posted by Craig Smith, School Operations Officer, Schools and Learning

Please see the attached the latest GfL Outdoor Learning and Play Newsletter.

Grounds for Learning Newsletter June 2017

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

Children’s Rights in Scotland: Do You Know Everything You Need To?

This series of four training seminars will be led by Tam Baillie, former Scotland Commissioner for Children and Young People. They are intended to help people better understand their obligations in terms of children’s rights.

You will be surprised by what you already know and this will add to your knowledge and confidence in the application of our international obligations and the duties under the Act. The seminars will be a mixture of lecture input and reflection on the part of the participants.

Further information, location, booking details and costs to attend please click the image

The half-day seminars will all be held in Edinburgh; the cost to attend is £99 plus VAT.

For further information on any seminar, or to book a place, simply click on the link to the relevant seminar above or contact Gail at ghannah@mackayhannah.com or on 0131 556 1500.

If you are interested in attending or need to get approval first, let Gail know at ghannah@mackayhannah.com or on 0131 556 1500 and she will hold you a place.

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 available to schools.

Highlights include:

Grants for up to £5,000 available to schools catering for children with physical/ sensory/ learning disability to purchase portable sensory equipment.

Grants of up to £10,000 to schools for projects that help children and young people experiencing illness, distress, abuse or neglect; disability; behavioural or psychological difficulties’; and deprivation.

Grants of up to £12,500 available to schools for renewable energy projects.

Grants of up to £600 available for schools to run small scale physics and engineering projects.

For further information on these and other funding opportunities available to your school, please see the attached Newsletter.  Funding Alert 8th June 2017

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

News and inspiration from Child Bereavement UK
In this issue: Actor, Jason Watkins, becomes a Patron of Child Bereavement UK

BAFTA award-winning and Olivier Award-nominated stage, film and television actor, Jason Watkins, has become a Patron of Child Bereavement UK.

Very sadly, Jason and his wife Clara’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maude died of sepsis in 2011. He dedicated his 2015 BAFTA award to her and has actively campaigned to raise awareness of sepsis and its symptoms.

On becoming Patron Jason said:

“The physical and emotional trauma of losing your child is overwhelming, but Child Bereavement UK provides a touchstone that you can access, giving you practical tools to help you carry your loss with you as you move forward.”  Read more…

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry host Party at the Palace for bereaved military children

On 13 May, our Royal Patron, The Duke of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, hosted a very special party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace for children of those who have died serving in the Armed Forces.

Child Bereavement UK was proud to take part, providing information and support on the day, along with representatives of other charities that work with military families. Our bereavement practitioners were on hand to provide support, information and guidance, and many families engaged in our ‘memory tree’ activity which gave them the opportunity to acknowledge and remember their special person who had died. Click here to see more pictures from the day

We have launched two brand new fundraising initiatives this summer to generate support for our work and to raise awareness of child bereavement:

Pop in a Pound!

The round £1 coin will cease to be legal tender on 15 October so this summer we want to collect as many old pounds as we can. Do you know of somewhere that may be willing to hold a collection for us? We can provide a tin and leaflets. Each full tin could enable us to train a volunteer to help run our group support sessions for bereaved children. To find out how you can help us with this initiative, please email Ruth

Do it for Dad!
Families we have supported tell us that Father’s Day can be a particularly difficult time when a dad, mum, grandparent, baby or child in their family has died. Join us in making this Father’s Day a memorable day for all, recognising the contribution that father figures make to the lives of children and others. Everyone can get involved whether you decide to make, create or just donate –  find out more

For professionals

The challenges of supporting parents through the neonatal experience

Our recent bereavement training workshop for professionals working in neonatal care explored how to support families faced with an uncertain future for their newborn.

About the workshop, one Neonatal Staff Nurse said:

‘ Thank you so much for this workshop. Relevant, practical topics and discussions delivered by knowledgeable and passionate facilitators. A workshop that will benefit my future practice and the babies in my care.’

Child Bereavement UK is the leading provider of bereavement training for professionals, helping them to better understand and meet the needs of grieving families. Find out more about our training

Complicated Grief study day – save the date
Friday 6 October 2017, London

With Dr Katherine Shear from the Center for Complicated Grief, New York.

Chaired by Psychiatrist and author Dr Colin Murray Parkes.
Click here for more information

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

NEW Reach talks about education

We’ve just published our latest Reach magazine with a focus on education and the attainment of vulnerable children.

