C4C Newsletter - June

C4C Newsletter

June 2018
Issue Number 3

In this Issue

Page 1 A Word from Kamran Page 8 Fostering Update Page 15 Key Achievements
Page 9 Clinical Update Page 16 Loyalty Awards
Page 2 In the News Page 10 Education Update Page 17 Star Awards – Beyond Expectations
Page 3 Employee Celebrations Page 11 Social Responsibility Charter
Page 4 Staff Vacancies Page 12 Traxwatch
Page 13 Learning and Development
Page 5 Staff Vacancies Continued Page 14 Training Courses
Page 6 Sexual Trauma Update
Page 7 Forensic Services Update

Welcome: A word from Kamran…

Dear Colleagues, A Reminder of Our Top Priorities
2018
I hope you and our young people have been able to enjoy some of the glorious weather we have been
having, and have also managed to spend some time away from work relaxing with your own families. All Services Good/Outstanding Rated
The holy month of Ramadan is upon us and I wish you all Ramadan Mubarak.
Digitise Clinical Programme
I have really enjoyed reading about our children’s success stories in this newsletter, including the
poetry book to be published by Tom from Lincoln House, and also Dane from Stalmine who secured Open 4 New Homes
2nd place in a BMX competition in Blackpool. We have had lots of examples in the last few months of
children starting or completing qualifications, as diverse as catering and brick laying and some children Deliver Employee Engagement Strategy
who are taking GCSE’S this month. I am a firm believer in education and skills as a means for children
to improve their life chance and thank you all for your dedication and commitment in supporting in IT Infrastructure Improvements
this area.
Maintain Our Investors in People
I am also a big advocate for education and training to develop our own staff base, and have been Accreditation
disappointed in the last few months to see that training opportunities are still not being taken up.
Continued professional development is absolutely essential in this sector, and attendance at training Continued Investment in Learning and
will ensure all teams have the skills to be able to offer the children the very best levels of care. I have Development
therefore asked Nina Savage, our HR director, as well as our Heads of Service, to ensure that training
attendance is taken into consideration in both pay increments and any promotions, and I will be taking Implement Social Responsibility Charter
a personal interest in this area, monitoring progress on a regular basis.
If you have a feedback on the Newsletter
In line with the theme of professional development, I am delighted to announce that we will be then please contact Nina Savage, HR
running a pioneering Child Focused Systemic Practice course in conjunction with the Institute of Family Director at
Therapy. The first cohort will commence this course in September 2018 and this will further cement [email protected]
our position of being a therapeutically lead organisation. Our Ofsted results continue to improve with
91% of inspected services being rated as “good” or above against the sector average of 81%.

I look forward to seeing you all on my travels around the sites,

Kamran Abassi

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In the news… Have your say

Social Care Surveys From 14th May until 22nd June 2018 you
The surveys are an opportunity for children, parents, staff, foster carers, can give your views in Ofsted’s online
adopters and professionals to share with us their views about the
providers they are involved with and that we inspect. survey

Please follow this link to find out more; What you say can really make a difference
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-care-online- and it doesn't take long
questionnaires-guidance-for-providers
For more information, contact Ofsted:
Online surveys are open during the following dates; 0300 123 1231
• From 14 May to 22 June for residential special schools and further 2

education colleges with residential provision.
• From 9 July to 17 August for children’s homes (includes secure

children’s homes), fostering agencies (includes independent fostering
agencies and local authority fostering agencies), adoption agencies
(includes voluntary adoption agencies and local authority adoption
agencies), adoption support agencies and residential family centres.
• From 1 October to 9 November for boarding schools.

On the first day the survey is launched C4C will receive an email
containing a set of links unique to us. These will then be shared with you
all.

