Portal Press Spring 2023

MAKE YOURSELF A priority

Editor

Editor

Hopefully by now Spring has finally sprung after what has felt like a very long Winter, and there is definitely a feeling of positivity in the air! I for one can’t wait to turn the heating off and start saving a bit of money! But I also can’t wait to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.

I know January is the usual time for starting new exercise routines and trying to eat healthier, but I always find it easier to start

those things in the Spring. In winter I want warming dinners and curling up on the sofa away from the rain, but as the days get warmer and the evenings start to stretch I look forward to taking my little boy to the park after work, or taking the dog for a stroll by the river.

So if, like me, you’ve already failed to keep your new years resolutions (which are a stupid idea anyway) –give yourself another chance and I bet you’ll find them easier to stick to!

Dates for your Diary Dates for your Diary

News, Updates & Pointers

Department Updates Department Updates

Lets take a look at what’s going on at Planet Portal...

Business Development Team

We have a new relationship with Coleg Y Cymoedd, where we are accessing different funding pots with them to be able to provide our customers with some value-added programmes.

We are now able to deliver Level 4 Diploma in Principles of Leadership and Management and Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management under the FE funding, these programmes are delivered to a minimum of ten remotely and can also be delivered through the medium of Welsh.

FE funding – First cohort for the FE funding has started with the Dragons and Gwyn will be delivering this. Good Luck Gwyn.

The next Cohort will start the beginning of April.

We also have funding for the following programmes which are delivered in groups of 8 remotely.

• Level 5 Managing Projects in the organisation unit.

• Level 5 - Understanding the Skills, Principles and Practice of Effective Coaching and Mentoring within an Organisational Context unit.

• City and Guilds Level 3 AET - Award in Education and Training (6502)

Customer Survey Evaluation

Our Annual Customer Survey enables up to gain feedback to help us to continue to develop our services. This year’s survey informed us...

71% were Very Satisfied with the initial contact and information provided by Portal’s Business Development Team, 29% Satisfied.

100% felt our product/service meets the expectations and the needs of the organisation.

66% were Very satisfied with the method of communication between their allocated Business Development Officer and their organisation. 33% were satisfied.

70% preferred Email as a method of communication and 30% preferred Virtual/Teams.

100% found the literature received engaging and the content useful.

82% were very satisfied with the level of customer service and their overall experience at Portal, 18% were satisfied.

100% would recommend Portal to others.

94% have not attended or had any staff attend one of our Portal Promise Events.

59% were aware of the Portal Promise events.

41% were not aware.

50% have received Portal Connect/Newsletter.

17% have received E-shots.

33% have received information leaflets.

Areas to Celebrate Areas for development Actions

Send survey links out via the CRM system next round to increase engagement levels.

~ Sept/Oct 2023

Send e-shots out via the CRM and Promise events etc and monitor increased attendee numbers and positive responses in next round of surveys.

~ Sept/Oct 2023

All assessors to be emailed a copy and informed of dates Newsletter are sent to promote with learners.

~ Education W/C 27.3.23

In addition to the above upcoming delivery, Jo and Gwyn are working alongside the Mudiad Meithrin on 3 projects covering leadership and management and collaboration skills - it is great to see that they keep returning to us for work.

Al has received some great feedback from one of her L5 coaching learners, receiving high praise for her delivery of the course, Well Done Al!

IQA Team

We have some upcoming changes to the IQA Team. We will be welcoming Cate full time by April and Pauline will be coming on board gradually over the next 6 months.

We have had a successful EQA visit for CAVA and TAQA. We also had a successful visit for Essential Skills which was the first since we have moved over fully to One File. The feedback we had has been all positive and no recommendations were made. This is down to the hard work of all involved to ensure the new process was followed carefully.

We have also had a change from the Awarding body in respect of allowing remote supervision of Essential Skills Tasks. This will allow us to support learners more effectively to pass these aspects of their qualifications. We are also going through the approval process for the new Level 3 PASSE sports qualification, which we hope to be able to accept learners onto in the near future. Watch this space!

Commercial Delivery Delivery Team

We’ve had a few staff changes in the Delivery Team:

• Evanne has started her new role in January as Essential Skills Specialist

• We have welcomed new staff members; Sian Jones and George Connelly, who have both joined as Welsh ILM Assessors.

• Cate has moved to the IQA team full time and Pauline 1 day a week.

We are also returning to face to face delivery - you can read more about that on page 13.

Marketing & Design

By now many of you will have been to visit our lovely new office, which started out as a blank canvas and now channels the essence of Portal!

