Surprise Site Visits

Hello everyone,

I hope you’ve all had a great week. This blog brings you surprise site visits, what we’re doing to reduce plastic, the launch of LittlePioneers.coop and tackling shoplifting.

Surprise Site Visits

One of the things I enjoy most is getting out of the office and visiting you. Last week I dropped into our Earley Food store where I met Becks (pictured above). Becks started working for us when she was 17 and has risen through the ranks to become store manager at only 21 years old. Without a doubt she was surprised I had dropped in on her very first week and I did say that I don’t do that for every new management appointment!

(Emma Humphrey, Nursery Admin and Leanne Green, Nursery Manager)

Following my visit to Earley, I went into the heart of Reading’s city centre to visit our Reading nursery. It’s set in a beautiful, charismatic listed church building with four spacious rooms, one for each age group. I caught up with Leanne and her team who really do demonstrate the commitment of our colleagues having worked together for over 15 years! They are a lovely team and the level of energy they bring to work to go the extra mile to meet our high standards is outstanding. I really enjoyed my visit and it made my day to see so many smiling faces.

A little bit of history... the building was once the dormitory of Reading Abbey’s Hospitium of St John the Baptist (guesthouse). Pilgrims and other visitors to Reading could stay here for two nights, for free, so long as they went to services at the abbey church. In 1486 a boys’ school run by Reading Abbey moved into the Hospitium.

Plastics

Right now, there is huge concern on the amount of plastic ending up in our oceans. We brought this topic to the colleague forum where we asked for your help. You didn’t let us down. We were delighted with the amount of feedback and ideas put forward.

So, what have we done? If you visit Head Office, you’ll notice there are no longer plastic water bottles in the canteen which has removed 2,500 plastic bottles a year and we’ve also replaced plastic cups with Vegware cups. Childcare have also been tackling plastic pollution by working with their suppliers to ensure they use responsibly sourced and recyclable products wherever possible. At your next half yearly meeting we hope you don’t see any plastic cutlery, straws, food packaging or balloons, as we have introduced plastic free criteria to avoid single use plastics at our Society events. These are just a few ways we will reduce almost 1 tonne of plastic per year across our business.

Our recent member event at our Bourton-on-the-Water store also gave members their say on the best way to reduce single use plastic in our stores. This week, I’m really pleased to announce our Bourton store has switched produce plastic bags for paper bags. We are also liaising closely with local suppliers to increase the use of compostable containers and our ambition is to roll out these recycling initiatives to all our food sites.

However, 1 tonne isn’t enough. We know we can do more and we’re always looking for ways we can reduce our use of plastic. If you have any ideas, make sure you leave a comment below.

Little Pioneers website launch

It’s been an exciting week for Coop Childcare with the launch of their brand new website, Little Pioneers.coop. Our new uncluttered design encompassing our new Little Pioneers brand is easy to navigate, more user-friendly and delivers a personalised experience for prospective member parents.

Along with other new features, the fee calculator is the first of its kind online. With complete transparency upfront, supporting our promise of openness, our new fee calculator will serve to be a real help to parents and sets us apart from our competitors.

Our new site cements us as expert in all things childcare and provides advice and tips to parents on things they care about with filters available by age and topic. So if you’re a parent going through the terrible twos, teething or toilet training, there’s a survival guide for all. I can say from experience that although it’s challenging, it won’t last forever, and if you think this is bad… wait until they’re teenagers.

Tackling Shop Theft

Preventing crime in our stores and colleague safety is a priority. During my visit to Earley food store, Becks and I spoke about tackling shoplifting, a challenge many of you face. That’s why, as a member, we are supporting ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) who are calling on all Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to pledge that police forces will take shop theft and abuse of staff seriously, and that they will respond to incidents where they are reported. You can view the full Tackling Shop Theft pledge here.

I have contacted five PCCs in our trading areas (including Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Thames Valley, West Midlands and West Mercia) asking them to sign the pledge. I am thrilled John Campion, PCC of West Mercia, has already signed the pledge, committing to provide Chief Constables with the resources to tackle business crime. I look forward to the responses of others as theft and abuse to colleagues will not be tolerated. Together we will take a stand against shop theft, violence and abuse and continue to do all we can to ensure our colleagues are safe at work.

Churchstoke and Gloucester Fun Days

And finally, let’s end on a high note. A huge thank you to everyone who got involved with the Churchstoke and Gloucestershire Fun Days - we raised an impressive £35,000 for our local charity partners. Congratulations!