1. Pumpkin picking

Why not turn picking your pumpkin into a day out? Lots of farms in many parts of the UK now have pumpkin fields, which makes for a fun day out with the family. Buy entry tickets to the farm you would like to visit and spend the day eating spooky treats, picking an array of pumpkins to take home, and taking part in the Halloween themed activities they have to offer.

2. Paper plate spiders

Paint two paper plates in the colour of your choice, once dry you’ll need to stick these together – you can do this using glue or another method if that’s easier for you.

Next on to designing your spider using pipe cleaners in the colour or colours of your choice. Simply stick these to your plate. Spiders may have 8 legs, but your spooky spider can have as many or as little as you want. After you can bend these to create weird and wonderful spiders’ legs!

To make your spider extra spooky add googly eyes or if you want to be creative, why not draw on your own spooky eyes and face.

3. Pumpkin carving

Grab a pumpkin carving kit from your local pumpkin patch and find your perfect design. Why not try a character from your favourite Halloween book or movie?

Top tip – If you have younger children, why not get them to paint a face on their pumpkin?

4. Spooky monster biscuits

Do you have a favourite monster? Create them on your biscuit, use all your creativity to design the spookiest biscuit monster in the house!

Here are KiddyKare’s topping ideas:

• Melted Chocolate
• Icing Sugar
• Coloured sprinkles
• Edible eyes
• Smarties
• Jelly sweets
• Jelly worms

5. Spooky stories

To wrap up your activities why not read your favourite Halloween stories. To help get you started here are a few KiddyKare’s recommendations for you to try.

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Halloween Trick or Treat by Eric Carle
• Little Monsters by David Walliams
• Peppa’s Pumpkin Party by Peppa pig
• Five Little Pumpkins by Ben Mantle
• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

Having worked in the field of childcare recruitment since 2007, we’ve noticed that the world of temporary childcare offers a range of benefits you don’t necessarily find with more permanent roles.

Flexibility

Temporary work is very flexible and can work around any other life commitments you may have. We have a large team of temporary childcare staff at KiddyKare who can change their hours/days weekly to fit around other commitments. So, if you need the ability to change the days/hours you work, this could be a great role for you. We also have staff members who work on a fixed Rota each week due to permanent weekly commitments such as the school run, so no matter your situation temporary work is an option.

Gaining Experience

Working flexibly as a temporary staff member within many nurseries, can really help you to experience a range of different settings and finding out how they can all work differently. We find a lot of people really enjoy seeing how different settings work daily, the individual features each setting has and the routines they have created.  This can really help you find a setting you like in case you ever feel you would like to work within the setting on a permanent basis.

Benefits

As a temporary worker you are still entitled to all the legal entitlements of a permanent worker. If you would like to find out more about this, please give KiddyKare a call on 01628675828 or go to the pension page on the KiddyKare website.

A foot in the door

We find attending a nursery as a temporary staff member helps you prove yourself to them. If you are a great team member and work hard to support the setting they will request you again next time, which always helps with getting as much work as possible. This means you are also able to show them how hard working, reliable and driven you are. Proving this to a nursery really improves the chances of them requesting your again, or even offering a permanent role in the future.

Meeting a range of people within your work field

While being a temporary worker you will work with a range of nursery teams including Nursery Practitioners, Room Leaders, Management teams and more! We find it is always a great way to meet new people and build a professional network. Building this network is particularly helpful if you do want a  permanent role and need to attend an interview. Recognising a familiar face always make the process a lot less nerve-wracking.

Freedom

Finally, I wanted to touch on the freedom of temporary work. If you fancy a last-minute holiday, have emergency plans or are just feeling spontaneous this role gives you the freedom to do so.

If you do think this kind of role would be perfect for you, please do get in contact with the KiddyKare team. We are on hand to answer any questions you may have or provide the documents needed to sign up!

Call us on 01628675828 or email us on team@kiddykare.co.uk

As we enter autumn here at KiddyKare we thought we would pick out our favourite autumn activities to do with children. Now everyone is getting back into a normal routine, some easy activities will be a nice way to keep the little ones busy and all these activities can all be done after a lovely autumn run around the park!