I hope you’ll all agree that it’s now a colourful and inspiring place to work.

We also have an additional ongoing project of creating postcards for the entire Portal team, so that even though we work far and wide across Wales, we can always recognise our colleagues faces!

We have currently only done half the team, and are waiting on a few images - please don’t think we’ve forgotten you!

Good to Know Handy Helpers

Marketing Literature Marketing Literature

All the most up to date Marketing Literature can be found here: https://portaltrainingwales.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/ Eiq8iiZWCSRDnLtgLiQru8QBJpvshXZETkMuWASK1CR_ OQ?e=4CEVT1

The Design and Marketing Department are responsible for archiving out of date literature and ensuring that the most up to date documents are available in the folder, with the correct version number. So if you’re ever in need of a brochure or prospectus to share with someone who is interested in learning with Portal, head over to that folder!

WelshGovernmentFunded:

ILMManagement Level3Diploma (CombinedQualification)

Training & Consultancy Hyfforddiant ac Ymgynghoriaeth

Prosbectws 2022/23

Sharing is Caring

Sharing is Caring

It’s a huge help to our social reach and engagement when you lovely lot share and like our posts! We understand that you may not want to do this from your personal accounts (depending on your preferred platform).

If you would like any help or support setting up a second account to use for business purposes, or any general advice on supporting our social media activity, please get in touch with laura.atkinson@portaltraining.co.uk.

Face to Face Delivery

Face to Face Delivery

For the Assessors amongst us, face to face delivery has recommenced with visits taking place every 3 months until September, whereby face to face visits will increase to every 8 weeks from this point. All Portolian’s will receive a new, branded identification card which is expected to be worn when visiting customers off-site/learners in the workplace. You will receive your new identification card at the upcoming L&D day in May.

Social Media Working Group Update Social Media Working Group Update

The social media group met on 20th January to discuss ideas and actions for the Portal Social Media Platforms. We had a great discussion and came up with some brilliant ideas which we have already begun to implement including: staff professional profiles on various platforms; use of Reels on Instagram and staff providing videos from events for Stories.

We had some fantastic examples of this from Sarah at her IIP Event and Liam and Shawn at the County in the Community Event.

So if you’re out and about please feel free to send videos and photos of where you are and what you’re doing to laura.atkinson@portaltraining.co.uk

We also plan to create some Blogs for our website and social which may require some input from other departments, I will be in touch with further information in the near future.

TeamNews

From who’s doing what to meeting your new work buddies.

Spotlight Team In the Marketing & Design

Welcome to the Portal Design and Marketing Department, otherwise known as Fiona and Laura… otherwise know as the Pregnant Pair! In case you’ve been avoiding your emails since January, both ladies are currently expecting baby girls, two days apart in June.

Laura joined Portal in January 2021. After spending a couple of days in the office, the Covid numbers started rising again, and most of her induction period was working remotely at home.

marketing role in 2012.

She added: “As it turns out, I wasn’t tough enough to be a journalist, as much as I loved writing!”

“The worst part of my role is taking staff bio photos for the website! I’m sure you all hate me for it! I thought wedding photography was stressful, but it’s nothing compared to upsetting you lot with a mug shot.”

“I absolutely love working with Fiona, from the minute I met her in her interview I thought she was great. I’ve loved having someone to share marketing and design ideas with, and I’m so excited that we get to share our pregnancy journey together (we didn’t plan it that way, I promise)!”

Laura’s responsibilities include creating content for and managing Portal’s social media platforms, basic website maintenance, sending email and direct mail marketing, creating content for staff and customer newsletters, managing the CRM and everything in between.

Laura said: “I love my role because I get to use lots of different marketing skills, so I never get bored.

“My favourite part of my role is creating content, whether that’s writing something for a newsletter, or making a fun reel for social media. I have always loved writing.”

Laura has a degree from the University of Chester in Photography and Journalism. She worked as a journalist for nearly three years, before falling into a sales and

Fiona joined Portal part-time in May 2022 and works mostly from home in beautiful Abergavenny. She came to Portal after taking redundancy during the Covid pandemic while on maternity leave.

Prior to Portal she had worked in the marketing department of Nisbets, Europe’s biggest retailer of catering equipment, for nearly 10 years. She started as a Junior Artworker and finished as Head of Studio, managing a team of 8 designers.

Her time at Nisbets was incredibly fast paced and busy and she enjoys the slightly less frantic pace at Portal – although saying that, there is always plenty of interesting projects to get stuck into.

