The best continuous professional development (CPD) courses encourage even the most experienced and senior practitioners to take a step back, re-evaluate their practice and remind themselves what is really important about working in childcare. This certainly proved to be the case for Angela Moore, manager at Bright Starts Day Nursery in Bridge of Allan, Stirling, when she undertook a short course delivered by BNG Training.
The subject of the course was 'Getting it right for every child'- or GIRFEC, as it is commonly known. GIRFEC is an approach developed in Scotland as a national policy driver and promotes key values in working with children and their families.
BNG's two-and-a-half hour course aims to equip practitioners with an understanding of the key principles of GIRFEC and outlines how they can be applied to practice and management.
GIRFEC takes a co-ordinated and unified approach to identifying concerns, assessing needs and agreeing actions and outcomes, based on children's 'well-being indicators'. It involves the acronym SHANARRI, which stands for the key indicators of Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurturing, Active, Respect, Responsible and Included.
Ms Moore says, 'The training took place at our nursery and was delivered to a group of about 20, including people from other nurseries. It was delivered by BNG's Louise Grant, who is our first port of call for all our training needs.
'Louise has a very good style when it comes to delivering CPD and this session was a mix of discussion, PowerPoints and group exercises. It was really very informative, providing an update on acts and legislation and prompting us to think carefully about how GIRFEC relates to every individual child in our care.
'It was a good refresher, and reminded us about the latest protocols and what everyone needs to be aware of. It also focused on speech and language, addressing the importance of multi-agency and partnership working where support is required.'
For more information, visit www.BNGearlyyearstraining.co.uk.
