🎃👻 Get ready to embrace the spooky season, because Halloween is creeping up on us! As the leaves fall and the air grows crisp, it’s that time of the year when we dust off our cauldrons, carve our pumpkins, and prepare for a night of frightful fun.

But what makes Halloween so special? Why do we eagerly anticipate its arrival every year? Well, in the spirit of the season, our ghoulishly enthusiastic staff members are here to share their favourite bits about Halloween.

Jodi

What’s your favourite Halloween treat? Mr Kipling Fiendish Fancies
What’s your favourite Halloween movie? The Witches
If you had to dress up as anything at Halloween, what would you be? A Ghostbuster
What’s your favourite pumpkin flavoured treat? Pumpkin soup
Based on your personality which fictional witch are you? Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Emily

What’s your favourite Halloween treat? A Milky Way
What’s your favourite Halloween movie? Hocus Pocus, I watched it this weekend!
If you had to dress up as anything at Halloween, what would you be? A skeleton
What’s your favourite pumpkin flavoured treat? Pumpkin spiced latte
Based on your personality which fictional witch are you? Mildred Hubble

Gemma

What’s your favourite Halloween treat? Toffee apple
What’s your favourite Halloween movie? Rocky Horror Picture Show
If you had to dress up as anything at Halloween, what would you be? A cat
What’s your favourite pumpkin flavoured treat? Pumpkin pie
Based on your personality which fictional witch are you? Luna Lovegood

Kelly

What’s your favourite Halloween treat? Maltesers
What’s your favourite Halloween movie? Hocus Pocus
If you had to dress up as anything at Halloween, what would you be? A dead bride
What’s your favourite pumpkin flavoured treat? Pumpkin Spiced Oreos
Based on your personality which fictional witch are you? Sarah Sanderson from Hocus Pocus

Jen

What’s your favourite Halloween treat? Chocolate apple
What’s your favourite Halloween movie? Hocus Pocus
If you had to dress up as anything at Halloween, what would you be? A spider with cobwebs in my hair
What’s your favourite pumpkin flavoured treat? Pumpkin pie
Based on your personality which fictional witch are you? Glinda the good witch from The Wizard of Oz

Whether you’re a Halloween enthusiast or a newbie to the world of ghouls and werewolves, why not share with us your cherished Halloween traditions, memories, and experiences. Head on over to our Facebook page to post your Spooktacular ideas and photos! 🕷️🦇

Why should you find a new role with KiddyKare?

September 12, 2023

KiddyKare is a respected and reputable childcare recruitment agency that was established in 2008. We have proved to be reliable, professional and proactive, having built up strong working relationships with independent settings and corporate chains for over 15 years.

The KiddyKare team has a wealth of knowledge within the childcare sector and we are all childcare qualified. Our team prides themselves in finding the right role to suit each candidate, tailoring each search specifically for the needs of each individual.

KiddyKare can support you with your job search in a variety of ways and below are just some of the ways we can help you find your new dream role!

Permanent recruitment

Every month KiddyKare supports many candidates who are looking for a change in their career. We work alongside independent nurseries, large nursery chains, schools, and independent nanny families, so whichever role you think fits your career next step, we can help.

We screen all candidates prior to putting them forward to a role. This ensures we can match the setting with the correct candidates for each role. But it is also to determine we find the roles that are best suited to your individual search.

Our screening process

KiddyKare completes an initial call with each candidate via telephone, where we ask questions to make sure we have all the correct information on your file. This helps us when sending over all the details of any roles we can support with.

We also have a short application form for you to complete alongside providing some ID documents and any qualification certificates. We will ask you to complete these whilst we look at the different roles that we have for you.

The role may be but are not limited to the following – Apprentice Practitioner, Nursery Practitioner L2 or L3, Senior Practitioner, Room Leader, Third in Charge, Deputy manager, Manager, Operations / Area Manager, Quality Manager, Teaching Assistant, Nursery Teacher, Nanny.

Interviewing support

Once you have discussed the details of the roles KiddyKare can support with, you will be able to decide if you would like to go forward with an interview for each individual role. KiddyKare will then support with arranging the interviews for you at a perfect time for yourself and the setting, we will also gather all the information for what you’ll need to take with you on the day, any forms you may need to complete and what to expect from the interview.

The KiddyKare office team are all childcare qualified so are always happy to support with answering any questions prior to you interview.

Once you have attended your interviews, KiddyKare with gather the feedback. We will then arrange to discuss this with you on the phone. You will also be asked to provide feedback on how you feel the interview went and which setting you feel was the best fit for you.

Job offers and negotiation

When the setting provides you with an offer for a job role, KiddyKare will gather all the details regarding the job offer and any formal paperwork which we pass over to you to review. Once you have reviewed your offers you can then take time to look over these, ask any questions you may have and make your own decision. If there was anything you would like to negotiate, we will also do this for you.

