Tim and Stella celebrate Millie’s Mark’s 10th anniversary at Smarties Nursery
Today (Thursday 24 September) we celebrate a milestone for Millie’s Mark, the gold standard in paediatric first aid.
Our Director of Quality and Training, Stella Ziolkowski and I visited Smarties Nursery in Rastrick, West Yorkshire to meet their staff and children. Smarties like many other nurseries across the UK benefit from holding the Millie’s Mark accreditation. This means that all their staff who work with children are trained in paediatric first aid.
But it’s more than that: they have plans in place to keep that training fresh in their minds, so they can give effective first aid as soon as they need to.
As a result of Millie’s Mark, we estimate that 250,000 children have been safer in their early years setting, with measures in place to avoid incidents and accidents; and with staff ready to act if anyone falls ill or gets hurt.
This gives parents and carers peace of mind and can be a great marketing tool for nurseries.
Millie’s Mark was developed by first aid charity Millie’s Trust and NDNA administers the accreditation. It was launched in September 2016 for early years settings in England.
Ten years later, it is a recognised accreditation across the UK, with almost 3,000 accreditations awarded to nurseries, schools, childminders and out of school clubs.
Dan and Joanne Thompson founded Millie’s Trust following their daughter Millie’s death from a choking incident in a nursery in 2012. Their aim is to train and educate all staff working in nurseries to save children’s lives.
Every three years, nurseries with Millie’s Mark can renew their accreditation. They must also submit annual declarations to confirm all their staff working with children are fully trained and let NDNA know of any changes, serious accidents or injuries within the nursery.
We visited Smarties Nursery along with Greg Marston, our Quality and Training Manager, who initially appeared as Millie Giraffe which delighted the children.
We spent a wonderful time looking at the contents of a first aid box with the children and asking them questions. What struck us was how happy and secure these children are.
Delivering Millie’s Mark is something we at NDNA are incredibly proud to do. It has been a big success story which is why we are very happy to share our anniversary celebrations across the country with all early years settings.
Find out more about Millie’s Mark here https://www.milliesmark.com/
And about our 10th anniversary celebrations and activities here https://ndna.org.uk/celebrating-10-years-of-millies-mark/
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive of NDNA
