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If you have a question not answered here, please contact the KalliKids team.
The feedback on your KalliKids profile effectively speeds up word of mouth. Those comments from parents would be out in the world verbally anyway but by sharing them on line, parents are sharing with more parents.
Parents value what other parents say and expect to see the odd customer noting room for improvement. Not every Mum may like the new t-shirts a sports club has introduced or even the change of time of a lesson. Karen, the Founder of KalliKids, stopped reading testimonials a long time ago and now buys very little without first looking at reviews.
Accreditation is open only to good, high-quality and trustworthy family activity providers and we are confident here at KalliKids that feedback will not become an issue for most providers. However there may be the occasional customer that leaves feedback you do not necessarily like or agree with.
If at any stage you feel that feedback you have received is not true or comes from a parent you do not recognise, please contact the KalliKids team.
To help you build your ratings, KalliKids:
Feedback speeds up word of mouth for parents and for you.
KalliKids approves new profiles and changes to profiles for two reasons:
KalliKids aims to approve all changes within two working days of submission.
Parents are usually looking for a reliable, honest and professional activity provider who delivers what they say they will. Parents therefore will use the KalliKids summary statement in the search results and your KalliKids profile to choose the best person for them or their child.
If writing your own profile is new to you or you want help, you can:
Your profile needs to say what you do, how you do it and why you are different from others. What is your USP (your Unique Selling Point)? What words would you use to describe you, your classes or service?
Your KalliKids accredited profile address which will be: KalliKids.com/your name.
Once live, your KalliKids profile will be searchable by parents from the KalliKids search profile and directly from search engines (such as Google and Bing). You can also publicise your profile and use it as your sole website or as a channel of traffic to your existing website.
Examples of possible URLs include:
There may be occasions where business or club names are very similar and the URL of the new activity provider may need to be tweaked to ensure uniqueness and different addresses.
Note: when your profile is showing on the screen of a parent, a slightly longer URL is shown but you do not need to provide that one in your marketing materials. The simple KalliKids.com/your-profile-name will come straight to your profile.
You can use your KalliKids profile to communicate with existing and potential customers in many ways. In addition to contributing to KalliKids emails and newsletters, you can add news directly to your profile via your News Feed, which will be visible to all parents viewing your profile as well as people who have signed up to follow your news.
Examples of the kind of news which can help bring you enquiries about family activities include:
Yes, you can include downloadable documents on your KalliKids profile. For example, you can add music sheets, maths questions, team sport tactic discussions, brochures and many other types of documents. The documents will be live on your profile and downloadable once reviewed by KalliKids.
Examples of photos, downloads and videos include:
At any time during your full year of accreditation, you can make changes, including:
Some of these changes will require checking by KalliKids before they go live. For example, all new qualifications will be verified just as they were at the start of your accreditation.
Making changes to your profile is very easy. Simply login to your account, choose the item you want to change and click on "edit".
Once you have made your changes, you can submit for approval by the KalliKids team. Some elements of your profile will not need approval and will go-live immediately.
You can change your KalliKids profile at any time.
For example:
You can change the text, the photos, documents, videos and other details to reflect your changing business and new services that you offer. For example, you can add:
Some changes will go live immediately: these include locations, age groups and other similar details. Changes to text and photos will go live once approved by KalliKids. This protects you from unintended errors and families from mis-use of the service.
KalliKids aims to approve all changes within two working days of submission.
If at any time you forget your password, you can reset it by clicking the “forgotten password” button on the login page. An email will be sent to you at the email address linked to your password-protected account and all you need to do is simply follow the instructions in the email.
KalliKids is committed to ensuring that all information and data is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, the KalliKids team has put in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information collated.
You can find further details in the Privacy Policy.
KalliKids accreditation is open only to good, high-quality and trustworthy family activity providers. Your accreditation will demonstrate that you are trusted and approved, your referees plus online feedback will demonstrate your consistent quality rating and the accreditation logo on advertising materials will demonstrate your trustworthy status.
KalliKids gives quality activity providers credibility and visibility.
Earning accreditation and setting up your profile is easy and we are always on hand to help.
