Members Questionnaire 2012/13

                                      

 

 

“I think the support offered from BAND is a great service, it gives peace of mind knowing you can speak to someone who knows your setting and has knowledge of Ofsted etc"

 

 

1.   If you received support from BAND to start up or expand your childcare setting how would you rate the service?

 

Excellent: 24 (63%) Very Good: 14 (37%) Good: 0 (0%) Okay: 0 (0%) Poor: 0 (0%)  

 

Comments:

·   A very helpful to have to use to guide you through all the requirements and to stop you getting bog down with it all

·  Not used this year but had support last year

·       We feel 100% supported by BAND

·       We had help from BAND with applying for Children In Need Grants. Very helpful!

·       Excellent support throughout our expansion process, advising, measuring the available space as well as providing follow up support when Ofsted made mistakes following the expansion

·       ***** is very helpful

·       We had support to start up breakfast club before my time but I hear that all went very well

·       ****** has been really helpful with our latest expansion and has supported staff and trustees with all areas of the process

·       Excellent help with on-going expansion etc.

·       Help from ****** to apply and win sustainability grant

·       ****** helped us out with answers to our questions and took time to come in and have a meeting with the setting.

 

2.   If you received advice / assistance from BAND's development and support team, how would you rate this service?

 

Excellent: 41 (63%) Very Good: 23 (35%) Good: 1 (2%) Okay: 0 (0%) Poor: 0 (0%)  

 Comments:

·       Everyone is always very helpful and accommodating

·       Always receive a prompt service and very good helpful advice from the team on all aspects

·       Not used this year but had support last year

·       She always spots our needs as an organization. We wouldn't be able to feel as comfortable as we do in our performance without her support. It helps a lot

·       ****** is great and very knowledgeable

·       On several occasions we have called the BAND team and they were very helpful and quick to respond

·       I really value having a support worker that I can turn to with any sort of query. They are always very encouraging and helpful

·       Always at the end of a phone or email. Support given in and out of the setting and to the Management Committee too

·       Always at hand for advice

·       Excellent, advice and support over the last 4 years, received from *****

·       I get emails keeping me up to date with regulation changes and items of interest

·       ***** is always very helpful when we call for advice regarding a range of issues relevant to our centre. Thank you *****

·       I am constantly amazed at the support which is available and how reassuring to know we have all our legal requirements for paperwork totally covered now we have the BAND examples amended for our setting. I definitely would not have taken on this job without knowing our development worker would be with me all the way

·       First class response. supports us in lots of practical ways as well as theoretically

·       Help with policies

·       Always responsive and quick and have a wealth of knowledge

·       A visit to our new preschool and lots of follow up emails offering support. It’s reassuring to know there is always helps and support available when we need it

·       Would be lost without *****!

·       ***** and ***** are fatabuloso! Couldn’t survive without ***** calm generous and knowledgeable time. Thank you so much!

·       Always a prompt and helpful response to any queries or requests for help / support

·       Always happy to help and support / visit

·       Have only used DBS service which was excellent

·       Brilliant communication and help with reviewing policies.

 

3.   If staff / managers attended BAND training courses, how did they rate this training?

 

Excellent: 28 (44%) Very Good: 29 (45%) Good: 6 (9%) Okay: 1 (2%) Poor: 0 (0%)    

Comments:

·       Staff who have attended have found courses easy to understand and follow also know they have a reliable back up with the team

·       Every staff member of the club has undertaken mainly all the courses that BAND have released. All these knowledge make us to have a better performance every day

·       Our staff have enjoyed the training they have received at BAND and feel that it has really helped them during their work

·       BAND training is always relevant and staff are very professional. Training sessions are very welcoming and this facilitates good participation from attendees

·       Always up-to-date, valid and valuable information as well as opportunities to network

·       Great, but could do with more of the essential training e.g. First aid training

·       Smaller organisations like ours wouldn't exist if we had to access training from other providers who are much more expensive. Our management committee are made up of volunteers and many have children. BAND subsidise the cost of this as without this financial support many of our volunteers wouldn't be able to access the training programme

·       Some courses are oversubscribed e.g. Paediatric 1^st Aid

·       Training is always relevant and practical making it very useful

·       Safeguarding CP training was excellent

·       Always enjoy training is the comment made by my staff team

·       Sometimes courses are not at the most convenient times – I know this must be difficult for you though

·       I would love to see BAND putting on an Administration of Medicines course

·       Last attended marketing and publicity, regularly attend CPD, very useful.