Some autumn Playdough

A great activity for children to use all their senses and a lot of imagination!

AMAZING Pumpkin Spice Play Dough

A leaf garland

Autumn decorations can be nice to give a warm cosy feel, start with creating your very own leaf garland.

Autumn Leaf Spin Art Garland

A leaf head dress

We all known children love role play, what is better than creating your own headdress to go with your imagined activity?

https://mothernatured.com/nature-crafts/easy-nature-crowns-for-kids/

A leaf suncatcher

These will look lovely with the autumn run shining right through them on the window, plus looking through one will make a grey day look beautiful.

https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/fall-craft-for-toddlers-and-preschoolers-leaf-sun-catcher.html

We hope you all love trying out our favourite autumn activities! Please do send us some pictures of your creations to team@kiddykare.co.uk or share with us on social media, as we would love to see what you come up with!

Love, The KiddyKare team

What is a DBS check?

For those of you that are not familiar with a DBS check it is an abbreviation for the Disclosure and Barring Service. It helps companies make safer recruitment decisions by providing a background check on anyone who applies. These background checks can come from local or national police stations, there are also many different checks dependant on the role you have applied for.

Such as a basic check, a standard check or an enhanced check.

How long will it take?

DBS checks can take any amount of time, so people will receive them faster than others.  However, they do generally say between 4 – 8 weeks, things like having multiple different address locations or a mistake on a form could delay your DBS. So, it’s best to double check these things when applying.

Who needs a DBS check?

There are many professions that require a DBS check such as educational staff, healthcare professionals or a job role that requires you to enter the home of a member of the public such as pest control or even a taxi driver.

A lot of people think it is only something required by people who work within education; however, this is not true. Everyone who is working within many different sectors should always have DBS checks in mind when applying for new roles.

How much do they cost?

The DBS check price depends on what DBS check the job you are applying for requires however you should be able to gain information on the price before going ahead with the check.

The Update service and what it provides

Working with the educational sector we get asked a lot of questions about the update service and how it works.

The DBS update service is a new service which provides applications and employees to view the DBS certificate. This service is required by a lot of employers now so that they can keep up to date with staffs DBS checks. It costs £13 a year and saves you applying for a new DBS check every 3 years. However, you do need to sign up for this service within 30 days of your certificate being issued to you.

We hope we have helped outline a DBS check and given you a little more information on the system. If you do have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us at the Kiddykare office on 01628 675 828.

You can also visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service for more information.

Here at KiddyKare we know how hard our team of temporary staff work, so we thought we would provide you with our timesheet top tips. These are the main tips we would get you to follow to ensure you are paid correctly and on time. After all, no one wants to have to worry about getting paid.

1. Please make sure you provide your full name; it is very hard to trace the time sheet back to you if you don’t. So please make sure you have written your name clearly, as we would love to pay you on time, just as much as I’m sure you would love to be paid.

2. Double check the hours you have worked, we have a lot of people send over  time sheets with less or more hours than they have worked. So, making sure this is correct is best for both you and us.

3. Making sure the picture you send in is clear, close enough so we can see all details with nothing cropped off. Keeping your time sheet clean and flat, so it isn’t crumpled, and we are able to read it.

The ideal way for us to receive a time sheet is:

• Non blurry
• At an angle at which we can read everything
• Nothing on top of the time sheet
• Not crinkled or dirty
• All details to be visible and easy to read

We hope these top tips help and make sending over your time sheets easy, we look forward to receiving them.

The KiddyKare team

As we are all aware the pandemic has made recruitment for new staff members difficult. With the rules changing daily and different areas having different levels of restrictions it can get confusing.

KiddyKare know how important it is to follow a correct, safe recruitment process. This to ensure all the relevant checks are completed, KiddyKare thought it would be helpful to outline the procedures we follow to ensure a safe recruitment process.

KiddyKare’s recruitment step by step:

Interviews

Interviewing candidates right now is challenging however there are different processes you can follow to make this COVID-19 safe.