Employee Celebrations…

June & July Birthdays

Joshua Armstrong – 03rd June Victoria Bufton – 1st July

Steve Cooke – 03rd June Arrondale Richards – 01st July

Stuart Dollman – 03rd June David Turnbull – 02nd July

Jeremy Farrar – 03rd June Giuliano Achilli – 04th July

Krista Ball – 05th June Alex Newton – 04th July

Claire Marsh – 06th June Victoria Gutteridge – 06th July Professional Qualifications

Sheraz Rattoo – 12th June Joseph Jackson – 09th July Congratulations to Kashif Mahmood for
completing his Level 3 Diploma in
Andy Hurst – 16th June Edward Mansell – 13th July Residential Childcare. Thank you for
your ongoing commitment and hard
Pippa Daley-Williams – 17th June Zain Abassi – 14th July work and well done!
Amberleigh Duckworth – 22nd June Leila Tanner – 15th July
Rebecca Hetherington – 24th June Theodore Weekes – 15th July Congratulations Kris Creighton who
Mark Barratt – 26th June has recently completed his Level 5 in
Jessica Tredrea – 31st July Leadership and Management. The
Niall Biocchi – 27th June commitment you have shown to your
personal development and Care 4
Gwenith Jones – 29th June Children is great. Keep up the good
work.

If you or anyone else in your team has something to celebrate,
please let us know at [email protected]

3

Vacancies…

We currently have vacancies in the following locations:

Home Location Manager Vacancies
Sexual Trauma
Jefferson House Winsford Annmarie Farrell Residential Care Workers
Lincoln House Burnley Carla Savery Residential Care Workers
Austen House Haslingden Berni Perry Senior Residential Care Workers
Residential Care Worker
Interested in any of the Nightingale House Hebden Bridge Nicole Fremont Residential Care Worker
vacancies released in our Columbus House
weekly bulletin or on our Halifax Emma Smith Senior Residential Care Worker
Rosa House Residential Care Worker
website? Bunley Kate Yarker Deputy Manager – Maternity Cover
Forensics Residential Care Worker
Contact the Recruiting Manager Fortitude House Blackpool Jeremy Farrar
but as a courtesy, notify your Senior Residential Care Worker
line manager too Hope House Preston Danielle Maher Residential Care Worker
Meadow Bank Rossendale Amy Brooks Residential Care Workers
No need to fill in an application House (Acting Manager) Senior Residential Care Worker
if you work for us already Meadow Bank Rossendale Dominic Tumelty Residential Care Workers
House Home Manager
Just tell us on an A4 letter why Ribbleton House Preston Dominic Tumelty
you’re the right candidate. Home Manager
NEW HOME Ashton Under Dominic Tumelty Senior Residential Care Worker
Remember to write about your Lawrence House Lyne Residential Care Worker
skills, experiences and GRIP Deputy Manager
qualifications! NEW HOME Marple Dominic Tumelty Senior Residential Care Workers
Mandela House Residential Care Workers
GRIP Service Manager
Senior Residential Care Workers
Residential Care Workers

DO YOU WANT A £100 BONUS? • If they successfully pass their probation you
• Introduce someone external to C4C
get a £100 reward! 4

Vacancies Continued…

We currently have Education vacancies in the following locations:

Interested in any of the Education Location Manager Vacancy
vacancies released in our
weekly bulletin or on our Trax Academy Preston Mick McCallum Instructors
Tariq Verpalen
website? Lawrence House Ashton under Lead Teacher
(GRIP 2) lyne Tariq Verpalen Teaching Assistant
Contact the Recruiting Manager
but as a courtesy, notify your Mandela House Maple Lead Teacher
line manager too (GRIP 3) Teaching Assistant

No need to fill in an application Bank/Sessional Roles
if you work for us already If you require more flexibility from your employment contract, in terms
of hours of work and shift patterns, you could always join our bank of
Just tell us on an A4 letter why sessional workers. We have vacancies for these roles in all of our homes.
you’re the right candidate. Please contact HR for an application form and notify them of the
locations in which you would be willing to work.
Remember to write about your
skills, experiences and DO YOU WANT A £100 BONUS?
qualifications! • Introduce someone external to C4C

• If they successfully pass their probation you
get a £100 reward!

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Residential Update…

Sexual Trauma

The sexual trauma division are delighted to announce that we have had inspections in two services since the last newsletter (Columbus
House and Jefferson House) with extremely good outcomes. Columbus House achieved an overall Good rating with outstanding in
leadership and management which is a credit to Emma Smith, Service Manager and the team – well done to you all! Also, Jefferson
House maintained their overall Outstanding rating which is a fantastic achievement for Annmarie Farrell, Service Manager and the team.
Thank you for your continued hard work & commitment.

