Author: Steven Wray

Equalities Training – Equality in Early Years

Free Equality Training Sessions: Autumn 2013.  On offer:

·         Understanding Islam and responding to the needs of Muslim Service Users

·         Persona Doll Training

·         Working with LGBT Families

·         Working with Children with disabilities

 

 Understanding Islam and responding to the needs of Muslim service users

16th of September, 9.30am-12.30pm      Saltire Rooms, John Muir House, Haddington

A morning seminar delivered by Professor Hugh Goddard, Director of the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary world at the University of Edinburgh. This seminar is an introductory course in Islam, exploring Islamic belief, practice, history, culture and the demographics of Scotland’s Muslim communities.

Professor Goddard will also be joined by local Muslim community representatives to discuss the realities of living as a Muslim in Scotland today and the various ways in which local authorities can better accommodate the needs of Muslim service-users.

 Working with LGBT Families ‘Different Families: Same Love’

1st of October, 2-4pm   Adam Conference Room, John Muir House, Haddington

Stonewall’s 2010 research on children with same-sex parents called ‘Different Families: The experiences of children with lesbian and gay parents’, shows that they too can be subjected to homophobic bullying. This session will look at how we can talk about different families, so that all children can be themselves, feel proud to talk about where they come from, and enjoy learning free from fear of bullying.

 Including Children with Disabilities

10th of October, 2-4pm      Adam Conference Room, John Muir House, Haddington

An opportunity to think more about inclusion and gain practical advice about how you can include children with additional support needs in early years settings. This course is delivered by the East Lothian Council Children’s Services Disability Team.

Persona Doll Training

25th of October           Venue to be confirmed

The Persona Doll approach offers an effective, stimulating, non-threatening and enjoyable way to combat discrimination, foster emotional literacy, raise equality issues and empower children at the Foundation Stage and at Key stages one and two. The Dolls and their stories develop children’s ability to empathise, to appreciate that name calling, teasing, exclusion from play and treating other people unfairly causes pain and unhappiness just like hitting, kicking and other physical responses do. Children are encouraged to stand up when they experience or witness unfairness and prejudice. A tall order but if the Dolls are embedded in an anti-discriminatory and culturally appropriate curriculum they are well able to meet the challenge. For more information please visit: http://www.persona-doll-training.org/ukapproach.html

 

All Courses are FREE of charge and are open to all those working in early years services in East Lothian.

 How to Book

To book your place on any of the above courses, please contact Pauline McLaren on 01620 82 9947 or email pmclaren@eastlothian.gov.uk

Please let us know if you have any special requirements that will allow you to fully participate in each session e.g. access requirements.

For more information about any of these courses, please contact Rebecca Spillane, Equalities Officer on 01620 827134 or email equalities@eastlothian.gov.uk . If there is any training on specific equality issues that you are interested in taking part in, please email equalities@eastlothian.gov.uk

Breast feeding Friendly Premises in East Lothian

In Scotland it is a legal right for a woman to feed her baby whenever and wherever she needs to do so. In East Lothian we want to encourage premises open to the public to go one step further by providing additional support for breastfeeding mothers. The Breastfeeding Friendly Premises Award helps Mothers to feel more confident breastfeeding in public whilst assisting local businesses and agencies to actively contribute to the health and wellbeing of their community.

Achieving accreditation is simple. Following an initial note of interest a site visit is usually carried out by a Health Care worker or their representative. In order for premises to be  eligible they must provide a welcoming atmosphere for breastfeeding mothers, allow them to breastfeed in all public areas, be clean and comfortable and have a statement of intent or policy (a generic one is available) that is communicated to all staff. In addition it is desirable for staff to identify a private area for those mothers who request it, although this is not essential. A certificate of accreditation is awarded. Promotional glass stickers are given and the premises are included in the promotional brochure.

Further Information

Contact: Carolyn Worlock , NHS Lothian Infant Feeding Advisor Carolyn.worlock@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Further Breastfeeding Information and support

NHS Health Scotland‘Feedgood factor’ http://www.feedgoodfactor.org.uk/

NHS Lothian Breastfeeding Support.  http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/Services/A-Z/BreastfeedingSupport/Pages/default.aspx

East Lothian Breastfeeding Friendly Leaflet August 2013

Nature Play & Nurture CPD

Nature Play and Nurture CPD for Early Years

Aimed at Nursery and Early Years Staff, Nature Play and Nurture is a short course in using the outdoors as an environment for nurture, play and exploration. Three days (9am–3pm) of hands on training by two experienced forest school / kindergarten leaders and a ½ days observation of a Nature Play and Nurture programme.

