NEWSLETTER

Recent Developments at Cymru Care Training

As another year has passed in seem- ingly record 4me, once again, it is my very pleasant duty to welcome you to our newsle9er. This is, however, the rst newsle9er we have produced since joining a new consor4um - The Skills Academy South West in August of 2011. Joining any new organisa4on takes 4me to se9le but we believe that working in this new consor4um is bringing signicant benets through joint planning and sharing informa4on and best prac- 4ces. It always gives me great pleasure however, to relate what we have achieved over the past year and to announce news of forthcoming changes and events which I know will be of interest to you all. Firstly I am delighted to announce that the 2012/13 contract year has been a very successful one for all the learners registered with Cymru Care Training with be9er than ever achievements being recorded, details of which you will be able to view on subsequent pages. Secondly our sta has also enjoyed a very successful year in undertaking further training and achieving quali- ca4ons which will further improve the delivery of training to learners. Thirdly the company was awarded the Green Dragon Environmental Standard at level three again this year and we also achieved the Bronze Small Business Workplace Health Award from the Welsh Government in June. I am delighted to announce that we grammes so that we can improve have also been very fortunate to their delivery the be9er we like it. have engaged the services of several new members of sta Finally I would like to take this oppor- tunity to thank all the learners, em- Edward Jones, joined the company ployers and sta for making our last September 2012 as Managing company such a notable success. Director and Head of e-Learning/IT. I am very proud of the commitment Edward is a very experienced teacher and dedica4on which is very evident who has specialised in teaching IT for in all aspects of our enterprises. many years. With the emphasis I remain condent that Cymru Care growing on e-learning we are now in Training will rise to the new chal- an excep4onal posi4on of being able lenges being brought about by the to deliver courses using the latest introduc4on of the changes to technology. awards this year and we will con4nue to be seen as a rst class training Sharon Koekemoer, a highly qualied provider surpassing all the targets nurse with many years experience in and benchmarks set by the Consor- nursing in the NHS and more recently 4um and the Welsh Government. in care homes joined us in April 2012. Valerie Jones Sandra Hughes, a highly qualied Director nurse whose previous experience was as a care home manager joined Programme Changes us in November 2012. Sandra is leading our Level 5 qualica4ons in This next year 2013/14 will be one of substan4al changes in the delivery of Health and Social Care. Essen4al Skills Wales awards. Donna Owen, who has joined the company in July to train as an Asses- sor in Health and Social Care follow- ing a very successful career as a care worker achieving Diploma Levels 2 & 3.
From July 2013 the changes that have been announced by the Care Council for Wales are as follows: In addi4on to their Diploma at Level 2, Founda4on Appren4ces will have to achieve the following Essen4al Skills Wales awards: Communica4on Level 2 AON level 1 ICT level 1

I am delighted to welcome all our new sta and wish them every suc- cess in their employment with Cymru In addi4on to their Diploma, Level 3 Care Training. Appren4ces and Level 5 Higher Appren-
4ces will have to achieve the following

All the awards we deliver are for the Essen4al Skills Wales awards: benet of the learners who are en- Communica4on Level 3 rolled on them and the more learn- AON level 2 ers become involved in the system ICT level 1 giving us feedback on any of the pro-

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NEW AWARDS
Earlier this year we introduced the QCF Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services (Adults Advanced PracGce). This QCF award in Wales and Northern Ireland is one of the replacement qualica4ons for NVQ Health and Social Care level 4. It will confer occupa4onal competence to work in a senior prac44oner or supervisory role and can provide progression to the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services (Adults Management) Wales and Northern Ireland OR Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services (Adults ResidenGal Management) Wales and Northern Ireland

Diploma Structure Learners must achieve a minimum of 80 credits to achieve this qualica4on. These are made up of 41 credits from Mandatory Group A, a maximum of 6 units from Group B and the remaining units from Group C.

Is Level 5 Diploma (adults advanced practice) for me? The Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services (Adults Advanced Prac4ce) Wales and North- ern Ireland is for Senior Prac44oners, Deputy Managers and Assistant Managers who work with adults in sehngs or services whose main purpose is adults care and support. The qualica4on provides an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that will aid progression to a manage- ment role for those prac44oners who wish to follow this career pathway. Work SeOngs and job roles Some of the sehngs and services include: Residen4al services for adults Community based domiciliary services Day services for adults Examples of job roles who would undertake the level 5 Diploma (adults advance prac4ce) include: Deputy manager Assistant manager Senior care worker Senior support worker The examples of sehngs and job roles are extracted from the Care Council for Wales Qualica4on Framework for the Social Care Sector in Wales.
Work Based Learning programmes operated through Welsh Government are part-nanced by the European Union European Social Fund through The West Wales and the Valleys ESF Convergence Programme.