Your new role

After making your decision, KiddyKare will continue to support with your start date and going into the setting to complete any documentation that is needed before you start your new role. We are here to make the process as calm as possible and the transition between roles as smooth as possible.

Flexible recruitment

KiddyKare can also support with flexible work within the independent nurseries, large nursery chains, schools, and independent nanny families that we work with in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Henley.

The flexible role means you are employed by KiddyKare on a flexible basis where you can pick the days you work. Nurseries, however, are open from 8-6pm so the hours required are 8-hour shift patterns of these hours.

Sign up process

You start with an initial sign-up call with one of the KiddyKare consultants. They will run through some questions about you to make sure this role will work for you and that we will be able to provide you with shifts.

We do require a couple of things for this role such as a clean DBS certificate. This needs to either be completed by KiddyKare, or if you already have a DBS this needs to be on the update service. If you require a new DBS you will need to pay for this as it is a document you can keep for any future roles.

Alongside ID and proof of address we also require a childcare reference from someone who has seen you interacting with children. This cannot be from a family member.

If you decide to join the KiddyKare team, we invite you in for an ID check where we will gather all these documents, so there’s no need to worry. During the check we review all your documentation to make sure it is correct.

Once you have completed this ID check you will take home some information on the role you have applied for, timesheets and a KiddyKare T-shirt. If you have any questions at the ID check, or at any other time, our team do their best to answer these before you start your new role.

Ready to get started

Once your pre-employment checks are complete you will be ready to start your new role. You will receive a welcome email from KiddyKare and be added to our temporary bookings.

We will begin to liaise with you about when you would like to start your role and the availability you can work that week.

KiddyKare cover a variety of shifts at locations such as nurseries, schools and emergency nanny cover which means you will be offered a variety of work depending on what’s available that week.

As we begin to offer you shifts, we may send over a couple of locations that you cannot get to but its fine to just say no to these settings. Once you have been working with KiddyKare for a while we will all become more familiar with the settings that you can attend.

We hope this has helped outline how we can support with your own personal job search as well as make you familiar with the process when you work alongside KiddyKare for each different position.

We look forward to working with you!

The KiddyKare Team.

Our amazing KiddyKare team

August 14, 2023

At KiddyKare we’ve got a fantastic team who are ready to help find the perfect match between childcarers, nurseries and schools.

So you that you can get to know us a little bit better we sat down with each member of staff to find out more about them.

Jen – our KiddyKare Director

Q: What inspired you to work in childcare?

From a young age I enjoyed spending time with children. They brought out my creativity, imagination and offered joy and enjoyment. I decided to train as an NNEB Nursery Nurse and thoroughly enjoyed the placements and course.

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of your job at KiddyKare?

A sense of achievement …

Supporting businesses and candidates in a field I am passionate about and have worked in myself. I enjoy working with my dedicated KiddyKare team.

Q: Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

My parents are my role models they have nurtured me, guided me, and comforted me. They have taught a strong work ethic – to aim high, work hard and value your relationships.

My husband is a strong influence he instils positivity, support and above all to be determined to achieve my goals.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

Raising two adorable boys alongside growing and developing KiddyKare.

Q: Who is your favourite children’s author and why?

Enid Blyton- I love the book The Faraway Tree, it reminds me of when I was a child. I have enjoyed reading it to my children.

Q: Where did you last go on holiday and why did you choose it?

We went to Croyde in Devon, we love the area. We chose it because it is close to the beach and we could spend time in the rock pools, surfing, wave jumping and eating pasties and ice-creams.

Jodi – our Development Manager

Q: What inspired you to work in childcare?

I love looking at the world and being able to explore the world through a child’s eyes, having a chance to provide them with a childhood where they can learn and thrive. Plus, why not have a career where you can have fun every day!

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of your job at KiddyKare?

At KiddyKare I love that my role is completely different to my role in Nursery Management, but I am still able to use my childcare knowledge daily to support the KiddyKare client data base. I can relate to the situation at each individual settings so that I ensure we provide the best support for each individual circumstance.

Q: Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

Without a doubt this would have to be by mum, she has been by my side through everything in life and I know she will still be by my side everyday moving forward. She taught me everything I know and has shaped me to be the person I am today – a person I am very proud to be.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

I am proud of being the person I am today, using the experiences and situations I’ve been through to learn and grow as a person.

Q: Who is your favourite children’s author and why?

That’s a hard one, it would have to be Roald Dahl – I remember Roald Dahl books being a big part of my childhood and I love how they have stood the test of time by still being a huge part of children’s literature today.

Q: Where did you last go on holiday and why did you choose it?