Fiona said: “My biggest achievements so far at Portal have been redesigning

“I love my role because I get to use lots of different marketing skills, so I never get bored.”

the prospectus, and creating the artwork and signage for the new office. I love having a blank canvas and lots of freedom to design, while always keeping the brief in mind of course!” You will also see her handiwork across induction booklets, exhibition banners, brochures, powerpoints and of course newsletters!

About working at Portal she added: “I have never worked for a company so genuinely concerned with employee happiness and wellbeing, I feel very lucky to have got this role at a time when I was thinking of giving up design and finding a new career”.

“I also feel really lucky to work so closely with Laura as we are nearly always on the same page, and she has been an absolute godsend over my first year at Portal. She is a great sounding board and always supportive. We’ll be meeting up regularly while we are both on maternity leave so expect pictures!”

“I love having a blank canvas and lots of freedom to design.”

Staff Updates

Congratulations to Steve Cribb on his promotion to WBL Team Leader. And further congratulations to Evanne Fox for her change of role to ESS Practitioner. We wish you both the best of luck in your new roles!

Quickfire Questions With...

Jade Carey

On your last day on earth, what would you do?

Spend it in Greece with my family, eating and drinking.

Tell us something about yourself that not many people know?

I used to do Show Jumping.

Starter, main course and puddingwhat would you choose?

Scallops, Lasagne and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Sam Thole

Describe yourself in 3 words.

Honest, Kind and Loyal (I think anyway) ha-ha!

Starter, main course and puddingwhat would you choose?

Garlic Mushrooms, Steak and Cheesecake YUM!

What has caused you the most embarrassment ever?

Has to be the time I touched a painting in the National History Museum in London and got escorted out. Devastated.

New Starter Fun Facts

Tom Wines Compliance Administrator

“My favourite city break is Edinburgh! The castle in the night is one of the best views I have seen! I would recommend it to anyone.”

George Connelly Management Assessor

“’I have 5 siblings and have represented Wales in 2 different sports. I had to stand out somehow!”

Bethan Brown

ILM Assessor

Sian Jones

ILM Assessor

“When I was a little girl, I almost killed a crocodile called Big Daddy! We went on a family holiday to Kenya, and visited a crocodile farm, there was a big crocodile called Big Daddy who had apparently eaten ten tourists whole. My Dad started filming, he wasn’t moving much, so my dad said to me go and get a little stone and throw it in the water and see if Big Daddy moves. I go and find the biggest stone I can find and come back and throw it directly at Big Daddy, it hits him smack on his nose and he sinks underwater for the rest of the day. My sister then starts shouting Sian’s killed Big Daddy!!!! (just to clarify no crocodiles died, I was only eight and my Dad told me to do it!!)”

“I celebrated by 16th birthday with my best friend who was born the day before me in Tanzania trekking with the Massai tribe. It was a joint celebration with one of the Massai people who had just married his third wife! A birthday I certainly will never forget.”

Plus a big welcome to the team since our last edition...

Luke Hemming Leadership & Management Assessor

Carys Watts P&D Administrator

Andrew Diggle Sports IQA

Your Wellness

To support your wellbeing in tip-top condition physically

Wellness

wellbeing let us help you to stay physically and mentally!

Food & Mood

Your mental health can be greatly affected by your diet. The Mental Health Foundation recommends eating certain foods to help with symptoms such as anxiety, poor concentration or stress.*

If you’re experiencing poor memory, your diet may lack Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Try eating...

If you’re experiencing

*This information is intended as a guide only. Some foods may cause allergic reactions. If you have any dietary concerns or feel you may be anxious or depressed or experiencing any other mental health problem, you should consult your GP or medical advisor.

If you’re experiencing

If you’re experiencing Try eating...

Spinach

Oats Fresh Pasta

Brown Rice Barley

Banana Strawberry

Kiwi Orange

Cauliflower Savoy Cabbage

Asparagus Beetroot

Salmon Cod

Scallops

Sardines Shrimp

Fresh Tuna

Mackerel Walnuts

Halibut

anxiety or depression, your diet may lack Folic Acid. Try eating...

Nuts & Seeds

Pulses

poor concentration, your diet may lack Vitamin B1. Try eating...

Pulses

Pasta Lentils

Vegetables

Sunflower Seeds

stress, irritability or insomnia, your diet may lack Magnesium.

Vegetables

Nuts & Seeds

Peanuts

Dairy

Seeds Legumes

Raisins

DSE

Hand Exercises

Try these hand exercises to help keep your fingers tapping and pain-free at work.

