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Keeping children safe e-bulletin
Tameside Safeguarding Children Board’s e-bulletin is full of useful information and is already received by over a hundred contacts four times a year. If you are not receiving this please contact veronica.hyde@t3sc.org to ensure you are on the mailing list.
Earlyarts national strategy
Earlyarts have published their National Strategy for effective practice to nurture creativity among the children. This includes ensuring that early years professionals have access to up-to-date research on development and creativity, integrating creative skills and processes into training and creating partnerships across the early years and creative sectors.
Asylum-seeking children report
The Children’s Society has released a new analysis of the poverty experienced by asylum-seeking children. The report reveals that as a result of low levels of support for asylum seekers 10,000 children in asylum-seeking families are living in severe poverty (less than 40% of average incomes) for long periods of time.
Forced marriage statistics
The Forced Marriage Unit has released statistics showing that 29% of cases it dealt with involved minors. Of the 400 children who received assistance from the Unit in the last year the youngest was five years old.
Tax credit change analysis
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has conducted an analysis of Government changes to taxes and benefits and have found that families with children will lose an average of £511 a year and more than one million will no longer receive tax credits.
Children, young people now awards 2012
The Children and young people now awards celebrate work that goes unrecognised and unappreciated, work that enables children, young people and families to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, thereby building a better society.
Deadline: Friday 29 June.
National Careers Service
The National Careers Service, which aims to provide phone and online advice to 370,000 young people and face-to-face advice to 700,000 adults, has opened. The launch coincides with a new duty for schools from September to secure independent careers guidance for pupils. Tel: 0800 100 900 (8am-10pm, 7 days a week).
National Smile Month - 20 May-20 June
Today’s children have serious tooth decay. Action for Sick Children, is concerned about the increasing numbers of children being hospitalised because of tooth decay. According to a recent ‘Tonight’ programme shown on ITV, a third of children in the UK have tooth decay by the time they start primary school.
Action for Sick Children devised the Dental Playbox Project in response to this issue. The aim is to increase understanding amongst parents and children of the importance of good dental care and regular visits to the dentist.
There are three main oral health messages that Action for Sick Children promotes and these three messages are being mirrored by the British Dental Health Foundation during its thirty-sixth annual oral health campaign, ‘National Smile Month 2012’. During National Smile Month 2012 Action for Sick Children facilitators will be touring schools, nurseries and community centres, holding free sessions lasting up to an hour.
To book a FREE Playbox Session, receive the newsletter, request a resource pack or for more information, email: dpbox@actionforsickchildren.org Tel: 01663 766 445.
Call for young people's groups to shape safeguarding projects
Young people’s groups from Greater Manchester are invited to log their details with the Greater Manchester Safeguarding Partnership (GMSP).
The exercise is intended to ensure that young people get involved with and shape projects and developments in safeguarding across the sub-region.
Family conflict and violence affecting four million families
New research from the charity 4Children reveals the extent of conflict and violence in Britain’s families. A survey of parents with children under the age of 18 showed that over half of parents with children experience serious or frequent conflict - which equates to about 4 million families with children in this country (where families are defined as parents with children under 18 years of age). Only 7% of parents said there was no conflict in their home.
Build on the strengths of families to create a strong Tameside
The end of March saw all of the strategic representatives for the community, voluntary and faith sector come together for the Tameside Strategic Partnership Conference. Ines Newman, from Warwick University brought a useful summary of what will work with those families who need extra support – building on the strengths of families and front line staff working in partnership.
At a Greater Manchester level the Commission for the New Economy has been working on standardising measures of social value and this will enable us all to tell the story of our projects social value in a way that is understood by all. If you work with families and want further information about the services available to them, or measuring social value please contact Vee at T3SC, Email: veronica.hyde@t3sc.org
Department of Health seeks partners for reaching young people 
The Department of Health is seeking partners to help it communicate with young people and those that work with them. The department is currently developing a new holistic approach to communicating with young people to improve their health outcomes, and will launch a new marketing programme later this year. If you represent an organisation that works with, or has access to, young people and you would like to work with the Department of Health on this activity, email youthpartnerships@dh.gsi.gov.uk
Representation across the Children’s Trust Arrangements
There are several 'Task and Finish' groups that feed into the Children’s Trust Arrangements, where decisions are made as to how to achieve best outcomes for families, children and young people in Tameside. Ruth Bigger (Barnardos) and Ian Young (Off the Record) are sitting at the Early Intervention task group and Theo Knight (St John’s Dukinfield) and Helen Holland are sitting at the Child Poverty task group.
For more information on these groups, or the Funky Lizard Network contact Vee, Email: veronica.hyde@t3sc.org
For more information on these groups, or the Funky Lizard Network contact Vee, Email: veronica.hyde@t3sc.org
Call for emergency action on youth unemployment
Youth unemployment has reached 'emergency point' and tackling the issue should be priority for all sectors, according to a report by the Commission on Youth Unemployment which includes recommendations on what can be done. With one in five young people not in employment, education or training, and a quarter of a million unemployed for over a year, the Commission says youth unemployment is not only one of the greatest challenges facing the country in human terms, but is also 'a £28 billion timebomb' under the nation’s finances. The report identifies ‘hotspots’ across Britain where youth unemployment has reached crisis levels. All ten local authorities in Greater Manchester are shown to have such hotspots.
For more information: http://tinyurl.com/ypunemployment
Got an IT problem?
Are you a voluntary, community or social enterprise organisaton that works with children, young people and families? Take this opportunity to solve your IT problems with a FREE IT helpline available until June 2012.
Open 9am-4pm Monday-Friday, Tel: 0800 028 0085 Email: support@i-trust.org.uk
This FREE service is led by Children England, funded by the Department for Educaton and brought to you by i-TRUST, part of the COVER Charity Group. i-TRUST have been providing effective IT support services to charites, voluntary and community organisatons for over six years.This project is part of a wider programme of support for voluntary and community sector organisations working with children, young people and families.
Schools and the community are better together
In January, Droylsden celebrated how positive partnership work can be at the Droylsden Better Together Event, where over forty groups and organisations came together at Droylsden Academy for an amazing community event. Residents, who came out in force, were able to find out how many fantastic services were available to them in the area. They could discussed their concerns, knowing that the solutions to their problems were all around them in the groups willing and ready to help. It has taken time and energy to develop this work in Droylsden and the people who have been involved should be commended.
This asset based community approach is one that the Funky Lizard Network hopes to see develop around all schools. If you work at a school and would like to learn more about this event, and how your school can engage with community and voluntary organisations in your local area, then please contact Vee, Email: veronica.hyde@t3sc.org Tel: 0161 339 4985 Ext: 2015.
Combating child poverty in Tameside
More than one in four children live in poverty in Tameside and this is becoming more widespread, therefore it is a priority for the Tameside’s Children’s Trust. The strategy for combating poverty is now being refreshed. If you have any ideas as to what should be in this strategy, please contact veronica.hyde@t3sc.org
For more information: 
Child proverty needs assessment.
Child proverty needs assessment.Save Children's Play
Play England has launched Save Children’s Play, a website that communities can use to establish their own local campaigns for children's play and be part of a national movement at the same time.
All babies count campaign
The NSPCC has launched its 'All babies count' campaign to highlight the vulnerability of babies and to call for better and earlier support for new parents.
Tameside Youth Opportunity Fund
You can apply for a Youth Opportunity grant of up to £2,000.
Available for groups, projects and organisations involving young people 10-19yrs in Tameside.
Application pack:
For more information: www.tameside-sid.org.uk Tel: 0161 336 6615.
