children matter - age uk€¦ · age uk north staffs has just launched this year’s smoothie hat...
TRANSCRIPT
January 2018
Children Matter News Bulletin
Issue No.4
01785 788 484
Let it snow...... In case we get some seasonal weather still this winter, please be
aware of your school’s bad weather closure procedures. They may not be able to ring
you, so the list of closures are on the Staffordshire County Council website (link below) and
listen to your local radio station for updates if you cannot get through to your school. http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/education/schoolsandcolleges/
emergencyclosures/schoolclosurelist/schoolclosurelist.aspx
It might be a bit late in January to still be wishing you all a Happy New Year but
the Children Matter teams have been really busy over the Christmas period
and we are hoping that 2018 will be our happiest and most successful new
year so far!
Thanks to Entrust for inviting us to speak at the recent SENCO Updates, many new schools have
approached us asking for volunteers to help listen to children read. We are doing our very best
to fulfil their wishes and to find lots more volunteers to help out across the whole of Staffordshire.
We are very pleased that our new year recruitment drive has proved successful so far and we
look forward to welcoming new volunteers to our intergenerational team over the next few weeks.
Our 2017 Writing and Colouring Competition received a fantastic response from our schools across the whole of Staffordshire. We asked the children to produce a piece of work entitled “Superhero Grandparents”. We are very impressed by the standard of writing and it was really difficult to shortlist from nearly 400 entries. The shortlisted entries for KS1 & KS2 have now been sent to our judges, best-selling children’s authors Anne Fine and Linda Chapman, for their final result. The Colouring Competition is being judged by the CMLT Team and we hope to be able to announce all the winners and runners up very soon.
Ageuk Intergenerational intergen_ageuk ageukss_children_matter
A Change to our Steering Group Committee Meetings:
The Big Lottery Fund has agreed for us to reduce the amount of Steering Group Meetings and hold two
each year. We appreciate how difficult it is for school staff to attend but we really need more volunteers
and schools to take part so please let us know if you are interested in joining the committee. The next
meeting is arranged for Wednesday 20th June at Brampton Museum, Newcastle under
Lyme 10.15am -1pm with lunch included. Meanwhile the team are busy attending
workshops run by our external evaluation specialists, Clever Elephant. We hope to be
able to report on the progress of this soon. Exciting times ahead…!
Competition Update:
Could you help us please?.…We would love to hear your good news stories. This could be
about your volunteering, or we would be delighted to hear of any personal accomplishments.
Ring us to chat any time. In addition please tell your friends and family about us and if you could
display a poster or flyer in your local community or workplace then please get in touch.
Age UK South Staffordshire: www.ageuk.org.uk/southstaffs
Children Matter - Learning Together SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE
The Age UK South Staffordshire Children Matter Team arranged a Christmas lunch
for volunteers at the beginning of December. A dusting of snow added to the festive
spirit but didn’t prevent the event going ahead. The Barns restaurant in Cannock
provided their usual high standard of food and hospitality and it was great to
catch up with our wonderful volunteers.
In other Children Matter news North and South...
We are encouraging all our volunteers to have their expenses paid via bank transfer
instead of cheque as it is more reliable. We can provide the form to make this change
but understand if you prefer to stick with a cheque.
After presenting the Children Matter project to some groups of teachers
before Christmas we now have lots of schools ready for volunteers - if
you know anyone who may be interested in volunteering please do ask
them to get in touch!
Evaluation Update… Debbie will be sharing the latest school feedback with you all over
the next few weeks. We have had some really lovely comments which illustrate the
value of our volunteers and how grateful the schools and children are for your help!
Age UK North Staffordshire: www.ageuk.org.uk/northstaffs
Children Matter - Learning Together NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE
North Staffs Volunteer Event to put a spring in your step!
We have big things planned for our North Staffs volunteer
event in March. It will be a day out at the World of Wedgwood
including a tour, two course lunch and chance to dabble in the
design studio.
