Councillor Nick Cott presents awards to learners

Helping Local Communities Change

Children’s Services

HealthWORKS Newcastle teamed up with Newcastle’s Children’s Services to develop the first tailor – made training for parents and carers participation. The Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities Fund, alongside Newcastle City Council’s Workforce Development Funding, provided the resource to develop this unique opportunity.

All 23 learners qualified for Level 2 Open College Network ‘Introduction to Community Development Work’ certificate.  And all have indicated that they want to continue engaging with key services in their neighbourhoods.
In the four months since the training some of the areas the parents and carers have already been involved with are:

• Interview panels for the selection of Children’s Services staff
• Drugs and Alcohol annual assessment consultation
• Dialogue with Family Information Service to develop a Good Practice Guide for Parents and Carers
• Volunteering with Nacro
• Engagement with Newcastle Futures
• Parent governor service
• Inter – generational work at local Children’s centre
• Further training on Mental Health First Aid
• Enrolling on a full-time College Courses
• Engaging with Children’s Services Executive member

Parents and carers who have completed the training will for the first time in Newcastle form the reflective focus group for the parents and carers contribution to the Newcastle Plan for Children & Young People 2010-2013. 

And this is just the beginning!  Building on the success of this course, there are plans to extend further training courses to parents and carers across the city. The partnership between HealthWORKS Newcastle and Newcastle’s Parent and carer participation coordinator, Val Chadwick, Children’s Services, is going from strength to strength.  Many other core cities across the country are looking to Newcastle as a great example of participation and change for its citizens.

To read the full article, participants quotes and for contact details- click here

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