Preston nursery ‘goes blue’ for World Children’s Day in support of UNICEF

Earlier this year, Partou - which operates 114 settings in the UK - announced an official partnership with the United Nations agency which works to protect the rights of children, provide humanitarian aid and ensure that every child can reach their full potential.

World Children’s Day is a global day of action for children, by children, marking the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On this day, UNICEF advocates and raises awareness to protect and fulfil the rights of every child, without discrimination.

Partou team members around the country, and children if they chose to do so, were invited to wear something blue for the occasion and/or make a donation to UNICEF.

The Partou logo also turned blue for the day across its social media channels.

Other initiatives to support the fundraising efforts included baking blue-themed cupcakes and cookies, decorating nurseries in blue and creating pictures using blue craft materials.

And team members could enter a special prize draw to win a hamper of blue themed goodies with all proceeds going to UNICEF.

Shauna Gott, Partou Fern Bank Senior Deputy Manager, said: "Our Stripes and Spikes - babies - focussed on exploring blue items, including lights and shadows.

"Our Rorys - toddlers - explored blue playdough and sand, under the sea-themed tuff trays with blue and white 'gloop' and combining shades of blue in their creative areas with the use of paint and collage materials.

"Our Foxys - preschool - explored a wintery Stickman tuff tray, blue bubbles and foam and different shades of blue paint in their creative area.

"Our toddlers and preschool also made their own blueberry smoothies for their afternoon snack.

"We had a great day!"

Established in 1975, Partou is the biggest childcare group in the Netherlands with more than 700 settings, over 70,000 children and 9,000 team members.

Following last year’s merger of Just Childcare and All About Children to become Partou UK, it now cares for around 9,000 children and employs more than 2,000 dedicated childcare professionals in the UK, including 240 apprentices.

Through its partnership with UNICEF, Partou is supporting a portfolio of targeted early learning initiatives and broader flexible funding ensuring more children have the right to the best possible start in life, nurturing/supporting their health, learning and development.

This includes supporting Early Childhood Development (ECD) by contributing to UNICEF’s ‘5 Million Futures’ programme which aims to offer five million children globally access to quality pre-school education by 2030. Through this initiative, UNICEF is working with young children and their families to ensure that the most vulnerable children can gain the life-long benefits of accessing quality learning in the early years.

Partou is also providing flexible funding to enable UNICEF to deliver fast, effective aid. For example, through the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, Partou is supporting the provision of rapid assistance to vulnerable children in crisis and emergency settings.

Samantha Rhodes, Partou Managing Director, said: “It was wonderful to see so many of our nurseries, team members, children and families come together to support World Children’s Day and raise much needed funds for UNICEF.

“World Children’s Day shines a powerful spotlight on every child’s right to safety, education, play and voice.

“Partou’s philosophy — ‘children lead the way’ — mirrors this by encouraging child-led learning and exploration; promoting respect, empathy and inclusion; and supporting children’s emotional and social development through play and choice.

“This approach encourages children to express themselves, make choices and be heard — values that are central to World Children’s Day.”

Louise Lane, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer at UNICEF UK, said: "World Children's Day celebrates the incredible resilience of children to learn, play and grow even in the hardest of times and it's thanks to the generous support of partners like Partou that UNICEF can scale up its efforts to support the wellbeing of children everywhere.

"A huge thank you to all team members and children for their incredible fundraising efforts this World Children's Day that will help ensure every child has the happy, healthy, and safe childhood they deserve."