The Family Services team have supported community Baby and Toddler groups around the Highlands over this last year. Despite the past 12 months being far from ordinary, our member groups have continued to benefit from their membership in lots of ways.
Family Practitioners continue to support committees with up-to-date Scottish Government guidance. A representative from CALA has been present at government meetings throughout the year, not only ensuring our advice is current, but also advocating the importance of support for families with young children and reflecting pressures on community toddler groups. With this knowledge, our practitioners have been supporting those who were able to meet as regulations allowed both outside and inside. One Chairperson said “We would not have managed to reopen our toddler groups without your help. We would not have felt confident enough about all the rules or even thought it possible. It was only through your help and encouragement that the groups re-opened.”
Family Practitioners have also been constant support for families as they navigate parenting and family life in such different circumstances. Outdoor and online groups have provided key support to families as places to meet and to make connections with others, which supports the health and wellbeing of parents and carers. They have also become forums to discuss home-based activities to support their child’s development. Many families have also explored the ever-expanding resources on our CALA website, including our dedicated Parent Portal, Family Services page and Play and Learning page which encourages play and learning opportunities at home. Most recently on the Family Services page, we have begun a series of short clips focusing on supporting children’s early communication. The members-only Facebook page gives further useful tips and links.
Member groups also have access to the MembersZone section of the website, which has useful templates and documents, to support the running of groups and a committee induction pack, with top tips for new committees. As part of their membership, groups receive three vouchers to take part in further training from CALA’s e-learning zone. 20 courses are available, with topics ranging from an Introduction to Risk Assessment to Top Tips for Interacting with Young Children, or Gender Equal Play, there is plenty to choose from. You can also currently access the ‘Supporting Young Children’s Behaviour for Parents’ e-module here, currently being gifted for free during COVID.
The family Services team have also recently undertaken Walk Leader training with Paths for All. Partnering with other organisations, we can’t wait to offer member groups the chance to take part in Buggy Walks and Toddler Toddles, as a way to increase health and wellbeing; enjoy the outdoors and support child development. These walks are now permitted under government regulations and plans are being made to establish these early next term.
If you would like to explore membership for your community group click here or contact the Inverness Office 01463 222569.
As restrictions begin to ease and we can begin to get out and about more, our Family Services Practitioners would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Easter holiday and look forward to seeing you next term – Happy Easter!
New Guidance and Resources
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminCare Inspectorate: A quality framework for daycare of children, childminding and school-aged childcare
This week the Care Inspectorate published their new quality framework for the daycare of children, childminding and school-aged childcare.
The primary purpose of the framework is for early learning and childcare (ELC) services to evaluate their own performance. It will also be used by Care Inspectors to provide independent assurance about the quality of children’s experiences and outcomes.
The framework will be tested in some services between June and September 2021 and Care Inspectorate will notify the sector before they fully implement the framework in their full inspection programme.
Click here to access the guidance
National Cyber Security Centre: Supporting children to keep safe online
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched a new free educational game ‘ CyberSprinters’ with resources for helping children aged 7-11 years in Primary school, clubs and youth organisations learn about cybersecurity (how to stay safe online).
To find out more and how to access the game click here
Get into Summer
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminSupporting Parent, Baby & Toddler Groups Grant
This fund will support Parent, Baby and Toddler Playgroups to be part of the Get Into Summer Campaign. This is a fantastic opportunity for groups to apply for a grant of up to £500.
We would be grateful if you could share this information with any contacts that are involved with one of these groups.
We have created an extensive list of FAQs to support applicants, which can be found on the webpage, along with the online application.
Funding is not limited to the provision of activities, find out more details in the FAQs.
Applications open on Thursday 10 June at 10 am and close at midday on Monday 21 June.
Enquires are welcome and details of how to get in touch with CALA or Early Years Scotland can be found below.
Click here to contact details for Care and Learning Alliance
Click here for contact details for Early Years Scotland
Pocket Garden – Junior World
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminAfter being among the winners selected from the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful – Design a Pocket Garden competition, the children at Junior World are now putting their design into action and creating the garden!
The garden will be digitally showcased from Saturday the 5th of June 2021 and voting for your favourite pocket garden can take place from the 5th – 13th June 2021 at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/pocketgarden
News from CALA Family Services
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminThe Family Services team have supported community Baby and Toddler groups around the Highlands over this last year. Despite the past 12 months being far from ordinary, our member groups have continued to benefit from their membership in lots of ways.