Invitations will be coming out soon (and may even have arrived
with you before this newsletter!).
We would love as many of our North Staffs volunteers to attend as
possible and will need volunteers to confirm if they are attending by RSVP.
An extra special training session!
We recently held another Entrust workshop Support for Struggling
readers. This course is offered to all volunteers as an introduction
to phonics, hints & tips for engaging with the children and each
volunteer is also given a resource pack.
This time the training was extra special as it was also our Oakhill
volunteer Christine Morrall’s birthday. As a thank you for still
coming to the training we made sure there was a nice big cake!
Our next Entrust training will be held on 23rd May in Weston
Coyney and all volunteers who have not yet completed the training will receive an invitation after
Easter (we cannot guarantee cake though!). There are still spaces on the training session in the
south of the county, on 16th May at Entrust HQ and 4th July at a venue to be confirmed in either
Calling all Knitters!
Age UK North Staffs has just launched this year’s Smoothie Hat
campaign and is looking for knitters to get involved. Each knitted hat
gets added to innocent Smoothie drink bottles and is worth 25p to us
- money which goes towards funding our vital work tackling loneliness
& isolation. We need all the help we can get!
Email Jenny Bell for information or patterns [email protected], or call 01782 286 209.
The North Staffordshire Children Matter Team were responsible
for organising the North Staffs Volunteer Christmas Party - not
just for our reading volunteers but for all the fabulous volunteers
who help on every Age UK North Staffs project!
The party was really well attended despite the
snowy weather trying to get in the way. We were
also supported by Vodafone volunteers in running
the day which included a buffet, raffle, singing and
a quiz.
In other news….
National Age UK Website: www.ageuk.org.uk
Are you an online shopper based in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle or the Moorlands?
If so, at no cost to yourself, you can help raise funds for Age UK North Staffordshire’s work by
purchasing from the well-known suppliers via the `easyfundraising’ site, which donates a
percentage of your shop to Age UK North Staffs.
It’s quick and easy to do. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/. You’ll need to indicate that you want the donation to go to Age UK North Staffs by entering the name when prompted.
Contact The Children Matter Team at Age UK South Staffordshire: Tel: 01785 788 484
The Roller Mill, Teddesley Road, Penkridge, STAFFORD. ST19 5BD.
Contact The Children Matter Team at Age UK North Staffordshire: Tel: 01782 286 209
83-85 Trinity Street, Hanley. STOKE ON TRENT. ST1 5NA
Bradbury Respite Centre is a brand new service to Age UK South Staffordshire. The service
officially commenced as of 4th December 2017 after receiving its Registration from The Care
Quality Commission.
Bradbury Respite Centre is located in the beautiful rural area of Lower Penn, close to
Wombourne. The centre has facilities to provide respite care to older people both in the local
community and within Southern Staffordshire. We have six bedrooms, four of which have
en-suite facilities. Two rooms have access to a shared bathroom facility with walk-in-shower.
Each room has its own TV, retro radio, wardrobe, dressing table and all other items of furniture
required during one’s stay. One bedroom is specifically designed to meet the needs of
individuals whose physical disabilities may require higher levels
of care to ensure that their daily activities are met.
For further information please contact
Tony Cooksey on: 01902 894264 or 07788915978
Email: [email protected]
Bradbury Respite Centre Orton Meadows,
91 Orton Lane, Lower Penn, WV4 4XA
www.ageuk.org.uk/southstaffs
New Respite Centre opens in Wombourne, South Staffordshire
New Arrivals in our Help at Home Service
Age UK North Staffordshire is delighted to welcome Clare Dawson to our Help at Home Service
Team. Clare will lead the team of 45 delivering high quality support to older people across Stoke
-on-Trent, Newcastle-u-Lyme and Kidsgrove areas, helping to keep older people in their own
home and independent by providing shopping and a range of cleaning tasks. We are also
currently recruiting more Home Support Workers to join our team.
And talking of welcomes, the Service recently achieved its 2,000th customer since its launch 9
years ago.