Millie's Mark - Paediatric First Aid

NDNA is delivering Millie’s Mark, the accreditation for excellence in paediatric first aid for early years.

Millie's Mark is awarded as a special endorsement to childcare providers in England and Scotland that go above and beyond minimum requirements by having 100% of staff trained in paediatric first aid, and also ensure that everything learned during the course is kept at the forefront of practitioners' minds so they are confident, ready and capable. Over 500 providers have now been awarded, and Millie's Mark has now been extended to childminders, nursery schools and pre-schools.

The aims

The aims of Millie’s Mark are to keep children safe and minimise risk and accidents by:

Raising standards in paediatric first aid
Increasing numbers of first aid-trained staff
Increasing competency in applying first aid
Enabling staff to respond quickly in emergencies
Raising the quality and skills of the early years workforce and helping them with day-to-day first aid issues, such as allergies
And providing reassurance to parents.

Criteria and assessment

The accreditation process takes between three to six months and includes a setting audit, staff confidence audit, training matrix and floor plan review. The awarding of Millie’s Mark will be dependent on the below criteria being met as well as legal requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework:

Evidence of needs assessment for setting staff
Evidence that all staff hold an appropriate in-date PFA (full or emergency) certificate
Evidence of classroom-based training for one-day courses.

Providers

NDNA and Millie's Mark do not have preferred suppliers for Paediatric First Aid training. To be eligible for Millie’s Mark all staff working directly with children must have an up-to-date paediatric first aid certificate. Childcare providers can choose which organisation they wish to provide the training.

As part of the process for Millie’s Mark, settings will need to complete an audit. The audit will ask what due-diligence has been carried out on the training provider, how they have chosen the supplier and what quality checks they have carried out on staff competencies.

Millie

Millie’s Mark is named after Millie Thompson, who tragically died as a result of choking on food at nursery in 2012. Her parents, Dan and Joanne Thompson, set up Millie’s Trust in her name.

Following their campaigning, from September 2016 all newly qualified staff with a childcare level 2 and 3 qualification must have an emergency paediatric first aid or full paediatric first aid certificate.

"The process of accreditation has been extremely reflective and re-emphasised the importance of keeping the children safe. It has highlighted areas where staff have not felt as competent and enabled the in-house training team to offer additional support. It has also reinforced the importance of due diligence checks from staff who have achieved their training from training providers other than our own." - The Elms Day Nursery, Birmingham