KalliKids has been described as Word of Mouth with a Megaphone. Therefore, the principal of KalliKids referencing and feedback means that word of mouth can be faster, both for you as an activity provider and for families.
As a parent looking for a tutor or for a kids sports club, word of mouth can be very slow and a little pot-luck. Knowing someone who knows someone who knows a tutor who is good and available is not always possible.
Families coming to KalliKids will be able to see references and good ratings reinforcing those references and that is instant word of mouth. That helps parents find quality activity providers and helps you as an activity provider find more families.
If you are in the lucky position to not need or want more children or families, then you are probably a good quality activity provider and the kind of person/organisation KalliKids is all about.
By earning accreditation whilst you have children/customers, you will build up your ratings and feedback putting you in a strong position for a future time where things are slower and you need to attract more children/customers.
Parents will gain more comfort and confidence the more feedback and ratings you have on your profile so building that up in the good times could be of great benefit.
Your KalliKids accreditation lasts for one year, renewable on an annual basis.
If you were not to renew at the end of the year, your KalliKids profile would become invisible to parents and not searchable either via the KalliKids search or by search engines.
To help make the renewal process smoother, KalliKids will remind you to send in new documents before your accreditation renewal date. Once you have sent them in and KalliKids has processed them, your accreditation will be set to continue and parents will see a continued accreditation.
Accreditation may be shortened in certain circumstances such as covered in clause 8.1 of the activity provider terms and conditions. Such circumstances include: you no longer operating, you giving notice, KalliKids deeming your service no longer meets accreditation standards or you fail to pay monies owed to KalliKids.
You can use the accreditation tick and communicate to parents that you are KalliKids accredited throughout your accreditation.
KalliKids will check all the documents proving your relevant qualifications, memberships, training certificates and of course who you are. This is true for you and for the key members of your team who will appear on your Meet-the-Team tab. You will also need to send business-related documents such as insurance, registration and awards.
You can choose the feature plan and therefore price that best suits you as an activity provider.
The differences between feature plans relate mainly to whether you want to attend events, be featured in newsletters, talk about your team and how many photos, videos and documents you want to share with parents.
Not-for profit organisations benefit from discounts on each of the feature plans - please contact us Enquiries@KalliKids.com
To choose which plan and discount best suits you, please see the feature plan comparison.
Yes, the initial accreditation process and the annual renewal are both included within your annual payments so you set-up one payment plan for the full year.
For people, clubs or businesses just setting out on a new venture, KalliKids can work with references from previous experience. A good example of this would be a full-time maths teacher who is just setting up to tutor out of school hours or a music club just being set-up by a recent graduate. In these cases, KalliKids can speak with the parents from the teacher’s classes, headmaster, lecturer or other teaching staff who know the person well. Where references are not from parents, the references on your profile will be transparent and state what the relationship is.
For most activities, but not all, you will need public liability insurance to earn KalliKids accreditation.
Public liability insurance covers your direct costs (and often legal costs) for any accidents to members of the public or property that relate to your business: whether sports, music, clubs, toddler activities or a child-friendly venue.
Even if you work from home, you may need public liability cover or a revised clause in your home insurance. If parents or children visit you at home, a public liability policy will cover you if they injure themselves. An accident could be as simple as a parent tripping over a musical instrument on the floor, a child falling off a chair during a tutoring lesson or a toddler scolding himself on a radiator. Therefore, public liability insurance is highly recommended to all activity providers. If you regularly work offsite, meeting in sports venues or cafes, your policy needs to cover that activity too.
You can arrange public liability insurance through many different companies and annual cover for a single person may cost as little as £40.
For all activity providers, insurance status is shown on their profile so that parents are fully informed. Activities where public liability is NOT essential for KalliKids accreditation (although still strongly recommended) are those around single tutors, teachers and coaches who trade for few hours and teach low risk activities. This would include, music lessons, tuition and babysitting.
To earn KalliKids accreditation you do not need a DBS/CRB check although it is highly recommended as many parents do expect it.
The KalliKids website shows clearly which providers have a DBS/CRB check and which providers do not. This may influence parents when choosing activities for their children hence why KalliKids does recommend a DBS/CRB where possible.