 

4.   In your opinion is BAND News

 

Excellent: 22 (29%) Very Good: 46 (60%) Good: 8 (10%) Okay: 1 (1%) Poor: 0 (0%)  

 

Comments:

·       The information is useful and relevant at the time of printing

·       Glad you are going to email - was a waste of paper and stamps

·       It's nice to read the tips and articles in and use the ideas in it

·       We take a lot of ideas

·       I probably find this my most useful resource for keeping up to date with changes and management issues

·       Informative and fun. A celebration of PVI settings

·       Lots of info - if we didn’t have this we would feel extremely isolated

·       Interesting to hear about the news of others

·       Sensible decision to distribute BAND News electronically in the future as printing / postage costs must be substantial

·       It is invaluable as it flags up new developments which may otherwise be missed

·       Very helpful

·       Really useful for keeping up to date and funding info

·       Very pleased to see you are moving to e-news!

·       Sad to see it move to online. I am old fashioned and prefer magazine format!

·       Keep up to date

·       Excellent to keep up to date with legislation especially.

 

5.   If your setting received funding and / or fundraising support from BAND, do you feel this was

 

Excellent: 12 (63%) Very Good: 6 (32%) Good: 1 (5%) Okay: 0 (0%) Poor: 0 (0%)   

      Comments:

·       Kept us informed and guided us through all the process

·       Not used this year but had used last year

·       Funding which we have received over the years has been well received for the group; staff, children and parents all benefiting!

·       ***** always helps us find sources of funding

·       It has been offered, but we didn’t use them

·       ***** did a very good job.

 

6.   Do you feel the book or equipment loan service is

 

Excellent: 4 (21%) Very Good: 8 (42%) Good: 5 (26%) Okay: 2 (11%) Poor: 0 (0%)

Comments:

 

·       I have borrowed books to help with my recent studies - I now have EYPS and am completing my forest school leader qualification. Your books were very appropriate

·       We should use the books offer more often

·       Not so far used this service but something we will look into

·       The service is great, but in reality a lot of the equipment is broken or missing or mixed up. Considering it's free it's still pretty good

·       Used it once

·       Mainly because we are so busy and it’s hard to collect and drop off

·       I would like to use this in the future

·       Some items are missing or need repair

·       Never used but sounds great

·       It’s hard for us to provide a deposit f £50 as we are a small charity we have to have funds signed by three trustees which is time consuming. A small amount would be easier.

7.   (Full members with BAND insurance only) Do you feel the insurance service is

 

Excellent: 7 (32%) Very Good: 13 (59%) Good: 2 (9%) Okay: 0 (0%) Poor: 0 (0%)

      Comments:

·       Keeps us up to date with it

·       Quick to apply and get covered. Reasonably priced

8.   (Full and Affiliate members and Childminders running DBS checks through BAND only) Do you consider the DBS check service to be

 Excellent: 19 (48%) Very Good: 14 (35%) Good: 5 (13%) Okay: 2 (5%) Poor: 0 (0%)   

 Comments:

·       Sometimes seem to take a while to come through

·       We don't use it but it is a good service to have there if you need it

·       Excellent advice on the end of the phone, quick service

·       Not used this service

·       Obtain DBS checks through another agency, although may look into using BAND reflecting on changes/prices

·       Always really helpful to assist with the questions we may have

·       ***** is always understanding when I get things wrong or forget to include something

·       ***** is always very helpful

·       Good service

·       We are going to apply for it soon

·       It is sometimes difficult to get hold of someone to talk to but the support and service has been good.