We have also successful registered Rosa House and have recently placed our first young person in this home. Good luck to the team
there.

Our current focus is to find and secure a further property which will also be a specialist CSE service. We plan to open this new service in
the summer months so watch this space for further job opportunities.

Welcome to Kate Yarker as the Registered Service Manager for
Rosa House, our newest home in the Sexual Trauma Division.

“I look forward to the journey of receiving the young people
and working with the team to provide another excellent
service!!” Kate Yarker.

It’s not too late to join Kate and her team, so if you are
interested in a move or know someone who is, please get in
touch.

Top priorities during 2018

• Open two new homes within the Sexual Trauma Division enabling Care 4 Children to support more young people
• To develop the skills and knowledge of our staff groups
• Work together to increase the number of Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ homes

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Residential Update…

Forensic Services

As ever it has been a busy month in the Forensics area with a combination of some more really positive work with
our boys, inspections, new homes under development and more besides.

Some highlights for me include those that are achieving well at Trax and
taking on the Junior Instructor role; embarking on apprenticeship
schemes; taking part in BMX races (albeit with grazed knees!); sitting a
range of GCSEs, completing phases of their Wellbeing For Life
Programme. Well done to all the boys and thank you to all the team
colleagues who have enabled these positive times.

A number of changes have taken place recently in our area at Registered Manager level mainly:

At Hope House, Danielle Maher has moved over from Meadow Bank House, with her previous deputy Amy Brooks taking on the
interim manager role at Meadow Bank. My thanks to Sharon Fleming for her period as interim manager at Hope House, whilst these
changes have been finalised.

In addition to Maple Lodge, Jaimie Bell has added Endeavour House, our Crisis care service to his area of responsibility.

Finally, we now have a vacancy for a Home Manager to run our newest home, Ribbleton House in Preston which was recently
registered with Ofsted. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in this exciting opportunity.

We have had a number of visits from colleagues in Ofsted, notably at Mill Lodge, Moore Tree Lodge and Fortitude House as well as for
registration purposes at Ribbleton House. Some really positive achievements have come from these inspections with great credit to
all those involved. Of course as we strive to be outstanding in all areas, there are always learning points but we can take this challenge
and achieve.

Top priorities during 2018 7
• Open 3 new homes in the Forensic service during 2018
• Achieve and maintain an Ofsted ‘Good’ rating on all of our homes

Fostering Update…

Join our Team

The fostering team are currently looking for family support staff on a sessional basis. This could also apply to Residential staff who are
looking to gain more experience within a fostering setting, so If you know of anyone interested please refer them to us. We know from
research that word of mouth referrals are the most successful so please get in touch.

Success Stories Spotlight on Christine Hadfield

A young person Another young person Christine has experience of over 14 years
transitioned from Austen within our fostering within the fostering sector and has
House to one of our placements has been undertaken specific Panel training, as well
Therapeutic Fostering offered a place at as relevant fostering training, HR and
Placements in February- Salford University to administration work within her role.
17. She has recently study a degree in Christine previously was involved in
received a conditional Paediatric Nursing. running a business and retains a specific
offer to study Forensic Congratulations! interest in working with foster carers. She
Psychology at Leeds was brought up within a fostering
University. household and continues to offer support
Congratulations! to her foster brothers and sisters.

It is vital we all continue to value and strongly promote Christine has a flair for organising fostering events and enjoys meeting carers
our children’s education in order to provide them with and children. Her role as Fostering Office Manager involves compliance
choices for their futures. Well done to everyone management and panel minute taking, alongside managing the fostering
involved and to the children who have worked hard office.
and remained focused in achieving their aims.

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Clinical Update…

Welcome to the team:

This month we welcome a new member to the team, Claire Evans. Claire has previously
been employed with the NHS and has a wide range of experience which she is looking
forward to utilising within her role as Clinical Psychologist in Training within our Sexual
Trauma Division – initially based at Columbus House and Rosa House.

