Norland trains 1,000th ‘Flying Nanny’!

This week, Norland’s Early Year’s Consultant, and Nursery World Trainer of the Year 2014, Claire Burgess, is in Abu Dhabi training our 1,000^th Flying Nanny for Etihad Airways! 

Since June 2013 Norland has been training Etihad Airways cabin crew as Flying Nannies who support families whilst on long haul flights. Etihad recognised that more and more families are now travelling all over the world and that travelling with small children can be challenging. Their “Flying Nannies” aid those families and, in turn, make the flying experience more enjoyable for all of their passengers. The airline contacted Norland to support them in delivering this training and we developed a bespoke training programme specifically for them. 

The training Norland delivers for Etihad includes exploring the travelling experience from the perspective of children of different ages, looking at how the on board cabin crew, with some additional tricks up their sleeve, can support this.

One area that we cover is looking at child behaviours – why might a baby cry, why might a toddler want to run around the cabin and how to engage older children once the excitement of flying has worn off and boredom has set in.  When cabin crew have an understanding of why children do what they do, they are able to support them and their families much more effectively.

Photo, left to right: Claire Burgess, Norland Early Years Consultant; Elpida Tsatsaronis, Etihad's 1,000th Flying Nanny from USA; Aubrey Tiedt, Vice President Guest Services, Etihad Airways.

The feedback that we receive following the training has been wonderful; here are just some examples of a comments we have received:

“I now have a clearer view on child psychology and a better perspective.  I am glad I opted for this training because it has changed my mindset.”

"A lot of useful and informative tips and stories and a lot of physical activities to take part in." 

"Thank you, I found Claire amazing, very inspiring."

Etihad are just one of Norland’s training and consultancy clients, to read more about our training and consultancy have a look here on our website.