 9.   Do you think the BAND website is   

 Excellent: 14 (22%) Very Good: 29 (45%) Good: 17 (27%) Okay: 4 (6%) Poor: 0 (0%) 

 Comments:

·       Good for information and job vacancies

·       Easy to use. Good information

·       Lots of info - thank you BAND

·       The information and service it provides is excellent; the actual interface and appearance is okay

·       I do use it

·       Could be more streamlined, could ‘look’ better

·       Very informative

 

Any other comments you’d like to add about BAND services?

·       Always found the service a god send for support and information to stay legal

·       When our preschool was having financial and managerial difficulties last year and the previous year BAND were an invaluable source of information and support. Without their help we may not be here now - so thank you

·       We wouldn't be able to improve as we have done it in the past 4 years without BAND support

·       I really feel supported by the development workers they keep us up to date and relevant and legal. Thank you very much

·       Such a valuable resource for any setting

·       BAND provides an invaluable service which I would hate to be without. The support is second to none. Thank you for all your help!

·       Thanks for being there as a fantastic supporting organisation!

·       BAND is invaluable as a support and training mechanism for our setting

·       Invaluable support

·       We would not have survived without having the back up of BAND - always happy to recommend

·       The whole support our After School provision receives is of the highest quality. As parents there are many areas relating to the statutory requirements that we need support with and this could not be achieved within the capacity of a Voluntary organisation. The help provided has been invaluable

·       It would be good to see different training being offered in the New Year as we have completed all that's currently on offer

·       Smaller organisations like ours wouldn't be able to run so efficiently without the expertise and support of BAND

·       My support worker ***** has always been helpful and friendly

·       I honestly don't know what I'd do without them. I doubt I'd be able to do the job I enjoy

·       Glad to have the support of BAND it stops you feeling isolated as you can become aware of what other settings similar to ours are doing

·       We've only very recently signed up as Affiliate members of BAND so it's very hard to answer these questions meaningfully

·       Glad they are on the end of the phone for advice. It is very isolated running early years provision in the voluntary sector, no networks to support you, BAND is great for that

·       Keep up the good work – we would be lost without you!

·       BRAC loves BAND!

·       As a small organisation we are able to easily access very relevant info and training

·       Thanks you’re all fab!

·       I think the support offered from BAND is a great service, it gives peace of mind knowing you can speak to someone who knows your setting and has knowledge of Ofsted etc

·       Excellent work all round, keep it up

·       Lovely supportive service to have access to training

 

 Stats Report

Question	2011/12	2012/13
Number of questionaires Sent out	193	198
Number of respondents to date	84 (44%)	81 (41%)
% of respondents that rated BAND's overall service as Very Good or Excellent	78%	86%

        

Rated service Very Good or Excellent

Question	2011/12	2012/13
Support from BAND to start up or expand childcare setting	32 (87%)	38 (100%)
Received advice / assistance from BAND's development and support team	52 (85%)	64 (98%)
Staff / managers attended BAND training courses	58 (84%)	57 (89%)
BAND News	59 (75%)	68 (88%)
Received funding and / or fundraising support from BAND	10 (38%)	18 (95%)
Book or equipment loan service	11 (100%)	12 (63%)
(Full members with BAND insurance only) insurance service	7 (70%)	20 (91%)
Full and Affiliate members and Childminders running DBS checks through BAND	38 (89%)	33 (83%)
BAND website	43 (71%)	43 (67%)

 

Space Theme Inspiration

It’s been a few months of amazing space events:

MARSONE, an initiative to place humans on Mars in 2023, attracts over 80,000 video applicants. It’s a one way trip for 4 people initially, to live their life on the surface of Mars. A further 2 people will be sent up every 2 years after that. The first few years are spent building living space and growing food before they head out to be the first humans exploring the planet. There might be an option for one of them to return in the future, the costs are too high to consider anymore people returning. As the only planet we know of so far that humans could potentially survive on, this is a very important mission! www.marsone.com.

Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut who has just returned from over 5 months on the International Space station, uses twitter in space to showcase fantastic photo’s from the space station and films the first video in space, a cover of himself singing Space Oddity by David Bowie. www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGG8ucQgEJPeUPhJZ4M4jA

 

Major Tim Peake has been chosen as the first official British Astronaut EVER: he will train for the next 2 and a half years before heading up to the International Space station in 2015. He says ‘a large part of this is to inspire a generation’, so how can we all start doing this?

