News and Articles at Bookmark

In our series of ‘Spotlight On’, we’re excited to introduce to you the vibrant personality and invaluable team member, Gabby Brydges.  

The talent acquisition executive, Gabby, is a vital part of the team here at The Protocol Group, and her first seven months with us has been nothing short of impressive. Her commitment and dedication to the business is something we are very proud to witness every day. 

At The Protocol Group, a key part of what makes our brand so unique is the people behind it driving it to success and injecting their own individuality into the work. In this series, we like to interview different members of the team to find out more about them in order to celebrate what makes them incomparable.  

Here, we delve into the personal and professional elements of Gabby’s life to shed light on the person behind the impressive work at The Protocol Group…

1. Pet Mum

Gabby is a proud mum to two adorable Frenchies called Luna and Lola. She enjoys sharing the endless mysterious ‘tails’ of what the cheeky pups get up to on a daily basis with the office.  

2. A Recruitment Extraordinaire

With a commendable five years of experience in recruitment, Gabby is the go-to person for identifying and nurturing talent. Her commitment to the team is always noticeable and her knowledge and understanding of the sector is truly inspiring. 

3. Unforgettable Work Memories

For Gabby, one of her favourite memories since working at The Protocol Group has been a team-building summer party, where she could bond with her colleagues and in the process created some unforgettable memories to truly represent her time with The Protocol Group so far.  

4. From Crawley to Nottingham

Gabby is originally from Crawley, but decided to make the move to Nottingham several years ago and cross that southern to northern divide. Now, Gabby is happy to call Nottingham her home – especially because that means she’s been able to become a member of The Protocol Group family.  

5. What’s To Come In 2024?

Gabby is most excited about seeing how much The Protocol Group will grow in 2024. Considering 2023 was such a monumental year for the success of the company, further pushing the brand to even greater heights will be a key part of the upcoming year. 

6. Tell us a random fact…

Fun fact! Gabby’s claim to fame lies with her unexpected meet and greet with non-other than Orlando Bloom when in a small bar in Prague – let’s hope she invites him as her plus one to next year’s Christmas party! 

You can find out about more of our wonderful team here at The Protocol Group in our series of ‘Spotlight On’, exploring more about what makes our team unique across our brands eSafeguarding and our group, The Protocol Group.

April 17^th marks National Early Years Teacher Day, a dedicated date for ensuring we make an active effort to celebrate all of the work that teachers do, also providing an opportunity for people to nominate someone for the National Early Years Teacher of the Year Awards.

As this awareness day highlights, teachers play a pivotal role in the development of children, and not just academically.

The early years of a child’s life are crucial, and teachers must create a nurturing environment for their personal growth, fostering social, emotional and physical development. This also involves ensuring that children feel safe to express themselves freely, to support the building of confidence and resilience.

With so much responsibility in a child’s life, particularly with younger children, ensuring we show our appreciation for the work and dedication teachers put in is important, especially given the challenges they face.

With high levels of stress and a risk of burnout, along with keeping up to date with the latest developments in their field and discovering teaching methods to cater to diverse learners, teachers take on a lot with their role.

The importance of National Early Years Teacher Day

Emphasising the importance of young children’s education

Early years education is crucial for children’s development, and teachers have a heavy impact on this. These early ages are when children can and should learn essential skills, such as communication, problem-solving, and different emotional and social abilities.

With the responsibility of not only a child’s academic improvement, but also their personal growth, ensuring we show our appreciation and support for Early Years Teachers is vital, as is increasing people’s understanding of the meaningful nature of their role.

Creating a community for teachers

National Early Years Teacher Day also provides a setting for community, creating a supportive network for teachers to share best practices, tips, and guidance for other teachers to adopt.

Being able to share passions about the profession and collaborate with like-minded people can foster a sense of solidarity and belonging, positively affecting the working lives of teachers and therefore children, too.

How can you show your support this National Early Years Teacher Day?

