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Jo Matthews
About Me
| Name: | Jo Matthews |
| Sex: | Female |
| D.O.B.: | 8 December 1991 |
| Languages Spoken: |
English |
| Resorts I can work in: |
Chamonix |
| CRB Check: | 01 Feb 2016 |
Experience & Qualifications
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Introduction: I am fun, enthusiastic and incredibly energetic. I started working with children when I was 19 years old and have enjoyed it so much, I've never stopped. Before all of my work with children in the box above, I worked as a ski instructor in Sierra Nevada in Spain. I worked a mixture of private lessons and group lessons. I will never forget teaching a group of eight 5-6 year old beginner skiers on the February half term week and having such a great time. It felt like a great achievement to get them all skiing down a blue run by the end of the week. Prior to this, I spent time working on dry ski slopes in England as a ski instructor but also running children's sledging and ringo parties. I did this as a weekend job whilst I was in college for experience and also because it was great fun. I also worked as a waitress for an agency and worked in the boxes of places like Twickenham stadium, Kempton Park Racecourse in hospitality. At the moment, I am living in Chamonix for the summer and enjoying all of the activities from mountain biking to hiking to swimming. I am an incredibly active person and like spending time outside. I am fully confident in looking after children of all ages and making sure that they have the best week or two weeks holiday ever. I am incredibly flexible and happy to do whatever activities suit different children. | |
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Qualifications: I have four A Levels at grades A/B. (Economics - A, Maths - A, Physics - B, Design & Technology - B) which were all sat and passed in Summer 2010. I have my St John's Ambulance Pediatric First Aid Certificate which is specific first aid for children and babies. On top of this, I also carry a full, clean UK driving license which I have held since January 2010. I don't have any formal childcare qualifications, however I have had plenty of experience of looking after children of all ages in a winter and a summer environment (see below for more details) | |
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Experience: I first started working with children directly as a childcare rep for Neilson Holidays in Greece. My role would be looking after children from 4 months to 17 years old (split up into different age groups) week after week and creating a fun, stimulating and varied activity program to keep them safe, happy and busy throughout the week. Depending on the age group I would be looking after, the activities would include swimming, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, football, tennis, capture the flag, cooking and much more. Depending on the number of children in each age group I would either work by myself or with another member of staff according to the ratios set by the company. To give an indication, I have looked after four 2-4 year olds by myself and up to ten 8-11 year olds. After working as a childcare rep for Neilson for 2 and a half years in the summer resorts (Greece and Turkey) and winter ski resorts (Les Deux Alpes), I was promoted to Childcare Manager. This job role entailed overseeing the whole childcare operation in any one resort, looking after a team of up to 20 members of childcare staff, and monitoring every single activity for every single age group. I also had a huge role in the customer service side of childcare making sure that every family went home happy having made the most of their holiday and every single person enjoying their time with us. At the end of Summer 2015 my team had a customer service score of 97% for enthusiasm and helpfulness of childcare staff showing that 97% of parents rated our care as excellent. This was a huge achievement for me and was the highest out of all the Neilson resorts. A big part of my job was to make sure that all the children in our care were fully protected from the dangers of being in a very hot or very cold climate. Things like suncream, glasses of water, covering up properly and eating regularly are all part of a daily routine. I constructed all of the menu plans as well to make sure that all children would be fed healthily but at the same time would eat the food put in front of them so that they would have energy to take part in all activities. In the Winter 15/16, I changed companies to Crystal Ski where I took a job as the childcare Area Manager which essentially was running the whole childcare program for Crystal across 4 countries and 8 resorts. My job here was all about making sure all of the different clubs were offering a consistent service to all customers and that the children in our care were all having an exciting experience. The service we offered included taking children to ski school, picking them up, giving them a nutritious lunch and then sledging, igloo making, snow sports day or treasure hunts in the afternoon. |
My References
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Reference Received from: Amy Hawkes
Reference: "Jo Matthews is actually one of the best nannies i have had working for Neilson. Her enthusiasm is exceptional and the way she acts with children and parents is very professional. She also was in management with our company and is very organised and a excellent role model. " |