Announcements

Help assess how well Children's Services are working together

East Sussex Children's Services are currently asking a cross-section of the children's workforce across the county to complete an online questionnaire or take part in focus groups and workshops to assess how integrated working in the East Sussex Children and Young People's Trust is progressing. By integrated working we mean everyone working together effectively to meet the needs of children and young people and improve their lives, including sharing information and using the same language, processes and tools.

This is part of a national assessment from the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC). The CWDC describes what an integrated children's workforce should look like from the perspectives of a child, a team, a service and a Children's Trust.

You can find out more and view the CWDC framework for integrated working at http://onechildrensworkforce.cwdcouncil.org.uk/walkthrough/framework.

In East Sussex we will be analysing your feedback against the CWDC framework for integrated working to establish where we are now. We will then develop action plans to help us get to where we want to be in the future. Our assessment will also help us to ensure that we are making the best possible contribution to local outcomes for Every Child Matters and to our Children and Young People's Plan. Your contribution is vital in helping us establish the progress we have made and identify the areas we need to focus on and develop further.

We will be sending questionnaires to users of the Children Index and their managers, to staff groups not represented on the Index and to the Local Safeguarding Children Board. We are also arranging focus groups in Eastbourne and Hastings for staff and volunteers and holding workshops with children, young people and parents.

However, if you are not contacted to take part, but would like to contribute, or if you would like more information about the assessment, please contact Jemma Black , Joint Workforce Development Officer, ESCC Children's Services, email Jemma.Black@eastsussex.gov.uk or phone 01273 336 417.

East Sussex Play Pathfinder Grants Fund

Funding grants are available up to £50,000.

Funding is capital only and therefore must be spent on improving or building new ventures that significantly enhance play opportunities for children and young people while considering the level of impact and need for such a development.

Children and young people must be involved in deciding what should be in the play space and what the money should be spent on.

Funding is targeted towards the development of play opportunities for all children and young people with particular consideration for those young people aged between 8-13 years old.

The play space must be free at the point of access and children must be free to visit and leave when they choose.

Download an application form now. Please note this funding is not available to schools.

Circle of Life Rediscovery - free environmental opportunities and activities for families and young people

Environmental opportunities and activities for families and young people. Check out free Woodland & Family Days, free eco-workshops and a Green Programme for young people.

Visit the East Sussex Council for Voluntary Youth Service (ESCVYS) or contact Marina Robb at Circle of Life Rediscovery on 01273 814226/07966 514469, www.circleofliferediscovery.com.


Free Fuel Poverty training ............................

Did you know that one in five families with children struggle to heat their homes - and its getting worse with rising fuel prices? Help them by taking advantage of Free Fuel Poverty training from East Sussex Health Homes.

East Sussex Healthy Homes is a project raising awareness of fuel poverty across East Sussex amongst vulnerable groups in deprived areas by making the connection between a warmer home and better health. It is funded by the Energy Saving Trust and the councils in Eastbourne, Lewes, Hastings and Rother and is supported by East Sussex Downs and Weald and Hastings and Rother PCTs.

The project offers young families the chance to have warmer, healthier homes and lower fuel bills, through the provision of free energy advice and information about a range of grant-aided improvements, including loft and cavity wall insulation, condensing boilers and heating systems.

Practitioners undertaking a pre-assessment form or the Common Assessment Framework itself may be in an ideal position to identify when children and their families are suffering from or at risk of fuel poverty. The free fuel poverty training fits into a 30-minute staff meeting covering:

•  Fuel Poverty and its causes

•  associated health risks

•  the benefits of energy efficiency

•  local initiatives

•  how to refer a client for advice and grants.

Find out more about Fuel Poverty Training by calling Sara Winnington Project Officer on 0798 370 7729, or email sara.winnington@ecsc.uk.com.

Common Assessment Framework (CAF) training workshops update

New CAF training dates for January to July 2009 are now available to download here.

CAF Training is for all practitioners who work in services that support children, young people and their families. CAF is increasingly used by practitioners and services as an assessment and referral tool.

If you aren't sure if you, or members of your service, need CAF training, you can find out by downloading this interactive quiz.

To book your training, email isa@eastsussex.gov.uk.

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