Do you recruit into the children and young people’s workforce?

All those organisations and individuals who work with children and young people, or are involved in providing services for them, have a duty to safeguard and promote their welfare.

The Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has developed an e-learning tool and comprehensive safer recruitment guidance for the children and young people’s workforce.  Alongside this training they are hosting online training that was developed by the National College (formerly NCSL) for the education sector.

For more information and resources, and to take the safer recruitment training please visit the CWDC Safer Recruitment website.

Solihull LSCB (Local Safeguarding Children Board) has issued dates for Level 1 & Level 2 Safeguarding Training, which is FREE to Third Sector organisation.

Downloads

• Level 1 dates & venues 10–11
• Level 2 dates 10–11
• LSCB Training Booking Form

As local and national government are ensuring that more work is carried out either through partnership or procurement, greater emphasis will be given on how much we understand about equality and diversity and how much can we show we are incorporating it within our organisations as a working document and not just a policy.

Take advantage of free training and consultancy advice from Gulbag Singh at SUSTAiN to learn more about action planning your Equality & Diversity policy.

Gulbag would also like to hear from anyone who can offer free training or advice in the other strands of equality (gender, age, sexuality and also socio-economics).

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 require the provision of adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities and people so that employees and volunteers can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill.  Workplaces with less than 25 people should have at least one “appointed person”, whose role includes looking after first-aid equipment and facilities and calling the emergency services when required. First aid training for “Appointed persons” is not mandatory, though the HSE approved one day course “Emergency First Aid at Work” is recommended to equip people to do the job.

SUSTAiN is working with an approved training provider to run an “Emergency First Aid at Work” course in April. Cost will depend upon numbers but is expected to be around £50-60 per person.

Core course contents:

• First Aid kits
• Basic Hygiene/Use of Barriers
• Recovery positions
• Dealing with the unconscious casualty
• Seizures
• Cardio pulmonary resuscitation
• Shock
• Wounds/Bleeding/Minor injuries
• Choking
• Record keeping

Please contact us on 0121 711 3148 or via enquiries@solihull-sustain.org.uk if you are interested.

The Cancer Support Course (CSC), accredited by the Open College Network, is a qualification developed by Macmillan Cancer Support and offers training to people supporting others affected by cancer. This one-year course is offered free of charge to volunteers, health care professionals or anybody wishing to enhance their skills and knowledge when supporting people affected by cancer.

There will be an information day about the course on 25th March at BVSC, The Centre for Voluntary Action, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR

Time: 1.30pm – 4.00pm (Refreshments will be provided)

To confirm attendance contact Grace Bailey, CSC course co-ordinator, on 01763 838 522  or email jennerbailey@btinternet.com or Nick Pivot at csc@macmillan.org.uk or 020 7091 2008

Many people learn in groups that are organised by their own members. These learning clubs and ‘self-organised’ groups take many forms – from the well-known and well-established such as the University of the Third Age to small local groups set up by friends with a common interest. They may be music groups, book clubs, health or environmental groups, photographic or craft groups, motorcycle or walking clubs: what they all have in common is that people are coming together to enjoy learning new skills and activities.

NIACE has developed a toolkit to support this and is running a series of half day morning events to launch this. The events are likely to be of interest to:

• Staff in museums, libraries and archives services
• Staff in the health sector who support patient self-help groups
• Staff or members of faith groups
• Voluntary or community organisations involved in informal learning

The next event is in Birmingham on 26 February (Ref EVE1018WM/0210).

For more details and to book your place, contact gurjit.kaur@niace.org.uk or call 0116 204 2833.

Free NVQ 3 training in Youthwork plus a Foundation degree and opportunity to employ a Graduate for £5000 over 2 years.

