Sports Star Encourages Youngsters’ Reid-ing

A top sporting star has joined families in kicking about ideas on the importance of reading at a special event at the Stadium of Light.

Families involved in a national scheme that aims to get children reading more, were treated to a special visit from Sunderland AFC midfielder Andy Reid, the club’s reading champion. Find out more here ....

Storybook Launch Tells Tales of Improved Attendance
Nurseries in Sunderland are set to receive a boost this March as a unique storybook designed to encourage regular attendance is launched during a series of special events. Find out more here ....

Scimorph
A new virtual science pack for all children starting secondary school. Scimorph is a 3D animated computer character who responds to interaction from users and is available to every child at home and in the classroom.

A great innovative new way to keep children learning about science. Find out more on the DCSF website here ....

Postnatal Support is key for Renata

Healthcare assistant for maternity services at City Hospitals Sunderland and Sunderland Children’s Centres, Renata Robinson works hard to ensure families in Sunderland have the very best advice when it comes to decisions about breastfeeding. Find out more ....

Queen visits Sunderland

Her Majesty The Queen has visited Sunderland to open Washington School accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

The Royal couple were in the city on Friday November 6 to open the brand new £19 million building. Find out more ....

Behaviour and Attendance Strategy 2010 – 2014 - now closed

First Consultation Draft (October - December 2009)

A document has been produced as a starting point in formulating a strategy for Sunderland to support pupil behaviour and school attendance to raise educational attainment.

It is intended to stimulate discussion, develop working relationships and mutual understanding and ownership of key priorities and actions that will be published in a final strategy document in January 2010.

National Parents’ Week - Sunderland 19-25 October

Join us at one of the many events taking place throughout the week and find out what Sunderland is doing to help parents/carers and families across the City.
To find out more about what is on offer for parents and families contact the Families Information Service on 0191 520 5505 or email: fis@sunderland.gov.uk or log onto the Families Information Services website here.
You can also speak to the Family and Parenting Team on 0191 443 2908 or email: FamilyParentingTeam@sunderland.gov.uk

‘Your Health’ Sunderland
Surveys and observations told us that there was a piecemeal approach to the way key universal health messages were promoted to young people in Sunderland. It was important that the millions of pounds spent on social marketing messages was co-ordinated so young people knew instantly where they could get advice, support, and how to access local services should they require it. For example, what to do if they thought they were pregnant, what to do if their friend had a drugs problem or just how to look after their general health and wellbeing.
In July, a consultation exercise was undertaken with young people across the city to get their views on the best way to communicate these important health messages. The consultation involved secondary aged students, international students attending college, young people in looked after provision and also those attending youth events. Views were obtained on 'communication', 'health issues', 'identity' and how, when and where they would like to access 'information'.
As a result of the consultation ‘Your Health’ will now become the brand that will be advertised to young people from 0-24 and their parents/carers. It will be part of a 3 year information strategy agreed by the Children’s Trust Risk and Resilience Board which will see the development of a young person’s electronic health card, interactive website and information to 11 year olds and their parents/carers. There will also be touch screen health dispensers in all college sites and information points in every secondary school the key services they attend. Year one of the programme will focus on 11-18 year olds with the 0-4, 5-10 and 19-24 age range being developed in subsequent years.
A dedicated (non public) web space has been developed where colleagues can follow 'Your Health' developments, see the consultation, draft literature and even post your views. For further information email Glenn Riddle, Special Initiatives Manager - Children's Services, or visit the Your Health website

Financial Boost for Provision of Out of Hours Activities
On 17 July Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo announced the regional breakdown of £167m to boost out of hours services offered in schools across the country with the breakdown providing an additional £1,132,000 for provision of out-of-hours schools activities in Sunderland.
Extended services in schools provide children and young people with innovative and exciting things to do before and after the school day, enabling parents tostay at work for longer, safe in the knowledge their child is being looked after and entertained.

Accolade for connexions Hub Services
The city’s Connexions Hub Services for young people has been accredited as being of ‘matrix quality standard’ both for its information, advice and guidance for clients and its employees. The accreditation is valid until July 2012. Visit the Matrix website for more details.

The Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) 2009 - 2010 is now available. The CYPP is a transformational plan providing continuity for the priorities and actions in the CYPP 2007/9 as well as setting out the planning process for establishing a 15 year strategy for the Children’s Trust. The plan can be downloaded here ( 274kb)

Community CAMHS now has a website, which is available to all. The address is www.communitycamhs.nhs.uk and the site contains contact details, useful information about common problems and links to related sites.

