Working Together in Early Help - Book your place!

Come and hear more about Early Help in Hertfordshire.  These events are for professionals working with children, young people, parents and families.

There will be a series of presentations from four key partners about the services they provide and how to make referrals to ensure families are being directed to the most appropriate help:

• Homelessness Prevention Team
• DSPLs
• Herts Sports Partnership
• Emotional and Mental Wellbeing in Education Team

The dates for the sessions and links to Eventbrite to book your place are below:-

East Herts, Broxbourne, Welwyn & Hatfield
Friday 5^th May
9.45am-12.30pm
Broxbourne Council Offices
Book here>>

St Albans & Dacorum
Monday 15^th May
9.45am – 12.30pm
South Hill Centre, Hemel Hempstead
Book here>>

North Herts & Stevenage
Monday 22^nd May
9.45am – 12.30pm
Icknield Centre, Letchworth
Book here>>

Watford, Three Rivers & Hertsmere
Monday 5^th June
9.45am – 12.30pm
Three Rivers District Council Offices
Book here>>

Download the leaflet

Families First Awards 2023 - Last chance to Nominate!

We are receiving some fantastic nominations across all our Families First Awards categories, but there is still time to make your nomination! Nominations close on Friday 31 March 2023.

These awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase team and individual successes in Early Help that have made a significant impact to the lives of children, young people and families in Hertfordshire through their outstanding work and achievement of positive outcomes.

This year’s Awards will be held at the South Hill Centre in Hemel Hempstead on Wednesday 10 May at 2pm and all shortlisted candidates will be invited along for an afternoon of celebration and cake ?

There are 6 individual and 5 team categories (view list here) and we will be looking for teams and individuals that have excelled and gone above and beyond their job role. We will be looking for statement of no more than 500 words and you may want to consider the following:

• Personal qualities displayed
• A passion for outcome focused solutions for children, young people and families
• An enthusiasm for finding new ways to listen, capture and respond to the wishes and feelings of children and young people
• This year the judges will also be looking at how our Families First Pledges have been shown in the nominations.

We would also like to put a spotlight on the following awards, to ensure all categories are fully represented :-

• Partnership School of the Year Award 
• Collaborative worker of the year
• Early Years Team of the Year

There is also an optional button to add one piece of supporting evidence (e.g. quote, testimonial etc).

Closing date for nominations is Friday 31 March 2023.

MAKE YOUR NOMINATION HERE

Or by scanning the QR code below:

Please tell your teams and colleagues to ensure as many people as possible get the opportunity to make a nomination. (Due to data protection, please DO NOT send on to members of the public).

Parenting When Separated course information

There is strong evidence that conflict between parents – whether together or separated – can have a significant negative impact on children’s mental health and long-term life chances. Not all conflict is damaging, but where this is frequent, intense and poorly resolved it can harm children’s outcomes.

The quality of the inter-parental relationship, specifically how parents communicate and relate to each other, is increasingly recognised as a primary influence on effective parenting practices and children’s future life chances, including attainment and employment.

As part of the offer to Reduce Parental Conflict we have trained practitioners across Early Help to deliver Parenting When Separated.

This is a 6 week course for parents who are preparing for, going through or have gone through a separation or divorce. Highlighting practical steps parents can take to help their children cope and thrive, as well as coping successfully themselves. 

The course consists of six group sessions for up to 12 parents, each session will last 2 hours 30 minutes with a 15 minute break.

Topics include:

• Solving co-parenting problems in a positive way that focus on the needs of children.
• Cope with the emotional impact of separation and learn stress management techniques.
• Help your children cope with the impact of the separation both emotionally and practically.
• Enhance communication with their children and with their children's other parent.

You can make a referral on the Relationship support for parents | Hertfordshire County Council

 

Fit, Fed & Read and the HAPpy camps

There are still spaces available for both the HAPpy Camps and Fit, Fed and Read which are running across Hertfordshire from 3 April – 14 April 2023 (not bank holidays).

These camps are open to children and young people eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The aim is to help close the holiday experience gap that some families may face over this period to deliver healthy food alongside sport and physical activity in a fun and safe environment.

Hertfordshire schools gave codes to all families of eligible children. Parents/carers who have not received the code should contact their school office or email haf@herts.ac.uk.

We understand not all families in need meet the FSM criteria, and a small proportion of free places can be provided to families identified by those professionals working with them. A unique code can be issued only to those professionals to share with the family. Any services who work with vulnerable/eligible families and would like a code or wish to promote this further please email haf@herts.ac.uk for more information.

