Training 

Compliance Training 
 
We are committed to continuous improvement at the nursery and regularly ensure all staff have undertaken appropriate training for compliance.  
 
We train on Health & Safety, First Aid, Safeguarding, Administering of prescribed drugs, and annually hold a week’s closure to train on understanding conditions our service users must live with. This would include understanding Autism and Dementia. 
 
Service User Training 
Mires Beck has an official horticultural training program which is delivered by Charlotte who teaches all new service users and further develops the training for the existing teams each year. Each production department at the nursery has its own training requirements which are listed below. 
 
Habitats 
All of our tree team are trained in Bio-security and to identify tree diseases which forms part of our regular ‘tree watch’ and aided by our wholesale team during the winter months. We audit not only our growing stock, but also our woodland and record any relevant findings. 
 
The trees are grown to Woodland Trust Assurance procedures and British standard quality. These two principles form the content for our training delivered to our service user from our leadership team on-site. The course is mapped over a period of three seasons for new service users joining the team and at the end of the course they are presented with a Mires Beck Certificate of Learning. We are hoping during 2021 to make this an official educational training through the Arboriculture Association programme delivered by particula training providers.  
 
As part of the work undertaken in our woodland and conservation area, we are also training our service users on the methods we are adopting to encourage woodland growth and the biodiversity on-site and our teams come to learn many aspects of the estate work managing these aspects of our work. The conservation management is developing on our 14 aces and in 2021 we will launch a new certificate of learning for this element of our operation. This will be a broad Estates based learning and will be broken into annual Certificates of Learning for each differing aspect of work. 
Plants 
 
The Plants Teams, - Perennials, Wildflowers, Herbs & Vegetables are also trained in plant health and Mires Beck has been delivering its horticultural training certificate for over 15 years. We have a wealth of knowledge and experience to pass on to service users and the expansion of operations at the nursery enables us to operate a continuous program of learning from trials and expansion of plant and vegetable production on-site. The teams involved in any plant work receive a Certificate of Learning for their training in this area which is taken at the service users pace and which is refreshed as new areas of our operation arise. All teams working across Plant Teams will learn their official species names and purpose and the benefits each type of plants provide nature and people. The topics equally cover the aspects of therapeutic benefit the understanding and working with nature can bring. 
 
Wholesale 
Our service users working within Wholesale Preparation will be trained on managing orders, collecting, cleaning and labelling plants ready for garden centre customers. They will learn the routes we deliver to and visit our customers with their Supervisor where we have agreed to merchandise their plant benches and will experience the retail sales operation our plants are delivered to as a result of their preparation. The team will receive a Certificate of Learning in Plant Preparation and Wholesale when they have completed 2 seasons in this team. 
 
Craft 
Our Woodcraft Team are vitally supported by volunteers who template all of the craft for our range of bird boxes, insect boxes bug hotels etc. The team learns the purpose of the craft and what species it hopes to attract. The service users forage all of the fillers and learn where to collects and what are the best materials to attract the wildlife the boxes aim to attract. They will learn how to handle various tools and the use of paints we are able to use to decorate the boxes, but not discourage the wildlife needing these habitats. The service users will also make these for our own site and learn the places to home the craft and inspect them and record their findings for our conservation records. They will receive a Certificate of Learning in this woodland craft after 2 seasons. 
 
Catering 
Our Catering Team manage all of the on-site food preparation, menu planning from our vegetable garden and service for the daily teams’ on-site and are governed by the official codes of practice in Health & Safety for food preparation and hygiene. They will learn use of all kitchen equipment and conduct the relevant checks ensure our operation remains compliant to the governing standards. The team will be issued a Certificate of Learning annually for their work in this area. 

Certificates can be taken in: 

Tree Growing 
Estate Management 
Gardening 
Horticulture (plants and vegetables) 
Herbs and Drying 
Wholesale Operations 
Woodcraft 
Food Preparation and Hygiene 

Our Nature  

Smell 

Watch and listen as Sandra guides you through the different smells that you will sense when you are surrounded by our herbs here at Mires Beck Nursery. 

Taste 

Watch and listen as Suzanne guides you through the different tastes that you will sense when you are surrounded by our vegetables here at Mires Beck Nursery. 

Sight and Sound 

Watch and listen as Steve and Stephen guides you through the different sights and sounds that you will sense when you are surrounded by our trees here at Mires Beck Nursery.