Crisis: Primary School places

Concerns are being raised regarding a looming shortage of primary school places across the country, with half of councils warning that demand for places will outstrip supply by 2017-18. Already, numbers of parents this year did not get their first choice of primary school; this means many will have a long trek to schools based further away and often, the added pressure of trying to cope with the logistics of siblings studying at different schools.

Walk-in Books

UK-based designer Melanie Smith, is hoping to make 'walk-in books' for kids. With no technology involved, the project focuses instead, on presenting children with characters, maps, story cards and a mask to prompt them to come up with their own tales, providing a 'walk-in' experience. 

Having now successfully raised the amount she needed to produce the first run of her product through Kickstarter, the first story 'Adventure to the Woods', should be in production soon. 

Meanwhile, 'Lost My Name', a book launched last year through investment by Dragon's Den, has now topped the book bestseller chart.

New army of Childminders?

This story caught my eye ... Barnado's have been running a government-funded training scheme, 'ABC Pathway Programme', for unemployed parents who attend children’s centres to become registered childminders. Out of 511 people who enrolled on the programme, 353 completed it. However, Barnado's announced that the scheme would no longer continue as funding ran out last month.

Sure Start & the General Election

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Sure Start, a cross-party group of MPs and peers, has published its ‘2015 Pre-Election Report’.The report sets out five recommendations which it believes that any Government elected in the 2015 General Election should take forward to ensure the continued success of Children’s Centres during the next parliament.

Child Obesity

We have frequent enquiries regarding this topic so the resources on child obesity mentioned below may be useful for many of you. 

To start off with, here is a page of links to government reports, articles and websites, by the Child and Maternal Health Observatory (ChiMat). A number of publications and other resources can be found on the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) website; they are responsible for measuring the height and weight of around one million school children in England every year, providing a detailed picture of the prevalence of child obesity. 

Other recent studies claim that parents often fail to spot obesity in their children and that sometimes parenting strategies can be inconsistent with the concerns that parents have for their children's health.

D ... is for Diversity

Last year, saw 25 years since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child set out that all children have the right to evolve and to develop in a context where there is equity and respect for diversity. 'Diversity' and ‘equality’ are often used interchangeably but these are not the same; equality is about treating people fairly, without discrimination, and giving the support they need to access opportunities for self–development. Diversity on the other hand can be said to mean 'difference'. When it is used as a contrast, or in addition to equality, it is about diverse backgrounds ie. gender, race and ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, class and age. A holistic approach means making a commitment to equality through the recognition of diversity. Now for the resources... 

The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) is the umbrella body for the disabled children's sector in England, with links to other UK nations. They regularly publish documents on various aspects of disability to support those working with children and young people with SEN or disabilities, which can be found on their website. The recently published CDC Spring Digest may also be of interest. 

The  DfE have produced the SEND Code of Practice, which provides statutory guidance for organisations who work with children and young people with SEN.

For teaching resources on multi-cultural education, take a look at Matt Davis' website, where he has posted a number of useful links.

Health Care Resources

Two new guides have been published by the Health Foundation; 'Evaluation: what to consider', provides answers to commonly asked questions about how to approach evaluation of quality improvement in health care. This guide is intended to assist those new to evaluation by suggesting methodological and practical considerations and providing resources to support further learning. The second guide, 'Using Communications Approaches to Spread Improvement', introduces key concepts about spreading health care improvement work; it has been written for those in the sector who want to explore how to best engage the right people to spread and share their findings.

These form part of a collection of Quick Guides by the Health Foundation.

Only Joking!

This was advertised in the Telegraph today - 

the perfect 'solution' if you find yourself falling asleep when you should be reading - introducing the Snornar Boo!mark  :0)

Care Act 2014

New reforms to the Care Act have been introduced today, in what many have described as the "biggest shake-up" to the care system since the Act came into force 60 years ago. Some of the changes include additional responsibilities for local authorities and people receiving care as well as those providing it have been given new rights. It also introduces a national minimum level at which people will be eligible for support. 

With the new reforms have come a plethora of resources;  the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has been working with Government departments to produce an information page  to provide guidance on the Act. Community Care have a dedicated site to discuss various aspects of the Act and Government information on implementing the reforms can be found here.

To understand how the care system works across the UK, here's a useful overview.