The South Wales Argus Schools & Education Awards would not exist without the generous support of its sponsors. This week we meet New Directions Education and Monmouthshire Building Society.
NEW Directions Education is sponsoring the ‘teaching assistant’ category of the South Wales Argus Schools & Education Awards 2021/22.
As one of the leading providers of education and support staff in Wales, New Directions Education places over 3,000 people into work within education every week.
Established in 1999, New Directions Education is a preferred recruitment and training supplier to more than 20 local authorities. As Wales’ largest education recruitment company, it meets over 50 per cent of the country’s supply teaching needs and therefore plays an essential role within the education sector.
New Directions Education is a member of the Education Division of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and has offices across Wales and England. It also provides a bi-lingual service to Welsh speakers with dedicated Welsh language Account Managers.
The roles New Directions Education recruits for include teachers, LSAs, TAs, cover supervisors, admin staff, caretakers, exam invigilators, well-being officers, educational psychologists and more.
In addition to matching the right people to the right jobs, New Directions Education provides free training to all education staff, including safeguarding, mental health and first aid training, amongst others. Online training webinars are regularly held during school holidays as part of its long-term professional development offering.
Thousands of school children benefit every year from New Directions Education’s tailored curriculum enhancing workshops in subjects like Lifesaving Skills and An Introduction to Sign Language. In 2021, New Directions Education hosted the world’s biggest ever sign-language lesson with more than 3,000 children and teachers taking part in a fun and uplifting online lesson.They’re hoping to go one better, and break their own record, with over 10,000 people already signed up to their 2022 online sign language awareness session, which is being held on March 17.
Looking back on the past two years, New Directions Education’s Director Gary Williams says he has been so inspired by educational professionals who have worked fearlessly to ensure the protection of staff and pupils.
He’s recently celebrated 25 years specialising in education recruitment, with 22 of them at New Directions Education, and has seen a multitude of changes in the sector.
Mr Williams says the education sector is working harder than ever to make sure staff are supported in the challenges they face: “When the going got tough the teaching profession pulled together in a way I’ve never seen before,” he states. “They faced pressure both externally and internally but have supported one another and ultimately their students in such an amazing way.
“New Directions Education has been supporting schools and colleges in Wales and England over the last 22 years, and of course during the pandemic. We saw first-hand the difficult conditions and stress that working under the cloud of Covid-19 has had on education staff and the way the sector rose to the challenge.”
Embedded in communities across Wales, New Directions Education supports local causes, charities and initiatives. From supporting sports teams across the country to providing Christmas presents to underprivileged children, New Directions gives back to communities and charities wherever possible. This month all staff are taking part in a month-long step challenge to support Cancer Research UK’s Walk All Over Cancer, and they’re currently doing all they can to collect essential items for the people of Ukraine impacted by conflict with Russia.
Monmouthshire Building Society opened its doors for business in 1869, with the sole purpose of helping local people save and have a place to call home.
Over 152 years later, it continues to provide local people with savings and mortgages through a network of 23 branches and agencies in Gwent and beyond.
As a mutual building society our members are at the heart of everything we do. Unlike banks, the Society is owned by members. With no shareholders, we are free to re-invest profit back into the Society to benefit current and future customers.
The Society is a major employer in the area, with around 200 colleagues working across our community locations and in our Newport Head Office. The Society has been a host company for the University of South Wales Network 75 programme since 2012, offering students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working in their desired sector, whilst completing their degree.
As a local Society we’re also passionate about supporting our communities through funding initiatives and sponsorship, volunteering initiatives and offering financial education.
We’re delighted to support the South Wales Argus Schools and Education Awards, sponsoring the Digital Innovations category. In what has been a challenging 12 months, we are proud to recognise the commitment and dedication everyone in this sector has shown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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