To narrow it down, we have focused on Mars so here are some ideas.

Mars Facts:

• Mars is nicknamed the red planet because it is covered with rust-like dust. Even the atmosphere is a pinkish red, colored by tiny particles of dust thrown up from the surface.

• Mars experiences violent dust storms which continually change its surface.

• Mars has many massive volcanoes and is home to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system, it stands 21km high and is 600km across the base.

• Mars has a very thin atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide. It is not thick enough to trap the sun's heat like Venus, so the planet is very cold.

• Mars has many channels, plains and canyons on the surface which could have been caused by water erosion in the past.

• Mars has very weak gravity which is one third of that on Earth, but this is still much better for humans than the moon whose gravity is one sixth of Earths. If a human lives with Mars low gravity for a long time, it is not known if they would be able to survive back on Earth.
• Mars has frozen water underneath it’s surface, this means humans could use these to survive.
• A day on Mars lasts about the same as Earth, on the moon a day lasts 27 times as long so one day on the moon is nearly a month on earth. This is important as humans will be healthier on Mars keeping the same day rhythm as on Earth.

Ideas for your setting:

Make your own video entry to join the mission to Mars.  Watch some of the video entries on http://applicants.mars-one.com/ for ideas. MarsOne suggests ‘Why would you like to go to Mars? How would you describe your sense of humour? What makes you the perfect candidate for this mission to Mars’. Or if you don’t want to go, why not? BAND members can borrow our video camera to film entries.

Astronaut training camp for a day. The MarsOne website has lots of interesting information: The mission roadmap outlines how they will progress to humans going to Mars year on year, Humankind on Mars talks about the astronauts 8 years of training. Astronauts need to be physically and mentally fit, what challenges can you create to test this?

Design your own mission patch to go on the astronaut’s suit – what would you call the mission or put on the patch?

Make up your own space song. Watch Chris Hadfield singing in space to get ideas.

Eat some space food. Follow Chris Hadfield as he makes a peanut butter and honey sandwich in space and do the same in your setting, you need to use tortillas instead of bread as in space the bread crumbs float around too much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vio09T-8qA

Mix sand in with paint to create a textured martian landscape picture that you can add your own cut out martians to.

Have a look around the NASA Mars kids site, there is Mars Rover colouring sheet to download and some games. There are some other interesting bits if you dig around a little. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/funzone/

The International Space Station also has a kids site with regular competitions: http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/lab.html

Make your own space button model to check out how far away you would be…..

 

 

 

Get Hunting!

Looking for some active, outdoor fun?  Then why not plan a scavenger hunt. 

This is a great way to really explore any outdoor (or even indoor) environment.  You can do it anywhere and don’t need much in the way of resources – just a list of things to find and a pen to tick them when found. For example this worksheet from www.howtonestforless.com:

If you can, you could also give the children a paper bag or container to put the things they find in, remembering that flowers and living creatures should be left where they are found.

When making up a scavenger hunt, keeping the kids’ interest should be high priority. Most of the objects shouldn’t be too difficult or frustrating to find but not too easy either.  For children who can’t yet read, you could draw pictures of the objects they need to find.  Here are some ideas to get you started;

Can you find me: oak leaf, pine cone, bark, piece of litter, stick, 3 leaf clover, feather, berry, green grass, daisy, dandelion, holly leaf.

Shapes:  find something square, round, triangular, rectangular, star shaped …….

Colours:  find something red, brown, green, yellow, blue …….

Alphabet hunt: find items with names that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

Items don’t always have to be things to find, you could also have things to experience and do as well and you could include a list of things to touch, smell or listen to.  For example: touch something soft, rough, smooth; jump in a puddle; climb a tree; listen to birdsong, run up a slope, smell a flower…..

For more ideas of what to hunt for, go to http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/camping/kids/scavengerhunt.htm

Happy hunting!  

