November 2007

"It was a cold night and I thought that was strange because as a mother I
would never have taken my child around at that time without something
on their feet or a blanket. All I could see of the child was their legs
dangling"

tigger wrote:I agree that JT is pivotal. Why she has been so servile and did whatever was demanded, I've no idea.

The dates and events are dropping into place very neatly, when it's all put in a row.
I'm going to see what happened in December, because for the life of me I can't work out what the entry for the 30th is about. The McCanns going to an undisclosed destination.

November and December, loose ends were tied up - media were gagged and CR were on their way to a small fortune, as was Murat and Malinka - Amaral 'likes' Malinka a lot I believe. Possibly for the actual removal of the body. Well, he got a 100.000 for it. The T7 got nowhere near that amount which was allegedly given to the Fund. Although we'll never know, seeing the interpretation of 'transparent'.
I think they kept the money - it didn't begin to cover their loss of reputation.

tigger wrote:Six years on. Hmm. There are the photo opportunities with the twins and Kate and Catrion Baker which Chatelaine posted in the Baker topic. 
Did Catriona Baker get her very own song sheet on the ocasion of her visit? Soon after the Rothley meeting?

jd wrote:Did any of the nannies at MW have proper qualifications?

jd wrote:Did any of the nannies at MW have proper qualifications?

aquila wrote:

jd wrote:Did any of the nannies at MW have proper qualifications?

I wonder what Mark Warner say about their childcare staff credentials.

I'll have a look.

Châtelaine wrote:

aquila wrote:

jd wrote:Did any of the nannies at MW have proper qualifications?

I wonder what Mark Warner say about their childcare staff credentials.

I'll have a look.

***
IIRC there has been an "undercover" journalist, applying for a nanny  job at MWs and writing an article about it ...

Châtelaine wrote:

aquila wrote:

jd wrote:Did any of the nannies at MW have proper qualifications?

I wonder what Mark Warner say about their childcare staff credentials.

I'll have a look.

***
IIRC there has been an "undercover" journalist, applying for a nanny  job at MWs and writing an article about it ...

Châtelaine wrote:
IIRC there has been an "undercover" journalist, applying for a nanny  job at MWs and writing an article about it ...

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Ofsted Whistleblower reveals widespread failings in the care of the under-fives

Viewers will be shocked to see how Imogen Willcocks, a 21-year-old undercover BBC journalist with no experience of looking after children and no professional qualifications, is employed to look after young children under the age of five by two nurseries in Britain, and a leading British holiday company (Mark Warner). Furthermore, they will see her approved as a registered childminder by Ofsted.

Imogen's undercover filming takes place at Just Learning in Cambourne (near Cambridge) and Buttons nursery in west London, as well as a Mark Warner holiday resort in Dahab, Egypt – an upmarket company that markets itself as offering "award-winning childcare".

The undercover footage in the programme reveals:

•A failure to make criminal record and reference checks – The companies that featured in the programme all employed Imogen to look after young children without obtaining CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks, or speaking to any of her referees.

•Adult to child ratios are not met – The required adult to child ratios were not always met – At Mark Warner, an extra child arrives at the crèche but no one knows who she is

•Health & Safety compromised – The BBC reporter was given no practical training to ensure that she could deal with emergency situations whilst looking after the children. And the health and safety of the children was compromised on a number of occasions –  At Mark Warner, the BBC reporter was asked to accompany and supervise young children on a sailing trip without enough safety helmets for all the children, and take young children into the water without any assessment of her swimming ability. Also, at the Mark Warner resort in Egypt, a room listening service designed to check on children every 30 minutes whilst their parents are out, was found to be inappropriate because the staff could only listen at the door – they couldn't see if the children were all right or go into the rooms. Indeed, a Mark Warner nanny told the BBC undercover journalist that before the journalist arrived in April 07, a girl under the age of five had escaped through the window of a room and was found wandering around the complex within metres of the pool.

•No training – No or negligible training was given to the undercover BBC reporter in any of her jobs. This is despite the fact that Mark Warner, for example, told her that she would receive training before starting the job.

•Illegal working on tourist visas – Mark Warner employees at the resort were found working illegally on tourist visas because, according to one member of staff, Mark Warner are "too cheap to cough up and pay for [work] visas".


From Imogen Willcocks:
Mark Warner operates at the top of the holiday market, charging up to £8,000 for two weeks abroad for a family of four. It makes a point of offering "award-winning" childcare. That award-winning care didn't extend to checking my CV, contacting my references, doing a criminal records check or even asking to see some basic ID. Again, I could have been anyone.

I worked at Mark Warner's swanky Hilton resort in Dahab, Egypt, where the luxurious hotel rooms are built to resemble a traditional whitewashed Arab village. Despite being promised two days' training at the interview, I was thrown straight in with a group of toddlers. Once, there were two of us looking after 13 children - when Mark Warner's own regulations state there should be no more than six per adult.

When I asked about my training, the manager just said: "You don't get official training as such. It's very relaxed, very laid-back here." This is unlikely to be the approach parents think they are paying for.

Next, I was asked to supervise the children on the beach. Again, no one had checked if I had any swimming or rescue qualifications. Even more worrying, I had to take children out on a boat without enough safety gear for all of them. When I raised the issue with my manager, he told me to go ahead with the boat trip anyway. Also, for such a prestigious company with an upmarket reputation, Mark Warner has a very cavalier attitude to the employment laws of the countries where it operates, and is not controlled by Ofsted.

Like many of its staff in Dahab, I was there on a tourist visa. Mark Warner should have paid for work permits but instead had us break Egyptian law on their behalf. We were told we should just lie and say we were there on holiday, but Egypt is not the kind of country-where you want to end up in prison. Three weeks after I returned from Egypt, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a Mark Warner resort in Praia da Luz in Portugal made headlines around the world. No one blamed the company or its staff for the little girl's disappearance, but given the case, I assumed the company would toughen up its vetting of nannies."