This course is free to East Lothian practitioners.

Course venue:             to be confirmed

Course dates

Session 1         Friday, 20th September 2013, 9am–3pm,
Session 2         Friday, 4th October 2013 9am – 3pm

Session 3         Friday, 8th November 2013 9am – 3pm

plus one observation visit on one of the following : Tuesday am 3, 10, 17, 24 September, 1, 22, 29 October, 5 November

Course aims for participants to

  • explore and (re)connect with the benefits of Nature Play
  • understand the affordance (or action possibilities) of natural environments
  • feel confident to lead Nature Play sessions for your learners
  • feel inspired to incorporate more Nature Play into provision
  • find ways to overcome barriers to incorporating Nature Play sesions within your nursery provision
  • to look at incorporating Nature Play and Nurture opportunities within nursery grounds and linking to indoors

 To book this course please complete the linked form and return to: Pauline McLaren, Room 2.17, John Muir House, Haddington, East Lothian. EH41 3HA Or E-Mail to  pmclaren@eastlothian.gov.uk

Tea coffee and biscuits will be provided. Participants should bring a packed lunch. Participants will be provided with a course folder and notes, and are advised to bring pen, paper and camera.

Piloting a Social Marketing approach to healthy eating at First Step Community project

The final report on the pilot of social marketing at First Step Community Project as a technique to influence health related behaviour change is linked below.

The following is the conclusion of the report

Conclusion: The pilot project has delivered on its four main objectives to: work collaboratively with parents to identify health issues, and approaches to address these; to make links with appropriate agencies and to share the learning gained from using a social marketing approach.

The impact of this pilot on behaviour change is less clear however this may have been due to the timing and methods used to gather this information, rather than a lack of impact. Small shift in behaviours that are not easy to quantify and measures have been observed by First Step staff who work closely with the parents and grandparents Whether this is directly attributable to the social marketing developments or is reflective a combinations of approaches used in and by First Step is difficult to determine.

Advantages of the social marketing approach were that some principles did direct the steering group to consider certain issues in more depth than they may have with other health improvement methodology. Examples of this were considering barriers and competition to healthy behaviours and the notion of an exchange value (giving up one behaviour for another had to have some value in it)

It was felt that a number of the principles, such as, customer orientation, segmenting and using a theory base were common to other approaches. However as these principles were described in new terminology there was some confusion as the group searched for new meaning or different principles behind the terms.

Social marketing is a valuable health improvement tool to be familiar with and can offer other organisations some unique principles to follow. It worked well within an organisation that; already worked alongside their clients in a partnership way; could support small groups with intensive developments and were familiar with similar approaches such as community development.

First Step Social Maketing Report

100 years of Scotland’s early years movement.

Suzane Zeedyk an acclaimed researcher in the psychology of early years is coming to Musselburgh to give a presentation on ‘100 years of Scotland’s early years movement’. Suzane will explore the history of early years campaigning in Scotland and what relevance that has for a modern movement for early years.

Public services like local authorities, NHS, Housing agencies and the Police service are all signed up to making Scotland the best possible place to grow up. Yet to achieve the kind of improvements needed to meet this aim needs the active involvement of parents and communities. There is a long record of such involvement – many people have campaigned for Scotland’s children over the years and some have made a real and lasting difference. Suzanne will look at the social history of early years and then reflect on how a modern understanding of children’s early development might influence the future development of Scotlands early years movement.

Following the presentation there will be a chance to discuss what is happening in east Lothian to improve support for parents and the environment for children’s early development.

Poster

Booking Form

Not too be missed a truly inspirational speaker – a creche will be available.

How can high school work with the early years agenda?

East Lothian services recognise the importance of early years at a strategic level. However, finding practical ways to make this commitment more than a paper statement – particularly if your main focus isn’t early years – isn’t easy. High schools in East Lothian have come up with innovative practise that use their key main assets – the young people attending the schools.

