Awarded nursery: The Co-operative Childcare - Newburn

Millie’s Mark is about reflecting on Paediatric First Aid practice and completing an audit, which includes looking at staff deployment.  The following case study shows an example of how one nursery implements a buddy system to support staff confidence and staff deployment.

The Co-operative Childcare Newburn ensures all colleagues complete their Paediatric First Aid Training as close to their start date as possible and renew this every three years. The setting also implements a buddy system for colleagues, to help them build confidence and knowledge in their role. The buddy is a more confident and experienced practitioner who can support, advise and share good practice to less confident colleagues.

When deploying staff, the nursery looks at team dynamics and considers individual areas of strength.  For example, colleagues who are less confident in a certain area work with colleagues who have experience and knowledge in that specific area. This also works the same with Paediatric First Aid training, so if colleagues return and feel nervous implementing first aid they are provided with a buddy in their room to support.

The buddy system is a great support for colleagues as it helps less confident practitioners to feel supported, and offers opportunity for more experienced or more confident staff to have extra responsibilities and feel valued. They buddy their colleagues through questioning each other and sharing rhymes to use as a prompt in situations, such as: “if they are pale raise their tail, if they are red raise their head”. They also share fact sheets, advice card and resources.

Feedback from colleagues in one-to-one meetings and team meetings has been good, with less confident colleagues gaining knowledge and reflecting upon first aid in their daily practices so if a situation arises they know exactly what to do. It also provides the opportunity to ask questions if they are unsure providing reassurance and encouragement.

This process provides reassurance that all first aid incidents are dealt with efficiently and correctly. It ensures that colleagues can handle a situation effectively, safely, confidently & with care along with not being afraid to ask for help. We also do peer observations which provide opportunity for reflection and to share constructive feedback regularly.

All accidents and incidents are recorded and signed by management. In cases where first aid was administered, management checks the forms and parents are informed; these are then logged and any trends with accidents and incidents are shared with the team to help minimise these where possible. Parents see that the forms are checked by management and feel reassured that all colleagues are trained in first aid and supported to administer this with confidence, making it a little easier for them to leave their child in our care.

The Co-operative Childcare Newburn was awarded Millie's Mark on 27 September 2016.