Family Practitioners continue to support committees with up-to-date Scottish Government guidance. A representative from CALA has been present at government meetings throughout the year, not only ensuring our advice is current, but also advocating the importance of support for families with young children and reflecting pressures on community toddler groups. With this knowledge, our practitioners have been supporting those who were able to meet as regulations allowed both outside and inside. One Chairperson said “We would not have managed to reopen our toddler groups without your help. We would not have felt confident enough about all the rules or even thought it possible. It was only through your help and encouragement that the groups re-opened.”
Family Practitioners have also been constant support for families as they navigate parenting and family life in such different circumstances. Outdoor and online groups have provided key support to families as places to meet and to make connections with others, which supports the health and wellbeing of parents and carers. They have also become forums to discuss home-based activities to support their child’s development. Many families have also explored the ever-expanding resources on our CALA website, including our dedicated Parent Portal, Family Services page and Play and Learning page which encourages play and learning opportunities at home. Most recently on the Family Services page, we have begun a series of short clips focusing on supporting children’s early communication. The members-only Facebook page gives further useful tips and links.
Member groups also have access to the MembersZone section of the website, which has useful templates and documents, to support the running of groups and a committee induction pack, with top tips for new committees. As part of their membership, groups receive three vouchers to take part in further training from CALA’s e-learning zone. 20 courses are available, with topics ranging from an Introduction to Risk Assessment to Top Tips for Interacting with Young Children, or Gender Equal Play, there is plenty to choose from. You can also currently access the ‘Supporting Young Children’s Behaviour for Parents’ e-module here, currently being gifted for free during COVID.
The family Services team have also recently undertaken Walk Leader training with Paths for All. Partnering with other organisations, we can’t wait to offer member groups the chance to take part in Buggy Walks and Toddler Toddles, as a way to increase health and wellbeing; enjoy the outdoors and support child development. These walks are now permitted under government regulations and plans are being made to establish these early next term.
If you would like to explore membership for your community group click here or contact the Inverness Office 01463 222569.
As restrictions begin to ease and we can begin to get out and about more, our Family Services Practitioners would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Easter holiday and look forward to seeing you next term – Happy Easter!
Consulting with our Youngest Children Toolkit
/0 Comments/in Child Protection /by ICT AdminAs part of Scotland’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) every child in Scotland has the right to have their views heard and taken into account in decisions affecting them (Article 12) and to be protected from harm (Article 19).
Consultation with young children is more than just asking their views, it is about really listening to and responding to them. It’s also about facilitating their ability to influence things that affect them and help adults to know and understand their concerns or worries through the child’s eyes enabling adults to help protect them from harm.
Consultation with children under 5 years of age can be a little challenging! However, it’s vital we take time to enable children to communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings in ways best suited to their age and stage to ensure that we keep the child at the centre of all that we do.
We know that children need to feel secure, confident and familiar with their physical and psychological environments. Having a consistent approach to consulting with young children is more likely to help us gain a true understanding of the child’s world enabling us to plan to meet their needs effectively.
The strategies in this tool can be used by adults working on an individual basis with a young child for a specific purpose or by adults who have significant contact with young children on a frequent basis embedding meaningful consultation in daily practice.
This tool will support you to engage in a fun playful way to enable young children to:
The tool is ‘free’ to everyone and is available from our Care and Learning Alliance Website, Highland Child Protection Website and Keeping Children Safe websites.
Click here to access.
An e-book guidance document is also available to support implementation and for those seeking some further guidance on using the toolkit.
Click here to access
For further ideas and resources for consulting and keeping children safe visit:
Highland Child Protection Committee
Safe Strong and Free
Child Sexual Exploitation/Child Exploitation Awareness Day 2021
/0 Comments/in Child Protection /by ICT AdminIn line with the 18th of March having been Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)/Child Exploitation (CE) Awareness Day 2021, Highland Child Protection Committee will be uploading a range of RISE (Reducing the Impact of Sexual Exploitation) and CPC resources to help services and communities identify and respond to CSE and CE in Highland. CLICK HERE
RISE Highlands is a new multiagency initiative to proactively identify & disrupt perpetrators. For further information CLICK HERE
The Scottish Government has also launched a Child Sexual Exploitation campaign with a website for young people and parents – CLICK HERE to access
Everyone has a role to play in protecting children and young people however the signs of CSE aren’t always obvious and this can be a barrier to identifying young people that are at risk of being exploited. If you would like to know more try the free online module’ Introduction to Child Exploitation’ – developed in partnership between HCPC and CALA – https://calaelearning.co.uk/
Out to play – new chapters added
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminToday Scottish Government, in partnership with Inspiring Scotland and the Care Inspectorate, have published 3 new sections of the guidance document ‘Out To Play’.
‘Out To Play’ is practical guidance to help create outdoor play experiences in childcare. The 3 new sections cover ASN, Childminders and School-Aged Childcare.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, these sections are only available as digital copies at the moment.