Telephone interviews are a normal first stage for many companies but are becoming more common due to the pandemic. This helps you gain more information about the candidate to see if they are the right fit for the role before proceeding further.

A video chat works well as a next stage interview. You can use this to get to know the candidate in more depth and answer any questions they might have. A lot of educational settings are used to being able to see the candidates in action, however during the pandemic this may not be possible for all. Creating a task for the candidate to complete prior to the video call or ensuring you have more robust interview questions in place will help provide the information you would gain from seeing them in action.

Right to work

The right to work document checking process has been updated to allow remote document checking until we can check the original documents.  Once original documents can be seen this must be done as soon as possible. We are still required to check the right to work documents, if you are unsure on the documents candidates need to provide please do use the link below where you can check these.

Please do refer to the below link to see the list of documents require for a right to work check:

Right to work checklist – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please do refer to the link below for more information on the right to work changes:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): right to work checks – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

DBS check

The DBS process is mostly completed online by both parties; however, we would normally check the candidate’s documents face to face. Some changes have been made to allow companies in urgent cases to virtually check the candidates documents via video call.

Please do refer to the link below for more information on the DBS check changes:

COVID-19: Changes to DBS ID checking guidelines – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

References

Gaining the candidates references virtually is a normal recruitment process however due to the current situation people could be working part time or on furlough. This could make gaining candidates references a longer process, however most business will have a secondary contact in place if an employee is not currently working.

As world book day (5th March 2020) is fast approaching, it is a lovely way to celebrate reading and understanding all the benefits that come along with it. Here at KiddyKare we strongly believe that reading and sharing books together is such a great way for children to learn.

So, whether that’s looking at pictures, listening to an audio or beginning to read some of the words within the book; It all makes a big impact on the development of children, but also helps to create a great bond between children and their familiar adults. Whether its within their home life or during their nursery routine, it can also be used as a great comfort and a chance to form social bonds.

Books can be a great aid to help children learn an array of other things such as emotions, noises/sounds, expressions and much more!

Some great ideas to improve your story times could be:

• Using Puppets alongside your chosen story – These can be used to recreate characters within the story, learn familiar words and phrases as well as to explore emotions of characters and how they may be feeling in situations.
• Props – Such as a water spray for when you talk about water or visual aids to help tell the story. It is great for children with EAL or who like to explore sensory items to concentrate for a longer period.
• Creating sensory trays – Bring a story to life, using props to create scenes that have been happening with the story. Then when you read the story alongside this, it can help the children to experience the story first-hand.
• Creating themed areas within your house/nursery to mirror the story. You could then act out the story whilst you read it, or older children could try and remember the story themselves.

So, whatever you do for world book day, whether you are dressing up as your favourite character within your nursery/school setting or spending time with your children reading their favourite book.  We do hope you have the best day and get to enjoy reading!

When it comes to returning to work after having children, I’m sure you have your questions about how it’s going to work, and that’s perfectly normal. We have parents calling us all the time, trying to juggle the work and childcare balance.  So here at Kiddykare we decided to write this blog post to answer some of those questions, but to also let you know that you’re not alone.

When is the best time to return to work?

I think this question has a different answer for everyone.  There will never be a time when it will be an easy transition with no hiccups, however, on this one, trust your instinct. Maybe you had a planned amount of time you were going to take off, but that doesn’t work for you anymore; or maybe you want to go back to work sooner than you thought, that’s ok too.

Here at KiddyKare we believe that if you’ve made the right decision for you, there is nothing to worry about.

So, now you’ve decided to return to work; what about childcare?

This is one of the key decisions you must make when returning to work. Should I use a Nursery, a childminder, a family member or a nanny?  There are so many options that it can get a little overwhelming. After talking with lots of parents, the top three things you need to do appear to us to be;

1. Explore every option

Weigh up the pro’s and con’s of each option, and then pick the option you feel most happy and comfortable with.

