PURPLE POST April 2021

A warm welcome to the April edition of Purple Post

We hope you have all enjoyed the long weekend and are eager to begin another successful month filled with some sunshine and warmer days!

 
The month of May brings us (hopefully) another step towards "getting back to normal" as we look forward to entering phase 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown on 17th.

We are excited to launch a new solution for the early years industry this month - Paediatric First Aid training - in partnership with Co-operative Childcare - details below.


The People Team have been busy working up plans for fun activities for you all to do during Mental Health Awareness week from 10th - 16th, as well as gathering helpful hints and tips for you all to look after your well-being.


Have a great month everyone and please continue to stay safe as we continue our journey out of lockdown.

Paediatric First Aid Training from Parenta

We are pleased to announce that we are now offering Paediatric First Aid training - to all those who work in the early years industry - in partnership with Co-operative Childcare.


Parenta’s First Aid Training Certificate meets the requirements of Ofsted for Early Years First Aid Provision. In addition, the programme meets with the recommendations of the Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 issued by the Health & Safety Executive for the ‘Appointed Person’.


Parenta’s Paediatric First Aid course meets the requirements of the Level 3 Early Years Educator Apprenticeship Standard (included if you do a Level 3 Early Years Educator Apprenticeship with Parenta).


Visit the web page on parenta.com here

Supporting children with SEND Webinar

On 22nd April, we hosted our monthly with two early years industry experts and magazine guest authors as the guest speakers - Joanna Grace and Gina Bale. The webinar had over 260 entries and was our most successful webinar to date! We are thrilled with the responses we have received this month and can't wait for our next webinar "Ask Ofsted" with two Ofsted Inspectors as our guests on 14th May which will focus on questions from the sector about the new inspection framework and preparing for an inspection.


We have two recordings this month:  

Messages from the People Team
We would like to let you know that Mental Health Awareness Week this year is on 10th May – 16th May and the national campaign theme this year is Nature! #connectwithnature. Being in nature has really powerful benefits, a recent survey completed by MHFA (Mental Health Foundation Association) showed that during the pandemic, 45% of people reported that being in a green space was vital to them having great mental health.  
 
The People Team have been busy working in the background making plans for fun activities for you all to do during the week, as well as gathering helpful hints and tips for you all to look after your well-being. We will be running some competitions, workshops and we would LOVE for you to get involved!
 
Activities:
  • 1 hour Learning lunch on ‘Working to help your work/life balance – Prioritizing your workload tips’
  • 1 hour Learning lunch workshop on ‘Sleep, the importance of how to improve on our sleep’
  • 1 hour Learning lunch with Aviva on ‘Accessing the Mental Health Line through the Private Medical Insurance’
  • Nature Bingo competition
  • Parenta Trust ‘walking challenge’ raise money and get your steps in for the Parenta Trust
  • Best Nature Photo of the week competition
 
We have lots of posts and well-being hints and tips planned, we would love for you and your teams to join us and engage with this amazing week.
 
During Mental Health Awareness Week, we will be asking you to do three things: 
 
Experience nature: take time to recognise and grow your connection with nature during the week. Take a moment to notice and celebrate nature in your daily life. You might be surprised by what you notice!
 
Share nature: Take a photo, video or sound recording and share the connections you’ve made during the week, to inspire others. Join the national discussion on how you’re connecting with nature by using the hashtags #ConnectWithNature #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
 
Talk about nature: use our tips, research and discuss in your family, colleagues and community how you can help encourage people to find new ways to connect with nature in your local environment.
CPD and carry over reminder
CPD dealine
The deadline for having your mandatory CPD completed for all of our colleagues is 31st May 2021. If you are having any trouble in accessing your I-Hasco account, please do email us at hrsupport@parenta.com and we will be able to send you a log in link.

Annual leave carry over
Just a reminder to all colleagues that you will need to take 5 days of carry over from 2020 by 30th June 2021.

Recruitment announcement

We are currently recruiting for the following roles:


  • Pastoral Care Executive
  • Sales Executive
  • Tutors (All areas)
  • Tutors x 2 (12 month FTC Maternity Cover – South East Area)
  • Software Developer
  • Functional Skills Tutor
  • Specialist Skills Tutor
  • Management Support Assistant


If you are interested in applying or would like any more information, please email the People Team at hrsupport@parenta.com.
Please note: To apply for internal roles you must have passed your probation in your current role.


Did you know that for every successful referral you make you can earn up to £500?


To refer someone please send the person's CV and completed 'Refer a Friend' form to the People Team.
Please refer to the Colleague Handbook for full terms and conditions.

Please don’t forget to use the staff intranet – it’s packed with resources to help us, our learners and our settings
A reminder that all Parenta resources to help ourselves, our learners and settings can be found here on our intranet, all in one handy place.
We publish additional industry expert advice, news articles and crafts in our free magazine and on our blog.

Here are this month’s How to Guides and new additions to the staff intranet:


Spotlight on… Gail James
This month, we caught up with Gail who was the Kudos winner for March!
 


Entice new customers with the power of testimonials!

We have received some amazing testimonials. The positive endorsements that we receive from our existing customers are not only a great way for giving praise to the individuals or teams concerned, but are used as a valuable marketing tool to attract new customers! 

Please ensure that after every positive interaction you have with a customer you ask them if they would be willing to send in a short testimonial and then follow up with the usual link https://www.parenta.com/testimonial/   
My name is Erica Salé and I have recently passed my TQUK Level 3 Diploma for the Children’s Workplace (Early Years Educator) (RQF). I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Jeanette Arnold for her calm and relaxed manner in which she guided me through the course. I found it challenging during these extraordinary times, obviously during COVID-19, I was unable to lean or be taught face to face, but with the professionalism, clarity and well laid out tasks of Jeanette, I managed to get through. When ever I spoke to Jeanette for either queries or professional discussion, I felt confident and at ease, which you will see from my feedback recordings, post discussions.

    Again, many thanks to Parenta, but especially Jeanette, who is a true asset to your company in these very unprecedented and difficult times.

Erica Salé. 
I attended the supporting children with SEND webinar today. I have to say it was utterly inspiration and would like you to pass on my gratitude to all ladies leading the sessions today, they were all brilliant! Sadly I had to leave the webinar early and just missed the end of it but I’m really looking forward to receiving all the info via email so I can match them up to my notes and pass on everything to my team. Great work guys, thank you again.

Sally Ward

Keep those high fives coming!

Thanks to all those who have been giving kudos throughout the month – please keep it going, it’s important now more than ever to give each other a deserved ‘pat on the back’. We have a winner for April – Emily Bridger – congratulations Emily!

Don't forget you can start voting for our May employee of the month already. Keep that Kudos coming and please give recognition for all the hard work our colleagues are doing.

Welcome to:

  • Lauren Richardson
  • Gareth Williams

Goodbye to:

  • Cathryn Smith
  • Julia Emson
  • Lily Nessa
  • Mina Turkson
Did you know?
From May 1st - 8th is 'Time For A Cuppa Week'.

This occasion is used to get friends, family and colleagues together to enjoy a cuppa and a slice of cake together whilst raising funds for families facing dementia. 

As lockdown restrictions have eased and we are now able to mix with loved ones, this could be the perfect time to organise a tea party and celebrate the event.

The money raised is used to help families get access to a dementia specialist nurse. See more information here.

Parenta Magazine

Our free monthly magazine is packed with news articles and advice pieces - all of which are written to help nursery managers with the efficient running of their settings and to promote the health, happiness and well-being of the children in their care. Please do read it and send the magazine link to your contacts.
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