Islington Play CEO
Right, blog number two.
So this week has been quiet on the playgrounds with the big summer over and a return to after school hours for those that are open. Half the sites are taking their post summer closure now. We try to make sure there are always some sites open whilst trying to manage annual leave and sickness.
The debrief for summer has begun. There is one site where the staff always go off sick, no matter how many staff we programme in we are always struggling. This site is also one of our most successful sites in terms of numbers of children and the smallest in terms of space. I don't know if the children's enjoyment is in direct correlation to the adults discomfort but there is something to be explored here.
This term we are trying an experiment. A number of staff have asked to move sites- to see what goes on in other places, gain new challenges and experience different environments. This fits with our desire to provide change and stimulus for the children so we are moving one person from each site to another one... I will be updating here about how it goes...
We have decided to try piloting contracts for holiday times. We currently have non exclusive zero hours contracts giving both us and staff the flexibility to plan work on an ad hoc basis but we want to try a different approach. Our next recruitment will be on these terms.
We have the closing date for our admin post on Friday. We so far have over 30 applications and looks like well over 75% have degrees!! It will be hard to shortlist. Do we decide on the basis of experience when we know that many bright young people straight out of Uni would be ideal for our organisation?
We are looking at doing some practical tests ( excel!!) to narrow the field.
We have been burnt before as some people are can prove they have done similar work to ours but not how well they did it.....
I have been sent an invite to apply for a fellowship that will allow me to travel somewhere (anywhere) to research other organisations and social enterprises which may have good practice to share with us. It seems like an amazing opportunity but travel is not my strong point... When W and I went to the International Play Conference in Turkey we got kicked out of our air bnb flat...apparently quite an achievement!
The eldest is all set to go to Australia. She has finished her A levels and wants to see the world before she decides about Uni. But it's so far away and she will miss Christmas...feeling conflicted again.
The middle one gets her room while she is away so that's quite exciting.
I have just been booked on to training in Sage. I am sure it will be very interesting. It's in Croydon.
The business plan and impact reports are looking rather good. We have designed them in house - we just need to find printers who can translate our vision into hard copy. I am very dependant on the middle child to help with the layout but she is quite busy getting her hair done.
Have just heard that a trustee will be stepping down this AGM. She has small children and evening meetings are tricky. It's always a lottery about who comes to sit on the board- it's a big responsibility and quite a commitment. We could do with an HR person if you're reading this.....