L A T E S T N E W S
PURPLE POST March 2023
Welcome to the March edition of Purple Post - we have so much to celebrate this month!
First and foremost, we are thrilled to welcome back our fearless leader, Allan, who has returned to lead us to even greater heights and banish those ‘out of funders’! The task force is working tirelessly to achieve this.
Our hard work with our ‘spread the love’ campaign is paying off, as evidenced by the amazing testimonials and Google reviews we have received from our learners this month (check them out for yourself!).
We were also delighted to announce that our amazing team reached the shortlist for the finals in the FE Week AELP AAC Apprenticeship Awards. But that’s not all – we have plenty of exciting updates from our teams to share with you. So without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Update from the People team
Eid al-Fitr – 22nd April 2023
Eid al-Fitr is a Muslim holiday, celebrated by millions around the world. It translates to “the festival of breaking the fast” and many people celebrating Eid will have begun fasting in March for Ramadan.
As we have colleagues in Parenta who celebrate Eid, we would love to learn more about what it entails, its significance and how different people observe and celebrate it. Many of us might not know what Eid or Ramadan is so here’s a little bit of background info for you.
We invite you to recognise Eid this year by joining us in a live interview with some of our Muslim colleagues. We’ll send out a calendar invitation closer to the time. We’re asking you to send any questions you might have to
hrsupport@parenta.com before the interview in order for them to be answered.
Ramadan
Ramadan is the 9th month in the Islamic calendar and is linked with Sawm, one of the five pillars of Islam. Sawm is the act of fasting during the month of Ramadan and those that take part abstain from food and drink from sunrise until sunset. Through the act of fasting, the individual can form a deeper understanding of what it’s like for those who are suffering and living in poverty and as a result, become more appreciative and thankful for all that Allah has given them. It is not just food and drink that are abstained from during Ramadan, it is also a time to abstain from certain behaviours too. It is a period for self-reflection where the individual is given the opportunity to observe and better themselves. Many people dedicate their time to giving back to charity and prayer and worship to show their devotion to Allah.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fast and is considered a time for celebration and feasting with loved ones, along with gift exchanging, particularly for younger people. The festival allows people to reward themselves with that which they gave up in the name of their faith.
Ahead of the festivities, rituals will take place so that Allah can be thanked. Prayers begin at dawn followed by cleansing to purify the body. After this, they dress in their finest clothes and visit the Mosque to attend Eid prayers.
There are no fixed dates that mark Eid each year, instead, it is based on the sighting of the moon. Despite this, Eid al-Fitr will always follow the month of Ramadan and the sighting of the moon will differ from country to country.
The traditional Eid greeting is “Eid Mubarak!” which translates to “Blessed festival/feast”.
Eid Mubarak!
April is a month with many religious festivals, and in the latest edition of Parenta magazine, we take a whistle-stop tour around the globe to explore some of them – read more here!
The continuing adventures of Parenta Bear
Parenta Bear has had a fairly quiet month in March and has only been on a couple of outings – perhaps our intrepid bear is having a quiet month; participating in Ramadan, preparing for Eid or even waiting to devour Easter eggs over the Easter break. Don’t forget to send in your pictures of whatever your bear has been doing, to marketing@parenta.com - we can’t wait to see and hear of the April adventures!
Please don’t forget to send to marketing@parenta.com your Parenta bear pictures – it’s such a great way for us to stay connected when so far apart from each other!
Free industry webinars from Parenta
The Parenta Webinars are gaining a reputation within the industry as an event you will want to firm up in your diary each month. They have grown from strength to strength since they began in April 2020 (three years!) and cover a wide variety of hot industry topics. Please register and attend, for your own professional development.
Here is the link to March’s if you missed it – you will want to watch it back! It was a great success and featured industry heavyweights Neil Leitch, Purnima Tanuku, June O’Sullivan and Mark Child.
The April event is another one definitely not to be missed when we will be in the company of Ofsted’s His Majesty’s Inspectors.
FE Week AELP AAC Apprenticeship Awards
Well done team Parenta for reaching runner-up place at the ICC in Birmingham for the FE Week AELP AAC Apprenticeship Awards! The competition was tough, but an amazing achievement nonetheless to be shortlisted and reach runner-up! Read more about the awards here.
Update from the Functional Skills team
Our ten week maths course has finished – the mock exams are being marked and exams are being booked. The English sessions are still running and will run throughout the month of April. A new 5-week maths course will begin on 11th April - details of which will be issued shortly and our new timetable will run from May.
We have devised a new Introduction to Functional Skills course which is available on OneFile for all new learners.
A reminder that Skillsfirst has a new platform, and to access your learners’ results you now need to use this link: https://linx2.vtct.org.uk
Just a reminder of our contact email addresses: fs@parenta.com and als@parenta.com
Keep those high-fives coming!
We have a Kudos winner for March – Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Manager (and winner of the 2022 Parenta Superhero Award) Lisa Gooding - well done, Lisa!
We caught up with last month’s winner, Billy McConville and this is what he had to say about working in the Parenta family:
“Hello Parenta team, I’m Billy McConville, one of the training sales executives here at Parenta and I've been told that I am top of the Kudos leader board for February – thank you to all those who took the time to give me Kudos in the first place, I’m so chuffed. What do I like about working at Parenta? That’s an easy question to answer. I like helping our settings and learners and seeing them not only progress in their careers but coming back to us for their next learning journey. Also, I like it when a manager calls me to enrol more staff, it tells me that we're doing things right by them and their staff whenever that happens. And I like working with the Parenta team too! Thank you very much for the Kudos again!”
What have our customers said this month?
“This provider is fantastic, the support they offer is amazing which helps make the course feel easy to do."
Christopher Bravender
"I am really happy that I did my course with Parenta. Lovely people and very helpful. All courses are very nice and I have learned a lot. Thank you!”
Ewa Pretkiel-Lleshi
"Paul Burton was the man I spoke with on my journey. He was truly amazing and put everything he had into helping and supporting me along the way. Thank you, Paul!”
Stuart Potter
“Shauna was very helpful and clear in her instructions, I feel a lot more confident now, and she sent me the recording which is helpful to look back on.”
Paula Johnson
Requesting Creative Work from the Marketing Team -
* New Information *
We are excited to have launched the marketing ticketing system in Zoho Desk. All managers have access to this and have been sent instructions on how to submit a ticket with the relevant information you need the team to produce, brand or create for you.
It’s been agreed that only managers should be sending approved work to marketing to avoid everyone pulling in different directions.
Resources to help us, our learners, and our settings
A reminder that all Parenta resources can be found here on our staff 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 documents that have been added to the staff intranet:
We Welcomed In March:
Sharon Wells – Business Support Administrator, 27th February
Paul Burton – Recruitment Executive, 2nd March
Becky Smith – Early Years Tutor, 13th March
We said goodbye to:
Nicholas Nartey – 13th March
Karrenah Bergin –14th March
Jesse Lehal – 15th March
Tina Butler – 16th March
Nasrin Akter – 31st March
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.