Dear Colleagues

Firstly a very happy New Year to all our readers, and we start 2008 with the news that our advert for a new Regional Development Manager has now been distributed. 

The important news here is that the deadline for applications has been EXTENDED to 27th February - so if you would like to apply click here for full details.

We are busy organising Spirit of Play on 1st March in Chertsey, Surrey, with guest speakers Camila Batmanghelidjh and Alistair Black, and full details of the workshops are available now from our website, together with the booking form NB: the workshop details have been updated today (30 Jan) so if you have been emailed an earlier version, please check the website for the current one.  Check with your local EYDCP to see if they are sponsoring places, otherwise book direct with us.  £55 for a full day of fun and information, plus a lovely lunch - what more could you ask!

There are also a number of important consultations taking place that would benefit from the input of play people in the south east.  Have a look either at our website or at the section below.

Enjoy your read, and hope to see you at Spirit of Play.

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A collection of articles and items on the early stages of the newly launched Children's Plan.

Building Brighter Futures: Ed Ball launched the Children's Plan on 12 December 2007, as the government's strategy for improving services for children and young people and their families over the next ten years, with the aim of ‘making England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up'. 

£225m for Play and Playwork:  SkillsActive welcomes the Government's pledge of £225m towards children's play and a promise of a play strategy for England.

Play in the Children's Plan: Play England has produced two documents summarising the play-related commitments contained in The Children's Plan.

Aims: what the Children's Plan aims to do.

Councils: the implications of the Children's Plan for councils.

Disabled Children: An additional £90 million is to be invested in capital funding to improve the provision of short breaks for disabled children. The plan also confirms the increased funding of £8.4 million, that will allow the Family Fund to make an additional 16,200 grants to disabled young people aged 16 and 17. Also, children with special educational needs (SEN) will benefit from £18 million new investment over the next three years, designed to improve training and data collection and reduce bullying and exclusions. Ofsted will conduct a review of SEN provision in 2009.

Police & Play:  Police officers are to learn about play, and school playgrounds will open outside normal hours as part of the government's £85m play pathfinders initiative, announced in the Children's Plan.

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Wokingham 6th Form Voluntary Playworker Scheme:  Wokingham Borough is piloting an innovative way to join up several complementary areas of work - Extended Services in and around schools, playwork workforce development, and volunteering/CV development opportunities for young people. Read their Report written for this e-newsletter of progress so far.

Junior Springwatch: Run by Aylesbury OOS Network, this event will take place on 10th May and follows on from previous successful events such as Junior Scrapheap Challenge, Junior Fit Club and Junior Art Attack. 

Aylesbury Out of School Network Meeting: a free, open-to-all network meeting on 6th February with applie pie!

The Rural Areas Play Project (RAPP) award winning mobile playscheme will be out and about in East Hampshire for half-term week, February 18th - 22nd.

Sussex Community Internet Project:  SCIP are running a free How to Chose a Database workshop for voluntary and community organisations within Sussex, Kent and Surrey, on 11th February in Brighton.

West Kent:  Voluntary Action West Kent currently has places in February on the following workshops:  Introduction to Effective Fundraising; Responsibilities of Trustees; and Management.  More information from Isobel Turpin.

If you would like to add your meeting, event, news or requests to this part of our e-newsletter, please send details to us.

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Possible Futures for Playwork is a project designed to provide a platform for creative discussion and debate for playworkers. This is a special time for playwork; Play England and equivalent agencies are supporting new projects across the UK and play has a higher profile in the media and with many agencies. You are invited to prepare a brief paper on your views about what is needed for playwork in the UK: deadline extended to 7th February.

EY Foundation Stage Policy:  A petition is running requesting an independent review into the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) policy framework. More information about the background and an upcoming conference here.

Obesity & Cooking:  Every young person will do compulsory practical cooking lessons for the first time ever, Children, Schools and Families Secretary of State Ed Balls announced this month, and he is asking people to e-mail in to getcooking.consultation@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk with suggestions for simple healthy recipes which young people could learn.

Inquiry asks for childhood memories: The Children's Society has launched a campaign to collect childhood memories as part of the Good Childhood Inquiry.

Childcare Act 2006: Future Approach to Fees and Subsidies:  This consultation seeks views on the proposed structure and level of fees payable to Ofsted by childcare providers joining the Early Years Register or compulsory part of the Ofsted Childcare Register from September 2008 as well as proposals for changes to the subsidy arrangements.

