Insight Issue 16

insight ISSUE 14, AUGUST 2020

ACT awarded Platinum Status ACT has been awarded Investors in People (IIP) Platinum!

Business updates on Covid-19 We move into Phase 3 of our return to work delivery plan.

Staff in the spotlight This month we put the spotlight on Emma Page.

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welcome Hello everyone.

This is a phenomenal achievement for us as a company and it is all thanks to you brilliant people making ACT the success that it is.

As we gently coax our way back into a new way of “normal”, we hope you are all doing well.

The past six months have been challenging for us all in different ways.

However, we also have a great deal to celebrate including achieving Investors in People (IIP) Platinum status.

We have even more successes and updates to share with you throughout this month’s issue so I hope you enjoy reading it. As always, please remember to share all the wonderful work you and your team are up to.

Keep up the amazing efforts everyone and stay safe!

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important dates

Phase 3 Return to Delivery Commences Monday 7th September

contents ACT Awarded Platinum Status

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In the know

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Getting to Know Senior Management

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Self Evalutation

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Cornel Cymraeg

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Latest from People & Development

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Summer School Success

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Staff in the Spotlight

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A.C.T. Development Programme

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Book Club

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Our Newest Recruits

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We achieved the highest ever benchmarking score for the online survey in our industry sector

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ACT awarded Platinum Status Earlier this month, we were absolutely delighted to hear that ACT had been awarded Investors in People (IIP) Platinum!

The IIP standards are internationally recognised accreditations held by over 10,000 organisations across the world.

Using rigorous assessment methodology and frameworks, the IIP sets a benchmark for better people management.

To achieve the highest Platinum standard, firms must demonstrate ‘high performance’ in at least seven of the nine assessment indicators. Only 2% of organisations worldwide who gain IIP accreditation achieve platinum status!

Here are just a few of the many comments we should be proud of: •

We achieved the highest ever benchmarking score for the online survey in our industry sector and for our organisation size range.

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We have a fully engaged and motivated workforce with 91% of you wanting to tell us what you think.

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You trust your managers at all levels and each other.

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You value the open style of communication and the fact that managers want to listen.

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You love ACT’s attention to staff health, happiness and wellbeing.

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Our coaching culture has become a management style that people are really benefiting from.

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We have a focus on the future with a great succession plan, a resilience to adversity and a clear forward-thinking strategy.

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You have felt totally supported through the Covid-19 pandemic.

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You are proud to work for ACT.

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97% of people feel they share ACT’s values.

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94% of people believe ACT has a positive impact on society.

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94% of people think ACT is a great place to work and has a plan for the future.

A massive thank you and congratulations to everyone - this has been a superb team effort right across the organisation and is the culmination of three years of hard work since our previous IIP Gold accreditation.

A particular thanks to everyone who has been directly involved in the recent assessment and, of course, a very special thank you and congratulations to Rebecca Cooper and the P&D Team for leading this work so brilliantly.

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know Ending Discrimination Following on from our company statement a couple of months ago, we are continuing to look at how we can make positive and proactive changes towards ending discrimination.

ACT firmly believe in fairness, equality and respect for all human lives. We have always taken the issue of inclusivity and diversity seriously and equality is at the heart of everything we do.

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LGBTQ Awareness

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Transgender resources

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Anti-racism courses

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Resources on disability and ableism

If you have any books, courses or resources you would like to recommend on the issue of discrimination and how we can combat it, please send your suggestions to bookclub@acttraining.org.uk

In an ongoing bid to better educate ourselves around discrimination in all its forms, here are some suggested resources for us to explore.

As well as supporting a return to education and refocus on career prospects, the team will also help learners avoid the possibility of becoming engaged in violence and crime in their communities. Furthermore, the grant will enable Schools to purchase Chrome Books for every learner to help support their digital development.

This will help equip learners with the knowledge and resources they need in the future, should social distance learning remain.

Youth Endowment Fund We are delighted to share that ACT School's have been awarded a grant from the Youth Endowment Fund. An independent charitable trust, set up by the Home Office, the Youth Endowment Fund works to support young people at-risk of being drawn into violent crime through the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACT School's will use the grant to establish a fully mobile outreach team which will include outreach workers (both youth work and teacher trained) as well as a school-based counsellor to help re-engage our Schools' learners post COVID-19.

