Funny things children say at Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2018 By Chris

The funny things children say at Christmas according to the Daily Mail

What gifts did the three wise men bring?

Rebecca, 5, Merchant Taylors: “They brought Jesus gold and myrrh but I would have brought him a nice warm blanket.”
William, 7, Merchant Taylors: “I don’t know what presents the wise men brought Jesus but a Lego set would have been better.”
Ellie, 5, Broomhill Infants: “The three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh – no real presents. I feel sorry for him.”
Ellie, 6, Merchant Taylors: “When he was born three kings brought him gold, coins and a sheep.”

Who was the angel Gabriel?

Erin, 6, Broomhill Infants: “The Angel Gabriel is a big white fairy. He helped Mary and Joseph look after the baby – kind of like a doctor.”
Jay, 5, Broomhill Infants: “There was also an angel called Gabriel, whose favourite thing was to fly around all day.”
Molly, 6, Broomhill Infants: “Angel Gabriel was also there and he has yellow wings and a white costume.”
Katherine, 9, from St James’ Church of England Primary School, Weybridge, Surrey: “Gabriel was this herald angel. He was a boy but he’s played by a girl in Christmas plays.”

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

Ellyshia, 9, St James’ Primary: “I am not really a Christian. I believe in unicorns and pixies.”
Ben, 7, Broad Oak: “We celebrate Christmas because Santa comes and gives us lots and lots of presents.”

Where was Jesus born?

Charlie, 4, Broomhill Infants: “He was born in a stable a long way away from here in another country. Bethlehem – it’s in England.”
Erin, 6, Broomhill Infants: “Jesus was born in the stable – it had lots of hairs.”

Christmas all-age and youth talks

Posted on December 16, 2018 By Chris

Here’s some of my favourite Christmas and Christingle talks I have done over the years:

School Christingle service: the story of the Christingle.
Christmas talk: Chocolate Brussels Sprouts: this is my favourite Christmas talk – Chocolate Sprouts – I’ve used this in assemblies, carol services, across the age ranges.
Christmas Eve All-Age Talk: Christmas Selfies: all-age talk from the Christmas Eve Christingle service in 2014 themed around selfies.
Christmas All-Age Talk: What shape is Christmas? a brief all-age reflection on Christmas.
Christmas All-Age Talk: Highly Favoured: an all-age talk on the theme of favour looking at Luke 1 and 2.
Christmas All-Age Talk: Walking in the footsteps: Herod & Simeon: all-age talk for our children’s nativity service based on the response of Herod and Simeon to the first Christmas.
Christmas all-age talk: Christmas changes everything: an all-age talk around Jesus being the wonderful counsellor, the almighty God, the everlasting father, and the prince of peace
Do They Know It’s Christmas?: talk I gave at our 14-18 year olds alternative carol service on the Band Aid song.
Christmas Prayer: Give Thanks to God prayer for All-Age themed on thankfulness
Christmas Prayer: Let there be Light: All-Age intercessions based on the theme of light.

Christmas talk: Chocolate Brussels Sprouts

Posted on December 15, 2018 By Chris

This is my favourite Christmas talk – Chocolate Sprouts – I’ve used this in assemblies, carol services, across the age ranges.

Preparation

Boil the Brussels Sprouts (make sure they’re not too soft) and stick them in the fridge overnight.
Next morning, melt the chocolate and dip the sprouts in so that they look like truffles. Let them set on a baking tray, then put them in small cake cases and sprinkle them with cocoa powder.

Talk

At the start of the talk, announce that you love Christmas so much, that you want to share it with everybody, and that what you have with you is something that will always remind them of Christmas day – delicious truffles!

Ask for a couple of volunteers to see if they can emulate Christmas day, by eating as many truffles as they can in 1 minute. Build up the expectation and emphasise the need for speed in the challenge.

Once the young people start eating the ‘truffles’, they’ll realise that there’s something not quite right and their facial expressions will change from ones of sheer delight, to ones of outright disgust a they discover the sprouts. (You may want to have a plastic bag handy at this point!)

OK, so it’s a bit revolting, but here’s the point.

Ask the young people who loves chocolate, and also, who loves sprouts.

Say that Christmas, for most of us is a time of celebration, indulgence and happiness. We love the ‘niceness’ of the Christmas season. It’s a bit like chocolate!

Go on to say that for many people, Christmas is not an easy time. For some it’s a time of loneliness, homelessness and struggle. For many people, Christmas is like our experience of sprouts – something to struggle through.