You can show your support and help teachers to feel appreciated this National Early Years Teacher Day, showing them the recognition they deserve.

Whether you’re a parent or an educator yourself, ensuring you can thank at least one Early Years Teacher is sure to make a difference. With the dedication and hard work that these teachers put into shaping the future generation, our love and support is needed.

By working together and showing our support, we can improve the lives of teachers, contributing to ensuring that every child is given the chance to succeed right from the very beginning of their education.

Are you looking for Early Years Teachers or roles?

If you’re looking to fill a vacancy for an Early Years Teacher in your organisation, or you are yourself looking for your next role as an Early Years Teacher, then here at Bookmark we can support you on this journey.

As education recruitment specialists, our expansive database and team of highly trained professionals enable us to connect you with the perfect candidate, or can lead you to your dream job.

Contact us today and we can take the next steps together.

Are you interested in pursuing a career within prison education? 

With a new report published by the Social Market Foundation highlighting the crucial role that education programmes play in rehabilitating offenders, this could be a rewarding new position for the right candidate. 

To help you on your journey, we’ve highlighted the important factors you should consider when looking into this role to ensure you’re fully equipped and prepared. 

Personal skills 

Prisons are highly unique work environments, with no two days being the same. 

Therefore, the right candidate must display resilience, adaptability, and confidence, as well as being a strong communicator.  

How does the role look? 

Those working within prison education roles will work in various settings, including onsite workshops, classrooms, onsite employment hubs and offices.  

Roles are typically 37 hours a week on a Monday to Friday schedule. In some cases, part-time or flexible working may be available, but you will need to discuss this at the interview stage and agree on a suitable working pattern with your line manager. 

The specific role you choose will determine how your day-to-day life will look: 

Instructor 

Instructors are responsible for the supervision of prisoners in the workshop, alongside mentoring, coaching, and supporting prisoners to earn industry recognised qualifications. Specifics include: 

Production instructor 

Production instructors operate within workshops that engage in two primary activities: manufacturing specific items for prisons, such as breakfast packs for inmates, or offering goods and services to external entities, such as packaging greeting cards. 

 In this role, responsibilities include: 

• Supervising groups of prisoners within the workshop 
• Establishing work schedules and ensuring the achievement of delivery goals 
• Providing support and motivation to prisoners to successfully complete tasks 
• Ensuring adherence to quality standards 

Vocational instructional officers 

Your role will involve conducting workshops where prisoners learn new vocational skills through hands-on experience. These workshops vary across different prisons and encompass a variety of vocational roles including cycle repair, vehicle maintenance, bricklaying, painting, and decorating. 

In this role, responsibilities include: 

• Establishing work schedules and overseeing the achievement of delivery targets and quality standards 
• Supervising prisoners during their assigned tasks 
• Providing vocational training and assessing prisoners’ progress based on these qualifications 

Specialist production instructors 

Specialised production instructors operate in workshops that vary from one prison to another, covering specific areas such as: 

• Engineering 
• Horticulture 
• Printing 
• Textiles 

• Waste management 
• Woodworking 

Education, skills and work strategy and implementation 

Individuals within these roles ensure prisoners can access a range of opportunities to engage in work opportunities. Specifics include: 

Learning and skills manager 

In this position, you will oversee the implementation of the education curriculum within the prison. This involves collaborating with various departments, partner agencies, and prisoners to enhance engagement in ESW (Education, Skills, and Work) initiatives. 

Additionally, your responsibilities will include: 

• Supervising the procurement of ESW interventions 
• Ensuring quality assurance 
• Promoting continuous improvement 

Head of education, skills, and work 

This role is designed for an experienced educator. 

As a member of the senior leadership team within a prison, you will play a key role in creating a learning environment, specifically targeting: 

• Improving prisoners’ numeracy and literacy skills 
• Increasing the number of prisoners obtaining qualifications 
• Enhancing prisoners’ employment prospects 

This will require collaboration with various stakeholders, including the prison’s education provider, workshop leads, and local employers and organisations that hire individuals transitioning from prison. 