Kelly Rowlands, Head of 11-16 Education, commented, “I would like to thank the members of the Schools' management team who led on this bid. We look forward to seeing the positive impact of this grant and the huge difference it will make to the lives of our young people.”

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Phase 3 - Return to Delivery

Did you know‌

From the end of July and throughout August we have been gradually phasing select members of staff back into our centres.

We have a number of resources on our intranet pages dedicated to wellbeing advice, tips for working from home during lockdown, opportunities to build on your CPD training, how to work from home and a whole lot more.

The response to our Phase 1 and 2 approach has been great so far and we have received positive feedback from both staff and learners who have been attending some face to face learning sessions.

With Schools now reopening across Wales, we have moved into our Phase 3 return to work delivery plan. Phase 3 has now been extended to run for 8 weeks, until the 30th of October.

As our centres are now open, we have been producing materials for staff and learners to help keep you safe. Please familiarise yourself with this video, which follows Welsh Government guidelines, so you are clear on new procedures when you return to your centre. More updates will follow soon.

Again, we want to thank you all for how brilliantly you have adapted and coped with all the uncertainties and challenges of the past few months. It has not been easy but one thing is for certain, we know ACT has the best staff on the planet.

Click here to find out more.

Anti-Racism Poster Campaign winners Marmalade added, "For me, equality means treating everyone with fairness and respect.

Everyone should have the same rights and opportunities regardless of their skin colour, gender, or beliefs."

We are delighted to share that two of our Traineeship learners, Jessica Head and Marmalade Ball, have been selected as winners of Race Equality First's anti-racism poster competition. Learners were asked to create a painting, drawing, take a photograph or create a graphic which clearly promotes anti-racism/ racial equality. A huge congratulations to Jessica and Marmalade.

Speaking about what equality means to her, Jessica commented, “Equality is about ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. No one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born, where they come from, what they believe, or whether they have a disability. Together we can make equality a reality.�

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ACT School’s GCSE Success Despite the challenges of the past few months, our School's provision are celebrating another fantastic year of GCSE results. This year has been our most successful to date with 85% of learners achieving the level 1 threshold (5 GCSE's or equivalent D-G - up 51% from last year). This year also saw learner Izaak Salmon achieve an A Grade for English and achieve the Level 2 threshold of gaining 5 GCSE's between A-C Level.

Izaak who is going on to employment and then taking up a Heating apprenticeship added, "I have done far better at ACT than I would have done in mainstream education.”

Congratulations to all our learners and School’s staff for all their hard work and efforts!

Speaking on the success of this year’s learners, Kelly Rowland, Head of 11-16 Education, commented, “I am incredibly proud of the achievements of both the learners and the staff.

The achievements of our learners' shouldn’t be overshadowed by the current situation, they have done amazingly well and should be commended on their successes. They have secured strong foundations to see them forward in to their next chapters and its brilliant to see so many continuing within ACT."

Virtual Open Days A big thanks to Lynnemarie Gagiano from the Health & Social Care Team who earlier in July participated in a Virtual Open Day organised by Welsh Government and NTfW to promote the offerings of all educational providers across Wales. Lynnemarie did a live Q&A with our Skills Ambassador Jonathan Davies discussing the different opportunities available to young people and those wanting to upskill, through the Apprenticeship and Work-based Learning route.

Speaking about the Virtual event, Lynnemarie said, “Initially I found the thought of doing the virtual Q&A daunting but fortunately, due to our new way of working and using digital technology on a daily basis, I used this to my advantage. The whole process was effortless and there were no interruptions or glitches to contend with. The host and participants were friendly and welcoming and we were all from different backgrounds so diversity was really embraced. I think the session really helped listeners to identify the benefits of enrolling onto an apprenticeship programme.'

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We’ve changed the way we refer The downloadable PDF versions of the counselling referral forms can no longer be accepted. Please can staff use the digital forms available on the intranet under ‘Health & Wellbeing’ for future referrals.

We hope this will be a more efficient and effective process.

