Dear Rad,

Welcome to Jigsaw, a monthly E-bulletin from Sunderland Children’s Services for people working within Attendance, Childcare, Children's Centres and Extended Schools in Sunderland.

1. News

Extended Openings for Sunderland’s Children’s Centres

In order to meet a rise in public demand and to help benefit more Sunderland families the City Council has chosen to extend the opening times of its Children’s Centres.

The extended opening hours, which were introduced in January, are allowing many more working parents and pregnant women to benefit from the wide range of services offered by the city’s 17 Children’s Centres.

Click for more details on the Children's Centres' extended opening hours

Early Years Care Set to Rocket

Sunderland is now home to 30 additional Early Years Professionals as a result of the City Council’s drive to encourage more people working in early years to increase their level of training. In order to ensure that every child living in the city receives the best start in life Sunderland City Council, together with support from the University of Sunderland, is working to build a more advanced childcare workforce which is well-trained, better supported and extremely motivated.

To read more on EYPS click here

Study Support Celebrates Success of Youngsters

Over 100 youngsters from across Sunderland have been celebrating after completing an innovative programme that aims to raise self-esteem and confidence by improving key skills.
During a series of Playing for Success Celebration Events held at Sunderland AFC Foundation’s Centre of Light, eight of the city’s schools have been commemorating the success of their pupils.

For more information on the Playing for Success Celebration Events click here

Le Leche Celebration

Mums from across the city have been celebrating after graduating from their breastfeeding support course, which was organised by Sunderland Children’s Centres.
 
The Le Leche course is designed to help mums who have previously breastfed their little ones to support other mums to breastfeed as well. Groups are held across the city’s Children’s Centres, where mums can come along and be supported while learning to breastfeed.

Click to read more on the Le Leche Celebration

Multi-use Games Area Opened at Local Primary

Nick Colgan, reserve Sunderland AFC Goalkeeper has officially opened the new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) at Plains Farm Primary School to an audience of parents, councillors, funders and members of the community.

The MUGA, a floodlit facility for sport activities, is one element of the Plains Farm Premier Play Project, supported by Plains Farm Community Initiative based on site. The facility will provide the school and wider community with access to outdoor physical activities, and will extend the services currently offered by both the school and the initiative as it can be hired out to clubs and residents.
 
The project was funded with grants from Extended Services, SIB South, SIB West, HOME, Awards For All, and Humbledon & Plains Farm Youth Football. For details contact Headteacher, Mrs. Thirlwall on 0191 553 6041.

Down on the Farm at Christmas

Nearly 80 families from Sunderland Children’s Centres visited Santa at his Christmas grotto, Down at the Farm in Houghton Le Spring, over the festive period. A barn at the farm was decorated with Christmas decorations and nativity scenes, in a winter wonderland style with reindeers and of course Santa Clause in his grotto.

Click for more information on the trip to Down at the Farm

2. Support for Families

Children’s Centres for Dads and Kids Clubs

Sunderland Children’s Centres deliver Dads and Kids Clubs across the city, providing an opportunity to develop this special bond. The clubs run at various times throughout the week and aim to provide lots of fun things to do for children of all ages. Activities vary but often include pool and table tennis, baby corner, crafts, face painting, balloon making, bouncy castle, soft play and much more.

Sunderland Children's Centres provide a safe environment in which parents can spend quality time with their children while helping to promote learning and development. For example, creating a memory box together helps children’s communication, speech and literacy skills, as well as enhancing their creative and physical development.

For further details please contact the Families Information Service on 0191 520 5505 or email fis@sunderland.gov.uk

Pilot Health Sessions for Special Needs Children

A pilot group has been organised for children with complex needs with support from the Community Paediatric Nurses at the Niall Quinn Childrens Centre. The need for the group, which started in January, was identified from feedback received via parents / carers to which Sunderland Children’s Centre staff have reacted to.

The Community Paediatric Nursery Nurses invited their families to the group and a Health Nursery Nurse delivered a Baby Massage session. Later the children enjoyed time in the sensory room, which allowed parents time to relax, talk together and raise any concerns with the Health Nursery Nurse.

Following a three month pilot programme at Austin House, it is hoped the group will expand and be rolled out across the city. This will allow more referrals from Community Midwives, Special Care Baby Unit and Community Paediatric Physiotherapists. For further information about the group please contact Trish Mulligan at Sunderland Children’s Centre Bunny Hill on 0191 561 8126.

3. Support for Practitioners

New Managers Appointed to Develop Extended Schools

To support the future development of the Extended Schools agenda 17 Extended Services Cluster Managers have been appointed in the city. Each Cluster Manager will work with a cluster of no more than eight schools and will be employed by the host school in partnership with other schools in its area.

Click for more information on the new Cluster Managers and their contact details.

OFSTED - Early Years Self Evaluation Form

From September 2008, the implications from the Childcare Act 2006 on OFSTED’s role to register and inspect childcare provisions have seen some dramatic changes. One of which was the introduction of the self evaluation form (SEF).
 
The SEF is not compulsory but is extremely beneficial. It is being introduced for childcare providers to evaluate the care that they provide against the five outcomes for children. The SEF supports the leadership, management and the organisation of the childcare setting and encourages settings to use this as a working document to evaluate their progress and identify any developments.

More information on the Early Years Evaluation Form can be found here

Support from the Graduate Leader Fund

The Graduate Leader Fund (GLF), which has replaced the Transformation Fund, has a specific focus on securing graduate early years professionals. It is the Government’s commitment to support the requirement that by 2015, all full daycare settings are led by a graduate. Settings within the 30 per cent of the most disadvantaged areas will benefit from two graduates.

The GLF is available to all full daycare settings in the Private, Voluntary and Independent sectors and can be used to contribute to salary costs for newly appointed or existing graduates. It can also be used to provide further continuous professional development or to support existing staff members in their training to become graduates.

Click here for further details on the Graduate Leader Fund