Further information on the camps can be found at the links below:-

HAPpy Camps

Holiday Activity Fund - Herts Sports Partnership (sportinherts.org.uk)

Fit, Fed & Read

• East Herts - The Sele School
• Hemel Hempstead - Limewalk Primary School
• Letchworth - Lordship Farm Primary School
• St Albans - Mandeville Primary School
• Stevenage - Bedwell Primary School
• South Oxhey - Greenfields Primary School
• Waltham Cross - Four Swannes Primary School
• Watford - Ascot Road School
• Welwyn Garden City - Peartree Primary School

 

50 Things To Do Before You’re Five

As part of our ‘50 Things To Do Before You’re Five’ initiative we’d like to invite you to share your upcoming free or low-cost events with us to publish each half term on the 50 Things To Do Before You’re Five app.

The events could be ones you regularly host or one-off events. To be included your low-cost events need to be free or under £20 for a family of 4 to attend and the deadline for this terms entries is Tuesday 21^st March 2023.

Simply provide the following information half termly in advance using our online form and we’ll happily promote them to our users.

• Event title
• Photograph (this could be a photograph of your promotion poster or your logo, but this is not essential)
• Event description (150 words or less)
• Start date and time
• End date and time
• URL to find out more

The ‘50 Things To Do Before You’re Five’ app has had over 2,000 downloads and your events will be shared though the events section on the app. The “50 Things” app is free to download by visiting hertfordshire.50thingstodo.org or through the AppStore or GooglePlay store.

We look forward to hearing from you and if you have any questions, please email 50Things@hfleducation.org.

HENRY Healthy Families Programme - Next Rotation of Programmes, Spring Dates

The HENRY programme runs alongside BeeZee Bodies to offer parents with children under 5 a 8-week HENRY healthy families programme.

The programme is completely free for families and runs both online and face to face. Online is an hour session and face to face is a two hour session, with a creche available to parents. Our next rotation of programs will run in April on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays. 

Over the 8 weeks we cover the following topics using a partnership approach which is strengths based and solution focused.

• Session 1: Let’s get started (what’s a healthy person? Goal setting)
• Session 2: Balancing acts (balance of foods and looking after self in terms of ‘me’ time)
• Session 3: Needs and demands- parenting strategies
• Session 4: Tuning into mealtimes- healthy habits
• Session 5: Time to be active
• Session 6: Eating Healthily- lunchboxes, Portions and food labels
• Session 7: Let’s focus on feelings (listening and empathy)
• Session 8: The way forward (celebrating what parent have achieved and handing out certificates)

More information can be found here and referral form or can use the following link:https://beezeebodies.com/refer-a-client/. 

Emergency Foster Carer recruitment

Could you or someone you know be a part of the first national Emergency Foster Carer programme?

Our Fostering Service is introducing the first Emergency Foster Carer programme which will recruit a new type of Foster Carer to support children and young people in need of emergency care as part of the new Family Safeguarding Hub programme.

Emergency foster care can be required for several reasons. Circumstances vary, but children may have been removed from their parents because of drug or alcohol misuse issues, because they are having a difficult time, or are temporarily unable to cope. Emergency foster care ensures children have somewhere safe to stay for 10 days in a crisis while a solution at home can be found or an alternative long-term accommodation with family, friends' carers or a residential provision. 

We are looking to recruit an initial four new Foster Carers who will be available at short notice, at night and on weekends, as well as during the day and who will be retained for 52 weeks of the year. Three new emergency fostering outreach practitioners have been recruited to support the Foster Carers.

Each FC will be paid a daily retainer and then additional payments when caring for a young person. If you know a Foster Carer that you think may be interested in taking part, please forward them this to them. You will receive excellent training, learning and development opportunities by taking on this role. If you have any questions, please contact gemma.moloney@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

 

Saving money on childcare costs

Many parents are not aware that if you have a child under the age of 12 (16 with a disability) and currently pay for childcare, you can save up to £2,000 per year by using Tax Free Childcare.

Please help us to ensure families are aware by sharing this message on your social channels.

To find out more please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Childcare Choices | Vouchers, Tax Credits and More | Help with Costs | GOV.UK

All about Government help with childcare costs, including 15 to 30 hours free childcare, Tax-Free Childcare, tax credits, Universal Credit, vouchers and support while you study.

Are you aware of the NHS Healthy Start scheme in Hertfordshire?

Approximately a million pounds per annum of the NHS Healthy Start scheme in Hertfordshire, is unclaimed and we need your support to continue raising its profile with families you may be working with, who meet the Healthy Start criteria see How to apply – Get help to buy food and milk (Healthy Start)

Eligible families can receive money added onto the Healthy Start card every 4 weeks :i.e.

• £4.25 each week of pregnancy from the 10^th week
• £8.50 each week for children from birth to 1 year old
• £4.25 each week for children between 1 and 4 years old

Families can also obtain free Healthy Start vitamins from their local family centre in Hertfordshire – find out more at www.hertsfamilycentres.org/healthystartvitamins

For more information:

Visit Get help to buy food and milk (Healthy Start)

Email healthy.start@nhsbsa.nhs.uk  or

Phone 0300 330 7010.