You can find the forms here: Staff Referral Learner Referral

Afternoon Tea Celebrations As you know, earlier this month ACT announced that it would be hosting a series of Afternoon Tea events for all staff, to say a ginormous thank you for everyone’s hard work during these challenging months. The events were an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate our incredible achievements throughout lockdown. This year has been bonkers but we have pulled together and supported our learners, communities and each other like never before!

As part of the Afternoon Tea events, every staff member received an afternoon tea in a box, packed full of delicious savoury and sweet treats. Colleagues then met up, either in person (following social distancing measures) or through Microsoft Teams and Whereby to celebrate together. Feedback from staff has been great with many appreciating the opportunity to meet up with colleagues and reflect on these past few months.

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Getting to know‌

senior management

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I take a strategic lead on our current Traineeship provision as well as developing any new post 16 provision.

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Who are you and what’s your role?

economy. We want to enhance the positives of what we have learnt so far delivering remote learning and embed it into future delivery. We also want to continue developing the skills of our amazing team to help them further their ability to deliver training to young people across multiple channels of delivery.

My name is Leon Patnett and I am Head of Youth Engagement and Training.

What are you responsible for?

I take a strategic lead on our current Traineeship provision as well as developing any new youth provision. The team consists of around 70 staff members delivering Engagement and Level 1 training to 600 learners across our 7 centres, aged 16 to 19.

The team has been amazing at adapting and we quickly transferred our learning provision so that it could be delivered via our digital channels. The team have shown initiative, creativity and compassion to ensure our learners' wellbeing and educational needs have continued to be met, whilst adjusting to lockdown themselves. Here are some of our results: •

As mentioned previously, it’s uncertainty.

The challenges of working from home are well documented and continued uncertainty of how things will look for everyone, everywhere moving forwards doesn’t help. We have plans in place up until December to help my team plan and prepare. Hopefully by then we will be that much closer to a return to “normality”.

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How have you and your team adapted to Covid-19?

What’s the biggest challenge your team faces?

My proudest moment was reading the evaluation of our Training provision after the first 8 weeks of lockdown

Our Attendance and Wellbeing Officers and Additional Learning Support team carried out 1500 wellbeing calls in a three-week period.

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Our Tutors issue around 2500 pieces of work a week.

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We have started 100 new learners and an additional 90 on the Summer Sorted programme.

What is your proudest moment at ACT?

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There have been many great moments during my short time here, but I think my proudest moment was reading the evaluation of our Training provision after the first 8 weeks of lockdown and reading all the comments from our learners. It was great to see that the outstanding efforts that my team were putting in were paying off.

What are your plans for the future of ACT? This is both an exciting and challenging time as we still face uncertainty. However, we plan to ensure that the Traineeship programme has the best wellbeing and teaching structure available.

This will enable us to deliver training to a client group who may face major challenges entering the labour market in the post COVID-19

Tell us something we wouldn’t know about you?

I myself have undertaken Work-Based Learning. I achieved an NVQ Level 2 in Butchery whilst I was a student working in ASDA.

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QUALITY

Self-Evaluation It’s that time of year again! Our Self-evaluation process is underway providing an opportunity for all teams in ACT and our subcontractors across the ACT Network to reflect on the recent contract year.

Self-evaluation is a really useful exercise that allows us to identify what we do well (and the impact it has on our learners), and also areas where we can improve moving forwards.

we are at as a company and where we need to move towards. Keep your eyes peeled for this update, as well as feedback from the SelfEvaluation Report (SER) in the coming months.

To try and support our aim of Continuous Improvement and improve transparency of activity across ACT, the Quality team have developed an overview of quality activities in the form of a Quality Cycle. This aims to provide all staff within ACT with a summary of the key activities that the Quality team will undertake in the coming contract year each month.

2020 has certainly been challenging following the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has also demonstrated how brilliant we are at pulling together in a crisis and supporting our learners.

There are numerous success stories and good practice we can share in this year’s report including how we’ve continued to support learner progress throughout the pandemic and how we’ve embraced digital technologies.

The Quality Team also have some interesting new developments in the pipeline, whereby they will be creating visual overviews of where

Results from the latest Self-Evaluation process will be shared in due course.

