posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer, Schools and Learning

Perpetrators of hate crime focus on victimising individuals on the basis of actual or presumed sexual orientation, gender or transgender identity, disability, race or religion. The spectrum of hate crime is wide in nature and includes physical and emotional abuse and harassment, name calling, bullying and violence, and its impact on victims and communities should not be underestimated.

Police Scotland are running a Hate Crime Awareness campaign to communicate to the public that hate crime is a serious crime and to encourage the public to report incidents should they occur.

Our key messages are:

• Tackling hate crime is a key priority for Police Scotland.
• We treat victims and witnesses of hate crime with fairness, dignity and respect.
• We recognise that hate crime is underreported. We are working to improve confidence in, and access to, Police Scotland and our Criminal Justice partners.
• If you are targeting someone, we want you to STOP IT. If not it won’t be long before you become our target.
• If you know someone that is being targeted REPORT IT. Together we can make a difference.
• Preventing/stopping hate crime is everyone’s responsibility. If you are aware hate crime is happening, report it by contacting Crimestoppers.
• Being different isn’t a crime, but somebody victimising you is.
• If you would like support to report, you can attend one of our third party reporting centres. A full list can be found on the Police Scotland website. You can also report by contacting Crimestoppers.

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer, Schools and Learning

We have Suicide Alertness For Everyone Training (safeTALK) scheduled for:

Tuesday 2 May 2017 (1pm – 5pm) in Forfar

This training is open to everyone (employees, employers and members of the public in Angus). 

safeTALK is designed to be an introductory course for anyone interested in learning to be suicide aware.  Can you recognise the signs of someone at risk of suicide?  Would you know what to say to a colleague, student, family member or contact with thoughts of suicide?  Most persons with thoughts of suicide go unrecognised – even though most are, directly or indirectly, requesting help.  Without safeTALK training, these invitations to help are too rarely accepted, or even noticed.  In only a few hours, you will learn how to recognise these invitations and provide practical help to persons with thoughts of suicide.  Expect to leave safeTALK more willing and able to perform an important helping role for persons with thoughts of suicide.  safeTALK is a training session for everyone in the community – no prior knowledge is required.

Aim of Training:  To enable participants to recognise and engage people who might be having thoughts of suicide and to connect them with community resources trained in suicide intervention.

Learning outcomes:  By the end of this course participants will:

•          Be aware that people at risk of suicide are often not given help due to cultural myths and misinformation
•          Recognise when a person might be having thoughts of suicide
•          Engage that person in direct and open talk about suicide
•          Move quickly to connect them with someone trained in suicide intervention who can review the risk and develop a plan to reduce the risk of harm or death.

Please see attachment for further information about safeTALK.  Outline of safeTALK training

To book, please email suicideprevention@angus.gov.uk with the attached registration form.   safeTALK Registration Form

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  This session is free of charge to participants and will be funded by the Suicide Prevention Collaborative for Angus. 

posted by Sylvia Cranston, Physical Education Lead Officer, Schools and Learning

As you may well be aware the  Benchmark documents for all curriculum areas other than Literacy and English and Numeracy and Mathematics were published recently on the National Improvement Hub. Please see links below:

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/HWBPhysicalEducationBenchmarksPDF.pdf
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/HWBFoodHealthBenchmarksPDF.pdf

The Physical Education exemplification video clips are now live on the National Improvement Hub.  Please see the link below:

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/hwb7-pe-exemplification-bge

I would appreciate you share this with colleagues.

posted by Rhonda McFarlane, Funding Officer, Chief Executive’s Department

Attached is the latest issue of the Funding Alert Newsletter. The Newsletter features funding opportunities to have featured on the Grants 4 Schools website over the last two weeks.  This issue contains 14 pages of the latest funding opportunities for your school.

Highlights include:

• Grants of up to £2,000 available for school environmental projects.
• Grants of up to £10,000 available to improve football facilities in schools.
• Grants of £600 available for schools to promote the teaching of Physics.
• Grants of up to £1,000 available for a wide range of projects in schools such as outdoor classrooms, learning zones, library equipment, nurture rooms and playground improvements, etc.  .

For further information on these and other funding opportunities available to your school, please see the attached Newsletter.  Funding Alert 23rd March 2017

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer, Schools and Learning

Guidance and Resources for Schools

“Someone should just have asked me what was wrong.”

We are delighted to launch our new e-resource for schools, packed with links to books, film clips and lesson ideas. The resource raises awareness about the issues children face when a family member is imprisoned, providing tools and helpful guidance for supporting children in the school setting.

To download the e-resource, please click on the image.

The resource can also be found on our schools publication page http://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/publications/schools

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer, Schools and Learning

News and inspiration from Child Bereavement UK In this issue: Our bereaved young people give Rio Ferdinand tips on ‘Being Mum and Dad’

Bereaved young people supported by Child Bereavement UK gave Rio Ferdinand some tips on how to talk to his children about the death of their mum. Rio’s wife, Rebecca, and mum to Lorenz, 10, Tate, 8, and Tia, 5, died in 2015.
 
As part of filming for his BBC1 documentary, Being Mum and Dad, Rio visited our offices in Buckinghamshire to attend a Young People’s Advisory Group session. Our young people, aged between 11-25, talked to him about their experiences around the death of their parent and what had helped them.

Tips from the young people included explaining to Rio how ‘it’s okay to cry’, that ‘it’s important to talk about the person who has died’ and that it’s ‘okay to laugh and have fun’. They also told him that ‘cars are good conversation venues’. Click to watch the trailer.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HydwFxzaU9o

Supporters get creative for first ever #MakeforMum

Supporters across the country have been busy raising funds and awareness around Mother’s Day this month, as part of our first Make for Mum campaign. As well as sharing photographs and memories across social media, supporters have held parties and run cake stalls and craft events in aid of Child Bereavement UK.

Our Patron Gary Barlow and his Mum Marj have lent their support to the campaign too. One tweet from Gary about the campaign reached 4.33 million Twitter followers!

Thousands of visitors plant snowdrops across the country

In February and March, Snowdrop walks took place in County Durham, Cumbria, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, attracting nearly 2,000 visitors and raising more than £8,000 for the charity.

These special Child Bereavement UK events help to raise awareness of our work and provide an opportunity for families to plant snowdrops in memory of someone special who has died.

We would love your support at the following events. Click to find our more:
Let’s Rock Festivals, at locations across the country, May – July 2017
Ride 100, Surrey – 30 July 2017
Royal Parks Half Marathon, London – 8 October 2017

For schools

Only 1 in 10 British adults bereaved as a child said their school was very supportive at the time of their bereavement*

Schools have an important role to play in improving outcomes for bereaved children and young people. Our recent conference for schools in Scotland was attended by a broad range of education professionals, from teachers and pastoral care supporters to classroom assistants and educational psychologists. Delegates from Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles also dialled in via web conference, joining discussions on topics including ‘The power of stories’ and ‘Grief in the digital age’.

Child Bereavement UK is recognised as the UK’s leading provider of training for professionals working with bereaved families across the UK. Click here to find out more.