outreach youth worker. He is dual-qualified in Science, Maths and Additional Support, and has spent 13 years with Pebbles, progressing from Deputy Head to Headteacher at Muirkirk School. Darren leads a committed team to create a safe, nurturing and aspirational environment where young people can thrive and achieve their potential.

Psychology

A specialist team of in-house psychologists supports the development of our people as trauma informed practitioners, offering healing therapeutic journeys.

Dr Faye McLean

Head of Psychology

Faye is a Clinical Psychologist with a wealth of experience (around 25 years) working in health and social care settings, especially with care experienced children. Her previous role was as Head of Clinical and Therapy in a residential child organisation where she led and developed the clinical and wellbeing team. She is trained in DDP Level 1 and 2, EMDR, CBT and is an accredited Cognitive Analytic Therapist. She uses various therapeutic models in practice including DBT and systemic therapy. She is passionate about trauma-informed care and has a special interest in the impact of trauma on child development and attachment.

Business Development

Formed by the commissioning department, this team builds strong relationships with local authorities by finding the best placements for young people and supports the growth of the company.

Jenny Chadwick

Head of Business Development

Karen Blanchard-Ellis

Commissioning Manager

Karen has worked for Pebbles Care for nearly 10 years, working as part of the commissioning team. Karen provides relationship focused support to all the Yorkshire local authorities and those within the district of Greater London.

Lauren Wilkinson

Referrals Coordinator

Lauren studied psychology for six years. Her academic background focused on childhood development, mental health, and psychological and physical abuse. Lauren was awarded with a master’s in psychology and decided to put the theory into practice at one of our Pebbles’ homes. She gained hands on experience working with our young people as a residential childcare worker before joining the commissioning team.

Marketing

Our Marketing team plays a vital role in sharing the stories and successes of Pebbles Care. They manage our online presence, create engaging content, and ensure that our mission and values resonate with a wider audience.

Dionne Wood

Marketing Manager

Dionne joined Pebbles at the beginning of 2023 and brings over 10 years of marketing experience to her role. Dionne supports the Head of Marketing in implementing the marketing strategy and has a particular love for content marketing; creating and sharing case studies, news pieces and newsletters and managing Pebbles’ social media presence.

Morgan Connelly

Interim Marketing Manager

Morgan has a background in Photography and Art, as well as a career in supporting and managing Care organisations. She has developed her skills in Social Media Management and event curation from previous experience and brought this into her current role. Morgan enjoys amplifying the voice of the young people and adults within the business, and coming up with new innovative ideas to showcase the work we do at Pebbles.

Talent Acquisition

Pebbles’ talent acquisition team strives to attract and hire only the most talented individuals and plays a vital role in creating our thriving family.

Hazel Ross

Talent Acquisition Manager

Hazel joined the Pebbles family three years ago, initially helping out with admin before making her move into the recruitment team. She has a wealth of experience in people management and recruitment, having previously worked as a field manager for a logistics company where she was responsible for the recruitment process, training and performance management of employees. Hazel is currently studying for her CIPD Associate Diploma in People Management.

Learning & Development

Our learning and development team is responsible for developing the learning programmes that allow us to achieve outstanding levels of support for young people.

Charles Allen

Learning & Development Facilitator

Charles has worked in the care sector for 15 years, 10 of those years in Residential Child Care working in various roles from, RCCW, Deputy Manager and Registered Manager. Charles has been part of the Pebbles family for 9 years and currently works as part of the Learning & Development Team, facilitating training to new and existing employees.

Josh Campbell

Learning & Development Facilitator

Josh has been part of the Pebbles family for 6 years, beginning his journey as a Residential Childcare Worker and working his way up to Deputy and then Acting Manager. As he transitioned into his current role, he carried with him the invaluable experiences gained from working within the children’s homes. Now, Josh’s focus is on sharing those experiences to inspire and educate both new and existing employees.

Charlotte Baggaley

Learning & Development Facilitator

Charlotte has worked in Health and Social Care for almost 20 years in various roles, with the last four years being spent in education and training (Adult apprenticeships). She is brand new to Children’s Residential Care but already finding her role so rewarding in terms of seeing staff develop in knowledge and confidence.

Compliance

The Compliance Team ensures that each of our services, as well as the organisation as a whole, is made accountable for delivering the highest standards of care and support.

Russell Shackford

Head of Compliance, England

A qualified social worker with extensive residential childcare experience coupled with 14 years employment with Ofsted as a Children’s Social Care Regulatory Inspector, Russell has worked in and around children’s homes for over 35 years. His role includes oversight of the independent visitor team, ensuring that all our homes receive an independent visit each month. Russell has a constant supporting presence and impact in our homes, challenging managers to provide outstanding care for the children we look after.

Health & Safety

All our homes are aligned with a robust health and safety structure and documentation thanks to the efforts of our health and safety team, that works on making Pebbles a safe place for all.

Derek Johnson

Health & Safety Manager

Derek is a NEBOSH qualified Health and Safety manager and a technical member of IOSH.

People

People team is a constant source of assistance in our employees’ careers, ensuring that Pebbles remains an inclusive, fair, and progressive employer.

Joanne Glen

Senior People Partner

Jo is a CIPD qualified HR professional with a passion for people, supporting both the business and individuals.

Finance

Our Finance Team ensures that Pebbles, as a forward-looking company, remains sustainable, as well as ambitious in its mission to make a difference for young people.

Lesley Smith

Management Accountant

Heather Innes

Finance Procurement Officer

Abigail Adams

Accounts Assistant

Maintenance

Our dedicated Maintenance Team is always on hand to make all our residential services feel like warm and welcoming homes.

Ian Boyd

Estates and Maintenance Manager

Ian has been with Pebbles since it was founded, and in the first two years with us, he progressed from residential child care worker to home manager, obtaining his NVQ Level 4 in Children and Young People, and a Level 4 in Leadership and Management.

Join our family

There are a range of exciting opportunities to join us. Why not discover through which of our roles you would thrive and make a positive impact on the lives of our children and young people? We would love to receive your application.