Breaking News:
We are running an exciting CPD programme with the first cohort due to start in September 2018. The Child Focused Systemic Practice (
LAC) will be run in conjunction with the Institute of Family Therapy ( IFT) based in London and participants will complete a Certificate in
Child Focused Systemic Practice – potentially the first step towards a Systemic Practitioner/ Systemic Psychotherapist training. Dr. Chip
Chimera , Programme Director from IFT London , Gerrilyn Smith Clinical Director and Dr. Ram Karamatali will be facilitating.

This innovative course aims to provide participants with opportunities to extend their thinking and practice with children and young
people and their families in such a way that their personal style is expanded and their knowledge of systemic, attachment and other
relevant theory is broadened.

We are continuing to work with Citrus to develop our clinical app and tracker.

Over the next few weeks we will be wanting participants to trial/review the
project as it takes shape so if you would like to take part in this then please
contact [email protected]

Top priorities during 2018
• Digitise our Wellbeing for Life Programme ™.
• Develop and implement a bespoke Clinical Tracker, producing an e-book Wellbeing for Life and Exceptional Experiences Manual(s)

and adapt our workbooks for a digital platform.
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Education Update…

We are happy to announce that Rosa House school has passed its initial Ofsted visit and will now be the
newest addition to our Care 4 Children Education Department.

Vivien Hamilton will be the Lead Teacher and Sana Rasul the Teaching Assistant. Both are ‘old hands’ and
fully work along our ethos, so I am sure they will do a great job and put Rosa House School on the map in
no time.

Ofsted came and inspected Lincoln House recently and I am pleased to share that, as expected,
all outcomes were graded Good. However, for the first time one of the outcomes - Personal
development, behaviour and welfare - was graded Outstanding.

I feel this outcome is fully merited and wish to congratulate Hilary, Vivien and their students on
this amazing achievement. Obviously the Lincoln House care colleagues deserve a compliment
too, as their unwavering support to the school is of the utmost importance and highly
appreciated.

New Opportunities 10

We will be opening a number of new schools in the foreseeable future so if any one wishes to join the
Department in these new ventures, please read the weekly vacancy bulletin which will detail
opportunities or contact Shaun Redgrave, Head of Education or myself. Our teaching assistant roles do
not require a specific educational qualification, so if you are interested, please get in touch.

Ramadan has arrived and I’d like to wish all of you a Ramadan Mubarak. May it be a blessed month
during which we will be able to reflect and find inspiration along with a deep sense of humility.

Tariq Verpalen, Education Director.

Social Responsibility Charter…

Being You. Being Me. Being Us. Yours Social Responsibility
Ambassadors
The Social Responsibility Ambassadors kicked of the next stage of our Corporate Social Responsibility
Strategy by coming together and sharing their ideas and thoughts to create a positive and fit for
purpose logo. Some of our young people attended this session and brought some fantastic ideas to the
table.

The logo is currently going through the design process and should be finalised over the coming weeks.
A shortlist of potentials will be drawn up for us to vote on and agree a final version. This will then be
used on all relevant marketing material to promote our commitment to this ongoing project.
Some of the team have already started to make changes to their ways of working meaning this great
initiative is already making a positive and effective difference to our homes, community and
environment.

The Education Department organised an event in Leading by example
support of a cancer charity fighting bowel cancer Rosa House School goes ‘GREEN’ in a bid to be socially
and staff made donations for us allowing them to responsible, using only environmentally friendly cleaning
wear their football shirts to work for a day. products.

The students will also be recycling paper, card and plastics
as well as printer cartridges.

All sites should be looking to so the same.

Tell us your stories by emailing [email protected] 11

TraxWatch…

Matthew Stanley & Andy Hurst

On Wednesday 30th May 2018, Trax Academy St Annes had a First Aid emergency with a member of the public.

At around 12.00pm staff member Matthew Stanley was looking out onto the beach, and spotted a member of the public collapse
to the floor and go into a fitting seizure. Immediately Matt consulted his colleague Andy Hurst hat a woman had collapsed to the

floor, MS and AH then ran over to the woman to attend to see if she was responsive and was okay.

The woman had collapsed and gone into a fitting seizure, therefore unresponsive. Andy was talking to the woman informing her
that they were in the process of putting her into the recovery position. Matt was on the phone to the emergency services, getting

instructed what to do with the lady. The woman kept fluctuating between sleeping and fitting.
Two of our students were helping staff as the lady had a dog. They ran back into Academy to get some water for the anxious dog

and then sat with it trying to calm it down.

