Recognised For Excellence
Your child’s safety is at the heart of all we do. Netstar9 is celebrating its outstanding childcare once again, writes Helen Sanderson. Photography: SusieQPhotography.co.uk
A multi award-winning company that delivers excellent pre-school education and childcare across three fantastic nurseries in Lancashire, has been recognised for inspiring excellence in paediatric first aid.
The Netstar9 nurseries Busy Bears in Preston, Summerfield, Lytham St Annes and School House, Blackburn, provide expert childcare services and have been recognised with the Millie’s Mark.
Millie’s Mark is awarded as a special endorsement to childcare providers that go above and beyond the national minimum requirements by having 100 per cent of staff trained in paediatric first aid. Whilst also ensuring that everything learned during the course is kept alive and in the forefront of practitioners’ minds, so that they are confident, ready and capable.
Gill Robinson, area manager across the three Netstar9 nursery sites explains: “The standard for childcare settings in England currently states that just one person with a current paediatric first aid certificate must be on the premises and available at all times when children are present or on outings. As a childcare provider we firmly believe this just isn’t good enough to ensure that our children are fully supported, which is why at the Netstar9 nurseries we embarked on Millie’s Mark; the Gold Standard in paediatric first aid.”
The aim of Millie’s Mark is to keep children safe and minimise risk and accidents by:
• Raising standards in paediatric first aid
• Increasing numbers of paediatric first aid-trained practitioners
• Increasing confidence and competencies in applying paediatric first aid, no matter what the situation
• Enabling practitioners to respond quickly in emergencies
• Raising the quality and skills of the early years workforce and helping them with day-to-day first aid issues, such as allergies
• Providing reassurance to parents.
Gill added: “As a parent, placing your child in a setting or with a childminder that is endorsed with Millie’s Mark provides reassurance that all childcare practitioners know what to do in a paediatric first aid situation. It acknowledges that children’s safety is at the forefront of the provider’s mind when they care for your child. Busy Bears and Summerfield can now proudly display the Millie’s Mark with paper work being audited to enable School House to be fully on board before the end of spring 2019.”
Netstar9 offers childcare over three sites and is dedicated to providing the very best opportunities it can for its children. This is done through a team of highly trained, qualified childcare staff who have expert knowledge and a deep understanding on how to deliver the early year’s framework.
All three of the nursery settings have recently refreshed their outdoor environments. This is to reflect the extension of Forest School learning themes, taking hands on learning from the classroom to the outdoors and beyond – local forests, parklands and beaches. All the sites utilise mud kitchens, sensory areas and a variety of activities to enable the children to grow and learn. Throughout the year children learn from and enjoy nature to the full, working and playing in invigorating and natural settings. The focus on learning is directed at being hands on and experiential. Children are supported and encouraged to follow their own learning, through individual opportunities whilst learning important values of respect and responsibility.
Gill added: “This way of learning and development has been well received by our families especially at Summerfield where we now have a Summerfield Beach School. Our children regularly enjoy trips to the beach. At all our sites we take our children into the community to enjoy and utilise the additional learning resource that can be provided. We are so lucky to have parkland, woodland and beaches in close proximity to our nursery. These sites enable us to provide our children with rich, exciting and wholly natural learning experiences from the local areas we operate in.
“Outdoor learning at our nurseries is vital and based on children being able to investigate, test and explore the natural world around them. We want our children to be able to access the great outdoors all year round whether it is in the nursery grounds or within our local community – the woods, parks, forests or beaches.”
Gill concluded: “Netstar9 continually strives to be a leader in childcare provision. Now we have embedded the Millie’s Mark as the way we do things round here, we will be embarking on our next programme to develop our teams to add value to your child’s development. Parents don’t need to make appointments, they are able to call us for information or come along anytime for a viewing.”
Netstar9 Childcare
2a Manor House Lane
Preston PR1 6HL
01772 795286
www.netstar9-childcare.co.uk