ID and banking administrator 

Your responsibilities will involve offering administrative assistance to assist prisoners in preparing for employment upon their release from prison. 

This includes: 

• Facilitating the matching of prisoners with job opportunities 
• Assisting individuals in organising the necessary documents required for employment in the community 
• Supporting prisoners in preparing for Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) work placements 

Neurodiversity support manager 

Your role will involve implementing a comprehensive approach throughout the prison to support the needs of neurodivergent prisoners. 

Specifically, you will: 

• Introduce enhanced procedures to identify and address the needs of neurodivergent prisoners, which will include providing training to staff. 
• Share pertinent information with colleagues to ensure reasonable adjustments are implemented, fostering a more supportive environment for neurodivergent individuals. 
• Identify any additional requirements individuals may have as they prepare for release from prison. 

Additionally, you will assist in facilitating prisoners’ access to educational, skill development, and employment opportunities available within the prison. This includes offering specialist or targeted support where practical and appropriate. 

Prison employment lead 

In your role as the employment lead, you will identify prisoners who are adequately prepared both practically and mentally to assist them in applying for jobs. 

Your responsibilities will include: 

• Sharing pertinent job opportunities with eligible individuals. 
• Collaborating with individuals to ensure they obtain the necessary training or accreditations required for industry-specific roles. 

Industries manager 

As a prison industries manager, your role will involve ensuring the smooth operation of the prison workshops, overseeing all activities to ensure they offer meaningful work for prisoners. This includes monitoring performance and budgets, and ensuring production meets contractual obligations. 

Additionally, you will be responsible for managing, supervising, and motivating both staff and prisoners within the workshops. You will ensure that all work complies with health and safety legislation and maintains quality management standards. 

Skills and qualifications 

The skills and qualifications required depend on the specific type of prison education role you apply for. 

The types of roles include: 

• Production instructors (band 3) 
• Vocational instructional officers (band 4) 
• Specialist production instructors (band 4) 
• Learning and skills managers (band 6) 
• Heads of education, skills, and work (band 7 or 8) 
• ID and banking administrators (band 3) 
• Neurodiversity support managers (band 6) 

As a minimum, all teachers within offender learning must hold a Level 3 teaching qualification alongside Level 2 Maths and English qualifications, but ideally must hold a level 5 Certificate of Education or PGCE. 

More information can be found on the HM Prison and Probate Service website. 

DBS checks 

To work in a prison education role in the UK, you would typically need to undergo a DBS check. This check is essential for positions that involve working with vulnerable adults or children, as it helps employers make safer recruitment decisions by identifying individuals who may be unsuitable for such roles due to prior criminal convictions or other relevant information. 

For roles within prison education, which often involve direct contact with individuals in custody, an Enhanced DBS Check with a check against the barred list for working with adults would likely be required. This level of check provides a detailed background check, including any spent or unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands, or warnings held on the police database. 

Additionally, specific roles within prison education may have additional requirements or checks based on the nature of the work and the population being served. It’s best to check with the employer or relevant authorities for precise details regarding DBS requirements for a particular role. 

Are you ready to pursue a career in prison education? 

A career in this field can be a really rewarding experience! If you’re interested in this line of work and would like to browse some available roles, or receive further guidance on the application process, please get in touch with the Bookmark team and we’ll be sure to help you out. 

Learning Disability Week, this year taking place between 17th – 23rd June, places a spotlight on what life as someone with learning disabilities looks like.

This year’s theme, ‘Do you see me?’ highlights the need for people with learning disabilities to be seen, heard and valued.

Educators play a vital role in challenging the barriers faced by those with disabilities in schools, supporting them and aiding their development in pivotal ways from a young age.

These roles are multifaceted and incredibly rewarding, actively contributing to generating positive change in society. Here, we explore the many ways in which Special Educational Needs educators make a difference.

