w/c 4th December

5
Dec

How can you help Young Devon with their More than a Room campaign?

Home is so much more than a room.  It’s the place where you are surrounded by your stuff, the stuff that makes you who you are.  It’s about knowing that there are people there who want to help you; get you through the bad times and celebrate the good ones.  It’s about having a door to close when you want to be alone and one to open when you want to be with friends.  That’s what makes a house a home.

In the last year Young Devon has provided over 60,000 bed nights for young people.  We will always to make sure that every young person has a roof over their head and live in a safe and secure space.  We can only do so much. Our funds are limited and we want to make sure that every one of the young people that we house feels like they are home. 

 

Music to our ears!

Great news for Sound Gallery Studios in Exeter who are part of a project to help vulnerable young people increase employability skills and confidence

Exeter-based social enterprise Sound Gallery CIC is proud to be delivery partners in the #Focus5 project. Sound Gallery runs recording studios and artist development facilities in the cultural heart of Exeter, designs social inclusion programmes for fragile young people and provides professional audio resources and expertise for the whole community. The #Focus5 project is part of the Building Better Opportunities programme and is jointly funded by the European Social Fund and the Big Lottery Fund. This project aims to help some of the South West’s most vulnerable young people to make positive steps towards education, employment and training. #Focus5 will provide in-depth support to young people aged 15-18 across the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership area, and make a real difference to their lives.

Over the next three years, Sound Gallery’s Access to SiMPTI (Standards in Music Production Technology and Industry) programme will be part of the #Focus5 project. The Access to SiMPTI (Standards in Music Production Technology and Industry) programme is specially designed by
Sound Gallery to provide music-making activities for young people who are 'at risk of social exclusion' with an aim to increase their confidence and improve their chances of reaching their full potential in life. This programme takes place at Sound Gallery Studios in Exeter and includes workbased training, music production and creative music technology courses, sessions on how to build and sustain a career in the music industry, marketing, social media and social enterprise skills and offers volunteering opportunities in music industry events and live music showcases hosted by Sound Gallery.

The #Focus5 project will be working with a range of partners to support 490 individuals in Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay; including those with mental health issues, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), lone parents, and care leavers. #Focus5 does exactly what it ‘says on the tin’ and focuses on 5 key crucial employability skills, identified by employers as being gateways to employment; communication, customer service, organisation, problem solving, and team work. Young people on the project will get the opportunity to engage in work experience or work shadowing, and receive additional support after leaving the programme so that positive benefits are sustained. Sound Gallery CIC is super excited to be part of the #Focus5 project. Sound Gallery’s education and marketing manager Maria Peters, says: ‘We are very pleased to be
part of this exciting new initiative. It is very much in line with our own priorities and social objectives and gives us the opportunity to offer our programmes and expertise to the young people who are hardest to reach in our society’.

 

Chance for one lucky young person to go to Wembley!

If young people you are working with (14-25) are able to complete the survey re a range of views on football, they may be able to get a trip to Wembley.

The FA Youth Council are conducting research to gain a better understanding of the diversity of our current and future volunteer workforce and young people involved in football across England. The FA want to know the views of all young people aged 14-25, whether you play, volunteer or watch football. Even if you’re not currently involved in football they would really like to hear your views. The survey should only take about 5-10 minutes of your time and your answers will be completely anonymous.

By completing the survey you will have the chance to win 2 England tickets to a game at Wembley Stadium!

The closing date for completing the survey is Friday 14 December 2017. 

Survey Link: http://surveys.thefa.com/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=760H8536

How parents and carers can support their children to manage their rights and privacy online

Blog posted by: Anne Longfield, 28 November 2017.

In today’s increasingly digital world, it’s more important than ever that parents and carers feel equipped to help children develop the resilience, information and power they need to thrive online.

There is no doubt that the internet and social media give children amazing opportunities to learn, to develop new skills, and to keep in touch with friends. However, it not always clear that the rights that children enjoy offline also extend online.

Terms and conditions for websites, apps and online services are often excessively long and very difficult to understand. This means that many people tick ‘I agree’ without ever reading the first line of a terms and conditions agreement. Yet buried within these documents is important information about the rights of the companies and the rights of the user.

