Child Dynamix

Child Dynamix is a social business and registered Charity. We work with children, young people and their families to affect positive change, creating communities where children and young people thrive. Our purpose is to create environments and deliver activities which enable children and young people to identify and realise both their aspirations and their potential. We provide; family support work and children centre services, Youth and Play work in communities around the Humber Sub-region, Run community sport activities including Doorstep sports clubs, an Activator project from Sport England. We also own three Childcare settings across the Humber which provides day care for children from 3 months to 5 years old. Child Dynamix employs 120 people with a focus on local employment and has over 60 active volunteers. Its annual turnover is growing year on year with the current year seeing a £2 million turnover. We hold the following quality marks; European Framework for Quality Management, Investor in People, Investor in Children and Young People and Investor in Volunteering.

We signed up to the Humber Skills Pledge because…..Child Dynamix was already supporting skills in all of the ways described by the pledge and so it was great to be able to sign up to a scheme that we can contribute positively to. We also believe that as a Social business and registered Charity it is important to highlight our role in contributing to the local economy through skills, employment and investment, and our work with beneficiaries in accessing the world of training and employment through our intervention projects.

How we see it benefitting the company/organisation….Child Dynamix has a recruitment policy which focuses on local employment. Once recruited we work with individuals through our Mentoring scheme for new starters, the Learning and Development policy and our annual Performance Appraisals to support their ongoing learning journey and ensure we have a skilled, quality workforce for our beneficiaries. Aligning the pledges to our internal policies has been successful helping to shape our people strategy and retain a clear focus on the opportunities we create for our current and future workforce.

If you have recently started fulfilling one or more of the pledges since signing up, what are you doing? Child Dynamix have been providing Apprenticeships for a number of years across Childcare, youth work and administration, this is the story of one of our Early years Apprentices:

“I started at Child Dynamix as an apprentice in September 2010, working towards my level 3 qualifications. Since completing my apprenticeship after a year through JHP, I have progressed from an Early Years Practitioner and I am now currently working as an Early Years Foundation stage Coordinator which is a management role within the setting.

"My experiences as an apprentice taught me how to become a caring, loyal and passionate practitioner. I have learnt how to work as part of a team, gained communication skills, become a key worker and how to use the statutory framework to plan and assess for each child individually.

"All of my experiences have been challenging, but I am happy that I have achieved as much as I have, and grateful for the opportunities I was given.”

If you were already fulfilling one or more of the pledges before signing up to the campaign, please tell us what you do.

• Invest in increasing the skills of your workforce – Child Dynamix has a comprehensive learning and development policy which is actioned through a performance appraisal carried out on a 1:1 basis with every team member every year. We have learning pathways which encourage employees to further their education from NVQ qualifications through to MA’s we continually source funds to enable individual to reach their potential and in turn provide excellent services to our beneficiaries. In 2015 we co-wrote a bespoke residential Leadership programme for Child Dynamix with the Leadership Trust, 14 delegates have accessed this full funded opportunity with a second residential planned for rising stars from across the charity.

• Offer a work placement to a young person or adults – Child Dynamix provides a range of work placements across our various projects and services, these range from Year 10 School placements through to college and university students. We also provide work placements for job seekers through partnerships with local and regional work programme contractors.

• Offer an apprenticeship – Child Dynamix has a range of apprenticeship opportunities’ for young people and adults available every year, they include, family support, play and youth work, childcare and administration work. We have many examples of individuals completing their apprenticeships and securing jobs with us or moving on to other job or learning opportunities.

• Support the development of Employability Skills – Child Dynamix provides a range of activities across the spectrum of young people to adults which are focused on Employability Skills. We work in partnership with local academies and secondary schools supporting young people who do not attend school regularly working to get them back to school. We engage young people and adults in confidence building work in groups and through 1:1 work. 

What would you say to someone thinking of supporting the campaign?

“This campaign focuses on two things; skills and access. The skills pledge presents the way employers can support their existing and potential workforce to engage in learning for life and it creates thinking around the way we as employers can engage with young people and adults as we look to recruit our future workforce.” - Jane Stafford, Managing Director

Please tell us briefly what your company/organisation does

Child Dynamix is a social business and registered Charity. We work with children, young people and their families to affect positive change, creating communities where children and young people thrive. Our purpose is to create environments and deliver activities which enable children and young people to identify and realise both their aspirations and their potential. We provide; family support work and children centre services, Youth and Play work in communities around the Humber Sub-region, Run community sport activities including Doorstep sports clubs, an Activator project from Sport England. We also own three Childcare settings across the Humber which provides day care for children from 3 months to 5 years old. Child Dynamix employs 120 people with a focus on local employment and has over 60 active volunteers. Its annual turnover is growing year on year with the current year seeing a £2 million turnover. We hold the following quality marks; European Framework for Quality Management, Investor in People, Investor in Children and Young People and Investor in Volunteering.