Tots & Teens is one great example of this where play groups have been set up in High schools that offer quality play and childcare experience for toddlers at the same time as practical learning experiences for pupils. See following aarticle for more info http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/news/article/962/new_playgroup_provides_training_opportunities_for_teens

Another example of good practise is from Musselburgh Grammar. The ‘Working with Children’ elective course for S5, was developed by Jane Cummings community learning and development officer. The course had the following aims :-

  • A basic knowledge of child development
  • Increased skills and confidence in delivering or supporting play activities
  • Increased knowledge of food hygiene and promoting good food habits in children
  • Increased awareness of different professional roles involving work with children
  • More informed decision making about future career options involving work with children

The following are some of the comments made by young people who chose the working with children programme which was conducted at Burgh primary school

I found the story telling was really good when we went to the Burgh, I have learned to be more confident about reading in front of people

I learned what ages children can do things at

I have learned that children love getting told stories and they also like to join in.

I learned how to make gloop and playdough and how you would help children to do it

The story telling I didn’t enjoy, it was embarrassing but is good as it boosts confidence and is a good way to interact with everyone.

I learned that children develop a lot quicker than I thought and that they would develop so much when they are in the first few years… what age certain important stepping stones are.

The experience was very positive for the Burgh Primary school  giving an opportunity for the primary children to work with positive young role models

An evaluation report has been written and can be accessed here

2012 Report grammar elective

MGS Elective Course Outline

Making it Clear – a research project about resilience

This project conducted in partnership with Queen Margaret Universities ‘Firefly’ research team aims to understand how parents and carers who attend groups (funded or supported by Support from the Start) in East Lothian bounce back after difficult times in their lives.

The ability to bounce back is called resilience

The Making It Clear tool has been developed by Queen Margaret University as a self-rating scale designed to screen resilience at an individual and community level. The present  project intends to psychometrically test the Making It Clear resilience tool for reliability and validity for use with parents of children in their early years. This will assist in identifying assets and gaps in current provision to help inform future planning.

More information  Making it Clear

Parent information Info Sheet v2

 

 

 

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Equality in Early Years

Equality in Early Years – Training Opportunities

Introduction to Equality   Adam Conference Room, John Muir House, Haddington, EH41 3HA 14th of May, 4-6pm

An introduction to the principles of equal opportunities and its important in early year’s services. Find out about the Equality Act and how you can show that you are meeting the needs of all those who need to access your services.

 Including Children with Disabilities   Saltire Rooms, John Muir House, Haddington 9th of May 10am-12noon

An opportunity to think more about inclusion and gain practical advice about how you can include children with additional support needs in early years settings. This course is delivered by the East Lothian Council Children’s Services Disability Team.

 Working with LGBT Families ‘Different Families: Same Love’ Saltire Rooms, John Muir House, Haddington, EH41 3HA 20th of May 2-4pm

 Stonewall’s 2010 research on children with same-sex parents called ‘Different Families: The experiences of children with lesbian and gay parents’, shows that they too can be subjected to homophobic bullying. This session will look at how we can talk about different families, so that all children can be themselves, feel proud to talk about where they come from, and enjoy learning free from fear of bullying. It will support participants to tackle homophobia in early year’s settings and find out about legislation and support available for LGBT families.

All Courses are FREE of charge and are open to all those working in early years services in East Lothian.

How to Book

To book your place on any of the above courses, please contact Pauline McLaren on 01620 82 9947 or email pmclaren@eastlothian.gov.uk

Please let us know if you have any special requirements that will allow you to fully participate in each session e.g. access requirements.

For more information about any of these courses, please contact Rebecca Spillane, Equalities Officer on 01620 827134 or email equalities@eastlothian.gov.uk . If there is any training on specific equality issues that you are interested in taking part in, please email equalities@eastlothian.gov.uk

Outdoor Learning in the Early Years

The following link is to a great resource book for anybody working in an early years setting who wants to develop their outdoor learning opportunities. Easy to read but detailed with lots of easily applied ideas.
http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/docs/foundation_stage/learning_outdoors.pdf
“the best kept classroom and the richest
cupboard are roofed only by the sky”
Margaret McMillan (c1925)
Nursery Schools and the Pre-school Child NSA Publication