Everybody looking at this issue of Reach can think of someone from when they were at school – maybe a teacher, a janitor or a member of kitchen staff – who had a great relationship with them. Being one of those people with this passion is how we make a difference to vulnerable children.

You’ll hear from the people across the country who are working with children to raise their attainment, and their ambition. Find out:

• How the Named Person is shifting the balance towards prevention
• Why there’s a head of a school that doesn’t really exist
• How corporate parenting should work in the classroom
• Why relationships are everything
• About the paired reading scheme in Castlehead High School – from the pupils themselves

Remember we’re now online and we’ve packed this issue with stories and case studies, podcasts, blogs, and video.

You’ll find it all on the one page in our Knowledge Bank.  Click the picture above to follow the link.

posted by Allan Lindsay, Digital Academy Manager, Young Scot

VentureJam 2017: Calling all hipsters, hackers and hustlers (and everyone in between)!

We’re looking for groups of up to 5 young people to take part in VentureJam 2017.

VentureJam is a unique opportunity for 40 young people in Scotland. Young Scot and Glasgow City of Science and Innovation are running a weekend ‘Jam’ that will see teams of young people developing fresh ideas that embrace the digital world to solve real world challenges. Throughout the Jam you will have access to a team of inspirational mentors from the world of television, gaming, product design and 3D animation as well as legal experts and environmental gurus. Young Scot will be there to guide you through the creative process.

At this Year’s VentureJam weekend we’ll give you the tools to develop and design a new idea that could change the future of energy in Scotland, and change people’s lives!

Every day, us humans chew our way through more than a million terajoules of energy. That’s equivalent to all 7.5 billion of us boiling 70 kettles of water every hour, around the clock! We need to stop our energy guzzling ways but…how do we ensure ‘the lights stay on’?

With access to a team of inspirational mentors, your team will:

• Learn about the biggest challenges facing humanity – the future of energy.
• Immerse yourself about the latest energy-saving innovations (from heated cycle lanes that melt snow in the winter to electricity generating dance floors!)
• Explore radical new business models to make your idea go global; learning from creative young companies like Uber, AirBnB, Netflix that have changed the way we travel, sleep, and watch TV!

As well as pitching your idea to top investors at Venturefest Scotland 2017, the national innovation summit; the overall winning team will enjoy a once in a life time opportunity to quiz one of the top innovators in Scotland about how he became one of the world’s most successful inventors & Games developers, Chris Van Der Kuyl of Minecraft fame!

Sign up now and tell us why you want to be part of VentureJam 2017! Places are limited. Applications will close on 16^th July.

When/Where is VentureJam Taking Place?

VentureJam is taking place from 18 – 20 August 2017 at Glasgow Science Centre, 50 Pacific Quay, Glasgow G51 1EA. Please ensure you are available at the following times:

• Celebratory Launch Night: Friday 18 August (6-8.30pm)
• Jam Activity: Saturday 19 August (10am – 4pm) and Sunday 20 August (10am – 2pm)

VentureJam is the official youth strand for Venturefest Scotland 2017 – a major new innovation summit for Scotland. All young people taking part in the weekend will get the chance to pitch their best ideas from the Jam weekend to top innovators and investors at Venturefest, ‘Dragon’s Den’ style. Will your team create the next big thing?

Before the event itself you will have the opportunity to attend a “Perfect Your Pitch” session.

Who Can Apply? VentureJam is open to groups of approximately five people or you can apply as an individual. We are looking for a diverse, lively group of young people aged 14-20 from across Scotland with a range of interests from the arts and music (the hipsters!) to science and gaming (the hackers!) as well as wannabe entrepreneurs (the hustlers!).

Whatever your thing, we want you to get excited about working in teams to create new ideas (products, games or even interactive art installations) and reimagine the possibilities of how we live our lives and our relationship with energy.

If this is you, we’d love to hear more about why you’d like to attend VentureJam.

Other Important Information VentureJam will reimburse all reasonable travels costs on receiving valid travel receipts for people/teams attending the event. Some travel tickets can be booked by Young Scot in advance. Please let us know if you will need your travel costs reimbursed to be able to attend VentureJam.

We will provide food/refreshments during the sessions, and we may consider providing accommodation for those coming from longer than 1.5hours away on a case by case basis. To attend VentureJam 2017, apply here. Alternatively you can either send in a video, voice recorded application or speak to us over the phone. Please email these to codesign@young.scot