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Here is a brief summary of the key activities that form the quality cycle: Stakeholder Voice

Monthly Performance Analysis

There are a number of stakeholder voice activities that take place within ACT

Each month, the Continuous Improvement Coordinator (Kerry Gower) completes an analysis headline performance data across the ACT Network, looking at specific groups of learners (ALN, Welsh speakers etc). This information is shared with key managers across ACT and discussed in monthly Performance and Quality meetings in Apprenticeships and Traineeships, so that there can be further investigation as required.

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End of course survey

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Learner voice survey

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Employer survey

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Forums

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Partner survey

Why we do it?

These activities create opportunities for our key stakeholders (mainly learners and employers, but others such as partner providers too) to give their feedback on their experiences with ACT, and to help us turn their feedback and ideas into action.

Why we do it?

We hope that a regular review of performance across areas of ACT will help there to be an ongoing dialogue with delivery teams around what is going well, and areas where support or further investigation is needed.

Practitioner Observations Centre Walks

Practitioner observations are unplanned and ungraded observations of delivery (either group, or 1-1) while it is taking place in a learning environment – this can be either the workplace or in one of the ACT centres.

Each practitioner should have at least one observation per contract year.

Centre walks involve a member of the team visiting each of the regions to gain an insight into a ‘typical’ day in one of our centres.

Why we do it?

Centre walks allow us to get a clear picture of what is happening across each of our centres in terms of quality of provision and provide guidance in relation to Estyn requirements.

Why we do it?

Observations help to build community among colleagues and encourage both the observed practitioner and person completing the observation to reflect on their teaching, supporting them to continuously develop and improve their practice.

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cornel cymraeg welsh corner Ap y mis App of the month Gwasanaethu Trwy'r Gymraeg Ap newydd gydag ymadroddion Cymraeg ar gyfer gweithwyr a myfyrwyr gwasanaethau cyhoeddus.

Mae'r ap am ddim hwn wedi cael ei ddatblygu ar gyfer y rhai sy'n gweithio yn y sector hanfodol hwn ac sy'n dymuno defnyddio'r Gymraeg, ond sydd efallai ddim yn rhugl neu efallai'n teimlo bod eu Cymraeg ychydig yn rhydlyd. Mae'r ap yn cynnig ymadroddion defnyddiol yn Gymraeg ac yn Saesneg gyda fersiwn llafar i helpu ynganu.

Mae'r ap wedi'i rannu'n nifer o themâu cyfleus a sectorau gwasanaeth: cyffredinol, sgwrsio, damweiniau a digwyddiadau ac iechyd. Mae'n cynnwys gwahanol adrannau ar gyfer parafeddygon, yr heddlu, y gwasanaeth tân, y bad achub, achubwyr mynydd a gwasanaethau cyhoeddus.

Gwasanaethu Trwy'r Gymraeg New app with Welsh phrases for Public Service workers and students.

This free app has been developed for those who work in this vital sector and wish to use Welsh, but who may not be fluent or feel their Welsh is a bit rusty.

The app gives useful phrases in Welsh and English with a speech version to help with pronunciation.

The app is divided into several convenient themes and Service sectors: General, chatting, accidents and incidents and health. It includes different sections for Paramedics, Police, Fire Service, Lifeboat, Mountain Rescue and Public Services.

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Cynllun mentora Sgiliaith Sgiliaith mentoring scheme Mae aseswyr a thiwtoriaid ACT yn manteisio ar fentora Cyamraeg gan Sgiliaith yn ystod y cyfnod clo. Mae'r cynllun hwn yn paru aseswyr pob gallu yn y Gymraeg sydd eisiau gwella eu darpariaeth Gymraeg gyda mentor Sgiliaith . Mae Helen o Sgiliaith wedi bod yn llawn canmoliaeth i'n haseswyr a'n tiwtoriaid gwych, sy'n teimlo'n wirioneddol eu bod yn elwa.

Throughout lockdown, Assessors and Tutors from ACT have been taking advantage of Welsh mentoring from Sgiliaith. This scheme pairs up assessors of all Welsh language abilities who want to improve their Welsh delivery with a Sgiliaith mentor. Helen from Sgiliaith has been full of praise for our fabulous assessors and tutors, who have really benefitted from the scheme.