Providing individualised support and instruction

Special Educational Needs teachers and support staff plan and teach lessons that are entirely tailored to meet the needs of children with learning disabilities.

By receiving individualised care and instruction, children are more easily able to overcome specific hurdles and perform to the best of their abilities.

This could also include the creation of personalised learning plans that outline students’ strengths and weaknesses, learning goals and strategies for support.

Adapting teaching methods and materials

A large part of the work SEN teachers do is using different teaching strategies and tools to accommodate the needs of children with learning difficulties. As part of this, they often modify assessment methods to ensure every child’s work is assessed fairly, regardless of any learning difficulties.

This could involve multisensory learning, such as using visual aids or interactive strategies to enhance learning and retention, or technology integration to facilitate independent learning.

Through this, children with learning difficulties learn how to carry out tasks in ways that suit their learning style, also becoming more independent and self-aware.

Skill development

SEN educators help students with learning difficulties with a holistic approach, aiding the development of both academic and life skills such as communication, problem-solving, time management, collaboration and more.

This is vital in helping children achieve their full potential both while in education and later in life.

SEN teachers often address specific skill gaps by providing additional practice and reinforcement to develop proficiency, helping children with learning disabilities build confidence and overcome personal challenges.

Advocacy

When it comes to advocacy, special needs educators have a crucial role to play. By collaborating with parents and other stakeholders both within and outside educational establishments, they can help shift attitudes and improve perceptions.

There is often a lot of misinformation and ignorance surrounding children with learning disabilities, and SEN teachers become pivotal in raising awareness, being a voice for their students.

A vital part of this involves advocating for the rights and needs of children with learning disabilities within the school system, such as to ensure that appropriate resources and services are provided to support the students’ learning and development.

Empowerment

Special needs educators empower students by teaching them vital self-advocacy skills and nurturing a growth mindset. Through their work, they encourage students to recognise their strengths, overcome challenges, and advocate for themselves both in academic and social settings.

SEN teachers also offer social and emotional support to help students develop self-awareness, self-regulation, and interpersonal skills. They provide opportunities for social interaction, emotional expression, and conflict resolution, fostering a positive, supportive and empowering classroom environment.

By celebrating small achievements and progress in the right ways, educators boost children’s confidence and enhance their desire to engage in learning activities, building a brighter future for them.

Becoming a SEN teacher

SEN teachers are advocates, facilitators and contributors to the wellbeing and success of students with learning disabilities. These individuals create inclusive environments to suit their unique needs, a huge part of cultivating their independence and breaking down barriers.

These roles are vital in providing social and emotional support, offering positive reinforcement to build self-esteem as well as contributing to children’s professional development and independence post-education.

Are you interested in pursuing a rewarding career in SEN teaching? Contact a member of our team today to find out how Bookmark can help you:

From the 17th of June to the 23rd of June, it is National School Sport Week, a time dedicated to encouraging children to become more involved in sports and have at least 60 minutes a day of PE. In partnership with Sports Direct, this week is the time to ‘play for fun, play for 60’.

The Government advises that children should be active for 30 minutes during the school day, and then a further 30 minutes outside of school. For disabled young people, it is recommended that they carry out a minimum of 20 minutes of physical activity every day, with strength and balance activity three times a week.

This year, the week’s theme centres around the Euros, with a special one-off event that focusses on football and how it can engage young people in sport. By registering, schools will be able to have access to free resources, lesson plans, and classroom activities, all co-designed by young people specifically for young people.

Sports Direct will also be giving away free football packs that include Nike footballs, Monster Kickabout bibs, and more.

Incorporating healthy activities into a child’s daily life is a proven way to support their development, and this blog will delve into the multiple factors that demonstrate why sports are beneficial for children.

The physical benefits for children

Throughout childhood, our minds and bodies are developing and evolving, with so many changes occurring. Playing sport offers physical benefits for children during this crucial period of development, with a variety of positive contributions.

From such a young age, it is beneficial to begin developing and using muscles, and playing sports can improve coordination and motor skills in the process. It can also support cardiovascular health through the incorporation of regular exercise in children’s daily routine.

