Skills for Enterprise and Roarie help Treetops with their Skills Pledge!
26/01/2009
A nursery group that values learning and development for its staff as highly as for its children has signed the Skills Pledge and is reaping the benefits in terms of improved staff morale and performance. Treetops Nurseries, with a head office in Derby and 21 nurseries around the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West, has a lion mascot - Roarie - and certainly takes pride in the achievements of all its staff.
Today the company made the Government's Skills Pledge, a public commitment to support the skills development of all its employees to a minimum of NVQ level 2 (the equivalent of five good GCSEs). This will ensure that Treetops 465 staff are skilled, competent and able to make a full contribution to the success of the company and to the development of the children in their care.
Sharon Harper, Training Manager at Treetops, said:
"We have always placed great value on training and development. Treetops believes in people having ‘Skills for Life' so we wanted to ensure the best possible training opportunities were available for all of our staff to access.
"We contacted the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to find out more about their Train to Gain scheme, which provides brokers to help match training providers to companies with a training need, and they told us about the Skills Pledge.
"It seemed like the obvious next step for us. We wanted to make it clear that we are totally committed to providing staff training, and to show how important it is to us. The Skills Pledge is the perfect way of doing that."
Roarie the mascot is a common theme across the nurseries. The aim is to build recognition and familiarisation between Roarie and the nursery to help young children when they first come to the nursery.
Staff from the nurseries will now be supported by Skills for Enterprise in undertaking a range of Learning and Development activities. The courses will help staff to deliver excellent childcare to their little learners.
for Roarie, he really is a local celebrity
Train to Gain is a skills brokerage service, managed and funded by the LSC, that helps employers find the training they need for their employees. Train to Gain links employers with skills brokers who work individually with them to find out what their employees' training needs are, work out a training plan, and then help to find the right training for them. The service is free and impartial.
Lucie Andrews, Skills Broker for Train to Gain, Derbyshire, said:
"Skills are vitally important for individuals, for their future employability and for the success of businesses throughout the UK. By making The Skills Pledge Treetops is making a commitment to investing in the education and training of its staff and supporting them to achieve Level 2 qualifications.
"We would encourage other businesses and organisations across the East Midlands to make the Skills Pledge, and would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in finding out more about the Train to Gain skills brokerage service."
