Children and Young People Service (ChYPS) Newsletter

Issue No. 1

Spring 2007

DASH Summer Information

Provisional dates for the summer scheme.

The DASH Summer Playscheme will run from Monday 23rd July until Friday 17th August 2007. We will confirm dates when we send out application forms in May.

DASH re-structure

We are committed to provide a high quality inclusive play and leisure service that enables disabled and non-disabled children to play together. As I am sure you will appreciate this past year has been particularly difficult due to financial restraints throughout the DASH playschemes. In addition, due to changes in the age profiles of children accessing the scheme we have had to look at how we effectively manage the service we provide. We have decided to re-structure the schemes and will now provide three playschemes as follows:

The Honey Bears scheme will be provided for children aged 3 to 7 years. This will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at Borough Road Nursery School and will be co-ordinated by Donna Gibson.

The Busy Bugs and Cool Crocs schemes will now be merged together and will provide a service for children aged 8 to 10 years. This scheme will run on Mondays and Fridays. If the scheme has very high demand we run an additional day on Wednesdays. This scheme will be held at Borough Road Nursery School and will be co-ordinated by Nicola Bisicker.

The Buzz Playscheme will provide for children aged 11 to 15 years. This scheme will continue to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and will continue to run at Holy Trinity Youth Centre. The scheme will be co-ordinated by Sue Peel.

We would like to assure parents/carers that we will be looking at childrens individual requirements before making these changes. You will receive the child information forms, further scheme information and date request forms at the end of May. If you have any concerns regarding these changes please contact Garry after the 16th May 2007 who will be happy to discuss these with you.

County Durham Service Level Contract.

Our contract with County Durham is currently being reviewed and we are discussing with officers the level of service we provide for children and young people from County Durham. We will keep parents/carers in County Durham informed of any changes to the current service.

Annual Increase in Parental Charges.

Following the recent meeting of the DASH steering group it has been agreed that the charge for the summer playscheme will be increased to reflect our annual cost increase. The cost for the playscheme will now be £13.50 for our play sessions and an additional £5 per day for trips and days out. This, we believe, still represents good value when compared to other local play services. As an example another Darlington playscheme charge approximately £17.00 for a similar service.

Concessions and pre-payment of charges.

As in previous years we will be providing a discount for families who have more than one child accessing the scheme. The discounts will be as follows;

2 children - 25% reduction

3 children - 40% reduction

4 children or more - 45% reduction

These reductions apply to Summer and Easter holidays only.

All parents can begin to make payments in advance of the summer playscheme in a number of ways.

• Payments can be made at the DAD office in Horsemarket using an easy payment system. Instalments can be made in advance over a number of weeks, and these are recorded in a payments book held at the DAD office. These instalments can be paid from May 1st 2007.

• Full payment can be made by sending a cheque made payable to "DAD". This should be sent to Garry West, DASH Project Co-ordinator, Enterprise House, Valley Street North, Darlington DL1 1GY.

Please ensure that you ask for a receipt of payment if you are not given one.

Payments can no longer be accepted on the playschemes by members of staff or volunteers. This is to ensure that payments can be recorded and monitored appropriately.

If you are using a Direct Payment account to pay for this, please ensure that you are entitled to do so through your assessment.

Bridging Service

The Bridging service is now running at full capacity and has been a huge success with a number of children and young people in Darlington and County Durham. The service is currently supporting children into After-school clubs, Teakwondo, Dancing Classes and the chill out café held at the Dolphin Centre. There will be more news about the Bridging service in our next newsletter.

If you would like more information on how the bridging service can support your child into mainstream play and leisure opportunities of their choice, please contact me on 01325 360524.

Recruitment for Summer Playscheme

The DASH Summer Playscheme is recruiting:-

Play Leaders, Play Workers and Inclusion Support Workers to enable disabled and non-disabled children to access inclusive play opportunities in a fun and safe environment, whilst supporting individual requirements. Applicants for paid posts must be:

• over 18 years old and be available to work between 23rd July and 18th August, 2007.

• experienced and/or qualified in childcare/playwork.

Dash offers excellent accredited training opportunities.

Contact Garry West on 01325 267344 or email garry@darlingtondisability.org

Closing date for applications is Monday 14th May 2007.

Volunteers - we need you too!

Our playschemes rely heavily on the fantastic support we get from volunteers every year. Do you know someone who is 16 years or over? Can you give DASH a day or more of your summer holiday break? Do you have the enthusiasm, commitment and motivation to support disabled and non-disabled children in play? If you can then we want to hear from you.

