Mary Mackenzie is an Early Years Professional committed to the improvement of quality of experience and equality of opportunity for all young children.  She was born and educated in South Africa where she qualified as an Early Childhood educator and practiced there for a number of years before moving to the United Kingdom.  She taught in many early childhood schools in the UK and lectured in early childhood education at a number of colleges.  She worked as Quality Improvement Advisor to the Early Years and Childcare Service of Surrey County Council for a number of years and was instrumental in developing and delivering various quality improvement processes across Surrey.

She was appointed a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Child Success in Greenville, South Carolina and spends half her time in the UK where she is associate advisor to an early childhood consultancy and the other half working to improve outcomes for children in the US.  She has presented at a number events across the States.  She is an avid researcher and delivers training in Early Childhood best practice.

Her specialty is Forest Schools and outdoor learning and she has been instrumental in supporting settings in the UK to set up and run their Forest Schools and is also supporting settings in South Carolina to do this.  She is also a great advocate of the Reggio Approach and has spent time in Reggio Emilia, Italy learning more about the philosophy and practice and translating this to practical use within both UK and US early childhood practices.