You could mention the first Christmas as an example. Mary was blessed with the news that she was to be the mother of God’s son, but probably struggled with knowing that her life could be in danger because of her pregnancy. A classic Eastenders storyline!

Challenge the young people to consider how they spend Christmas – to be grateful for the Christmas they have, and to be mindful of those who will struggle through Christmas.

Prayer

May our lives and our prayers be like lights shining in dark places. And may the blessing of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – fill our hearts and homes with light this Christmas and in the new year to come. Amen.

Best children’s Christmas story book

Posted on December 13, 2018December 9, 2018 By Chris

One of my favourite resources for the Christmas season is Jesus’ Christmas Party by Nicholas Allan.

Nicholas Allan writes and illustrates the nativity through the eyes of a grumpy inn keeper who is unexpectedly at the centre of Jesus’ birth. The story follows him as he is woken up repeatedly by Mary and Joseph and guests visiting the newborn.

I first heard of the book when I was a child and it was used for a Sunday School drama to present the Christmas narrative to the whole church. As a children’s and youth worker I’ve used it numerous times, be it with young pre-school children, older teenagers, or non-Christian adults. The book is easy for people to follow and join in, and yet still allows for profounds truths to be taught.

It can be bought in a number of sizes – from A6 just to fit in the pocket and use to tell a large group of people, to a large A4 size which a class of children can crowd around and look at the pictures.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on December 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Care Leaver Covenant: Children’s and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi has announced a scheme to raise the career aspirations and improve the life skills of care leavers. The Care Leaver Covenant has been signed by more than 50 businesses, charities and government departments in England who have committed to provide work based opportunities to young people leaving the care system. The scheme aims to create 10,000 work opportunities for care leavers over the next 10 years. For further information check out the Care Leaver Covenant website and see the pledges from government departments.
Online Safety: Childnet International has produced guidance for parents and carers on looking after the digital wellbeing of children and young people. This includes having an awareness of how being online can make children and young people feel, and how they can look after themselves and others when online. The guidance includes: age specific information about how children and young people are interacting with the internet; top tips to support young people at this age; and ideas to help start a conversation about digital wellbeing.
Loneliness Strategy: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published a strategy setting out the government’s approach to tackling loneliness in England – A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change. The strategy refers to loneliness experienced by children and young people and states that the new subjects of relationships education for primary schools and relationships and sex education (RSE) for secondary schools, due to become compulsory in all schools in England in September 2020, will emphasise the value of social relationships. The guidance content for teachers will highlight the impact of loneliness, particularly on mental health.
Child trafficking: Europol has published a report on child trafficking in the European Union. Findings from a study of almost 600 intelligence contributions reported to Europol by member states between 2015 and 2017 include: traffickers active in the EU target underage victims mainly for sexual exploitation; the majority of non- EU networks reported to Europol involved Nigerian organised crime groups which traffic female children and women to be sexually exploited; trafficking and exploitation of male children, especially for sexual exploitation, remains an under-reported phenomenon at EU level.
Modern slavery: The Home Office has published an annual report on modern slavery in the UK giving an overview of modern slavery and how the UK has responded to it over the last 12 months. The report finds that 2,121 potential child victims of modern slavery were referred to the national referral mechanism (NRM) in 2017. The NRM is a victim identification and support process that is designed to make it easier for agencies involved in a trafficking case to cooperate, share information about potential victims and facilitate their access to advice, accommodation and support.
Knife Crime: The Guardian reports that figures obtained from nine of the NHS’s 11 regional major trauma centres in England that treat adults and children show that they dealt with 2,278 victims of serious knife crime in 2017-18, with cases involving under-18s increasing by 24.4% since 2015-16.
Kinship Care: Grandparents Plus has published a report looking at the challenges faced by kinship carers – grandparents and other family members – who have taken on the care of children who aren’t able to live with their parents. Findings from responses to a survey from 1,139 kinship carers across the UK show that the most common reasons for children living with respondents include: parental drug or alcohol misuse (51%), abuse and/or neglect (54%), a parent being unable to cope (39%), and domestic violence (31%). Carers also report that 54% of the children in their care have special needs, of which 85% have emotional or behavioural problems.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 29, 2018October 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Strengths-based social care: The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published a report, written jointly with Leeds City Council and Shared Lives Plus, describing how strength-based approaches (SBAs) work in children and family settings and how effective they are. SBAs focus on the strengths as well as the needs of children, young people and their families. The report looks at: the key features of SBAs; embedding SBAs in practice; and avoiding pitfalls. SCIE has also published a series of blogs and a video in conjunction with the report, highlighting good examples of strengths-based social care for children, young people and their families.
Public health approach to tackle serious violence: The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced that a public health approach will be used to tackle serious violence in London. The approach, based on a similar initiative in Glasgow, will expand the work of the Mayor’s Knife Crime Strategy to include wider types of violence and look to address the links between violence in the home and on the street. It will aim to deliver early interventions to help prevent the spread of violence and improve coordination between the Metropolitan Police, local authorities, youth services, health services, criminal justice agencies and the Greater London Authority.
