Tag: Children and Families

All together now

‘Inspirational’ new course coming to North Edinburgh

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Big changes are happening in Scotland about how families who need support are offered it. This is called Self Directed Support. The idea is that families and communities can have more say and control over the types of support they are offered. 

Total Craigroyston and Muirhouse Link Up are working with Diversity Matters to run ‘Everyone Together’, a  course for everyone involved with children and families in Pilton and Muirhouse – social workers, community workers, support workers,  people who need support, families, friends, neighbours, local community leaders and others.

We know that there is a huge variety of skills amongst us: families, communities and workers. By sharing skills and working together we can help families live well. Come and find out how the new changes can help us do things better.

The course will run from 9.30am to 2pm  in

North Edinburgh Arts Centre on the following dates:

Wednesday 29 April – Building the right kind of relationships 

Wednesday 6 May – What do we need? Identifying local services

Wednesday 13 May – Creating local networks to help us work together.

Interested? Contact Tracey Devenney at Total Craigroyston for more info and to book a place:call 529 5073 or email tracey.devenney@edinburgh.gov.uk 

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Everyone Together has been developed by Diversity Matters and is funded by the Scottish Government to help develop the use of Self Directed Support.

We have run 12 events in the last year in different parts of Scotland – read more at everyone-together.org

Drylaw Skatepark: final consultation event

Last chance to have your say on Drylaw Skatepark

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Drylaw Community Association and Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust will be holding a final consultation event on the new skatepark this Wednesday (15 April) from 5.30 – 6.30pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.

Go along, have a look at what’s being planned and have your say – the organisers are particularly keen to hear the views of young people.

Easter Holiday Programme

PrintWith the holidays almost upon us the Total Craigroyston team has produced a useful guide to what’s on for children and families across North Edinburgh during the Easter break.

To find out what’s on, where and when, click on the link below:

Easter-Programme-2015

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Good Friday event at Starbank Park

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Are you looking for something to entertain your kids or grandkids this Easter? Perhaps involving a bit of fresh air and exercise? Better still, while you relax and let them get on with it? Maybe some tea/coffee?

The Friends of Starbank Park are organising an Easter Egg Trail on Good Friday. It will last one hour from 10:30 to 11:30.

There will be a mixture of eggs to find and some of the eggs have a special prize attached!

To be eligible, children should be aged between three and eight years old.

And to follow? Well, there’ll be some sunflower seed planting – which means you can bring the children back at regular intervals to see how their own particular sunflower is growing!

Bill Rodger, Trinity CC

Babies will receive Meningitis B vaccine ‘as quickly as possible’

Vaccine to be part of Scottish childhood immunisation programme

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All infants in the UK are to be offered a vaccination against meningitis B following a deal struck between the Westminster government and drug manufacturing giant GlaxoSmithKline. The agreement was also reached on behalf of the Scottish Government and Scotland’s health secretary Shona Robison  said the vaccine will be offered here ‘as quickly as possible’.

The NHS will now introduce the vaccine, Bexsero, to the immunisation programme for infants. Vaccination will prevent the life-threatening strain of meningitis to all infants – around 1,200 people, mainly babies and children, get meningitis caused by the meningococcal group B bacteria each year in the UK, with around one in 10 dying from the infection.

The vaccination will be given in three doses at two, four and 12 months, with all babies in Scotland aged two months at the point of introduction being eligible. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has also advised that when the programme starts there should be a one-off, catch-up programme for babies aged three and four months of age.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government has been consistent in its support for the introduction of the Meningitis B vaccine, Bexsero. We will now work to roll out the vaccination programme as quickly as possible.

“The Meningitis B vaccine will now form part of the routine childhood immunisation programme in Scotland, underlining our commitment to ensuring the health and wellbeing of our children.

“Meningitis B is life-threatening and can affect people of any age, but is most common in babies and young children. By offering this vaccine as part of the routine programme we will be able prevent this and save lives. This disease can be devastating for children and their families and I’m very pleased we can now take the necessary steps to tackle its effects.”

Schools and parents must work together, says survey

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Parents and schools need to work to together to help children achieve their best. This is just one of the findings to come from a survey of parents conducted on behalf of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Culture Committee.