By making sport a regular occurrence in a child’s life, it can also support those who are at risk of an unhealthy lifestyle, are fighting obesity, or have any other related health conditions. And, it can help to improve sleeping patterns, too, ensuring that children can rest properly and maintain a balanced lifestyle.

The mental benefits for children

The benefits of playing sport do not stop with physical factors. In fact, playing sport can encourage cognitive growth through the increase in production of endorphins. This can further enhance brain function, whilst also supporting an improved state of mental wellbeing.

Beyond this, playing sport and being more active contributes to so many other skills such as problem-solving and decision-making, as well as an improvement in focus, attention span and information retention.

The social benefits for children

Of course, playing sport is a social activity as well as a physical one, and it can carry so many benefits for children’s social skills. It can dramatically help with communication skills, particularly in circumstances that encourage teamwork and cooperation.

Through expressing themselves in a different environment to that of the classroom, playing a sport allows children to improve their confidence, too, with dramatic improvements to their self-esteem and mental attitude.

Are you looking for your next sports career opportunity?

If you are looking for your next role as a PE teacher or a similar role and want to support and encourage children in playing and learning sports, then get in touch with us today. Here at Bookmark, we can help you to find your dream role, and we can also match up schools looking for the best suited teachers to join their team.

As a leading education recruitment partner, you will be in safe hands, so contact us today and we will discuss your next steps.

The early years of someone’s life are crucial for their development and growth, emotionally and physically, which is why nursery teachers hold such high levels of responsibility teaching children from ages three to five.

The direct impact that teachers have on children’s lives is immense, and the work involved requires hours of hard work.

Along with planning and organising appropriate activities to engage the children for learning purposes, nursery teachers often need to help with personal needs such as feeding and changing, depending on their age. 

Their responsibilities also involve being a role model for children, inspiring them and nurturing them to be able to achieve their full potential

There are countless studies on child development that show how valuable early years education is. Not only does it support and provide children with social, language and numeracy skills, but it has been proven that early years teaching can in fact boost the earnings of children when they’re older.

It is certain that no two days are the same when working as a nursery teacher, and their dedication to children’s development goes beyond academic teaching. This blog will explore the role of nursery teachers and their inspirational impact on children’s development.

The role of nursery teachers

Nursery teachers have different responsibilities to consider when looking after a classroom of three- to five-year-olds, with various ways in which they can impact their progression and learning. Through catering to the needs of different children, teachers have to consider how to achieve the following points to support their learning and development.

Creating a safe and nurturing environment

A classroom must be kept clean and tidy in order to prevent accidents, but also to promote a healthy environment. A teacher must also ensure to create an emotionally safe space, where children feel happy and able to express themselves, with the teacher able to support them through times of hesitation or frustration. 

Facilitating early learning

As mentioned, the early years of learning are extremely important for children, so introducing basic concepts such as numbers, letters, shapes and colours in the form of engaging activities is a key part of their education. A teacher must consider how to make lessons fun and interactive, to encourage a want to learn and improve, too. 

Promoting social and emotional development

Being surrounded by other children, exposed to different types of personalities and people of different backgrounds, allows children to interact with others and practice their social skills. They can learn to share, to be patient, and develop empathy. A teacher must promote this within their classroom environment, and assist children in learning how to effectively and politely communicate and interact with their peers.

Supporting physical development 

A lot of activities can be physical in nature, allowing children to enhance their motor skills, growing in confidence with their physical abilities, too. Being in a learning environment can also encourage children to develop healthy habits related to good nutrition and hygiene. This is where nursery teachers must implement a variety of activities and discussions in their lessons, so that young children are being taught about and shown the importance of movement and health. 

If you would like to make a difference by supporting children in their early education, or are looking for a qualified nursery teacher to join your team, then Bookmark is the education recruitment partner to help you.

You can contact us today via our contact form – we look forward to hearing from you.