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VCS Engage is a national programme, designed to strengthen the engagement of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda.  Check out their website for news and free events in your area.

FE Video:  Launched by FE Careers, FE Video is an online video and movie sharing service for the Further Education and Work Based Learning industry. FE Video has been developed to enable everyone in the Further Education sector to share video clips, view speeches and share best practice across the Work Based Learning and Further Education sector.

Free IT Help:  iT4Communities, the national IT Volunteering Charity, have made its 'Getting Free IT Help' workshop materials available online, so now any voluntary/community organisation can feel confident about using an IT volunteer to support their technology needs. The iT4C team can run workshops in your area. To find out more call 020 7796 2144 or email .

Play Design Network:  Are you a play designer?  The newly formed Play Design Network is developing a list of play designers for public access, to be held by the CPIS.  Click on the link for more details.

SkillsStories:  A new initiative designed to help employers work together on improving skills has been launched by Business in the Community and DIUS. It's like a social network for employers on skills and works like Facebook, and enables employers to upload a profile that details their skills and training initiatives. Employers can then interact online and search through a database of resources, events and news for the skills sector.   Employers and partners can register on their new website and promote the work they are doing on skills, collaborate and share best practice online.

Speaking Out:  The NCVCCO are inviting entres of short videos by children and young people about where they live and what they want from these places.  Entry forms to be received by 1st February.

CAPT Resources:  A new resource list is available around accident prevention, for professionals working with parents and children.  CAPT also runs training sessions for professionals on preventing children's accidents - call 020 7608 7364 for further details.

The Children's Society Disability Toolkit: Your first step when involving disabled children and young people in decision-making and participation - a new website to be launched on 21st February.

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Re:Play, the new play association for the south east, has secured funding from SkillsActive and Play England to employ a consultant to carry out various pieces of work and set up a new website.  

Parish Councils:  If you are a Parish Councillor or Clerk, or if you are in touch with your Parish Council and can forward it on, please have a look at Re:Play's short questionnaire, designed to help create a new website offering the advice, information and support which has so far been unavailable all in one place.  The more responses received the better the resource that can be provided.

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A Graduate's Story:  Sue Clark and her colleague Lis have just graduated from Hereford University after completing their Foundation Degree in Playwork.  Sue has written about their experiences for our e-newsletter.

Foundation Degree Gateway:  This project has been commissioned by the Children's Workforce Network to look at how Foundation Degrees are meeting the needs of the IQF for the children's workforce.  The 2nd Briefing is available here.

IQF - Frequently Asked Questions: a new addition to the CWDC website.

IQF Newsletter:  the January edition from CWDC.

Apprenticeships:  An ambitious plan to expand and strengthen apprenticeships has been published by the Government. The Apprenticeships Review outlines the measures Government will take to ensure apprenticeships become a mainstream option for young people, as well as plans to boost apprenticeships for older learners.

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Play England gave a presentation on Prioritising Play, Locally and Nationally, at the recent International Play Assocation conference in Hong Kong, outlining how Play England has strategically influenced local and national government agendas to improve opportunities for children's play in England. The event confirmed that Play England is a unique organisational model in the international play sector, and feedback from participants highlighted that Play England and Play Wales' success in supporting and influencing positive change were being heralded as models of good practice internationally.   Find out more about the International Play Association here.

Places to Go?  Play England is holding a major national conference on 20th May to promote place-shaping, safer streets and sustainable transport for a child-friendly public realm.

National Expansion of Quality in Play:  Play England has recruited Sue Coates as acting manager for a new national programme in Quality in Play, the quality assurance system for staffed play providers. Expanding a programme run for more than six years in London by London Play, Sue will help Play England to develop Quality in Play outside of London, working in partnership with London Play who will continue to deliver the scheme in the capital. Many play providers in London have Quality in Play, through a system of assessment and accreditation that was approved by the former Investors in Children framework.

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Spirit of Play of course!  Saturday 1st March: All the details and booking forms are available to download from our website.

Out2Play:  SkillsActive's annual conference to be held at Lords Cricket Club on Wednesday 5th March, with guest speakers Maggie Brandon (DCSF), Tim Gill (Rethinking Childhood) and Michael Follett (new ways of working with children in external environments).

Playday 2008 is on Wednesday 6 August with the theme of Risk. To help make Playday 2008 the biggest and best yet, have your say on next year's campaign!

You can find a full list of other national and regional events on our website here.

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