Note: KalliKids only shows DBS/CRB's that are under three years old at the date of checking.
CRBs are available (and are often obligatory) if a person is employed by an agent or organisation with close contact with children or vulnerable adults. Such organisations include schools, charities, hospitals and clubs. Therefore, many KalliKids providers may have a DBS/CRB check via one role (for example, part-time help at a local children’s hospice) which is checked by KalliKids as part of their accreditation for a completely different activity (for example, child theatre acting lessons).
However, as self-employed people cannot request a DBS/CRB check on themselves, KalliKids recognises that not all providers can apply. If this is the case, the KalliKids team may be able to help you: please contact the team on Providers@KalliKids.com or 01273 507103.
No. You simply pay to be awarded KalliKids accreditation, for your profile to be online and findable by parents and for access to Meet-Me Days and newsletter features. Once families contact you through your KalliKids profile or because they see you are accredited from your own leaflets, the financial relationship is directly between you and the family. Therefore, the more families that contact you and use your service, the quicker the payback on your KalliKids accreditation will become.
The KalliKids service is all about bringing together families with trusted and approved activity providers who are checked and referenced. If, despite the recommendations from families and the checks during the accreditation process, an activity provider does not deliver a good service (either consistently or through a one-off event), KalliKids may consider terminating the accreditation of an activity provider. The final decision is at KalliKids discretion. The circumstances of each case will be reviewed for its merits and KalliKids may speak with parents and the activity provider before coming to a conclusion.
KalliKids will automatically email you to remind you of document renewals. You can choose to not receive these renewals but, as these items are so important, KalliKids strongly advises you opt in to receive these reminders.
KalliKids will contact you a few weeks before your accreditation is ending. Any qualifications and memberships, DBS/CRB, insurance or other documentation that needs updating will be highlighted to you around the time of your renewal.
KalliKids will not need to contact new referees.
The KalliKids review and checking of documents is a bit like a MOT: the checks happen at a point in time each year. In addition, you can add new and renewed documents to KalliKids throughout the year for checking.
For example, you may wish to add a brand new training or first aid certificate during the year but wait until annual accreditation renewal to send in your renewed insurance and DBS or CRB.
If you do wish to add documents in the year, then you can login to your account and add new qualifications or documents. These will appear on your profile once KalliKids has reviewed them.
Each KalliKids activity provider needs to have three good references and to be able to prove their qualifications and other details. Each activity provider is treated individually and every situation will be different. If your references were not good or the KalliKids team has reservations about some part of your application, we will contact you to discuss the circumstances of those concerns. If the concerns cannot be resolved by us working together, your money will be refunded less a £25 administration charge.
As KalliKids appeals only to good quality providers, our experience is that people who apply for accreditation will have little to worry about regarding the quality of their references and documentation.
As an activity provider, you pay for your accreditation and for optional services via online payments through a secure service by Barclays Bank either:
The online annual payment option through Barclays Bank saves you £5 but your choice may depend on how quickly you think your accreditation will be paid back in additional customers. For example:
Parents will find your profile in four ways:
David’s son is really keen on joining a modern dance group (he is Britain’s Got Talent mad) to learn street dance. So David goes to the KalliKids home page and types in “Modern Dance” and inputs his postcode. The KalliKids results page then gives David the list of local dance clubs and venues and David can then review them to see which clubs include boys and what their ratings and qualifications are.
Charlotte is looking for a sports activity for her children that both her son and daughter can do, in term time and holidays too, once per week and a club that can cope with her son’s special needs (he is autistic). To make this search faster, she can use the advanced KalliKids search function. The search might then provide a list of four children’s sports clubs close to where she lives who meet these requirements such as two hockey clubs, a football club and a cricket club (who have just launched a new girls’ team).
The words on your profile together with the KalliKids website ratings may bring a parent straight to your profile. Peter is on his iPhone and types in Google “beginner’s guitar tutor mid-Sussex”. The Google results page provides him various links which include three KalliKids pages: Gary’s guitar classes, Duncan’s bass guitar lessons and the KalliKids Guitar Expert Pin Board highlighting the benefits of children learning guitar (and other musical instruments).
