Update on Millie's Mark

Millie's Mark was founded and named after Millie Thompson who died after a food related accident in 2012.  Millie's Mark remembers her and continues to provide a positive legacy in Millie's name. Since its foundation in 2016, Millie's Mark has become the gold standard in paediatric first aid for childcare providers, aiming to increase numbers of first-aid trained practitioners, build confidence to enable them to deploy first aid effectively and respond to emergencies quickly, ultimately putting parents' minds at ease.  

 

To be awarded, nurseries must have a fully paediatric first aid trained workforce and ongoing checks of staff confidence, well embedded policies and prvoedures that keep children as safe as practicably possible.  Nurseries have six months to work through the criteria which is rigorous and detailed.  Once signed up, a dedicated team at NDNA is available and on-hand to support nurseries through the process.  

 

94% of settings said that staff felt more confident in administering first aid.  

 

Banana Moon Nursery, Bromley

"Having everyone fully trained in paediatric first aid is very reassuring to our parents and they know that we have gone above and beyond our statutory requirements to keep children safe.  We have extended this to our parents and arranged for our training provider to run first aid sessions on site."

 

Little Beehive Nurseries

Sandra Davidson is the Director at Little Beehive Nurseries, Scotland, who have recently been awarded Millie's Mark across all their settings.  Sandra said, "We are thrilled to have received our accreditation.  It's important to us, as a business, to know we do everything possible to keep the children in our care as safe as possible.  We've trained approximately 50 people in the past 12 months, and knowing we have these highly skilled individuals on the floor makes a big difference - no one likes to talk about the worst case scenario, but we must plan for them.  It's important for our parents/carers to know that we have made this pledge.  We would encourage the government to move towards making this a standard requirement for all nurseries, pre-schools and childminders." 

 

NDNA

Over 1100 early years providers have now registered for Millie's Mark since its launch with 920 nurseries being accredited and the goal of 1000 settings awarded within sight.  This is a huge milestone for the trust and in spite of the cost of living crisis, recruitment issues and nursery closures, early years settings are still striving to provide the best possible care for their children.  

 

Millie's Mark operates across England and Scotland, having launched in Scotland prior to the pandemic and with promising growth since then.  In Scotland there are currently no specific requirements for the number of paedicatric first aid trained staff under the Scottish Health and Social CAre Standards.  

 

Millie's Trust

Dan Thompson, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Millie's Trust said this of the fantastic progress the award has been making: "We are so very proud that Millie's Mark is heading towards 1000 awards.  It's been an honour to see so many childcare settings making the application in our daughter's memory and seeing how childcare settings appreciate how important it is to have 100% staff trained in paediatric first aid.  We are looking forward to seeing more applications for Millie's Mark going forward, both from England, Scotland and, in the future, Wales too."

 

As part of the Welsh Government consultation for the revised National Minimum Standards, it is proposed that the paediatric first aid requirements should include additional standards and guidance.  It is likely they will recommend more staff hold PFA certificates.  NDNA and Millie's Trust are holding discussions to prepare for the launch of Millie's Mark in Wales in 2023.  NDNA would like to hear from any settings who would be interested in achieving Millie's MArk after launch.  

 

Piece originally published in NDNA Nursery News, Winter 2022 edition.