Practical Help - Resources
Girl Guiding UK developed a peer education network which has been enthusiastically taken up in the south west. Sessions including subjects such as eating disorders, mental health and fair trade issues are delivered by trained guides who work with guide units to explore these issues.
RUNNING SPORTS QUICK GUIDES - The runningsports programme has been created, and is funded, by Sport England for the benefit of volunteers working in sport.
The runningsports programme provides products and services in a variety of formats to support the work undertaken by volunteers and sports development officers. From Role Outlines, Top Tips and Quick Guides through to workbooks, workshops, e-learning and qualifications. They have created the following quick guides:
* Organising fixtures and Competitions
* The Disability Discrimmination Act
* Managing Events
(Posted 31/8/10)
CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE TOOLKIT - a resource for anyone working with young people aged 11-19 involved in campaigning activities. The Toolkit aims to equip young people and anyone working with them to plan, run and review local, regional and national campaigns on issues of importance to the young people themselves. The Toolkit has been designed to give groups the option of achieving accreditation for their campaign work through the Youth Challenges and the Youth Achievement Awards. (Posted 11/8/10)
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE is a feature of the coalition's ambitions for a Big Society. To find out more about how to set up a Social Enterprise, please see this interesting resource from Business Link. (Posted 26/07/10)
WORK RELATED STRESS is a growing concern. We are under more pressure than ever to perform well in our roles to enable us to keep our jobs in this uncertain climate. Ladder4learning have put together a useful briefing sheet which can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl.com/29ah8rp
(Posted 19/7/10)
EFFECTIVE VOLUNTARY SECTOR MANAGEMENT is an online course from Working For A Charity that is an excellent way to develop your skills and knowledge of the voluntary sector and receive a qualification. The course is accredited by Roehampton University and covers a variety of topics including governance and financial management. The next course starts in October and online enrolment is open now. Click here to enrol (Posted 5/7/10)
SKILLS AUDITS - Looking at the skills of staff, management committee and volunteers is an important part of organisational development. It is also something that many organisations in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector feel they need support with. Ladder4learning have prepared a useful briefing sheet which is available here. (Posted 15/6/10)
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS - Functional Skills are replacing Key Skills. These skills are essential to our lives and will be a key part of our education system for- 14-19 year olds and adult learning. They are practical skills in English, mathematics and ICT. Ladder4learning have prepared a useful briefing sheet which is available here. (Posted 15/6/10)
NEW SHELTER ADVICE LEAFLET - Please find attached a new Shelter advice leaflet aimed at 16-17 yr olds who find themselves homeless. It is a guide on what “should” happen when they present at the Housing Department or at Children’s Services. (Posted 15/6/10)
EQUALITY MAPPING Equality South West have launched their prototype SW Equality Maps using Google Earth. Take a look and if you think your organisation or group would benefit from being featured, then contact ESW as shown on the link. (Posted 04/05/10)
PARKOUR FOUNDATIONS - Parkour Foundations offers a solid foundation in which they operate Parkour & Free Running workshops, for beginners & intermediate as well as events and shows, including charity performances and community projects. They have asked us to post a link onto our website with further information about this latest trend and the workshops they run. Find out more here. (Posted 26/04/10)
SOURCES OF FUNDING The Directory of Social Change has published a useful funding guide, listing all the sources of funding available for youth activities and explaining how to fundraise for youth-related causes. It is a useful reference tool for anyone working for youth organisations, projects involving young people and youth agencies. The new edition covers topics such as: getting started in fundraising, raising money from the public, funding from companies and writing applications. It includes information on the Big Lottery Fund and details of the top grant-making charities. Further information can be accessed here (Posted 15/03/10)
YOUNG ENTERPRISE is a Charity and one of the largest national Education Business Partnership Organisations (EBPO’s) and with a successful track record of working in partnership with local authorities, fellow EBP’s and other delivery organisations across the country to deliver Work Related Learning, Employer Engagement, Enterprise to the 14-19 agenda in schools and colleges. For more information about their work please click here. (Posted 12/03/10)