2. Start to think about this sooner rather than later

Whatever you do, don’t leave it until the last minute.  As most childcare options get booked up fast, we wouldn’t want you to miss out of your favourite one. This could also help to make it a far less stressful experience.

3.  Be sure to have a back-up plan

Have a plan B just in case your chosen option one doesn’t work out for you. We really wouldn’t want you to be left with any option at all.

Next, let’s sort out your work life.

We want to keep the transition as smooth as possible, but also as exciting as possible. We know you’ll miss spending everyday with your child/children but just think how much fun they’ll be having, experiencing new things with their new friends every day.

To make this transition as smooth as possible, we suggest having trial days with your childcare option of choice before you start back to work. This makes it less stressful for you, as by the time you start work, you are happy that your child is settled and happy.

You will also need to think about the hours you’re able to work. You may even be you’re able to work shorter days, or work from home occasionally. Luckily for everyone, the UK is becoming more positive about providing flexible working patterns for people who sometimes need the flexibility in their working week. Also, don’t forget to check out funding options and childcare vouchers that you may be eligible for to help with monthly costs.

Once you’ve sorted out your work pattern and settled with your new childcare option, it’s time to start work.  This is probably the scariest part, what if you’ve forgotten everything you ever knew? What if you don’t know anyone anymore? Don’t worry. All these things come with time. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll be back into the swing of things. Alongside a couple of other new colleagues who were probably feeling the same as you.

Lastly, let’s make sure to keep a good work/life balance.

Remember the first couple of months may be hard while you try to create a schedule and there will be a bit of trial and error. However, once you’ve got into the rhythm of it, you’ll be back into the swing of family time on the weekends. Just remember that doesn’t always have to mean busy days out. Your children will appreciate time with you, whether that’s a day trip to the seaside or a walk around the local park.

Also, please remember that if you ever need any help finding your perfect role, just give us a call on 01628675828. We are always here to help with friendly advice or just a quick chat.

A temporary role doesn’t have to remain temporary for ever.  Starting as a temporary nursery assistant will allow you prove yourself to the nurseries and may well turn into a permanent role within your favourite setting.

That is why at KiddyKare, we encourage all of our temporary staff to use their daily nursery experience to learn as much as they can whilst working, because the best place to gain real experience and expertise is in a real-world environment.

We pride ourselves on the temporary team we have here at KiddyKare.  They may work flexible days and hours but that does not stop them from being the flexible, reliable, helpful and strong members of staff that every nursery team needs.

Ultimately, whether you would like a permanent role or not, it’s still always nice to be remembered as a happy and helpful team member, and the positive impact you made. You never know, you may need that recommendation or reference soon.

So, here are Kiddykare’s top tips for becoming a great Nursery worker:

1. Prepare

The day before you start, make sure you know where the nursery is, how long it will take you to get there. and the route you’ll take. Even looking at things like parking spaces or the closest train station can help you out massively during the morning rush and its one less thing to worry about.

2. Be on-time

Try your hardest to be on time: we all know that sometimes the unlucky traffic jam can make it very hard however time keeping makes a very good impression- Especially in a very busy nursery setting.

3. Keep a positive attitude

We all have bad days, and once people know you, they’ll be able to differentiate between those days. However, when you’re making a first impression with a new nursery team or trying to support a busy nursery team, it’s best to remain positive and helpful in all situations no matter how stressful they may be. The best thing they could receive is a friendly, smiley and positive temporary nursery assistant.

4. Always ask Questions and use your initiative

For us this is top priority, doing things before someone has to ask, is a godsend. Some days you just don’t have five minutes to ask someone to do something, so if you’re able to use initiative before being asked that’s great.

5. Two ears – one mouth:  Listen, and take on any feedback you receive in a positive manner.  Don’t be offended if someone asks you to do something differently next time; it just means that next time you’ll get it right.  Improve on the first time and that will make you look great. So, take on board any feedback and put it straight into practice.

6. Above all, enjoy yourself.  Doing something a job you enjoy is very rewarding, so in addition to all our other tips, make sure you enjoy yourself and make your working day a positive experience.