The last holiday I went to was Mallorca, I decided on this trip as Spain wasn’t a country that I had explored much, and I had seen lots of people visit. The country looked beautiful in everyone’s pictures with beautiful blue seas, which were even better in person!

Emily – our Compliance Consultant

Q: What inspired you to work in childcare?

The early years are such a crucial time within a child’s life, and I wanted to ensure children had the opportunity to the best care and start possible.

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of your job at KiddyKare?

For me it’s networking! Working in childcare, you come across many different personalities and people within the sector. But even more – it’s recruiting and supporting the industry you encounter!! Speaking to a variety of settings, learning their approach, hearing of their highs, and offering support when needed will always be something I enjoy. With KiddyKare I can do this daily!

Q: Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

My parents without a doubt! They have taught me so much in a life and will forever keep me grounded. From a young child to an adult my parents have taught me how to be strong, independent, and work hard for what you want – this is a skill I have carried through life with me!

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

Overcoming the hurdles that I have faced and use them to my own advantage!

Q: Who is your favourite children’s author and why?

Julia Donaldson – I enjoy the way the rhyming patterns keep the children engaged. My firm favourite will forever be Day Monkey, Night Monkey – the amount of learning opportunities Julia puts into the story in such a short time is a true skill.

Q: Where did you last go on holiday and why did you choose it?

South of France – Eymet to be precise. My parents adore the South of France and every few years I join them on a trip to explore the region – we are already planning our next trip.

Kelly – our Recruitment Resourcer

Q: What inspired you to work in childcare?

Since I was a young child I have always been surrounded by children, helping to look after them and teaching new things like saying my name. Since then, I have always had a passion for looking after children and being a person who loves to join in a child’s playtime but gaining skills as well.

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of your job at KiddyKare?

Talking to clients, relating situations to my own experiences.

Q: Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

My dad – he taught me to carry on with things even if sometimes it might become tough.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

Becoming a better person for my own self and achieving the small goals for a bigger outcome.

Q: Who is your favourite children’s author and why?

Michael Rosen because of his book – We’re going on a bear hunt.

Q: Where did you last go on holiday and why did you choose it?

I went to Rome in March- I chose it as it has always been on my bucket list to visit. I love learning about history and romance it has, plus the food.

Gemma – our Recruitment Consultant

Q: What inspired you to work in childcare?

I’ve always loved being around children. I like being creative and showing off my fun side to help children fall in love exploring the Arts.

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of your job at KiddyKare?

I really enjoy visiting the local colleges where we talk with the students and give insights to our own childcare background.

Q: Who have been the strongest influences in your life?

The strongest influence in my life is my mum.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

My proudest accomplishment in my childcare career was winning room leader of the year. This was out of 60 settings owned by the company I worked for.

Q: Who is your favourite children’s author and why?

I am an avid Harry Potter fan so would have to say J. K. Rowling. I love how her stories connect from the first ever book up to the seventh story of the Deathly Hallows. The characters, places, spells, creatures, and story lines are all so unique. I’m a proud member of Hufflepuff and even have two cats named Tonks and Remus!

Q: Where did you last go on holiday and why did you choose it?

The last place I went on holiday to was Bulgaria where I went skiing for the first time. The opportunity came up and so I went with a big group of friends. It was fun to try something new and very different to my usual beach destination holiday.

Five activities to celebrate Halloween

October 31, 2022

Children holding carved Halloween pumpkins in front of their faces

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

Halloween decorated gingerbread biscuits on plate

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

The benefits of a temporary childcare role with KiddyKare

April 28, 2022

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

KiddyKare’s favourite autumn activities for children

December 22, 2020

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

A guide to a DBS check and the update service

December 22, 2020

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.

Time sheet top tips for a KiddyKare temporary worker

December 22, 2020

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

Recruiting through the pandemic

December 9, 2020

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.

Jodi

Emily

Gemma

Kelly

Jen

Jodi

Emily

Gemma

Kelly

Jen

Permanent recruitment

Our screening process

Interviewing support

Job offers and negotiation

Your new role

Flexible recruitment

Sign up process

Ready to get started

Jen – our KiddyKare Director

Jodi – our Development Manager

Emily – our Compliance Consultant

Kelly – our Recruitment Resourcer

Gemma – our Recruitment Consultant

1. Pumpkin picking

2. Paper plate spiders

3. Pumpkin carving

4. Spooky monster biscuits

5. Spooky stories

Flexibility

Gaining Experience

Benefits

A foot in the door

Meeting a range of people within your work field

Freedom

Some autumn Playdough

A leaf garland

A leaf head dress

A leaf suncatcher

What is a DBS check?

How long will it take?

Who needs a DBS check?

How much do they cost?

The Update service and what it provides

KiddyKare’s recruitment step by step:

Interviews

Right to work

DBS check

References

About KiddyKare

Useful Stuff

Legal

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