Released on: 11 August 2011

Bright Horizons is pleased to announce an exciting new relationship with NCT, the UK’s largest charity for parents.

Both organisations are leaders in their associated fields of early years and parenting, with long histories of supporting families through the exciting journey of parenthood. The focus of the new joint initiative is making materials available to employers to provide to their employees who are preparing for parenthood: these include information packs, courses and newsletter articles.

 

For Bright Horizons clients this new initiative will extend the family of solutions Bright Horizons can offer them, helping them to support their employees as they become parents - a critical time for both the employee and the employer. Organisations who offer strong levels of support to their employees during the maternity/paternity period and on return to work have found this positively impacts employee engagement, work productivity, and return to work retention rates; thus positively impacting organisational goals.

 

Additionally, there will be ongoing close liaison between the two organisations at a local level. Bright Horizons nursery teams look forward to developing their already strong relationships with their local NCT branches and collaborating on activities to benefit local families.

 

The government’s “Families in the Foundation Years” report, published last month, makes clear the importance of parenting support for families. The highly evidence-based report cites factors such as parenting information and classes, plus high-quality early education provision as key to learning development.

 

“Parents who attend good parenting classes find they can be life-changing, helping them to communicate better with their children and encourage good behaviour, and prevent problems developing later on.”

Department for Education “Families in the Foundation Years” report

 

Carole Edmond, MD of Bright Horizons, comments:

“We are delighted to be working with NCT. We know that so many of our nursery families who come to us have already benefited through pregnancy and the early days from the support they have received from their local NCT classes. For those parents who then go on to choose nursery care for their child our commitment is to continue to support them by providing the reassuringly high quality care that will help them to balance their home and work responsibilities and to closely link learning at nursery and at home.”

 

Sally Horrox, NCT Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, said: “NCT wants to be there for all parents, and we know from what families tell us that leaving work to have a baby and returning after maternity or paternity leave can sometimes be a difficult transition. We are pleased to be working together with Bright Horizons to let expectant and new parents know about the support which is available locally and all the options open to them to make the transition as smooth as possible so they can concentrate on being a parent.”

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For more information please contact:

Deb Gemmell, Communications Manager, Bright Horizons, deb.gemmell@brighthorizons.com or 01933 415959

NCT Press Office, press@nct.org.uk or 020 8752 2404

 

About Bright Horizons: Bright Horizons is the UK’s leading nursery provider, with a specialist focus on supporting the dependant care needs of working families and their employers. We are passionate about providing the highest quality early care and education for each child in our nurseries, every day, and our nurseries consistently achieve higher than national average “Outstanding” and equivalent judgements from regulatory inspectors. We also are proud to have been recognised as one of the Great Place to Work Institute’s Top 50 UK Best Workplaces for the past 6 years: the only childcare company to have this accolade.

 

About NCT: NCT is here to support all parents. We don’t tell them what to do or think – through our courses and drop-ins, branch activities, and helplines, our volunteers and qualified staff give parents accurate, impartial information so that they can decide what’s best for their family. Through us, they can join a support network of other parents nearby, which can be a lifeline in the early years. We are the UK’s largest charity for parents, and, being independent, we have an influential voice in campaigning and lobbying on the issues that parents care about.

 

Courses & workshops

In-person NCT Antenatal course

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NCT Antenatal refresher course

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