Dywedodd Sam Holland, Aseswr TG: "Mae Helen wedi bod yn frwdfrydig ac yn gefnogol iawn, ac wedi fy annog i wthio fy hun gan hybu manteision a chyd-destun dysgu'r Gymraeg yn yr 21ain ganrif. Rwyf wedi mwynhau ein cyfarfodydd yn fawr a byddwn yn eu hargymell i unrhyw un sy'n awyddus i loywi eu sgiliau iaith Gymraeg"

IT Assessor Sam Holland said: “Helen has been very enthusiastic and supportive, and has encouraged me to push myself whilst really bringing home the benefits and the context of learning Welsh in the 21st century. I’ve really enjoyed our meetings and would recommend them to anyone looking to brush up on their Welsh language skills”

Gallwch gofrestru yma os oes gennych ddiddordeb.

You can sign up here.

Rhwydwaith Aseswyr Cymraeg Welsh Assessors’ Network Mae ACT wedi sefydlu grŵp ar LinkedIn yn arbennig ar gyfer aseswyr sy'n siarad Cymraeg. Nod y grŵp yw dod ag aseswyr sy'n siarad Cymraeg at ei gilydd i gefnogi ei gilydd, rhannu gwybodaeth ac adnoddau. Os ydych chi’n siarad Cymraeg ac eisiau bod yn rhan o'r rhwydwaith, e-bostiwch Non neu dilynwch y ddolen hon.

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ACT have set up a group on LinkedIn specifically for Welsh Speaking Assessors in Wales. The aim of the group is to bring Welsh speaking assessors together to support each other, share information and resources. If you are Welsh speaking and would like to be part of the network please email Non or follow this link.

P&D

Latest from People and Development Have you heard?

In this new audio world, podcasts have never been so popular. Every issue of Insight, we’ll pick a work-based relevant show that we think you might like: Spectrum.Life With our lives being totally transformed by the current global circumstances, managing our employees’ wellbeing along with our own is paramount. In light of this, Spectrum.Life have launched a unique podcast series to help support you through coronavirus. Delivering two podcasts each week, they cover topics such as nutrition, fitness, mental health, sleep, coping with selfisolation and successfully working remotely.

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P&D Staff Recognition Awards We are delighted to announce the winners of our July Staff Recognition Awards – the second quarter round of 2020. A huge ACT-style congratulations goes out to the following employees/ teams who have shown a tremendous commitment to their role, achieved excellent results and have gone the extra mile for our learners and stakeholders:

Team of the quarter 1st - P&D 2nd - Health & Social Care 3rd - OPH CafĂŠ Newcomer of the quarter 1st - Scarlett Davies 2nd - Hayley Jones 3rd - Stacey Cassidy Manager of the quarter 1st - Angela Clifford-Hillman 2nd - Kie Baldwin 3rd - Ann Rees Schools staff member of the quarter 1st - Emily Arscott 2nd - Heather Huish 3rd - Shirey Webley Apprenticeship Practitioner of the quarter 1st - Donna Stewart 2nd - Michelle Marshall 3rd - Chris Knapman

Traineeship/MTS Practitioner of the quarter

Award for supporting learners during Covid-19

1st - Melanie Lloyd 2nd - Sera Loveluck-Frank

1st - Kristen Evans 2nd - Susan Martin 3rd - Emma Huggins

Core Values Champion of the quarter 1st - Emma Page & Sarah Stokes 2nd - Sam Holland 3rd - Chris Knapman Award for innovation during Covid-19 1st - Alison Phillips 2nd - Jemma Howard-Jones 3rd - Nicola Tiley Support staff member of the quarter 1st - Donna Matthews 2nd - Jade Trimnell 3rd - Tina Jones Delivery team support member of the quarter 1st - Helen Aldridge 2nd - Nicola Tiley 3rd - Michelle Smart

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Award for supporting colleagues during Covid-19 1st - Alison Phillips 2nd - Bob Anderson 3rd - Melanie Lloyd Award for supporting the community during Covid-19 1st - Food bank team 2nd - Angela Clifford-Hillman 3rd - Laura Collins Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to nominate and for all those involved in the judging process.

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ESSENTIAL SKILLS

Summer Sorted Success The pandemic, although challenging, has shown just how amazing and capable we all are at embracing digital technologies. Being leaders in digital transformation has been an ongoing strategic goal of ACT for some time but the pandemic has speeded up this progression overnight.

