Recent conversations about Ofsted and the pressures facing those working in education have made me reflect on something much closer to home: what we ask of our people, and what we need to provide in return.
Our recent Ofsted outcomes at Andover and Eastleigh have rightly given us something to celebrate. They recognise the quality of the environments our Early Years teams are creating for children and families, and I am incredibly proud of everyone involved.
But an inspection captures a moment in time. The work behind it happens every day.
It happens when a practitioner adapts their approach because one child needs something different. When a Youth Services colleague continues working alongside a young person through a particularly difficult period. When someone in Housing helps a resident navigate another step towards independence. And in the many roles across YMCA Fairthorne Group that make it possible for those services to function well.
That work takes knowledge and experience, but it also asks a great deal of people.
As the needs of the children, young people and families we support become more complex, our approach to supporting and developing our colleagues needs to evolve too. We cannot simply expect people to work harder or rely indefinitely on their commitment to the communities they serve. We need to make sure people have opportunities to develop their skills, learn from one another and feel equipped for the work we are asking them to do.
We have started to make some important progress.
Our recent organisation-wide Early Years INSET day was one example. Bringing colleagues from across our settings together gave teams dedicated time to step outside the everyday demands of nursery life, develop their knowledge, share experiences and learn from the expertise that exists across YMCA Fairthorne Group.
September also saw the launch of our Early Years Academy, with our first 10 Level 2 apprentices beginning their journey with us.
I am particularly proud of what the Academy represents. Of course, we need skilled practitioners within our nurseries, but this is about more than filling vacancies. It is about creating a genuine route into the profession and giving people an opportunity to build a career with YMCA.
I want us increasingly to be an organisation where someone can join us at the beginning of their working life, discover what they are capable of and see a path towards whatever comes next.
There is an important connection here with our wider purpose.
We believe everyone should have a fair chance to discover who they are and what they can become. That purpose guides the opportunities we create for the children, young people and families we support, but I believe it should be visible in the opportunities we create for our own people too.
Many of our colleagues come from the communities in which they work. They understand those communities, their strengths and some of the challenges people living within them experience. If we can recruit locally, develop that talent and create meaningful opportunities for people to progress, we strengthen both our workforce and our connection with the communities we serve.
Development also needs to mean different things in different parts of YMCA Fairthorne Group.
For colleagues working directly with young people, some of the situations encountered can be particularly challenging. Supporting someone through crisis, instability or difficult experiences can be enormously rewarding, but it can also take a personal toll. Caring about the outcome does not make someone immune to the emotional impact of the work.
That is part of why Reflective Practice has become an important addition to the support available within YMCA Fairthorne Group. It creates structured space for colleagues and managers to think through difficult situations, consider what they can learn and draw on the experience of others rather than carrying every challenge alone.
We are already seeing the value of that approach. For me, its importance lies in recognising that good professional practice is not simply about knowing what to do. Sometimes it is also about having the space to think about what has happened, how it has affected us and what we might do differently next time.
Alongside this, we are strengthening our wider approach to learning, including the introduction of a new learning platform that will allow us to offer development that is much more closely connected to people’s actual roles.
That may sound like a relatively practical change, but I think it has the potential to become something much bigger.
Rather than learning being predominantly about completing required training, we want to build clearer pathways that help people develop towards where they want to go next. That could mean building specialist knowledge, developing towards a more senior role or simply feeling more confident and capable in the role someone already loves doing.
Not every career journey will look the same, and nor should it.
There is still more for us to do. We will continue learning about what works, where colleagues need greater support and how we can make development feel meaningful rather than simply adding more to already busy workloads.
We will also get things wrong sometimes. What matters is that we are prepared to reflect on those experiences, listen and turn what we learn into something better.
When I think about the future of YMCA Fairthorne Group, securing our talent pipeline is important because it helps us build more sustainable services. But there is another side to it that matters just as much.
I want people to be able to grow here.
I want colleagues to be able to look back and recognise that YMCA gave them an opportunity, helped them develop their confidence or skills, or opened a door they had not previously imagined for themselves.
Because our purpose is not something that should only be visible in what we offer externally.
Everyone should have a fair chance to discover who they are and what they can become, and that includes the people who choose to build their careers with YMCA Fairthorne Group.
