Did you know that 20% of UK parents spend no time at all reading with their children? Or that just 50% of parents with young children read for just 1 hour each week?
Not only does reading to your children help to improve their academic performance, but more importantly it strengthens your bond, improves their imagination, helps children learn to read, teaches them about the world around them, and provides important morals to help make your child a nicer person.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and it’s the perfect time for young children to unleash their creativity.
Choose from our top 5 valentine’s activities for young children and have a great day with arts and crafts making gifts for friends, family and nanny!
Continue reading “Valentine’s Day Activity Ideas for Young Children”
Eligible employees can take unpaid parental leave to look after their child’s welfare, for example,
spend more time with their children
look at new schools
settle children into new childcare arrangements
spend more time with family, such as visiting grandparents
Their employment rights are protected during parental leave.
Parental leave is unpaid. Employees are entitled to 18 weeks leave for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday.
The limit on how much parental leave each parent can take in a year is 4 weeks for each child (unless the employer agrees otherwise).
You must take parental leave as whole weeks (eg 1 week or 2 weeks) rather than individual days, unless your employer agrees otherwise or if your child is disabled. You don’t have to take all the leave at once.
Employees qualify if all of these apply:
they’ve been in the company for more than a year
they’re named on the child’s birth or adoption certificate or they have or expect to have parental responsibility
Employees must give 21 days’ notice before their intended start date. If they or their partner are having a baby or adopting, it’s 21 days before the week the baby or child is expected.
Employees must confirm the start and end dates in their notice. Unless an employer requests it, this doesn’t have to be in writing.
Nursery jobs are, by some, considered to be unskilled jobs that anybody can do – this is not the case. Nursery jobs come with plenty of challenges, and not everybody is cut out for working in a childcare setting. Fun they may be, but nursery jobs are no easy option!
However, the rewards of nursery jobs are many, and if you are the kind of person who can adapt to nursery life, a nursery job might well be the perfect career option for you.
So, how do you know if you are cut out for one of the many nursery jobs that are available?
Do you like children?
This may be devastatingly obvious, but it’s an important point nonetheless – in order to be able to hack the daily hustle and bustle of a nursery, you will need to have some kind of passion for children and early years education. With office jobs and the like, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t like your job much, as long as you can fulfil your tasks – with nursery jobs, enjoying your work (most of the time) is important. After all, you’re dealing with little people every single day – little people who will need to be connected with you and who need you to have their best interests at heart.
Can you tolerate noise and chaos?
Good nurseries tend to be well-organised and run to a schedule. In any facility where there are a lot of people in one place that need caring for, some kind of schedule is necessary. However, children being children, things won’t always go to plan. There will be moments that the nursery will be a chaotic environment, and you can guarantee that it will be noisy nearly all of the time. Not everybody can tolerate such a busy and noisy environment, and nursery jobs require that you are able to stay calm and in control even if all hell is breaking loose.
Are you patient?
We all lose our temper sometimes, and you don’t have to be endlessly patient to be a great nursery worker. However, you need to be able to be patient with the children – shouting at them is never okay. We all have limits and that isn’t a bad thing, but you need to be self-aware enough to realise when you are approaching your limit so you can remove yourself from stressful situations before they escalate.
Do you have a sense of fun?
If you don’t enjoy playing and being silly, you certainly won’t enjoy working in a nursery. Of course, there are plenty of other duties besides playing to undertake in nursery jobs, but playing is certainly one of the most important. Small children learn through play, so being able to engage them in stimulating, creative activities is vital. Having a sense of fun and a good imagination is important, as is not being afraid to make animal noises and dress up like a princess or a superhero in the presence of lots of children (and probably a few adults, too).
| Bank Holidays 2020
2020 is upon us and it is always handy to have a list of the bank holidays for the year and what day of the week they fall on. These are the dates of the bank holidays in 2020 for England. |
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| 1 January | Wednesday | New Year’s Day |
| 10 April | Friday | Good Friday |
| 13 April | Monday | Easter Monday |
| 8 May | Friday | Early May Bank Holiday |
| 25 May | Monday | Spring bank holiday |
| 31 August | Monday | Summer bank holiday |
| 25 December | Friday | Christmas Day |
| 28 December | Monday | Boxing Day |
If a bank holiday is on a weekend, a ‘substitute’ weekday becomes a bank holiday, normally the following Monday.
It is worth noting that if nanny does not work 5 days a week that she is still entitled to bank holidays on a pro rata basis, for example if nanny only works 3 days per week then she is still entitled to 3/5ths of the 8 bank holidays whether her working day falls on a bank holiday or not.
Today is Blue Monday, supposedly one of the most depressing days of the year, based on the weather, debt, time since Christmas, lack of motivation and many other factors. Undoubtedly, we probably all feel a little low at this time of year for a whole host of reasons. But for those people that genuinely suffer with depression every single day Blue Monday is just another day to them.
Depression in adults is a condition we’re all familiar with. Most adults have at some point felt mildly depressed and a surprising proportion of the population has suffered from clinical depression, whether treated or not. Although there is still a huge stigma around saying that someone as an individual is or has been depressed, it’s no longer the hidden condition it once was. Depression in children and teenagers, on the other hand, is much less widely acknowledged but potentially very serious.
What on earth do children have to be depressed about?