Finger strengthening

Begin with the palm of your hand on a tissue or towel on a table, fingers apart. Pull your fingers together by pressing your hand down into the table and bunching up the towel between your fingers. Repeat. You can also do this without using a towel or tissue, and simply by pressing down on the table and squeezing your fingers together and then stretching them apart.

Exercises for wrist, hand and finger problems

After any problem in the wrists, hands or fingers, it’s important to get movement and strength back. This supports tissue healing and will help you get moving again.

For more hand exercises got to the NHS Inform website.

Health is a state of mind, Wellness is a state of being.

Did you know we now have a dedicated Wellbeing Group?

They are:

About us and what we are trying to achieve...

As Wellbeing Ninjas, we are making it our aim to encourage and support wellbeing and to champion better work and working lives at Portal. We want to help nurture a culture of wellbeing and make a positive difference.

Our group is still within the early stages of formation and so far, we have reviewed resources to share internally and are organising a number of events and activities that can be experienced by all.

We all know that being active, maintaining a healthy diet, self-care and good sleep routines are effective in maintaining physical and mental health. To encourage this, our group have designed a monthly bulletin, which you will receive to your inbox, containing short sharp bursts of engaging content that will hopefully inspire you to get moving and feeling motivated!

One area we have been focussing on and thinking how we can encourage socialising, in addition to meeting in Cardiff is the launching of our very own quarterly quiz, hosted by our resident quizmaster: Phil O’brien. This will be on-line with prizes to be won!! Further detail to follow.

What else?

On the note of socialising, the next self-funded social is on April 28th. Meeting time and location to be confirmed. We hope to see you in Cardiff for a social get-together.

Our fantastic wellbeing Ninjas continue to focus on new ways of support and the organising of social events and welcome suggestions and contributions. To contact the group please email myidea@portaltraining.co.uk

Sarah Heenan

James Hodkinson Laura Atkinson Shawn Staples Simon Spurr

Portal Benefit: UK Healthcare Cash Plan

Did you know that Portal offers a healthcare cash back scheme? You will be automatically enrolled onto the Level 1 plan after successful completion of your probationary period. See below for full details of what you can claim for.

Your Corporate Benefits

Savings on holidays, theme parks, retail discounts and attractions Services provided by Incorpore Ltd

Access to special discounted rates

Anytime support for legal issues, medical problems, counselling and ID theft

Immediate cover provided. Pre-existing conditions included. Benefit levels are annual sums. Dependent children up to age 24 are covered free.

Sportal Leaderboard

Take a look at the leaderboard for the Portal Daily Step challenge. Steve is striding ahead, but if you think you can beat him, submit your daily steps to laura.atkinson@portaltraining.co.uk

Parkrun

parkrun is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. parkrun is 5k and takes place every Saturday morning. junior parkrun is 2k, dedicated to 4-14 year olds and their families, every Sunday morning. Register at parkrun.org.uk.

Locations include:

• Newport

• Cardiff

• Barry Island

• Penallta

• Pontypool

Couch to 5K

Taking up running can seem like a scary prospect, especially if you feel out of shape or unfit.

NHS Couch to 5K will help you gradually work up towards running 5km in just 9 weeks.

Recipes

Healthy and delicious - check out these recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner from the bestselling Pinch of Nom cookbook...

BREAKFAST | Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

Ingredients

• 40g oats or 2 Weetabix, crushed

• 175g vanilla flavoured, fat-free yoghurt

• 1 small carrot, grated

• 1/4 tsp mixed spice

• pinch of ground ginger

• pinch of ground cinnamon

Method

1. Put the oats or weetabix in the bottom of a jar with a lid.

2. Spoon the yoghurt and 3/4 of the carrot on top and add the spices

3. Stir well until completely combined.

4. Cover and chill in the fridge overnight.

5. Next morning, stir, top with remaining grated carrot and enjoy!

Serves 1

318 KCAL per serving

DESSERT | Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients

• 75g self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tbsp black treacle

• 3 tbsp granulated sweetener

• 50g reduced-fat spread

• 3 medium eggs

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 190°C (fan 170°C) and spray 4 ovenproof ramekins with low calorie cooking spray.