Tracey recently saw a poster in her local village hall for toddler activities on a Wednesday morning, just after the school run. The class is called Toddler Village. She remembered the simple URL (KalliKids.com/Toddler-Village) and types into her browser.
You can use the KalliKids accreditation logo on your adverts, your headed paper, leaflets, learning materials (lesson books, music sheets, test papers), promotional materials (pens, t-shirts, reading books) and your own website. For further ideas and details please see the KalliKids Accreditation Logo Guidelines.
Examples of where the KalliKids logo could work for you:
You can use the KalliKids accreditation logo on any materials that you produce during the year of the accreditation and where renewal has been confirmed.
Parents can check your accreditation in several ways:
Of course, this is one of the many benefits of earning KalliKids accreditations. You can use the KalliKids logo on all the materials that you produce during the accreditation year and subsequent renewal periods.
The logo will help parents identify you as a recommended provider and they will therefore be more likely to contact you.
You can add your logo to your adverts, your headed paper, leaflets, learning materials (lesson books, music sheets, test-papers), promotional materials (pens, t-shirts, reading books) and your own website. To maintain consistency across providers, the logo needs to be a certain size and colour. Please see the KalliKids Logo Guidelines.
Meet-Me Days bring together accredited activity providers with families looking for children’s and family activities. KalliKids organises Meet-Me Days in various locations with the aim of bringing together local activity providers with local families.
Meeting someone in person gives children and their parents more confidence, comfort and inspiration. This helps parents make the right choice and helps activity providers find new pupils or customers with the right fit.
Douglas teaches the Didgeridoo but he feels that members of his local community are unaware of his services. Douglas decides that he will attend a Meet-Me Day to build awareness and teach people about the skill that’s involved in learning the Didgeridoo. Douglas arrives with his instrument, sets up some music and pictures on his table. As families arrive, the children are instantly drawn to the Didgeridoo as it is such an unusual instrument. After a quick demonstration he has a talk with some of the parents discussing his availability, fees and what learning the didgeridoo entails.
The Post Office aims to deliver letters the following day if posted by first class but as we all know, this does not happen in every single case. Therefore, KalliKids works on the basis that your documents will take two to three working days to reach us and two to three working days to come back to you.
Once your documents arrive, KalliKids aims to scan and check your documents within two working days and then post back to you.
Therefore, please expect any original documents posted to KalliKids to be away from you for six to eight working days (two to three for sending, two for processing, and two to three for receiving).
The Post Office is a fantastic service and most post arrives at its destination. However, occasionally the Post Office does mislay post (especially if badly addressed) or accidents happen (a KalliKids advisor once received a burnt letter in a burnt envelope after a depot fire). If you send a letter or parcel that is not traceable, the Post Office may have great difficulty tracking it down and therefore the likelihood of you losing it is a little higher.
If you use recorded delivery, the Post Office tracks your letter or parcel at various stages of its journey and requests a signature when it arrives with KalliKids. You can go online and find out if the letter or parcel has arrived and therefore quickly gain peace of mind.
KalliKids uses the Post Office recorded delivery services to post back documents to you.
If you are worried about posting originals or copies of your documents, you can scan them directly into your account. You can find full instructions by logging into your account.
If you no longer have an original certificate or a document, the two possible solutions are:
The time of response for both of these methods is dependent on the efficiency of the relevant organisations to be contacted. For this reason, KalliKids cannot guarantee a turnaround time.
If the missing document is not essential to your accreditation and marketing, your profile can still go live and you will be visible to parents. When all documents are received you can add the qualification and KalliKids will review and approve the change.
Jose is a Spanish language tutor and offers children’s lessons at the weekend. Jose has scanned to KalliKids his passport, his UK teaching qualification and his Spanish university degree certificate. However, Jose has lost his first aid training certificate from two years ago. Both Jose and KalliKids are happy to add the first aid training details later to KalliKids.com/JosesKidsSpainish.
Once your documents are scanned into your account and submitted for checking, KalliKids will open and compare the documents to your account details (and reserves the right to spot check some documents with the issuing organisation).