Girlguiding attitudes survey 2018: Girlguiding UK has published its annual report on the attitudes of girls for 2018 entitled ‘We see the big picture: girls’ attitudes survey’. 1,903 girls and young women aged 7-21-years-old took part in the survey from across the UK. The survey included questions about girls’ attitudes on a range of subjects, including: mental health; wellbeing and happiness; periods; education; relationships and socialising and safety. Findings include: 71% of girls knew another girl that had experienced mental health problems; 52% of girls have experienced harassment on the street, or know someone that has.
UK poverty metric: The Social Metrics Commission (SMC) has proposed a new metric for measuring poverty across the UK, outlined in their report on data for 2016/17. Findings include: 4.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK; overall child poverty has fallen by around 2% since 2001; the child poverty rate (32.6%) is higher than the poverty rate for the whole population (22%).
UK child welfare inequalities: The University of Huddersfield has published research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, into child welfare intervention rates in each UK nation. Based on a mixed sampling of 12,412 children on protection plans or registers and 24,477 looked after children across the UK, research found that Northern Ireland has the lowest intervention rates, despite having the highest levels of deprivation.
Child criminal exploitation: The Home Office has published a new version of the county lines guidance relating to the criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults, for professionals across the UK who work with children. The new version includes a definition of child criminal exploitation, which is common in county lines, noting: it occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18; it does not always involve physical contact and can also occur through the use of technology; and it is broader than just county lines, including children forced to work on cannabis farms or to commit theft.
Predicting child abuse: A series of articles in the Guardian report that local authorities in England are developing and using “predictive analytics” systems, where algorithms are used to identify families who may need attention from children’s services. The articles report that at least five local authorities have developed or implemented a predictive analytics system for child safeguarding (Thurrock; Brent and Essex; Bristol and Hackney.)
Update to Ofsted inspection framework for children’s services: Ofsted has updated guidance for inspections of local authority children’s services. Updates include: Ofsted will no longer use the single inspection framework to carry out re-inspections of local authorities rated inadequate, but will re-inspect using a standard inspection framework; and new guidance on producing an action plan for priority action areas after a focused visit. See the full ‘Framework, evaluation criteria and inspector guidance for the inspections of local authority children’s services‘ for more information.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 23, 2018October 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils’ experiences at school: The BBC reports that the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has heard evidence from experts pointing out that bullying, racism and feeling left out of the curriculum are major factors in low school attendance rates among children and young people from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community. The Women and Equalities Committee is holding an inquiry to look at inequalities faced by the GRT community.
Child development from birth to two years: Community Care has published a short guide to child development from birth to two years. The guide is aimed at social workers involved with families who need to be aware of children’s typical developmental stages and processes.
Child abuse image offences: The NSPCC has released figures from a freedom of information request sent to 43 police forces across England and Wales, and a formal request for information from police forces in Northern Ireland and Scotland, asking them for the number of recorded offences for indecent images (still or moving) of children. Figures show that 22,724 offences were recorded in 2017/18, an increase of 23% on the previous year.
Healthy and unhealthy relationships: Childline has launched a campaign to help young people understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and help them identify signs that their relationship might not be quite right. ‘Looking out for Lottie’, an eight part series, follows a fictional character Lottie who gets into an unhealthy relationship, showing how grooming can happen without realising it.
Care applications fall 5.7 per cent over two years: Cafcass has published its monthly care application statistics for England. In August 2018, Cafcass received a total of 1,179 new care applications. This figure is 5.1% lower than August 2017.
Children and young people’s mental health: Researchers from University College London, Imperial College London, University of Exeter and the Nuffield Trust have published findings from research looking at trends in mental health problems in children and young people. Analysis of data from 140,830 participants aged 4–24 years from 36 national surveys in England, Scotland and Wales found that: in 2008, 3% of 4-24 year olds in England and 3.7% in Scotland said they had a long-standing mental health condition, with 2.9% of 4-24 year olds in Wales saying they had received treatment; by 2014 these figures had grown to 4.8% in England, 6.5% in Scotland and 4.1% in Wales; boys aged 4-12 were consistently more likely to report a long-standing mental health condition than young girls.
Sharp rise in young people overdosing: The Guardian reports that research carried out by the University of Nottingham medical school looking at patterns and trends among 10–24-year-olds across England who overdose on painkillers and antidepressants. Findings from a study of 1,736,527 young peoples’ GP and hospital records from 1998 to 2014 include: 40,333 poisoning episodes were identified, of which 66.5% were recorded as intentional; and there were increases in poisoning incidence rates of between three- and fivefold for opioids, antidepressants, aspirin and paracetamol over the study period.
Child arrests in England and Wales: The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a research briefing on child arrests in England and Wales. Analysis of freedom of information data from 43 police service areas in England and Wales and the British Transport Police shows that: there were 79,012 child arrests in 2017, a 68% reduction from 2010 when there were 245,763 child arrests; there were 616 arrests of primary school-aged children in 2017.
Schools and colleges: survey of pupils: The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report on findings from wave 4 of the omnibus survey of school pupils aged 11-17; college students aged 16-17, and their parents/ carers in England. Findings from more than 3,000 survey responses include: 20% of school pupils and 12% of college students reported being a victim of bullying at school or college at least once a month in the last year; and 79% of school pupils and 78% of college students said that their school/college has a specific member of staff that they can talk to if they have a problem or worry.
Children’s social care services: raising concerns with Ofsted: Ofsted has published revised guidance on how to share concerns about children’s social care services in England with Ofsted and what they will do with the information. The guidance has been revised to include all concerns, rather than just whistleblowing.

