There are vast numbers of people currently having to work from home instead of their usual workplace and employees at The Access Group are in the same boat. Encouraging them to carry on learning, even over the Easter holidays, is a challenge and now that they are back at more formal studies that makes it even more challenging to manage alongside doing your job from home. Claire Scott, Access Group Chief People Officer, said: “The inspiration for launching Access Juniors came from an employee on my team, Sue Evans, after speaking with parents about their struggles to keep their children entertained whilst they were working. If you’ve got a great idea at Access you can just do it and Sue made it happen. Supporting our team in any way we can has never been more important and it’s great we’re now able to expand this wonderful resource to a bigger audience.”
Sue and colleagues from across the business pulled together a resource hub hosted on the AccessWorkspace platform. The hub combines a range of resources to help keep children occupied as well as practical support and advice for parents in this challenging time.
The resources span a wide variety of topics and age ranges, meaning there's something for everyone. There are academic resources covering maths, languages, science and reading—as well as ideas to keep kids active and healthy with hubs on movement and mindfulness. As a tech company, there are also resources to get kids taking their first steps into the world of computers and coding.
Amongst the features of Access Juniors is the option to discover British Sign Language and practice basic greetings, while at the same time learning about Access Group’s chosen charity of 2020, The National Deaf Children's Society.
The resource hub has been accessed by over 250 children ranging in age from 1 – 15.
Access Juniors sends out two challenges a week, for which children can send in pictures of their work and get virtual badges and certificates.
Many of our Access Juniors have also responded to our ‘Spread the Smiles’ campaign, producing rainbow pictures, colourful art and even writing letters, posters and postcards to share with care homes and charities that would benefit from a positive link to the world outside.
The team behind Access Juniors are making these creations available digitally, so they can be printed, shared, stuck up on walls or simply viewed on a tablet by lonely and vulnerable people who right now cannot receive visits from family members.
Amongst the first to benefit from Access Juniors was Access charity customer Charnwood Community Action Hub. Karen Frostick, from the charity, said: “It’s the little things that make the big difference right now. Our Community Hub is based in the centre of town and is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community. The pictures from Access Juniors have really helped to brighten up our centre and spread some cheer to everyone who comes into or passes the hub.”.
An Access colleague using Access Juniors with their children commented: “Watching the news you see people losing their jobs, worrying about the future, protecting their families, trying to keep this terrible virus at bay. Then Access does something like this. Thank you, I love my job so much. It actually made me cry.”
Access is now opening up its challenges and ‘Spread the Smiles’ campaign to our customers and online communities to help others keep their children entertained and help our customers and wonderful working parents get through this difficult time.
If you and your children want to get involved, take a look at our challenge posts on LinkedIn, and share your creations on social media under the hashtag #AccessJuniors
If you would like access to our digital creations for your care, health or charity setting just drop us a note here and we can send them over.
See our Spread the Smiles gallery here