Once the Ambulance had arrived the paramedics attended the lady and thanked the staff and students for helping the lady and
doing the right thing by ringing the Ambulance and doing as instructed by the emergency service operators.

The paramedics thanked them again, while putting the lady in the back of the Ambulance before taking her to hospital.

A special THANK YOU goes to all of those involved in this incident.

It’s great to hear how Lytham St Anne’s staff and students were able to put their First Aid skills into good practice and see to an
emergency on the local beach. This is a great success story, well done to all involved.

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Learning and Development…

Investors in People – Because good people make a great business!

IiP is an internationally recognised accreditation that defines what it takes to lead, support and manage people well for sustainable
results. Please visit www.investorsinpeople.com for more information.

Our IiP Reaccreditation is due in July 2018, during which time our
assessor will be meeting with a randomly selected group of staff
(approximately 35) that represent a cross section of our entire
workforce. The interviews will take place in early July at either Head
Office or Preston Academy, with some discussions taking place over
the phone.
If you are one of the lucky ones, please be as open and honest as possible so that we can continue to improve this crucial area of our
employment offering to you.

To enable you to be fully prepared for the assessment, I can tell you that the areas of questioning are likely to be around our Corporate
Vision & Values, Leadership roles and responsibilities, Opportunities for Employee Engagement, our approach to Reward and Recognition
and Learning & Development activities.

We are confident that this assessment will be a success and that we will be able to not only maintain this valuable accreditation, but use
your feedback from the process to work together on any suggested areas of improvement to enhance our services and enable better
outcomes for our young people.

Formal Qualifications
So far we have successfully enrolled 37 staff onto formal qualifications (Level 3 Residential Childcare and Level 5
Leadership & Management) utilising our apprenticeship Levy fund and topping up course fees where necessary.
Learners progress reports are being received from our training provider on a monthly basis, which so far are all
very positive.

We’ve also recently recruited and welcomed to the HR team Joe Jackson as a HR Apprentice. He is currently
completing his Level 3 in Business and Administration. Welcome to the team Joe!

Happy learning to you all! 13

Nina Savage, HR Director.

June and July Training Courses…

In January 2018 a Learning & Development calendar was issued detailing a lengthy list of courses to enhance the skills, knowledge and
qualifications of our workforce. This demonstrated our continued commitment to investing in our workforce to enhance the quality of
the care we provide to young people. Sadly in May 2018 alone there were 43 training places left vacant and a number of courses that
were cancelled due to minimal take up. The content of the L&D calendar was drawn up, in consultation to clearly represent the
competencies required for all residential staff. Failure to take advantage of this significant benefit could leave you and your teams falling
short of required practice standards. We want services to be the best of the best and we can only achieve that if our people are highly
skilled. How can we achieve this aim? Do you have any constructive suggestions on how we can maximise attendance on listed
courses? Are they the right courses? Have your say!

Email Nina Savage, HR Director at [email protected] to share your thoughts.

June Training Courses July Training Courses

Course Location Date Course Location Date
MAPA Refresher Bredbury 27th June Bredbury 03rd July
Managing Challenging Behaviour
(Full Day) Bredbury 04th July
10th July
Equality & Diversity (PM) 18th July

Safeguarding (Full Day) Lytham

MAPA Refresher Lytham

From the 1st July 2018 the non attendance fee will be increased to £50.00. If you have been booked on a course but do not attend or
notify your Head of Service 48 hours before the course start time, then the fee will apply and will be taken out of your salary either
within the same month or the month after.

Please make every effort to attend training and take full opportunity of this key benefit of working for us!

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Achievements…

Lincoln House

Tom Smith from Lincoln House is proud to be seeing his work in print at the end of this month when 100 copies of his work
will be published.

‘Here and Hereafter’ is a collection of his own poems which he has beautifully crafted over the last 6 months in his literacy
lessons.

This collection of over 30 poems explores Tom’s relationship with himself and the world around him. He has been able to
write about often traumatic experiences and bring some beauty and meaning to them through his lyrical use of rhythm and
imagery and metaphor. It is hard to read them without a lump in your throat.