The on line survey, undertaken by the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (SPICe), sought the views of parents and guardians of school age children.  It asked questions about communication with schools, involvement with the Parent Teacher Council and sought ideas on how schools and parents might work together. In the survey 71% strongly agreed that it is important schools and parents work together.

The survey provides a small snapshot of parental involvement in school. The majority (56%) of parents completing the survey were from Edinburgh with 22% of those responding having children in independent schools.

The survey was commissioned to feed into the Committee’s year long work on attainment.   Next week (31 March) the Committee will explore how parents and schools can work together to help children realise their potential at school.

Committee Convener Stewart Maxwell MSP said: “Parents and guardians play a crucial role in their children’s education and we wanted to hear from them about the part they play in their child’s education.

“Whilst this is clearly an Edinburgh-centric sample, it paints an important picture about the need for schools and parents to work closer together in order that children can achieve their very best at school. This is something we can all agree is desirable.

“The survey also reveals that those with children in independent schools find it easier to get information about how their child is progressing than those in state schools. Our Committee will explore whether there are lessons to be learned about keeping parents informed.”

89% of parents whose children went to independent primary school’s agreed or strongly agreed information helped them support their child’s learning. This compares to 61%of those with children at state primary school.

Other results from the survey include:

  • 78% of respondents are confident the school will help them with their child’s learning.
  • Around a third of respondents with children in state school’s are actively involved in the parent council compared with only 6% of independent school parents.
  • Communication was a key theme with parents seeking good communication about how their children were progressing.

Scottish government moves to tackle violence against women

Scottish Government to consult on domestic abuse and sexual offences

16935493742_69719aa689_zProposals to help victims of Domestic Abuse and Sexual offences have been announced in a consultation by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Speaking at the Scottish Women’s Aid conference in Edinburgh yesterday, the First Minister confirmed that the consultation would seek views on how legislation can be used to better support victims of Domestic Abuse and Sexual offences.

In her address, the First Minister outlined that the consultation would look at five key areas, among them would be whether a specific offence of Domestic Abuse is required and if legislation to tackle the problem of so-called “revenge porn” – the posting, usually by ex-partners, of private, intimate images without consent is needed to provide further protection.

The First Minister told the delegates that the Scottish Government was committed to tackling all forms of violence against women and to the realization of women’s equality in our society. She said: ““Violence against women is both a symptom and a cause of wider gender inequality across our society. And so ending violence against women has to be part of a broader strategy – we also need to achieve true gender equality in society as a whole.

“And of course, that’s exactly what this Government is trying to do. Appointing a gender balanced cabinet; campaigning for gender equality in the boardroom; expanding childcare; and addressing gender stereotypes. We’re working to create an economy and a society where discrimination has no place. There is still a great deal to do, but this government is determined to take a lead.

Urging the delegates to take part in the consultation the First Minister said: “We are launching a far reaching consultation today on whether the current law on domestic abuse and sexual offences should be clarified and strengthened. I strongly encourage you to respond; the deadline is the 19th of June.

“Domestic abuse in law can be challenging therefore we need to ensure that our legislation commands wide support, anticipates possible pitfalls, and allows us to prosecute the people who perpetrate these crimes.

“If there is a consensus on what we need to do, we will legislate in this Parliament. But if we need to do further work with stakeholders to ensure we get this absolutely right, we will do so.

“Either way, we will make clear that on-going coercive and controlling behaviour is unacceptable; and that those who commit such crimes will face justice. We know that changing the law isn’t enough on its own – but it can play an important part in the wider social and cultural changes we want to bring about.”

cryLily Greenan, Scottish Womens Aid, Chief Executive, said: “It is twenty years since the Beijing Platform for Action laid out the work that should be undertaken globally to improve and protect women’s human rights. The Platform for Action identified violence against women as one of the critical areas of concern. We are delighted that the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women is able to join us in reviewing the progress we have made in Scotland since 1995 to tackle violence against women.

“Equal participation of women and men in decision making was also one of the goals of the Beijing declaration. It’s a particular pleasure therefore to welcome First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to the conference.