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Essential Skills are one of many teams who have used digital technology to their advantage during lockdown, resulting in great success - particularly this year’s Summer Sorted programme. Overall attendance to the virtual lessons was an amazing 93%, with 100% of learners achieving at least 1 qualification at Level 2.

so much more effective and enjoyable for learners, but also easier for the tutor to deliver.

This is new to us all but I think we’re adapting brilliantly and have had some great feedback from learners.”

Rob Peebles The programme has resulted in some brilliant success stories, including two learners from Bridgend who had initially been predicted F’s in their GCSE’s. With support from their ES Tutors and their own dedication, both learners achieved Level 2 on the AON and AON & Comms programmes. This result has led to both learners being offered college places in September. Their parents were hugely grateful to everyone involved in this result as without it, neither learner would have been able to go to college this year.

Essential Skills Tutors, Craig Bickford and Rob Peebles who have been running the programme share their experiences: “We have been running the Essential Skills Summer Sorted to a group of learners using Whereby (a browser-based video meeting tool with an emphasis on ease of use) and have had great success. Whereby and its features have been brilliant in helping us teach both English and Maths to learners. We've had great feedback from the students which has really been reflected through their positive engagement” Craig Bickford

Feedback from the learners themselves has also been great:

“I have had a pen/tablet for a few years now and hit on the idea to use it in my sessions and it has been a great benefit teaching. I can select and upload documents, photos, presentations etc. onto the whiteboard and then highlight/ scribe on them to explain something in more depth to learners. It’s a very interactive process.

In addition, I can share worksheets with learners to complete, which they then take a photo of and I can mark and save as a screenshot to their evidence folder.

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‘Before doing this I was staying up until about 5am then sleeping all day but now I’m going to bed much earlier because I know I have to get up for the sessions.’

‘Craig makes the sessions more fun and enjoyable (than in school) and because it was my choice to do it I feel like I was given some freedom..’

I shared my success with the rest of the ESW team and before we knew it each member of the team had been given a pen/tablet to use.

We have also started using free software called Epic Pen which enables you to scribe directly onto your screen/desktop. This helps when using Whereby, as you can share your entire screen and the learner can see your pen trail. These digital tools and resources make remote learning

These digital tools and resources make remote learning so much more effective and enjoyable for learners, but also easier for the tutor to deliver.

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STAFF IN THE

spotlight This month we put the spotlight on Emma Page who joined ACT in March 2017. Emma works as the Facilities Manager for ACT.

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In Facilities Management there is no typical day and that’s what I love about it.

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Tell us a little bit about your role, and what your average day looks like.

My role is to look after the buildings within the ACT Training Estate. I am responsible for ensuring our buildings are kept well maintained and compliant with the law. I also look after an element of Health & Safety and have recently being playing more of a role in the environment and corporate responsibility of ACT. In Facilities Management there is no typical day and that’s what I love about it. I could come into work with my day planned to write a report or carry out a risk assessment and then something will happen in one of our buildings which will pull me away from what I had planned.

Facilities Management certainly keeps you on your toes!

What is the most rewarding part of your current role?

I find a lot of being a Facilities Manager rewarding so I will give you the top 3: 1. D elivering a building/ construction project. I love seeing a building or space transform.

2. H elping someone who has aches and pains discover that small changes to their desk/chair could make a big difference.

3. N ever knowing what is coming – there is always a surprise in Facilities Management.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself…

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Part of my brain is shrinking due to a degenerative neurological condition called Spinocerebellar Ataxia. Having a condition like this certainly puts life into perspective!

I have been quite lucky and I can’t say any of my jobs have actually been that bad.

However, in my early 20’s I worked in a bureau call centre which I really enjoyed. One of the calls we were expected to answer was from a company that wasn’t particularly ethical.

We hated getting one of these calls delivered to us so we would bounce them around the call centre until the person calling had hung up. We knew they were just going to shout at us.

I also share the same Great Grandparents as Rylan Clark Neal. (Rylan’s grandmother was my great aunt).

What have you learnt about yourself during lockdown?

I guess the thing I have learnt is to try and be more relaxed about things. I can’t do anything to change this global pandemic so just go with it and follow the rules.

Where is the best place you have travelled to?

How do you like to spend your time when you’re not working?