WAYC and WCVYS  have funding to train those working within an Integrated Youth Support Services. There are three programmes:

• NVQ 3 Training in Youth Work for those undertaking Advanced Apprenticeship in Youth Work and Community Justice.
• Graduate Student Scheme – a graduate student scheme with a training bursary of circa £12500 a year for two years and will be looking for placements on a rotation basis of  4 x six month placements in different IYSS organisations over two years; a minimum of one will be with the third sector.
• Foundation Degree – a two year Foundation degree in Young People Services  run by Worcester College, see :http://www.worcester.ac.uk/courses/10735.html.

Download the following for more details and to express interest.

Community safety Youth Justice Apprenticeship

Youth Work Advanced Apprenticeship

Expression Of Interest Form

The National College of Leaders of Schools and Children’s Services is developing a new programme for leaders of integrated working.  The Programme will:

• Be targeted on those practitioners in Children’s Trusts who are best placed to champion change;
• Focus specifically on the skills, knowledge and attributes needed by middle managers and leaders working in a reformed and integrated workforce, informing how this core element is addressed in sector specific programmes;
• Be co-constructed with early participant cohorts to ensure that it is tailored to the particular needs of this key group;
• Reflect relevant standards – having a clear line of sight to standards for Directors of Children’s Services and drawing upon existing standards across the Children and Young People’s Workforce.

Solihull is one of 4 areas selected to pilot the new programme, which is based on the existing Multi Agency Team Development Programme.

The purpose of the Leadership Programme is to build highly effective relationships and behaviours amongst teams from the agencies and sectors with responsibility for children, young people and families.  In Solihull the Programme will focus on leaders and managers at a local level who work together to improve outcomes for children and young people, as part of the Integrated Working Natural Communities pilot.

For more information, dowload the Leadership Programme Introduction and Natural Communities Pilot, Introduction or contact Ben Lewing on 0121 704 6691

Supply2Gov, the website through which local authorities and government departments advertise contract & commissioning opportunities, is offering a half day workshop on Pre Qualification Questionnaires – the stage you have to go through before a tender can even be accepted.

The half-day workshop costs £75 and will cover what buyers look for in Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs), together with advice on how to avoid common mistakes made at this stage of the tendering process.

The event is on 21 April in Birmingham. To book online, click here

Increasingly funders of all sorts are asking ‘what quality assurance system do you use’. Reassurance that you have a systematic way of making certain the services you offer are robust is becoming widespread.

However, quality assurance systems are not there to make your life even more complicated or your work harder. Good quality assurance systems actually make it easier for you by doing the hard part – the thinking.

Most systems are really just prompts – questions you need to ask about your governance, financial controls, user involvement, promotion and so on.

SUSTAiN can offer 4 different systems to meet your individual organisations needs and budget. So whether you are a large charity with dozens of staff or just a handful of dedicated volunteers, we have something for you.

SUSTAiN Introduction to Quality Assurance (SIQA)

This has been designed by SUSTAiN to help small organisations that rely solely on volunteers and are looking for an introduction to Quality Assurance and some basic support. It is completely free to qualifying organisations listed on our database.

Voluntary Improvement Programme (VIP)

This is a peer to peer programme developed by local groups, Solihull MBC’s Community & Voluntary Relations Unit and SUSTAiN. (You may know it as Organisational Health Checks). It’s free and you will be matched up with a mentor.

Quality First

Written by one of the original authors of PQASSO and developed by BVSC, Quality First is ideally suited to Community Groups. The cost is just £50 and includes the workbook plus half days support with implementation from SUSTAiN. There is Limited Availability so it’s First Come First Served

PQASSO

Designed by the Charities Evaluation Service with funding from The Big Lottery, PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance for Small Organisations) is the definitive and most widely recognised system. Normally this would cost at least £700 but, thanks to funding SUSTAiN has secured from Capacitybuilders, we can offer it to you for as little as £100. For this you get two days of implementation training plus half a days mentoring and the all important PQASSO Manual. There is also an optional CD version for an extra £50. Our next PQASSO Training takes place on 19 & 20 January.

What To Do Next

For more information, contact Sarah Lawrence on 0121 770 8222 or email sarahl@solihull-sustain.org.uk or talk to anyone in the SUSTAiN team.