Information Sharing training
This training is aimed at all managers and practitioners who work in services or organisations that support children, young people, their families and carers in any of the localities across the City of Sunderland, as part of the Integrated Workshop Training Programme. Find out more here .... ( 36kb) Download a copy of the nomination form here ( 24kb)

Are you a parent/carer living in Sunderland or do you work closely with parents/carers? The Sunderland Parenting Programme Directory provides information about the parenting programmes currently running in the city and the referral pathways into them. The Directory also contains contact details for many of the public and voluntary sector agencies that currently offer services to parents. The directory can be downloaded here ( 125kb).

Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS), is a joint venture between the Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Sunderland is one of 25 Pathfinder authorities for this programme and will work with the Primary Care Trust and 23 schools across the city. Find out more .... ( 29kb).

Children's Trust annual conference

The Children's Trust conference was held in November 2008. Delegates played a key role in beginning the planning process for the future of children and young people in Sunderland for the next 15 years. Find out more .... ( 115kb).

The Annual Report of the Sunderland Children and Young people's Plan, which sets out the progress made in 2007/08 and our plans for 2008/09, is now available. The report can be downloaded here ( 432kb).

CAF training - Rolling out Common Assessment Framework across the city of Sunderland

Training for all Managers and Practitioners who work in Services or organisations that support children, young people their families and carers in any of the localities across the City of Sunderland. Find out more ....

Youthinc 3

Recently over 110 young people, aged between 13 and 20 years of age, packed into the Stadium of Light to discuss and debate their views about their city.

This event, the third of its kind, is designed to give young people a say in the city’s services and aims to make Sunderland a better place to live.

Young people were involved in organising the event, with Sunderland Youth Parliament working alongside Sunderland Youth Development Group and Sunderland Voluntary Sector Youth Forum to stage the conference.

Supported by Sunderland City Council, Connexions, Digital Challenge, The Empowering Young People’s Pilot, and Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, young people from every area of the city took part in idea-generating workshops.

Find out more .... ( 1.23mb)

Sunderland is a Beacon authority for Reducing Re-offending (2008 - 2009)
In March 2008 Sunderland City Council and it's partners was announced as a Beacon Authority for Reducing Re-offending - one of the highest accolade of award schemes. As a Beacon authority for Reducing Re-offending we are committed to sharing our practice and learning with others working in the field of reducing re-offending. We will do this by hosting local and national events, publishing case studies of innovation and working on specific issues with local authorities and/or partners who feel they can learn from our experiences. You can find out more about what we are doing to reduce re-offending by children and young people by visiting the Sunderland Youth Offending Service website. You can find out more about the Beacon Scheme and what we are doing as a Beacon authority by visiting the Reducing Re-offending Theme page on the Beacon website. View the Beacon Reducing Re-offending Theme Guide here ( 935kb), which gives an overview of the Sunderland Beacon.

If you would like to more information you can contact the following email address: yos@sunderland.gov.uk.

Planning and commissioning

The Children’s Trust is developing a planning and commissioning framework to provide support to those who work to improve services for children, young people and their families. Find out more ....

A final draft of the Sunderland Youth Justice Plan for 2008 - 2009 has now been completed for consultation through the range of appropriate LA and partnership groups including the YOS Board, Children’s Trust Board, Cabinet and Council. A final version of the plan will be printed following cabinet/council approval. For more information email: yos@sunderland.gov.uk.

e-Newsletters: Issue 1  Issue 2  Issue 3

Children's Trust News

February 2005 - Issue 1

May 2005 - Issue 2

July 2005 - Issue 3

November 2005 - Issue 4

February 2006 - Issue 5

March 2006 - Issue 6

Sunderland has once again won the Howard League for Penal Reform Community Programmes Award (2008). This time the award was won in partnership with Gateshead and South Tyneside for the YOS Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Scheme. The award was won for an innovative cooking project, aimed at developing healthy lifestyles. Email: yos@sunderland.gov.uk for more information.

Sunderland entered into a highly competitive bidding round to become a Family Pathfinder. There were 90 applications for 15 pathfinders, 6 of which were awarded an additional carers element. Sunderland was successful in both elements and was awarded £1.18 million for the next 3 years. Contact Judith Hay, Head of Positive Contribution and Economic Well-being, on 0191 561 1972 for more information.

Engaging with the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS)

In June 2005, the Department for Education and Skills produced an advice document entitled “Engaging the Voluntary and Community Sectors in Children’s Trusts.”  In Sunderland an event was planned for VCS representatives to update them on the development of the Children’s Trust in Sunderland and to explore how they might contribute . The event took place on 23 February 2006.

Purpose of the event

• To enable representatives from the VCS to find out more about the development of the Children’s Trust in Sunderland
• To explore ways in which the VCS can contribute to the development of the Children’s Trust and delivery of services
• To develop an Action Plan to facilitate the involvement of the VCS in the Children’s Trust.

A report and action plan was produced.