WRITING FOR THE WEB Hope you find this short article useful for keeping your own websites up to date. Or maybe you are about to take on the role of up dating your website. Either way, this might help you in your endeavours. (Posted 04/02/10)
The aim of the RIGHT TRACK NATIONAL INITIATIVE is to share the best practice developed at Right Track, Bristol, to enable practitioners and agencies to better understand the issues affecting Black and Ethnic Minority children and young people. Currently funded by the DCSF to offer training, consultancy, resources and support for organisations working to improve outcomes for BME young people as set out in the Government’s Every Child Matters agenda. If you would like further information please contact: Right Track National Initiative, The Children’s Society, Tel: 0117 9351515, Email: rtni@childsoc.org.uk (Posted 15/01/10)
SAFER RECRUITMENT RESOURCES – The CWDC has produced a range of resources to help you to understand more about recruiting safely into the children and young people's workforce. They can be downloaded here. (Posted 14/01/10)
WORKING IN A CONSORTIUM - A guide for third sector organisations involved in public service delivery. Please click here to see the guide. (Posted 15/12/09)
SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL DEMOCRACY is a new social networking guide from the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) to help children's professionals communicate effectively with young people online. Creating a blog, using social networking sites such as Facebook and uploading videos to YouTube are among the issues covered. (Posted 14/01/10)
THE RIGHT CHOICE - Action for Children has published this guide to involving children and young people in staff recruitment and selection. It provides an overview of the recruitment and selection process, considers why it is important to involve children and young people, and provides the basic information and techniques to do this in an inclusive and empowering way. (Posted 14/01/10)
VOL RESOURCE Check out the VolResource website which offers a Policies and Procedures checklist for the voluntary sector. Let us know if there is anything there that you found particularly useful. (Posted 15/12/09)
FREE CHILDRENS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ADVICE - Children England is the new name of the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations (NCVCCO) and they are now offering a dedicated service that provides practical help and support in Childrens Workforce Development issues in England. (Posted 20/11/09)
ONE HUNDRED BITES is a resource that is subtitled brain breaks, icebreakers, team builders, energisers and starters which sums it up. It has 100 quick activities designed to make the learning environment for young people fun and relaxing. Some of the activities focus on physical and mental exercises, while others centre on group dynamics. Click here (Posted 28/09/09)
MY GUIDE - Children's Minister Delyth Morgan has launched a new facility on the government website myguide (www.myguide.gov.uk) to help inform parents, carers and others about internet safety and other online issues. An interactive guidance course and quiz aim to help families manage the risks while enjoying the benefits of the web, and includes many of the top parental concerns about the internet. (Posted 28/09/09)
COMMISSIONING SUPPORT PROGRAMME - The Commissioning Support Programme has published a resource describing the sector’s view of ‘good commissioning’. It is designed to help leaders, commissioners, providers and the communities involved in children’s services to develop a shared understanding of commissioning and the essential components that make it work. (Posted 03/09/09)
SAFE FROM BULLYING IN YOUTH ACTIVITIES – DCSF has published 2 documents to help tackle bullying outside of schools. Click here for the guidance document and here for the resources pack. (Posted 22/06/09)
NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have published Tools for Tomorrow - A practical guide to strategic planning for volunatary organisations. This is a complete set of practical tools aimed at all directors, managers and anyone responsible for planning within charities and voluntary organisations and will help to plan strategically and strenghten your organsiations future. For more information click here.
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE to working with young people about drugs and alcohol – this is a new book published by DrugScope that is packed with everything you need to know about working with young people on drugs issues. With chapters drawn from a range of highly experienced and knowledgeable practitioners, it is a comprehensive tour of issues relating to young people and drugs and alcohol and would be useful to a range of workers from different services. http://www.drugscope.org.uk/
TAKING PART in Making Decisions - Participation Works have produced training resources that can be downloaded to support practitioners to train young people aged 8 to 12 to participate in decision making. Areas covered include recruitment and selection, facilitation and making change happen. See more information here.
More Key policies, guidelines and key documents can be found here