Commission on Religious Education

Posted on September 9, 2018September 9, 2018 By Chris

The Commission on Religious Education has published its final report.

The Final Report of the Commission on Religious Education, Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. A national plan for RE, has been published. It sets out a National Plan for RE comprising of 11 recommendations, and calls on the Government to consider and adopt it.

The National Plan is built around a National Entitlement which sets out what all pupils up to the end of Year 11, in all publicly funded schools, should be entitled to be taught. The National Entitlement reflects a new and inclusive vision for the subject, fully embracing the diversity and richness of religious and non-religious worldviews. It will ensure a strong academic basis for the subject in all schools. The National Plan provides for flexibility of approach in the translation of the National Entitlement into programmes of study in schools, ensuring that Headteachers are able to choose the approach that is most appropriate for their pupils.

There is a long and detailed Press Release which gives all the background information. There is both the Full Report and an Executive Summary.

Responding to the publication of the Commission on Religious Education’s Final Report, The Church of England’s Chief Education Officer, Nigel Genders, said:

“This report calls for a new vision for Religious Education (RE) which is vital if we are to equip children for life in the modern world where religion and belief play such important roles. It is also timely given the falling numbers of students taking RE at GCSE and A level following the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc).

“The report articulates well the need to recruit and train RE teachers who are resourced and supported effectively. It also makes significant recommendations for structural change in the way RE is determined. Today, most people’s experience of religion and belief is national and global, so we support the move away from a local determination of the subject. We believe this will help pupils make sense of religion and belief as it is lived today and this proposed change is educationally valid and would bring RE into line with all other curriculum subjects.

“We fully support the policy of developing a Statement of Entitlement to RE and are pleased to see the Commission endorsing an approach which we already use in Church of England schools. However, the Commission’s proposed Statement of Entitlement requires further work if it is to ensure that children and young people develop religious and theological literacy as part of their knowledge and understanding. We look forward to playing our part in working with the education community to achieve this and building an irresistible consensus of agreement about the subject.

Other media reports include:

The BBC: ‘Teach religion and worldviews instead of RE’
The Sunday Times: Report calls for less religion in RE classes
The Sunday Telegraph: Religious Education should be re-branded as ‘Religion and Worldviews’ to ensure survival, report says
The Independent: RE in schools should be changed to ‘religion and worldviews’, report suggests
The Mail on Sunday: Major shake-up proposed for religious education
The Sunday Express: Atheism lessons in RE shake-up
Christian Today: RE should be changed to include non-religious beliefs and worldviews, says new report
The TES: Call to change RE to ‘religion and world views’

Children and young people’s mental health: focus group research

Posted on August 15, 2018August 18, 2018 By Chris

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in England has published findings from focus group research carried out to understand the views of children and young people, parents and carers, and professionals on the proposals in ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper’.

