Blyth Extended Services Newsletter - Northumberland Extended ...

Blyth Extended
Services Newsletter
Family Learning Festival
During October, 165 families including
babies and grandparents enjoyed
“Getting Together and Discovering
More” and learning about all the exciting
activities they could do in their
environment.
The Extended Services Team in partnership
with the Blyth Children’s Centres provided
an array of opportunities including bulb
planting, kite making, bug hunting and
making spider money boxes out of
recyclable materials.
“Excellent fun for adults, very creative, got
some good ideas and a good social
experience”
Inside this issue:
Family Learning
Festival
Horton Grange
Primary School
1
2
Meet the Team 2
Parent Support
Partner
3
Volunteering 3
STEPS 4
Older children — and one young at heart
mum — ventured onto wave-boards while
some tried Archery with the Blyth Valley
Arts & Leisure team.
Visit the County Council website
www.extendedservicesncc.co.uk
“Really great fun for the kids and mams”
“Great day, plenty to do for all, fantastic”
“I likes having a go at archery”
“What a great day, Thankyou!”
“I think this is fun especially the kites”
“Excellent, there should be one every
holiday, well worth it”
“More stuff like this more often”
“Lovely ideas and friendly staff”

Our recent project at Horton Grange Primary School
My name is Dorothy Lewis
and I am the Volunteer Co
— ordinator for the Blyth
Extended Services Partnership.
For a period of 6
weeks we facilitated a fantastic
art group in school on
Thursday afternoons.
For the first hour we worked
with a group of children and
for the second hour the parents
joined the children
school for a family art session.
Each week we looked
at Art from a different part
of the world or from different
artists and saw how art
comes in many different
forms! We then produced
artwork relating to that
country using a variety of
materials, and there have
been some real masterpieces!!
We have had the
expertise from Eddie Galvin
(a community artist) who
has been on hand to talk to
us about art from around
the world and show us that
we can all be artists.
Matthew, very proud of his work
What the parents thought of the project…….
“I got carried away
and thoroughly
enjoyed it”
“I thought I was rubbish
and didn’t want to show
myself up but I am so
glad I came!”
“It feels like time out
and it’s nice and
creative”
Meet The Extended Services Team in Blyth
Trevor Smith Gill Knights Dorothy Lewis
Extended Services Co-ordinator Parent Support Partner Volunteer Co-ordinator
01670 541870 01670 540963 07855534849

The work of Parent Support Partners
Parent Support Partners (PSP) are the outcome of
a government initiative linked to the Extended
Schools Service. They compliment existing services
aimed at supporting and enhancing life chances for
children and young people. PSP’s come from a variety
of professional backgrounds and have a wide range of
experience working with parents, carers, families,
children and young people.
The role of a PSP is to work with parents and schools
to identify and address individual barriers by providing
support, advice and guidance and also sharing information
about external services. PSP’s work towards
enabling children to reach their full potential
with the collaboration of parents, carers and families.
Gill Knights.
Parent Support Partner for the
Blyth Partnership
To contact Gill Knights
please call:
01670 540963
We’re here for you!
An opportunity to
make a difference
Volunteering
We have lots of volunteering opportunities available in schools
across Blyth. Please contact me if you would like to volunteer in
your local school or to find out more about volunteering with
Extended Services. Volunteers can access free training and
support alongside their volunteering role.
Please contact Dorothy Lewis for more information on
07855534849
Schools with this
logo are part of the
Blyth Schools
Partnership

TAKE THE
NEXT STEP
STEPS
Want to make the most of yourself
and your abilities?
Want to feel more confident and
better about yourself?
Want to find and succeed in new
opportunities?
Want to improve your life – family,
friends, job prospects?
FORWARD
STEPS
TO
EXCELLENCE FOR
PERSONAL
SUCCESS
What is STEPS?
Is a course which encourages you
think about yourself, your choices
and your life.
Helps you to understand why you
think the way you do about yourself
and your situation.
Gives you confidence to take opportunities
to improve your life and deal
with change.
For more information about STEPS please contact any
member of the team who will be happy to
give you more information.