Out of School Care Consultation

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CALA has welcomed the opportunity to be part of the reference group working with Scottish Government on the ‘Out of School Care in Scotland: draft framework 2019’.

The Scottish Government is now seeking the thoughts and views of children, parents, carers and professionals in the sector on what they think about out of school care and what else Scottish Government could do.

Your views and opinions are a vital part of this process and we would encourage everyone with an interest to take part.

Click here to access the consultation and submit your comments.

Care Inspectorate Hub – Outdoor Learning Guidance Tools

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Outdoor Learning 

Guidance Tools available on the Care Inspectorate Hub

Children in our CALA centres have come back after their summer holidays and got straight back into exploring their outdoor play environments and favourite spaces in their communities. Lots of exploring, investigating and discoveries have already been made by the children and observations, interests and ideas captured to inform future planning.

With the national focus on Outdoor Learning and as we plan our outdoor environments and experiences, we thought it might be a timely reminder to highlight some of the valuable tools to help support good practice in your ELC setting on the ‘Care Inspectorate Hub’ Click on each of the documents to access.

Child Protection Bulletin for Keeping Children Safe Issue 6

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The sixth edition of the Child Protection Bulletin (August 2019) is now available to download. It provides a refresher focus on exploring the Highland Practice Model including the 5 key questions and use of ‘My World Triangle’

Click here to download

Administrative Officer

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Administrative Officer

30 Hours per week (6 hours per day Mon to Fri)

Salary: £17,160.00 per annum (£11.00 per hour)

Are you confident, a strong communicator, able to work flexibly and work to tight timescales? Do you have customer service experience?

The Administrative Officer will work within the Inverness office team providing support and leadership and ensure that the office runs smoothly and efficiently.

Candidates must have a proven track record of working in an office environment Excellent current working experience in a variety of Microsoft Office packages e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher & Office 365 is essential. Knowledge of Early Learning and Childcare would be desirable.

Training will be provided.

Closing date: Monday 2nd September 2019

Interviews will be held on 12th September 2019

Download Your Application Pack here:

Job Description

Personal Specification

Equal Opportunities Form

Application Form

All completed forms (Application, Self Declaration & Equal Opportunities) should be emailed to: [email protected] or posted to:

Care and Learning Alliance
Unit 3 Bridgend Business Park
Dingwall IV15 9SL

For any other queries concerning this post, please email: [email protected] or phone Gillian on: 01349 866749.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974(Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order 2013 and the Amendment Order 2018.

The successful applicant will be required to become a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme and register with SSSC.

Scottish Charity No. SC034557

CALA is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Clerical Assistant Dingwall

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Clerical Assistant

To work within our busy Dingwall office.

The successful applicant will have previous clerical experience and a good working knowledge of MS Office.

Main duties will include recording the mail, answering the telephone, maintaining sickness/attendance stats, clerical support for human resources and order purchasing.

20 hours per week at £9.00 per hour

9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday

Closing date: Monday 02 September 2019

Interview date: Friday 13th September 2019

Download Your Application Pack here:

Job Description

Personal Specification

Equal Opportunities Form

Application Form

All completed forms (Application, Self Declaration & Equal Opportunities) should be emailed to: [email protected] or posted to:

Care and Learning Alliance
Unit 3 Bridgend Business Park
Dingwall IV15 9SL

For any other queries concerning this post, please email: [email protected] or phone Gillian on: 01349 866749.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974(Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order 2013 and the Amendment Order 2018.

The successful applicant will be required to become a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme and register with SSSC.

Scottish Charity No. SC034557

CALA is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Best Start Foods

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Best Start Foods – Social Security Scotland

Pregnant women and families with babies and children receiving certain benefits are being offered increased access to healthy foods.

The new Best Start Foods payment replaces the UK Government’s Healthy Start paper vouchers with a new payment card and is now open for new applications. New applications can be submitted by calling 0800 182 2222 or online www.mygov.scot  

Best Start Foods provides low income families on certain benefits with £17.00 every four weeks during pregnancy and for every child under three to spend on a range of healthy foods.  This payment increases to £34.00 for children under one.

People already in receipt of Healthy Start Vouchers will continue to receive these until such time as they are contacted directly with full details of how they will be transferred over.

To access the ‘Best Start Foods Fact sheet’  – CLICK HERE

To visit Social Security Scotland Website – CLICK HERE

Allied Health Professionals Enquiry Line (AHP)

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Allied Health Professionals Enquiry Line (AHP)

The AHP enquiry line aims to help you support the development of children and young people.

It is for all Highland parents, carers, children, young people, and those who work with them.

The phone line is open most Tuesdays from 2pm- 5pm.

The professionals usually available are:

  • Dietitians
  • Educational Psychologists
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Primary Mental Health Workers
  • Speech and Language therapists

Telephone = 07785477686.

Wimberley Estate Childcare Centre

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Wimberley Estate Childcare Centre

Childcare spaces available for 0-2 years.

Are you looking for childcare for your baby in Inverness?

Wimberley Estate Childcare Centre currently has spaces in their ‘Little Explorers Room’ for babies and toddlers 0-2 years.

The children and staff have put together the small slide show below to demonstrate some of the daily play and learning experiences they have at Wimberley Estate Childcare Centre – why not pop along for a visit and join the fun!

For further information contact: Tel: 01463 222115 or email [email protected]

DYW – #No Wrong Path Campaign – 6th August 2019

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#No Wrong Path Campaign

Here at CALA we are supporting #NoWrongPath to provide inspiration and reassurance to young people (and concerned parents) receiving exam results today. Just remember there are lots of interesting job roles across Scotland and we can all get there through many different paths.

If results are not as you have anticipated, it may be useful to visit the #NoWrongPath website for some reassurance and inspiration that there are many other options. The social media campaign by Developing Young Workforce aims to:

“show young people the options that are available to them and that exams results are not necessarily the key to unlocking future success” (www.nowrongpath.scot)

Here are some of the CALA staff who have shared their stories.

Employers: Government help with childcare costs for your employees

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Employers: Government help with childcare costs for employees

As childcare vouchers have closed to new entrants, there still may be help at hand for employers with Tax-Free Childcare, a government scheme to help working parents with the cost of childcare.
Eligible parents could get up to £2,000 per child, per year, to spend on qualifying childcare. For parents with 2 children, that could mean a saving of £4,000 on the family budget.

You don’t need to do anything, but telling your employees about Tax-Free Childcare could:

• help them with their childcare costs
• help their return to work
• help them work more hours, if they want to
• help you retain staff you’ve invested in.

For more information, tell your employees to visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/tfc2.