2. Put all ingredients (except golden syrup) into mixing bowl and whisk until fully combined, light and airy.

3. Distribute the golden syrup evenly between each ramekin. Top with the cake mixture, and bake for 20 minutes.

Serves

• 1 tbsp golden syrup

4. Remove from oven, leave for 1 minute then turn out onto serving dishes.

DINNER | Cajun Dirty Rice

Ingredients

• 200g basmati rice

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 chicken stock cube

• 400g 5% fat minced beef

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped

• 4 bacon medallions, diced

• 2 tsp cajun seasoning

• dash worcester sauce

• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped

• 6 mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

• 1/2 yellow pepper, finely chopped

• 1/2 green pepper, finely chopped

• 200ml beef stock

• small bunch spring onions, thinly sliced

Method

1. Cook the rice according to packet instructions, adding chicken stock cube and bay leaf to pan before cooking.

2. Set the rice aside once cooked.

3. Spray a frying pan with low calorie cooking spray. Add minced beef, onion and bacon and cook for 3-4 mins over medium heat, stirring until brown.

4. Add the cajun seasoning and worcester sauce and stir.

5. Add carrot, mushrooms, peppers and beef stock. Cook for 3-4 mins until peppers soften.

6. Add the cooked rice and spring onions to the pan and stir over a medium heat until all rice is coated and warmed through.

7. Taste and add some more cajun seasoning if you prefer it spicier, then serve.

TRIED & TESTED

By Fiona

Health and Wellbeing through Menopause Mania

awareness, emotional intelligence, an organised person, in control, able to do many things and certainly more than capable of juggling work, home life and caring for my mother which involves routine trips to West Wales. However, things began to unravel in a sneaky way and my world as I knew it began to change as the following signs and symptoms started to creep in:

Forgetfulness – forgetting words or what I was saying mid-sentence – this had a massive impact on my confidence and self-esteem. I went from someone who was self-assured in meetings to someone who dreaded having to attend meetings of any kind in case I came across as being incompetent. My brain could not keep up with what was happening around me.

Well before diving into a subject I know you are all familiar with, I’d like to acknowledge that no doubt most of you have experienced events in life that have had a real impact on your mental health and wellbeing, whether it has been bereavement, moving homes/jobs, relationship break ups, ill health or caring responsibilities the list goes on and on. Most of the time we can bounce back or deal with whatever is happening without it taking too much toll on our resilience and ability to dust ourselves off and carry on, but there may be times when you may need some help and support to do this.

So, I thought I would take you all on a little journey and talk to you about my own challenges with mental health and wellbeing over the last few years linked to the Menopause.

I have always thought of myself as someone who demonstrated self-

Mental fog – tasks that I would have usually completed with ease became a challenge this brought on frustration and complete feelings of- yes there’s that word again – incompetence.

Anxiety – overwhelming worry about things that would never have entered my head to worry about previously.

Paranoia, hot and cold flushes, and night sweats meant I wasn’t sleeping (neither was my hubby) which then meant I couldn’t function effectively the following day and neither could he. It was a vicious cycle as lack of sleep would also impact my ability to concentrate.

Even with the above going on I didn’t speak to anyone (apart from hubby) in any depth about how I was feeling or about what I was experiencing. I am more someone who will listen to others than someone to talk about my own feelings.

It was very difficult to put into words how low I was feeling and when I did there was a little voice in my head saying for goodness sake get a grip, put your big girl pants on and get on with it.

and into the woods. If I haven’t been out walking during the day I will step on the spot in the house and do my own version of boxercise, much to Clare and Gwawr’s amusement, especially when they saw my boxing technique!

What has helped me – well those of you who have met and know my husband will understand when I say he was an absolute godsend, he became very adept at reading the room and knew when humour, a hug (he loves a cwtch) or just a shoulder to cry on was needed. He also became the menopause guru in his workplace with his colleagues, which I think he enjoyed too much if you ask me!

I have tried a variety of supplements, alternative therapies, meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, rebound, positive thinking, with all of them having some beneficial impact. What helps me most is walking, especially along the river

But on a positive note, there is light at the end of the tunnel, everyone’s journey will be different, signs and symptoms may be similar but what will help each of you will be slightly different. My advice is talk to someone about how you are feeling, there will be something available that will help you, look after your mind and body, think about your diet, find an exercise you love and last but not least laugh, as laughter is the best medicine.

The above is a brief flavour of my journey with Menopause, so I would like to finish by saying that my door is always open whether you are going through things personally or are worried or dealing with a partner, friend or family member who may need your support and you just want to talk about how you can help yourself or help them.

Well, that’s all from me folks, until next time.

The Menopause Champion

“It was very difficult to put into words how low I was feeling and when I did there was a little voice in my head saying for goodness sake get a grip.”

Mental

Health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you Noam Shpancer, PHD

drive drive not where you’re going.