On the 26th August 2019 Katy and I started our massive task of getting all of the equipment for next academic year to our staff in London and the West Midlands. Our day started off by Katy and I both turning up in the exact same outfit so we knew the day would go swimmingly! The amount of equipment that had to be moved on Monday was staggering and totalling 1.5 tonnes. Katy and I tried to keep our independence and be total feminists by saying we could move it all by ourselves. Thankfully people didn’t listen to us and two of our male staff members turn up to help move the equipment into the van. Fitting everything into the van, like a giant game of Tetris, took around 2 hours then……… we were off! Katy took the lead in driving the van from our office in Bradford to Wembley (which I was secretly very happy about). Great music, loads of laughs and 5 hours later we were in Wembley at our Travelodge. As we had iPads in the van, and they couldn’t stay their overnight, so Katy and I had to muster our final piece of strength to get the iPads and other valuable into the hotel room for the night.
After a well-deserved sleep it was time for our first day of training. Every head of department at Junior Jam loves this time of the year. It gets everyone ready for their PPA Cover for the next academic year and gives us a chance to answer any and all questions our sometime nervous new staff may have. Katy, Tom and I all have our tasks for the day making 3 rooms of training run smoothly. During our day in Wembley we gave all our new London Staff a full induction into Junior Jam and told them about the amazing year ahead of them covering PPA cover in their assigned schools. If you would like to know more about the training days read Tom’s Blog ‘Summer Staff Training For PPA Cover’. Katy has also written a fabulous blog about her recruitment process for the MFL and Sports department, see ‘Summer is Over, PPA Cover Recruitment is Complete’ to read all about it.
After a very full day in London with all the equipment given out and all the staff full trained and inducted into the world of PPA cover, the three of us, Katy and I in the van and Tom following in the car, set off to Coventry to do it all again.
Training involved 50 new staff; 20 members of existing staff; 6 training rooms across 2 locations and three days; 1.5 tonnes of Equipment and three full exhausted but optimistic heads of department. All in all, a total success.
We can’t wait to travel around England again from Liverpool to London to visit all our new staff, in their schools and see what the academic year 2019/20 brings to our world class PPA cover business.
Thanks for reading.
Emily
Head of Music Media and the Arts.