We may cast our minds back to the halcyon days of our own childhood and wonder what there is to become stressed and depressed about but firstly childhood was never that simple and secondly today’s children are facing an infinitely more complex world with shifting social norms, advancing technology and mounting media pressure. In Hollywood everyone is popular, rich and happy, the guy always gets the girl and we all live happily ever after. This can set up dangerous expectations for real life and if children can gorge on this constructed reality, they can end up feeling like they’ll never be good enough. If we’re honest with ourselves we were all anxious about school and schoolwork, keeping up with our friends and living up to parental expectations and today’s children are no different, even though the challenges they face are. It becomes more complicated when children become adolescents because the maelstrom of hormones, which leads to tears, tantrums, rage and rebellion, can mask depression – it all gets put down simply to being a teenager. It’s especially important at this time to watch out for anything out of the ordinary which continues over a lengthy period as it may point to a deeper issue.
How can I spot depression?
Knowing what is normal for your child or charge is key, and that can only be achieved by keeping the lines of communication open. It’s difficult when your efforts are met with angry rejection but keep letting them know you’re listening and do genuinely listen to what they say even if it seems insignificant to you. A constant refusal to communicate may be a sign that something is troubling them, but they don’t know how to talk to you about it. In this case be guided by your instincts and you may need to seek professional help along with your child. Although it may feel like a betrayal at the time, a child will get over that faster than untreated depression.
Surely my child is too young to be depressed.
In fact, depression can hit children as young as 2 or 3 years old so there’s no such thing as too young. The number rises sharply in adolescence, with girls twice as likely to suffer as boys at this point. Rest assured, depression in very young children is likely to be the result of physical or emotional trauma and rarely manifests in healthy children with a secure attachment to their parents. Children who are at risk of depression, be it from chronic illness or emotional disturbances in their life, are likely to be offered additional help, perhaps in the form of play therapy or counselling.
That said, although depression in children is rare it’s important to remember that it does still exist and shouldn’t be discounted because of age.
How can I prevent depression?
There is no one way to prevent depression but setting an example of a healthy, realistic lifestyle is a good start. Plenty of exercise and fresh air along with a good diet will help keep the brain’s chemistry in balance and ensuring plenty of time for relaxation and play is vital for relieving stress. Good communication skills lay the foundation for open and honest exchanges about emotions and will safeguard your relationship throughout the difficult teenage years. It’s never too early to talk to children, be honest with them and accept them for who they are, encourage them to express their feelings and give age-appropriate explanations for what they see in the world around them.
Get into the habit of looking for the good in life. At the end of the day encourage children to focus on the good things that have happened and consider encouraging older children who don’t want to be tucked in any more to keep a positivity journal. The act of reflecting on what has gone well prevents a spiral of negativity and a journal can be a source of encouragement when times get tough.
For more information please visit www.youngminds.org.uk
Christmas is the perfect time to rekindle your child’s love of books and reading.
Children’s Christmas books are filled with happiness, wonder and strong morals. Reading is a simple, easy activity that can be enjoyed by children of all ages, no matter the weather.
Encourage them to learn by reading aloud or helping them to read along.
What are you waiting for? Pick up a book today and spark their imagination.
See below for our recommended top 5 festive children’s books!
Continue reading “Get into the Christmas spirit with our top 5 festive books for children”
The criteria for 30 hours for funded childcare, is that you must earn £131.36 a week which equates to 16 hours at the national minimum wage or Living Wage.
The 30 hours a week is for 38 weeks of the year and is for children who are aged 3 or 4 this equates to 1,140 hours per year.
You will not be able to claim this, if you or your partner has a taxable income of over £100,000, the child does not usually live with you, if the child is fostered or if you are from outside the EEA and it states you can’t access public funds on your UK residence card.
To register for funded childcare or for more questions:
https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
These are some of the most common terms used in payroll.
Gross pay – this is the pay before deductions for tax, national insurance, pension and student loans. The gross pay includes overtime, commission, bonuses, statutory payments and any other taxable income.
Net Pay – This is what nanny takes home in her pocket.
Tax – Deducted based on nanny’s tax code which determines nanny’s tax free allowance and then any earnings above the tax free allowance is deducted at 20%.
NI – National Insurance. There are 3 types of NI for PAYE.
Employees NI deducted from nanny’s gross wage at 12% on earnings above £166.00 per week.
Employer’s NI on top of nanny’s gross wage paid at 13.8% on earnings above £166.00 per week.
Class 1A NICS, this is a yearly payment for any benefits in kind nanny may have had for the previous tax year.
SMP – statutory maternity pay. Nanny is entitled to 39 paid weeks of leave providing she meets the criteria. Nanny is allowed a further 13 weeks unpaid
SPP – statutory paternity pay. Nanny entitled to 2 weeks of statutory pay.
SSP – statutory sick pay. Nanny will get SSP after 4 consecutive working days of sickness
P60 – Nanny will be given this form at the end of the tax year to show her annual pay, tax, NI and statutory payments, she then keeps this for her own records.
P45 – When nanny leaves your employment, a P45 will be issued with her leaving date, tax code, if a student loan has been deducted and total gross and tax to date in that tax year, she then gives this form to her next employer.
Childcare vouchers will cease from the 5th October 2018 and thereafter the Tax-Free Childcare scheme will take over.
You can get up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare.
If you get Tax-Free Childcare, the government will pay £2 for every £8 you pay your childcare provider via an online account.
https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare
You can get Tax-Free Childcare if you and your partner (if applicable) are –
in employment or getting parental leave, sick leave or annual leave
each earning at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week – this is £131.36 if you’re 25 or over
This earnings limit does not apply if you’re self-employed and started your business less than 12 months ago.
Your child must be 11 or under and usually live with you. They stop being eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday.
Adopted children are eligible, but foster children are not.
If your child is disabled, you may get up to £4,000 a year until they’re 17. They’re eligible for this if they –
get Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or Armed Forces Independence Payment
are registered as blind or severely sight-impaired
You’re not eligible if either you or your partner has a taxable income over £100,000.
Your childcare provider must be signed up to the scheme before you can pay them and benefit from Tax-Free Childcare.
