We had an amazing time celebrating 15 years of Links Childcare across all our crèches recently. Each of our ten crèches had a party to mark the occasion. Our Managers, Educarer’s and Chef’s all made an incredible effort to make the event a success and lots of planning was involved to create the best party ever.
Treats & Mr Links Bear Visits
Our chef’s made bespoke homemade birthday cakes and pizza treats for tea, and our Educarer’s made special birthday fairy buns and cookies with our children. Our children loved decorating their own fairy buns and cookies, and they enjoyed eating them too.
There was such excitement as Mr Link’s (our big bear) visited all our crèches and joined us for a disco. And in conjunction with our birthday celebrations, Mr Links introduced our preschool children to our little Links bear. We had a naming ceremony for our bears in each of our preschool rooms. This marked the start of the amazing adventures of our little bears and our preschool children.
Thank You To You All
We would like to thank all our children and parents for being such a big part of the Links Childcare family. And to all our staff – Managers, Educarers, Afterschool drivers, Chefs and our Head Office Support Team; thank you for all your love, dedication and hard work and for creating such an wonderful home away from home for all our children and giving our parents the peace of mind to leave their precious children with us while they go to work.
Links Chat
We had a quick chat with a few of our long-standing members of the Links Childcare Team and asked them what they love most about working in Links Childcare.
Sarah Spencer – Crèche Manager in Links Childcare Clontarf
Sarah joined the Links Childcare team in 2008, as an Educarer in the Baby Room in Portmarnock. She was promoted as the Crèche Manager in Portmarnock a few years later. Sarah now manages our centre in Clontarf with Deputy Managers Raymond & Iris.
Question:
What do you love most about your job Sarah?
Answer:
Definitely the children. They make me laugh so much and no one day is ever the same. The parents are a joy to deal with too and make you feel so appreciated.
The Management team have been a huge support for me since I started in Links Childcare. They have encouraged me to progress in the field of childcare, thus allowing me to carve a career in childcare which I thoroughly love.
Charlie Malcolm – Head Chef for the Links Childcare Group
Charlie is Head Chef of the Links Childcare group and oversees all the menu planning across all our centres. He is a trained chef and as a parent himself, he understands the importance of daily healthy meals and a varied diet for all our children. Charlie has a background in food product development and ran a well-established food eatery in Howth, Co. Dublin for some years.
Since joining the Links team in 2008, he has worked with well known pediatric dietitians to create a daily nutritional food plan for our children that is well balanced and that uses fresh, seasonal ingredients. All our daily dishes and meals are completely cooked from scratch from each of our in-house chefs in all of our crèches. We offer a well-balanced menu for our children that varies in meats, pulses and vegetables.
Charlie is based in our Abington crèche.
Question:
Charlie, what do you love most about your role with Links Childcare?
Answer:
Creating nutritional food for our children, that is fresh, healthy and well balanced. As a dad, I know how some children go through phases on being reluctant to eat certain foods, so the trick is to keep the dishes interesting and colourful, but not compromising on flavours and ingredients.
On Friday’s, our children are extra excited about eating dinner, as they get to eat homemade tasty pizzas.
Jolita Vascenkatie – Crèche Manager in Links Childcare Seabrook Manor
Jolita started her Links journey in 2006 as an Educarer in the Baby Room in Seabrook Manor. She then looked after the Wobbler Room and our Preschool children. With her dedication and hard work, she quickly progressed as a Supervisor, before becoming the Crèche Manager in Seabrook Manor over seven years ago.
Jolita is a hands-on Manager and believes in teamwork and working with your staff to create a happy environment for all our children. She is not afraid to get stuck into any task. As well as managing the crèche, (and managing it very well), you can sometimes see her in the kitchen with her chefs’ hat and apron, helping to cook yummy food for our children. Jolita is HACCEP trained, so is fully compliant with food and safety preparation.
Question:
What makes you love working in Links Childcare Jolita?
Answer:
I love all the children and dealing with the parents. We have an amazing team of Educarers in Seabrook Manor too, who are a joy to work with and who are brilliant at their jobs. They are so loving and engaging towards to the children. I am lucky to have them as part of my team in Seabrook Manor.
Helen Norris – Deputy Crèche Manager in Links Childcare Seabrook Manor Portmarnock
Helen has been with Links Childcare for the past 13 years. A native of Waterford, she is now proud to call North County Dublin as her home. She started working as a Educarer in the Toddler Room and then the Preschool Room. Helen was promoted to Deputy Crèche Manager three years ago in Portmarnock and oversaw all the rooms, providing support for our Crèche Manager Karen. She has recently taken on the Deputy Manager role in Seabrook Manor in Portmarnock.
Question:
What’s your favourite thing about working in Links Childcare?
Answer:
I don’t have one specific thing that I love about my job; there are simply too many! I adore working with the children and seeing them develop on a daily basis is a joy to see for me. I love all the themed weekly events and us as Managers and Educarers love getting involved too. Whether its Superhero Day or Circus Day, we all get into character mode and love role play with our children.
The team are amazing too and are such a support.