I love to bake. I am not at Bake Off standards but I’m told I make a decent Chocolate Brownie.

Tough question! It would be between Croatia and Canada.

I have travelled to a few areas of both countries and would struggle to tell you which one I like best. They are both beautiful, with stunning scenery.

What would be your top tip for colleagues?

What was the last album you listened to?

In case this doesn’t get through editing, I’ll add this too… “Don’t flush the hand towels, they will block the toilets!”

I have recently discovered The 1975 so have been streaming their music. The last albums that I bought to own were the red and blue albums by the Beatles.

My Dad is an extreme Beatles fan so it’s the music I have been surrounded by my whole life.

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The only thing you need to remember in life is “Don’t be a ****”. Not being a **** is more difficult than you think. Just be conscious of your actions.

A big thank you to Emma for taking the time to answer our questions this month.

If you would like to feature in our Staff in the Spotlight section, or have a colleague you’d like to put forward, please e-mail Rachael Lewis.

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A.C.T. Development Programme Here’s the latest on our in-house programme A.C.T. (Accelerate-Collaborate-Thrive). A.C.T. is designed to enable colleagues to progress their careers within the company.

A big congratulations to the following successful candidates who went through a nomination and selection process earlier this year.

The cohorts will finish their time on the programme in July 2021 with a final presentation of their project given to our Directors.

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Kelly Harry

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Sophie Cole

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Tim Middleton

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Neil Evans

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Garod Griffiths

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Kate Harding-Jones

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Lucia McCabe

Each cohort will each be assigned a specific contact and mentor within ACT who will be able to share their expertise on particular topics and act as a sounding board. The first workshops, which took place remotely in early July, were a great success and a fantastic start to the programme.

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Mark Blewitt

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Karen Evans

Our first cohort of staff on the programme will be split into two groups and will participate in five workshops with our Management Development Specialist, Chris Hughes, throughout 2020-2021.

The workshops will combine both a practical and theoretical approach toward two 12-month projects which the candidates will be tasked with working on. The projects are: 'Equality and Diversity' and 'Lockdown Learnings.'

Speaking about A.C.T, Chris Hughes, commented, 'This programme provides a fantastic opportunity for colleagues to progress their careers within ACT. It enables them to not only enjoy all of the benefits gained through self-development, but it also provides an opportunity to work with others across the company that they may not usually encounter in their day-to-day roles.”

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k boo ub Cl The

Next recommended read...

‘Who Cares Wins: Why good business is better business’ by David Jones.

Written by the CEO of Havas Worldwide, this book shows you how to use social media to engage with customers and grow your business. This isn't a book about social media and the inexorable rise of Facebook and Twitter. Nor is it a book about CSR or business doing good. Instead it's actually the first book that recognises that far from being two separate subjects, they are intrinsically interlinked. And that the most successful leaders and businesses in the future will be those who are the most socially responsible.

Find out more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Cares-Winsbusiness-Financial/dp/0273762532/

Last Issue ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ by Akala.

Thank you to everyone who got on board with the book club, ordered a copy and read the book.

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Want to take part in our next book club?

Books are free for the first 50 staff who request a copy (first come first served basis) and could count towards your CPD hours (subject to suitability).

Request your copy by emailing bookclub@ acttraining.org.uk by Friday 25th September.

insight

welcome to our newest recruits!

Jordanne Nolan Health & Social Care Assessor

Ian Rowberry Engagement Sector Lead

Farewell to‌ Claire Quince - Advice and Guidance Assessor Craig Bickford - Essential Skills Tutor Kay Williams - Opportunities Advisor Steven Griffin - Training Kitchen Cook Lesley Hanson - Hairdressing Tutor/Assessor Jordan Haines - Analytics Assistant

latest from the Group

Here we celebrate some of the fantastic good news stories that are taking place across the CAVC Group.

Head of Catering and Retail Operations Anthony Rushton and Dean of Foundations of Learning Janine Bennett have recently been working together to distribute food to some of the College's more vulnerable students.

When it became apparent that the lockdown was going to last longer than originally anticipated, stock from CAVC's retail units (which was at risk of going to waste) was instead directed to students who were in need.

Anthony has delivered more than 80 bags of food to 25 students which included luxury items such as chocolate or crisps.

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