“Ms Sturgeon’s appointment demonstrates that some progress has been made on gender equality in the last twenty years. The conference will hear from frontline Women’s Aid workers how far this progress is reflected in the experiences of the women and children they support.”

A King’s ransom: joy for the Junction

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Leith-based The Junction youth project has been awarded £30,000 from The King’s Fund. The Junction is the only Scottish project among ten recipients of a GSK IMPACT Award, which recognises excellence in health and wellbeing – and The Junction is one of a very select few to have won the award TWICE!

The GSK community investment programme has been running for 18 years, during which time it has awarded more than £5 million in unrestricted funding to charities across the UK.  This year’s winning organisations were selected from more than 350 charities who applied for the GSK IMPACT Awards, which are run in partnership with The King’s Fund.

Winning charities are also given access to a free training and development programme and are invited to join the GSK IMPACT Awards Network. This Network offers previous winners the opportunity to develop their staff and provides a forum to share and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise.

This year’s winners will join more than 60 previous winning organisations from across the UK, who have committed to ongoing professional development, collaboration and delivering outstanding services to patients and communities.

An overall winner, who will receive an additional £10,000 in funding, will be announced at an award ceremony recognising all winners to be held at the Science Museum in London on Thursday 14 May 2015.

The winners were selected by a judging panel of health and charity experts including broadcast journalist Fiona Phillips; Gilly Green, Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief; Sir Christopher Gent, Chair of GSK; and Sir Chris Kelly, Chair of The King’s Fund.

Katie Pinnock, Director, UK & Ireland Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said: ‘These awards recognise charities that make an incredible difference to many people’s lives right across the country. The programme has grown immensely since we started in 1997, and we are extremely proud of the way it has brought people together, enabling them to share knowledge and learn from each other. Each year we are impressed, inspired and moved, not only by the innovation and talent in the work our winning charities undertake, but by the commitment and dedication of everyone involved.’

Sam Anderson, director at The Junction, said: “We are delighted at being a 2015 GSK Impact Award winner. Being a GSK Impact Award winner in 2009 provided the Junction with the platform to celebrate our strengths, develop and deepen. The 2015 GSK Impact Award offers fantastic recognition of all we have achieved in the six years since and provides us with both significant funding and development opportunities which will ensure we are able to continue to flourish.”

Lisa Weaks, Third Sector Programme Manager at The King’s Fund, said: ‘Charities provide important services and support in our health and social care system. These winners show just how much can be achieved with relatively limited funds, through the passion and dedication of the organisations and their volunteers. Their work spans the whole of our lives – they can help prevent young people from making detrimental decisions like taking up smoking, or provide support for people at the end of their lives so they can make the right decisions for them and their family. Their energy and commitment is inspirational.’

A Junction spokesperson added: “We have been named a winner of the GSK IMPACT Awards, and in fact we’re one of the rare organisations that have won twice! Not only is this a huge honour but it is a great way to recognise how The Junction has continued to strive for excellence year after year.”

The ten winners are:

  • Alzheimer’s Support – a charity  improving diagnosis and support for people with dementia in Wiltshire
  • CoolTan Arts – based in Southwark, helps improve the lives of people in mental distress through creativity, self-advocacy and volunteer opportunities
  • Cut Films Project/Deborah Hutton Campaign  – based in Islington, helps prevent smoking among young people through peer-to-peer education and campaigns
  • Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust – based in Islington, is the only UK charity supporting women affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities  and focuses activity on raising the profile and understanding of the disease and ways to prevent it
  • National Council for Palliative Care – a members’ organisation campaigning to help everyone approaching the end of life have the right to the highest quality care and support
  • Neuromuscular Centre – a Cheshire-based charity that provides physiotherapy, training and employment opportunities for those with degenerative neuromuscular conditions, as well as assistance for their carers
  • Off the Record – a Bristol-based charity helping young people to improve their mental health and wellbeing
  • RESTORE – an Oxford-based charity supporting people with mental health problems to gain or maintain employment
  • The Junction – this is the second award for this Leith-based charity, which helps children and young people make positive choices that promote their health and wellbeing and reduce harmful behaviour
  • Wave Trauma Centre – a Belfast-based charity offering care and support to anyone bereaved, injured or traumatised through the violence in Northern Ireland.