Theme Time

Ok, it’s the summer. This means it’s up to you all to think of fab, funny and physical ideas for the summer playschemes. It’s great to have a range of starting points for play and using a theme can inspire both staff and children to have great ideas. At BAND we have had a quick think around and some of our ideas are here!

-        Gromit Unleashed. The Gromit trail will be up and running, go and spot as many Gromits as you can when you are out and about, you can pick up a Gromit passport at six places in Bristol. http://www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/trail/. You could make your own plasticine models, make animation, create film sets in boxes, dress up as your favourite Aardman characters, dress up as different breeds of dog, visit a dogs home, go to a Dog Show (RSPCA is having a dog show at Weston Beach Lawns on 18^th August), or learn how to speak dog, or invite someone from guide dogs for the blind to come into your group.

 

© and TM Aardman/W&G Ltd. 2013.

® Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal. Charity No. 1043603

Photographer: Oliver Edwards

 

-        Pharaoh King of Egypt. The exhibition will have closed just before the summer, but it could be a fun theme. Dressing up as mummy’s, building pyramid dens, writing or drawing in hieroglyphics, making paper, making masks and jewellery, sun dials, make hummus and pita bread, dress up as ancient Egyptians, make mud bricks. Could be a bit spooky and link to the libraries Creepy House reading challenge. http://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

-        Water Week. Always a summer favourite, it can go in different directions, pirates, under the sea, beaches, submarines, experiments with water. Build boats or submarines, build sandcastles or other sand sculptures, make palm trees (visit the professional sand sculptures at Weston), dress up as mermaids, pirates or fish. Get the paddling pool out, blow bubbles. If you are brave, find out what is on at the Harbour festival for a visit on Friday 26^th July. Incorporate a water melon day and use watermelons for boats or a variety of other ideas e.g.: bowling with watermelons and painting!! http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/06/summer-fun-wacky-watermelon-day.html

-        “I have a dream”. It’s the 50^th anniversary of the Martin Luther King speech and you could find out what your children and young people dream of for the future. Create model visions or inventions, explore who they are, paint self-portraits or take photographs,   (you could combine with a visit to the Photographic Portrait Exhibition at the Mshed), make wishing trees, do dream stories based on consequences game. Think about rights, what do they feel strongly about and want to change or peacefully campaign about?

 

 

 

-        Flight. Have fun with all things flying, make lots of stuff, experiment with different shape and materials. Kites, balloons, planes, seeds, leaves. Bird watch, hunt different types of flying insects.  Dress up as flying creatures, think about the different qualities they have, owls vision at night, bees memory of going places, there are more insect ideas inside. Build a box airplane den and have adventures. Visit the balloon fiesta, a bird sanctuary or go to an airshow.

 

-        Space. Is there life on Mars? Imagine the playscheme is going into space and you are all astronauts. Build your space craft, do astronaut training, learn how to space- walk, dress up,  make your Mars planet, take samples of earth to analyse, make contact with aliens, make a box of gifts to explain earth culture. Dress up as aliens or make some.

-        Spies and secrets. The Imperial War Museum in London has a new “Horrible Histories exhibition Spies”.  Have a week of  espionage, including codes and ciphers, disguises, camouflage, forgeries and gadgets.

 

-        Nature 99 places Bristol. Did you know there are 99 areas of Bristol that are good for Nature? Have a look at a Bristol map to find one near to you: http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/pinpoint/?service=localinfo&maptype=js&layer=Neighbouring+authorities;Sites+of+Nature+Conservation+Interest

The summer is a great time to have a nature based theme and getting out and about is fun for all. Bug hunts, wildflower surveys, woodland walks (with den building), footprint tracking and pond dipping are always popular. Check out  Bristol events at: http://bristol99.org.uk and ideas at http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk

 

-        Topsy Turvey week. Pretend it’s winter, wear woolly scarfs, have hot chocolate. Wear your clothes back to front, jumble up your language, eat pudding before savoury, walk backwards, make upside down cake, look at the world upside down, use lens or colour films to make glasses. What ways can you make your playscheme topsy turvey?

If you come up with a really good theme, do let us know and we will put it on our ideas website, post it on Facebook and Tweet it too!