Only KalliKids staff see your documents – they will not be available to the public or on the KalliKids website.
Your documents, whether physical or electronic, original or copy, will be treated with sensitivity whilst in the hands of KalliKids. KalliKids will make all reasonable endeavours to protect documents physically on its premises and to protect the electronic scanned documents and data.
If, in the unlikely event your original documents were lost by KalliKids and KalliKids were directly at fault, KalliKids would compensate you for renewal costs of the documents in accordance with the activity provider terms and conditions.
Once your documents arrive by post, KalliKids:
Following this, KalliKids:
Only KalliKids staff see your documents: neither the physical nor the electronic copies will be available to the public or on the KalliKids website.
Your documents would more than likely reach us by normal post and the Post Office says that it delivers most letters within in two to three days. However, things can go wrong and KalliKids strongly recommends using recorded delivery or a courier service/parcel service where tracking is included.
If you are worried about posting originals or copies of your documents, you can scan them directly into your account. You can find full instructions by logging into your account.
A DBS / CRB check is a document provided by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) on an individual person showing their conviction history. DBS/CRB checks are needed by certain people working, or seeking to work with children or vulnerable adults. The CRB was an executive agency of the Home Officeand merged into the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) in December 2012.
Some activity providers may not have a CRB or DBS check. For example, music teachers and tutors who do not work for a school, children’s charity or for a child-focused business may not be able to request a DBS or CRB on themselves. Other activity providers may choose not to request a DBS or CRB as in many situations it is not obligatory, it costs money and some activity providers believe that a DBS or CRB is not the most important thing for parents.
KalliKids is all about giving families as much information as possible. Therefore, KalliKids activity provider profiles show clearly if the person and team have a current DBS or CRB check that has been reviewed by the KalliKids team. KalliKids accepts DBS and CRBs as current if they are under three years old at the date of accreditation.
You can find out much more about DBS checks at the Home Office website.
There were three levels of disclosure resulting from a DBS / CRB check: Basic, Standard and Enhanced.
Basic disclosures show any unspent criminal convictions but do not show spent criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings. The term “spent” means that a rehabilition period has passed since the person was convicted of a crime. The rehabilition period varies according to the age of the person at the date of the crime, the type of crime and the length of any time in prison (custodial sentence).
At all levels, if an event is shown on the DBS/CRB, a short description will be included about its nature.
A DBS check is a police record check on an individual person.
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged into the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in December 2012. CRB checks are now called DBS checks.
A DBS check shows incidents on an individual's police record. A DBS check is needed for certain people in certain environments when working with children but is not obligatory in all circumstances. Indeed, an individual person cannot request a DBS check on themself.
There are three levels of DBS check and they each show varying levels of disclosure:
DBS and CRB checks show criminal incidents in a person’s history. Examples of offences included are driving convictions (dangerous driving, drunk driving), violent crimes, fraud and theft. If a provider’s DBS or CRB check shows previous incidents, KalliKids assesses if that incident impacts the ability of the activity provider to work with children (and ultimately the safety of those children).
If there is an impact, for example, incidents related to violence, abuse or peodephelia, KalliKids will not award accreditation to you as an activity provider.
If there is an incident on the DBS or CRB but which does not have an impact (for example, drunk driving 20 years ago and you will never need to drive children around) KalliKids may, at its discretion, award accreditation.
You can earn KalliKids accreditation without a DBS or CRB check. KalliKids is all about transparency and giving information to parents and activity provider profiles will show your DBS or CRB status as part of that information.
DBSs are available if a person is employed by an agent or organisation with close contact with children or vulnerable adults. Such organisations include schools, charities, hospitals and clubs. Therefore, many KalliKids providers may have a DBS or CRB check via one role (for example, part-time help at a local children’s hospice) which is checked by KalliKids as part of their accreditation for a completely different activity (for example, child theatre and acting lessons).
Note: KalliKids only shows DBS/CRB's that are under three years old at the date of checking.
If you do not have a DBS or CRB via any organisation and would like one, please contact the KalliKids team via Providers@KalliKids.com or on 01273 507103. We may be able to point you in the right direction.
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