A BRIGHTER & HEALTHIER COMMUNITY: Bright Kids Studley has joined forces with Mr J's Fun Workouts and Everyone Active at Studley Leisure Centre in an exciting venture to improve the fitness of the local community by offering a 'Drop n' Go' childcare service at greatly reduced rates.. The venture was kick started by a Bright n' Fit Day attended by all those involved and held at the Studley Nursery.

The day included a fun workout session by Mr J and the launching of an on-going health and well-being awareness project, which starts with February's National Heart Month. Martin Jenkins of Mr.J's Fun Workouts said, "Fitness should be fun! It's far easier to stick to an exercise program once you've found an activity you enjoy! At Mr.J's the emphasis is on having fun, making new friends, enjoying great music and working as hard or as easy as you want to! Our partnership with Bright Kids will now make it possible for parents of young children to take part on a regular basis"

These partnerships offer a unique service to the community and are open to the public, offering parents, eager to get fit and healthy, a good quality, safe and inspiring place for their babies and children to be taken care of for short sessions.

NORTHFIELD: A SUCCESSFUL GRANT BID was recently made for the Northfield setting. A total of £41,500 has been awarded to allow for the complete re-development of the Outdoor Play area and some essential building works to be carried out. This will be an exciting time for the site and work should be completed by March 2008.

MORE: During 2004 Bright Kids was chosen by the Dti to be a video case-study for their work-life balance initiatives. The cameras were rolling at every site and six video clips have been produced detailing some of our work-life balance practices. The clips looked at different perspectives and these can be viewed individually

(Windows Media Player is required to view the clips below)
Advisor's Perspective
Background
Business Benefits
Employees Perspective
Management Aspects
Professional Development

Well done to all the staff for taking part and telling the world what a wonderful place Bright Kids is to be. Go and take a look for yourself.

CRABBS CROSS, REDDITCH: SPACE TO PLAY is a Worcestershire County Council initiative to help enhance the outdoor areas of settings in the district. After a successful bidding process the Crabbs Cross Nursery has been awarded £12,000 towards improving their outdoor play space. Work will begin in November 2008 and new pieces of physical play equipment are being ordered. The Forest School area will also be further developed and playground markings will be drawn on the patio. More grant funding is available over the next three years and we hope to be able to make further improvements if we are successful during this time.

WARWICKSHIRE: The staff at Studley recently attended an awards ceremony where they were proud to be crowned as winners of the Warwickshire Employer of Choice Medium Business of the Year 2007. This award is presented by Warwickshire County Council in recognition of all the good work-life balance policies and practices in place throughout the company. Tricia Wellings, Chief Executive said "It was a proud and exciting moment, richly deserved by all the staff for their continued hard work and enjoyment. We aim to support them by creating an atmosphere of health and well-being and winning this award shows we are achieving this aim to a good extent."

THREE TIMES A WINNER: Bright Kids are proud to be the only company to have won an award for three years running in the Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards, and being shortlisted as finalists in following years. These successes were followed by awards being achieved in the Birmingham & Solihull Best Business Awards for 2004,2005 and 2006 thereby providing us with a seal of approval for our excellent work-life balance practices. 2007 entries are now being judged and we are once again finalists in both awards.

And most importantly like the children within their care, employees have a bright future as well as having lots of fun! All employees can achieve their own work-life balance and there are always plenty of opportunities to contribute to their own development.

The BBC filmed at Bright Kids for a feature on the Politics Show. The purpose was to highlight their good practices and policies in Work Life Balance. Watch this short clip featuring Tricia Wellings (previously Tolley) and her staff team to get an understanding of their good employment practices.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH | PoliticsShow.mpg

January 2010
Issue 21

Editors: Sam and Paul

Newsletters

STAFF NEWS

We would like to say goodbye and good luck to both Aga and Leanne who left during the summer.

We wish them all lots of luck in their new roles.

Both Katie and Julie will still be covering in the nursery and Chelle will continue the Forest School Curriculum twice per week.