WORKING AT COUNTRY KIDS
Working at Country Kids Day Nursery
COUNTRY KIDS EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
CHILDCARE DISCOUNT
For all staff members working within our nurseries, you are able to access childcare at any of our Country Kids sites at a discounted rate.
BIRTHDAY'S OFF
Birthday's are a special day and all of our staff enjoy an extra paid day off on us to celebrate! If your birthday falls on a weekend, this will be given on a week surrounding your birthday.
LONG SERVICE REWARDS
As a 'thank you' for being a valued member of our team, after 5 years all of our lovely staff members receive a £1000 bonus awarded at our annual Christmas Party. Staff will also have access to an extra 2 days worth of annual leave entitlement.
ANNUAL BONUS
Our annual bonus scheme provides financial rewards for our staff with continual outstanding work or meeting targets.
FAIR PAY
Our staff are the foundations of our nurseries and we aim to break the industry 'norm' paying our staff above the minimum wage.
SUPPORT
Our nurseries are not only a homely environment for the children, but for our staff too. Staff wellbeing is a huge priority of ours and our lovely team has a loving, family feel.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
We promote CPD (Continued Professional Development) with all of our staff, and support staff who would like to undertake further formal training or qualifications. We also hold an aspire programme training practitioners to become leaders.
IN HOUSE TRAINING
This varies from First Aid, Working with Babies, Makaton to SENCO Lead Training. We also have a mentor who joins us regularly who previously ran an OFSTED 'outstanding' nursery setting.
ANNUAL AWARD CEREMONY
Held at our annual Christmas party, our awards ceremony is a fantastic evening where we celebrate all of our lovely staff members and the achievements they have made over the year.
Country Kids Nursery Aspire Programme
We endeavour to offer our staff as much support and training towards their development as we possibly can. The Aspire programme has been specifically designed to support the rapid growth plans of the business and is aimed to take staff above and beyond training and into a Management role in the future. This not only benefits the staff but also ensures that wherever in the world Country Kids is situated, we all operate in an outstanding manner.
Each year Country Kids selects a handful of staff members to enrol onto our 2 year Aspire Programme, specifically designed to prepare practitioners for the transition into managing. The Programme consists of multiple projects throughout the 2 years, designed to challenge the practitioners to step outside of their comfort zones and push their skills to the next level. With a real focus on leadership, you should expect planning, preparing and actioning each project to strict time frames.
You will have 1-1 support from CEO Jeanette Geldard throughout the programme, however this programme will require practitioners to put in a huge amount of work, time and effort. There are 4 main areas our programme focuses on: Leadership skills, Management skills, Communication skills & Presentation skills.
Each year Country Kids selects a handful of staff members to enrol onto our 2 year Aspire Programme, specifically designed to prepare practitioners for the transition into managing. The Programme consists of multiple projects throughout the 2 years, designed to challenge the practitioners to step outside of their comfort zones and push their skills to the next level. With a real focus on leadership, you should expect planning, preparing and actioning each project to strict time frames.
You will have 1-1 support from CEO Jeanette Geldard throughout the programme, however this programme will require practitioners to put in a huge amount of work, time and effort. There are 4 main areas our programme focuses on: Leadership skills, Management skills, Communication skills & Presentation skills.
What do our staff say?
"My name is Sarah and I have just completed my first project on the Aspire Programme. We were given the opportunity to completely redesign our outdoor areas and my focus was the Newark site. We were given two weeks to design a concept of what we wanted from our outdoor area, taking into consideration customer requirement (Mainly, the children!). We had to put together a mood board of ideas we came up with alongside a costing sheet of how much we expect our ideas to cost. I thoroughly enjoyed this part, speaking with parents as to what they would like to see in the outside area and using my knowledge of the children as to what they enjoy and what would challenge them within their development.
After two weeks, we all got together and presented our ideas to Jeanette. This alone was a learning step, as we observed the other practitioners presenting their ideas and what they had come up with. Once we had the go ahead from Jeanette it was time to start actioning and getting everything ordered and professionals in to do the work we couldn't.
Unfortunately, due to COVID this made everything a little more difficult but we all supported each other to get outside areas done, finding resources and giving a helping hand where possible.
The outside area is now almost finished and every time I go to work it makes me so proud seeing the children love what I have designed. I am really looking forward to the rest of my journey on the Aspire Programme".
After two weeks, we all got together and presented our ideas to Jeanette. This alone was a learning step, as we observed the other practitioners presenting their ideas and what they had come up with. Once we had the go ahead from Jeanette it was time to start actioning and getting everything ordered and professionals in to do the work we couldn't.
Unfortunately, due to COVID this made everything a little more difficult but we all supported each other to get outside areas done, finding resources and giving a helping hand where possible.
The outside area is now almost finished and every time I go to work it makes me so proud seeing the children love what I have designed. I am really looking forward to the rest of my journey on the Aspire Programme".