Tom tells us that, ‘Writing poetry has become a way out from the normal world and a way into my mind, here creativity
roams and my negative voices are suppressed, giving me relief and release.’

We would like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Angus Muir from Jefferson House and wish him all the One of our young people currently
very best for what we are hopeful will be a very happy and positive future. living at Fortitude House, Blackpool
Angus came to reside at Jefferson House when he was just 14 years old and has been supported by our has started his GCSE’s a year earlier.
multidisciplinary team for just over 2 years. He is the third child to successfully graduate from our
Wellbeing for Life Programme and in addition has taken on extra learning to support his successful We would like to make a special
transition from residential care. We eagerly await the results of his Maths and History A-Level exams, mention to Kian Spiers and we wish
which he sat recently at Macclesfield College. him all the best.

On behalf of the Jefferson team and the whole of Care 4 Good luck from everyone at Care 4
Children, we send our warmest wishes to Angus and Children.
congratulate him on his achievements to date.

Angus pictured with Kamran Abassi, Managing Director
receiving his farewell gift.

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LOYATLY AWARDS…

Loyalty Awards

Congratulations to the following staff on their continued commitment to Care 4 Children.

2 years 10 years
Rebecca Dunn Stuart Dollman

The Loyalty Awards were introduced across Care 4 Children in the last newsletter with 13 people being recognised for their loyalty.

As this is a new initiative, here’s a reminder of what it is all about.

As a small token of our appreciation and in true recognition of your continued contributions and the experience you have gathered, we
have introduced Loyalty Awards for staff who have stayed with us for 2, 5 and 10 years. The payments will automatically be added to your
next pay, on completion of the required employment service and a certificate along with a C4C award will be presented to your very soon.
Please be sure to take photos with your awards for the next edition!

2 Years £100 5 Years £250 10 Years £500

Is this how you would like for your contributions & loyalty to C4C to be rewarded?
Will this help to improve your general commitment and motivation?
Do you have suggestions as how this recognition method could be improved or replaced?

Please Have Your Say and send your comments, thoughts and feelings on this matter to

[email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you.

Nina Savage, HR Director.

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STAR AWARDS - Beyond Expectations…

In the last newsletter we introduced Star Awards as a way of acknowledging and thanking employees who have gone
Beyond Expectations. We were delighted with all of the nominations received, as it shows what a dedicated and
hardworking staff team we have - nothing we didn’t know already!

A joint nomination for April 2018 and one for the month of May 2018 have been selected at random to receive a Star
Award and a £50 voucher.

Our shining stars are… Additional Nominations received for
staff who have gone above and beyond:

Kris Creighton – Maple Lodge Chris Taylor Rebecca Williams
Kris was nominated by his manager, Jaimie Maureen Gallagher Gemma Hale
Leighonie Caulfield
Bell in recognition of his recent Christine Hadfield
achievements and contribution to the Danielle Maher Mari Roberts
successful running of Maple Lodge. At the Annmarie Farrell Mark Barratt
same time as completing his usual role at
Rachel Hosker – Office Manager & Sarah Congratulations and thank you to you
Allwood – Office & Property the home where he consistently all! Your contributions do not go
Administrator demonstrates behaviours and attitudes in unnoticed and really make a positive
difference to the work that we do.
Rachel & Sarah received several line with our ethos and values, he has
nominations for going over and above regularly helped out and supported with To make a nomination, please send the
what is expected of them. Their roles are the changes that have taken place within
the CRISIS care Service. As if that wasn’t name, job title and location of the
mainly Head Office based, but over enough, Kris has also been studying for his
recent months they have been seen with relevant ‘Star’ to
mops, paint brushes and shopping bags. Level 5 diploma, which he has now
Without the extra work they put in, our successfully completed. Well done Kris [email protected], along
new homes would not have been ready and thank you for all that you have done.
with the reasons for their nomination. If
for opening as scheduled. They used Keep up the good work.
their initiative to solve problems and took you need a reminder of the nomination
these extra responsibilities on without a
criteria/process please review the last
quibble! A massive thank you goes to
you both. newsletter or contact a member of the

HR Team. The cut off date for all

nominations is the 20th of each month.

17