In order to help parents, carers, teachers and children understand these rights, I have worked with the law firm Schillings, who specialise in privacy law, to produce simplified terms and conditions for Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook– the top 5 platforms used by children and young people.

I’ve called on social media companies to commit to simplifying their own terms and conditions. In the meantime, I’ve worked with Tes to produce teaching packs aimed at children and young people at key stage levels 1, 2 and 3. These packs, which include the simplified terms and conditions as well as lesson plans, can be found here.

However, I know that parents and carers would also find this information very useful, so I am making them more widely available to download.

Creating short and simple terms and conditions is one of the first steps in helping children to understand their rights and become more informed digital citizens and I hope these tools will help parents and carers do that too.

Download simplified terms and conditions for Instagram, WhatsApp, Youtube, Snapchat and Facebook here. 

How to use these resources

Please see below for suggestions about how you can use the terms and conditions to learn more and support your child. We gladly welcome any further ideas and examples.

Starting conversations

Children and young people often know more than their parents and carers when it comes social media sites. However, they may lack an understanding of their online rights and the rights and responsibilities of online companies. Using our simplified terms and conditions to work out what children actually understand can be a useful starting point for more in-depth conversations about online activity and behaviour.

Learning alongside

Adults can also struggle to understand terms and conditions. Our simplified summaries can be used as a fun quiz to help adults learn alongside their children, so that everyone is better informed.

Supporting others

Everyone can play a part in helping to improve the web and support others to get the most from their time online. Discuss with your child how their behaviour online could help others. Does your child consider the rights of others when they post online? Do they know how to report things? Do they feel confident about finding help when they need it? Can they help others do these things?

Digital 5 A Day

Helping children manage their time online and get the most from the web can be a challenge for parents and carers. Our Digital 5 A Day framework builds on the NHS 5 steps to mental wellbeing and can help you and your child find new, fun ways to balance time spent online with health and wellbeing.

Beyond Terms & Conditions and staying safe online

The simplified terms and conditions are a useful starting point for understanding and taking control of your rights and privacy online. However, it is important to go beyond the terms and understand how you can take control of your privacy settings, report content, block users and get help when you need it.

For more information about social media specifically for parents visit Parentzone or Internet Matters.

More information on staying safe online visit Childnet and NSPCC.

Note: These terms and conditions have been edited for educational purposes and are not a replacement for the original versions.

Simplified social media terms and conditions

Download

Can you help shape the future of the Blackdown Hills?

The Blackdown Hills AONB Management Plan is currnetly in the process of review - it was originally published in 2014.  The preparation and review of the AONB Management Plan is statutorily required by the Government. They have produced an online survey to elicit comments and views from a range of partners, stakeholders and plan users on the existing AONB Management Plan; please go to https://goo.gl/forms/D08bzzOoPTSl28cl1 to complete the survey.

The objectives and policies of the AONB Management Plan are important as they become the policies for the AONB when the Plan is adopted by each local authority. It is therefore important that they know whether the existing ones are valid and relevant and in the survey they ask you to comment on the policies in the current plan. You may submit the survey form anonymously if you wish. For reference, there is a summary of the structure of the Management Plan below, which lists all the objective and policies in a table. The entire Management Plan can be viewed on our website at www.blackdownhillsaonb.org.uk/managementplan.html

The comments that you make will help to determine what changes will be made to the Plan. 

Please be sure to submit your response by 15th December 2017.

They would also like to invite you to attend a Management Plan Workshop on Thursday 25th January 2018.  This will take place at Hemyock Parish Hall from 9.30 to 1.00, with lunch provided afterwards, and will include a mixture of presentation and group discussion.  The workshop will follow on from the survey, allowing representatives from a broad range of AONB partnership organisations and interests to consider both the usage and content of the current plan in more depth and look at issues to consider for the revised plan. 

Workshop Outline

  • Welcome and Introductions
  • Overview of review process, plan requirements and scope
  • Feedback from online survey results
  • Workshop: analysis of current plan
  • Summary of what’s changed and forces for change
  • Workshop: what does all this mean for the 2019-24 management plan?
  • Discussion and Q&A, sum up
  • Lunch and depart
 

Bags of Help grants for Devon

Tesco's exciting local community grants scheme of £4000, £2000 and £1000 available bimonthly.

Find out more and discover how your group could make an application here