The student insight report, carried out by Young Minds, looks at the views of 55 young people aged 11-18 across England. Findings show that they were broadly in favour of the core three proposals but felt that there needed to be an additional focus within the new approach around causes of ill mental health amongst young people.

Youth Access looked at the views of 11-15 year olds and 16-25 year olds. Findings include: participants were generally positive about the proposals; they had concerns that the needs of many groups of young people would not be met in its current form including those not willing or able to access support in a school setting; many felt that the green paper did not go far enough in acknowledging some of the root causes of young people’s mental health issues.

The National Children’s Bureau reported on the views of over 80 professionals and parents. Findings include: the green paper proposals were broadly welcomed but that further consideration should be given to ensuring children in the early years develop well emotionally and are prepared for the transition into school; and better continuity of care for young people with mental health conditions transitioning to adult services.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on August 11, 2018August 18, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Young carers limited summer holidays: Action for Children and Carers Trust have released findings from a survey of 270 young carers under the age of 18 looking at how they spend their summer holidays. Findings show that: 47% of young carers spend more than four hours a day during the summer caring for a relative; 68% said they feel more stressed or worried during the holidays; and 57% worry about talking about what they did in the summer break when they go back to school.
“Holiday hunger” increasing: The National Education Union (NEU) has released findings from a survey of 657 secondary school teachers looking at “holiday hunger”, where families are unable to afford enough food during the school summer break. Findings show that 59% of members polled said that children and young people in their school experienced holiday hunger.
Relationships and sex education and PSHE briefing papers: The House of Commons Library has published a briefing on relationships and sex education and a briefing on personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) in schools in England. The first briefing provides an overview of the legislation and guidance currently in place regarding sex and relationship education (SRE) in schools and related reviews and proposals in Parliament to introduce relationship and sex education (RSE), whilst the second sets out the rules relating to the provision of (PSHE), and introduces the debates about the quality of provision and the subject’s statutory status.
Online abuse and the experience of disabled people: The House of Commons Petitions Committee has published draft recommendations and launched an inquiry into online abuse and the experience of disabled people. Recommendations include: making incitement of disability hatred a specific crime; and requiring social media companies to produce easy to read privacy notices. The inquiry follows a petition organised by Katie Price, mother of a 16 year old son with disabilities who was subject to online abuse, which was signed by more than 200,000 people.
UK children with ADHD wait up to two years for diagnosis: The Guardian reports that analysis of a freedom of information request by the All-party parliamentary group on ADHD shows that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are waiting up to two years for a diagnosis in England.
Digital literacy: The House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has published an interim report following its disinformation and fake news enquiry. The report includes a section looking at digital literacy in relation to children and young people. Its recommendations include: introducing digital literacy as part of the physical, social, health and economic curriculum funded by an educational levy to be raised by social media companies.

Home Office #knifefree lesson plans for KS3&4

Posted on July 9, 2018 By Chris

The PSHE Association are launching new PSHE education lessons today that they’ve developed to challenge the myths and communicate the realities of carrying a knife to secondary school students, using the Home Office #knifefree campaign as stimulus for discussion.

The free-to-download lessons – one for key stage 3 and one for key stage 4 – will inform young people of the consequences of carrying a knife and inspire them to pursue positive alternatives, using real life stories of young people’s experiences as a basis. Accompanying teacher guidance will help you plan the lessons into your PSHE curriculum safely and effectively.

Well-planned and delivered PSHE education provides an ideal context for this learning, as the subject develops knowledge and understanding of key concepts such as risk, identity and power, and skills relating to decision making and managing peer influence. These lessons are therefore best suited for delivery alongside topics exploring personal safety or gang crime.

The lessons aim to help students to:

Recognise and evaluate the risks of carrying a knife
Challenge common misconceptions about knife crime
Develop strategies to manage peer influence to carry a knife
Explore how young people can choose to live knife free and achieve their potential

Download the resources:

Knife Free Teacher pack.pdf

KS3.zip

KS4.zip

Anti-bullying strategies for young people

Posted on July 4, 2018 By Chris

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published advice and guidance for schools and education authorities on how to address bullying in schools with a focus on using data to improve anti-bullying strategies. The guide covers four main areas:

creating an anti-bullying culture in schools;
finding ways for students and staff to report bullying incidents;
finding ways to record and review the data on bullying;
communicating the anti-bullying messages.

Each area contains a set of questions for education professionals to ask themselves when carrying out steps one to four, above. The questions aim to help you review the current practices in your school, and identify areas for improvement.

Read the guide for further information.