· Practitioners supporting children with additional support needs
· Childminding services
· School Aged Childcare services
Impacts of the pandemic on young children survey – help us to help you!
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminThank you to all who responded to our previous consultation – it is hard to believe that 6 months have now passed!
CALA are keen to continue to monitor and understand the impact of the pandemic on our young children.
We invite you to share your thoughts on any impact you feel the pandemic has had on you and or your child/children via this simple 3 question consultation survey.
We will collate your responses anonymously (no personal information will be retained) and use them to both inform CALA services and share with the Scottish Government to help inform the direction of support available to help mitigate impacts.
Click here to access the consultation.
Thank you in advance for your help with this.
Gaelic Medium Information Day
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminLatha Gaidhlig air Loidhne – Online Gaelic Day for parents interested in GME
27mh den Mhàrt – 10:30-13:00/27th March – 10:30-13:00
Click here to view the programme
Click here to download and complete a registration form.
Interested parents/carers should return their completed registration form to [email protected]
Gaelic Parent and Toddler Newsletters
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminDespite the difficult times that we find ourselves all in with COVID 19 restrictions, our Gaelic Parent and Toddler Development Workers continue to be solution-focused and innovative in finding ways to communicate and support the development of the Gaelic Language with our youngest children. Click on the links to find out about some of the things they have been doing and useful links to resources in their latest March 21 Newsletter.
Click here to access the newsletter in Gaelic
Click here to access the newsletter in English
CALA Family Services and Bookbug
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminThe Scottish Book Trust, home of Bookbug, states “Bookbug is Scotland’s universal early year’s book gifting programme and aims to inspire a love of stories, songs and rhymes from birth.” Throughout their early years, every child should receive four Bookbug bags containing books, and other resources which facilitate families to share songs and rhymes and supports all areas of child development.
The number of groups requesting Bookbug sessions is increasing each week. Over the last five weeks, eight groups have begun to meet regularly in Inverness-shire, Caithness, Easter Ross and Sutherland, with more set to follow. This includes two Gaelic groups for families speaking or learning the language. Feedback from families shows appreciation for the opportunity to participate in a shared, fun-filled activity with their wee ones. Adults have commented too on the importance of this connection with other families at this time when so many feel isolated. Following on from the Bookbug session, many practitioners also give an idea of a linked [email protected] activity supporting children’s development, which families may wish to do over the following week. Take a look at the following video for how Bookbug sessions can benefit your child’s development:
Dr Suzanne Zeedyk – Scottish Book Trust
We also encourage families to consider downloading the Bookbug Songs and Rhymes App, which is a fantastic resource with lots of ideas of songs and rhymes that can be shared throughout the day. Free to download and use, it’s possible to make your own playlist featuring your current favourites, find songs and lyrics and useful actions. A treasure trove is just ready to be explored by your family!
Bookbug’s songs and rhymes app – Scottish Book Trust
If you are keen to join a Bookbug session, please contact your Family Services Practitioner or the CALA office for more details on 01463 222569.
Scottish Child Payment & Best Start Grant School Age Payment
/0 Comments/in Uncategorised /by ICT AdminScottish Child Payment is open for applications
Scottish Child Payment is a new payment for families on tax credits or certain benefits to help towards the costs of looking after a child. It’s £40 paid every four weeks for each child under six.
The payment starts on Monday 15 February 2021, with first payments made from the end of February onwards, but Social Security Scotland has been taking applications early to help manage demand.
You can apply if your child will be under six on 15 February 2021.
The qualifying benefits are:
Security Scotland will ask for evidence that the person applying is responsible for a child under six, usually through the child being named on a benefit claim form.
If more than one person applies for the same child, there’s a process for deciding who gets the payment – prioritising the person who the child lives with most of the time.
Scottish Child Payment will not be taken into account for UK benefit and tax credit assessments and there is no cap on the number of children this payment can support.
First payments will be made from late February onwards. When someone gets paid will depend on how many applications we get and the process each individual application goes through.
If someone applied before Monday 15 February 2021, this will be the date that their payment will be calculated from. If they apply after this date, it will be calculated from the date that they applied. Payments will be made every four weeks following the first payment.
Find out more information and apply at mygov.scot/scottish-child-payment or call Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222.
Factsheets – Scottish Child Payment Factsheet.pdf – These are also available in a variety of different languages if required on the Social Security Scotland website.
Best Start Grant – School Age
People with children who were born between 1 March 2015 and 29 February 2016 could be eligible for a Best Start Grant School Age Payment but they must apply before 28 February this year.
Factsheet – Best Start Grant School Age Factsheet
Factsheets available in a variety of languages and can be found on the Social Security Scotland website.