You will need to complete an application form, provide references, undertake a CRB check, and be willing to take part in training. In return you will receive excellent training, the chance to make a difference and the opportunity to meet new friends. If you can spare between 1 to 20 days over the summer period then get in touch. Please contact Lorna on 01325 360524 for an application pack.

Fundraising

Only Smarties have the answer!

A fundraising scheme has been launched to raise funds to buy outdoor play equipment for the DASH holiday playschemes. Firstly you need to buy a tube of Smartie's (On sale at DAD Offices). Then once you have eaten them start saving your spare 20 pence pieces in the tube until it's full. Each tube should hold approx £12.00. When its full return it to the DAD office and exchange it for another one at no cost! If we fill 60 tubes we should raise over £720.

Donation from Darlington Centenary Rotarians

The Darlington Centenary Rotarian Club are donating £300 to DASH following several fundraising initiatives including a bag pack. A cheque presentation will be made to DASH before the summer playscheme. We would like to thank the Rotarians for their kind support.

Great North Walk (Darlington) Sun. 15th July 2007

Would you like to get on your walking boots or get to grips with your wheels and raise funds for the DASH Playscheme? If you do then why not get sponsored in this years Great North Walk? The walk is open to all age groups and there are additional wheels friendly, toddler friendly and junior routes available. If you would like further information and a registration form please contact Kim Baird at DAD on 01325 360524.

DAD Fundraising Group

D.A.D. has various fundraising opportunities within the organisation. To make sure we make the most out of our fundraising effort we are setting up a fundraising group. Would you like to participate? Do you have any good fundraising ideas? If you would like to get involved please contact Garry on 01325 360524.

Other news from ChYPS

Direct Payments

The Direct Payment Support Service promotes choice and control by supporting anyone who is eligible, including parents of disabled children, to use a Direct Payment to organise their own package of care. This includes a payroll and recruitment service. For more information contact Simon Legg at DAD on 01325 360524 or email simon@darlingtondisability.org

Parents Forum

The Parents Forum provides a voice for parents in planning and developing services for disabled children and young people. The forum meets regularly to exchange information and discuss issues that affect parents. Speakers provide an opportunity for parents to share information directly with service providers. For more Information contact Chris Thwaites at DAD on 01325 489999 or email chris@darlingtondisability.org

As the Parents Forum and DASH have now come together under DAD's ChYPS service, we would like to make sure all parents on the DASH database are receiving information about the Parents Forum events. If you do not wish to receive this information then please contact Chris Thwaites on 01325 489999 or email chris@darlingtondisability.org

Sportsability

D.A.D. is working in partnership with Darlington Borough Council Leisure Services to provide a Sportsability Scheme following a successful pilot last year. The new sessions have already started and currently 12 disabled young people aged 11 years and over are taking part. A programme of events is being introduced to enable them to have a taster of a variety of sports and leisure sessions. Support workers from DASH will work alongside the coaching staff at the Dolphin Centre to develop confidence and self-esteem, with the aim of the young children feeling confident to move onto accessing inclusive mainstream provision of their choice. Further information on the Sportsability scheme will be available in future newsletters.

Other news and information

Parents of teenagers

Kim Douglas sits as a parent representative on both the Transitions sub-group and on the Learning Disability Partnership Board. She is very keen to hear from parents who have experiences - good or bad - of the transition process. She would also like to hear from you if you are experiencing difficulties at the moment. Perhaps you would like to meet other parents to share your experiences? Kim is at the Education Village on the last Friday of every month from 1.00pm - 3.00pm in the post 16 unit.

Live Darlington Card

Parents of disabled children are entitled to this new card which offers free entry into Leisure or Arts facilities/venues across the Borough when accompanying the person being cared for, and a 25% discount when a carer is using a facility without the person they are caring for. To apply for a card please contact the Dolphin Centre on 01325 388410.

Steam Shed

Steam Shed offers opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in drama, dance and music. It is based at the Education Village and Darlington Arts Centre. It has established three groups, a Childrens Theatre, Youth Theatre and an Adult Company. Whether your child has experience or not they'd love to hear from you. You can contact Steam Shed via email on steamshed@educationvillage.org.uk

The DOSH - Ideas into Action

The Youth Opportunity Fund (DOSH) is available to fund activities that groups of young people would like to try .The fund is managed by a group of young people from Darlington, who decide on how the fund will be given out. This group works to a set of criteria (see below) to help them make those decisions, and these criteria should be followed when filling in the application. If you have any questions or would like further information, please email askvibe@darlington.gov.uk