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NEW SYSTEMS
bksbLIVE It is extremely important that learners receive an in depth ini4al assessment enabling us to determine the level of support that each learner will require to achieve any awards. To this end we have introduced the bksbLIVE system, designed to help improve learners literacy and numeracy skills, as well as providing detailed ini4al and diagnos4c assessments. Learning Assistant The central, digital hub of our courses is the Learning Assistant e-porjolio system. Learning Assistant is designed to provide links to the learning resources learners need, act as a porjolio to which work is uploaded and provide an online communica4on tool between learner and assessor. It also allows both the learner and assessor to track course progress easily.

COMING SOON....THE ALL NEW E-LEARNING ZONE

We are currently in the process of upda4ng our e- Learning Zone, the home of our interac4ve study resources for e-learners. As well as a new, cleaner look and easier naviga4on, the site will provide a range of study resources for those studying for their Level 2, 3 or 5 Diploma. Among the resources oered on the site will be the op4on for Level 2 and 3 Diploma candidates to answer their unit exercises online, with their answers automa4cally uploaded to their e-porjolio on Learning Assistant, ready for assessment. The new e-Learning Zone will be going live in October and we will be emailing all e-learners when it is ready. Cymru Care Training always welcomes input from learners, employers and others and as a result of sugges4ons (feed- back) made by some of our learners this year, changes were made to the e-learning systems, making them easier to use.

GUIDE FOR E-LEARNERS

The guide provides basic informa4on on how to go about studying a course using our e-Learning systems. You should view this guide if you are new to e-Learning. You will nd out about the unit resources and exercises on the e-Learning Zone, how the Learning Assistant e-Porjolio sys- tem is used and how bksbLive can also help to improve your literacy and numeracy skills. All new e-Learners are sent this document prior to star4ng their e-Learning course.

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LEARNER ACHIEVEMENTS
This has been a superb year for achievements. Cymru Care Training is delighted to announce the following results from August 2012 to July 2013: In our FMA programme a total of 66 learners lem with 88% achieving their Appren4ceship Framework of quali- ca4ons consis4ng of an Diploma in Health and Social Care Level 2, and Essen4al Skills Wales awards in Communica4on and Applica4on of Numbers at level 1. In our MA programme a total of 21 leavers lem with 89% achieving their Appren4ceship Framework of quali- ca4ons consis4ng of a Diploma in Health and Social Care at Level 3 and 2 Essen4al Skills awards in Communi- ca4on and Applica4on of Numbers at level 2. In our level 5 programme a total of 6 leavers lem with 100% achieving the Diplomas in Leadership in Health and Social Care (Adults Residen4al Man- agement). The above gures represent excel- lent grades across all awards with the average across the two appren4ce- ship programmes being 89.5%. The na4onal comparator for achieve- ments issued by the WG for each of these awards is 85%. The directors of the company would like to take this opportunity of con- gratulaGng each of the learners on their splendid achievements. We also oer a sincere vote of thanks to each tutor, assessor and verier for the support they have given the learners to help them achieve the awards. Very well done to all!

Staff Achievements
Cymru Care Training is proud to announce the following successes: 9297 Basic Skills Tutor Award Level 2 One member of sta from Cymru Care Training has completed the above award in Literacy. Congratula4ons to: Sharon Koekemoer Business Administra<on Award Level 2 We are proud to announce that three members of our administra4on sta have achieved the above award. Congratula4ons to: Emma Richards Tracy Parkes Stephen Jones

Essen<al Skills Communica<on Level 3 It is a company requirement that all assessors achieve the above award to enable them to deliver the new criteria for level 3 learners. We are pleased to oer congratula4ons to the assessors listed below who have achieved this award: Sandra Hughes Sharon Koekemoer Gayle Parker Crystal Nelson

FUND RAISING ACHIEVEMENTS

Finally we are delighted to announce the fund raising achievements we have taken part in for the benet of the wider community: On a hot morning, down at the waterfront, near the Marina in Swansea, on Sunday 21 July, the Cymru Care Training sta took part in the Race for Life. They walked, jogged, and ran their way to the nish line (5km) in support of Cancer Research. Nine members of sta completed the course and a special congratula4on must go to our newest assessor, Donna Owen, who was the rst member of the team to cross the nish line in a 4me of 43 minutes. Well done to all our ladies and to everyone who took part in this worthwhile event.

QCF Assessing Competence in the Work Environment Level 3 This award replaced the A1 Assessing competence in the workplace level 3. The following members of sta/in house assessors have completed this award: Sandra Hughes (up-skilling) JaneOe Morgan-Foley Fiona McBride Donna Owen

We are pleased to oer congratula4ons on their achievement.

The babies shown in the picture are the twin daughters of our Managing Director, Edward Jones and his wife Kathryn (on the extreme right). The babies were born on the 10th De- cember 2012. (We start them young at Cymru Care Training!).

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