Out of School Care in Scotland - a draft framework for consultation

The Scottish Government's Out of School Care in Scotland draft framework consultation has been launched.

We shall be holding a series of events October/November around the country in partnership with the Scottish Government looking at the consultation questions and issues raised within the document. Dates and venues to follow in the next few weeks- keep an eye out for details. For further information please see this link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/out-school-care-scotland-draft-framework-2019/

STEM Creative Computing Masterclass - places remaining

Places are available for our Creative Computing Masterclass taking place on Saturday 14th September at the Albany Centre in Glasgow. This session takes place from 10:00am - 12:45pm and will be of interest to new participants, as well as those who previously attended SOSCN Creative Computing training. For further details and how to book, please see this link: https://soscn.org/participate/teaching-stem-in-osc

SOSCN Membership Survey - closes Friday

Last chance to complete our online membership survey. A big thank you to everyone who has already submitted a response. The information and comments provided have been great and will be very helpful for our funding bid. The survey can be found here: https://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/brmiad0h

Workforce Survey 2019

Hopefully most members will have already received their paper copies through the post for our 2019 Workforce Survey. The information gathered in this survey is essential for SOSCN policy work and we are very grateful for the many responses that we receive for this each year. If you haven't had any through the post yet, or would like to access the survey, then you can download a paper copy from our website or fill out the survey online.

Online: https://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/mMli5Km4

Paper Copies to download: https://soscn.org/downloads/news/workforce-survey-2019.pdf

Recruitment and Retention Survey

Increasingly services are reporting to us that they are having problems retaining and recruiting staff. In order to learn how widespread this is, and also the reasons behind any issues, we are asking managers of services to complete this survey.

The more responses we have the more accurate the information- this survey should take about five minutes and can be completed online here: https://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/etLvKMvn

The Disclosure (Scotland) Bill

The Disclosure (Scotland) Bill seeks to amend the law governing how the state discloses previous offending behaviour and the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. You can find out everything about this Bill here: https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2019/8/30/The-Disclosure--Scotland--Bill

Heartstart Training

We are still offering free Heartstart training to members. Participants of this training will gain an awareness of how to handle the 5 most likely emergency situations, including CPR, Recovery Position, Serious Bleeding, Choking and Suspected Heart Attack. The practical part of the training will include using a choking vest, a defibrillation training unit, as well as CPR models - both infant and baby size. Participants will also be shown video clips from the British Heart Foundation Heartstart programme. This training is free, however, services may be required to pay travel costs if, for example, car hire or an overnight stay is required. This can vary from approx. £75 to £200 based on location. For further information, as well as details for how to book, please see this link: https://soscn.org/participate/heartstart

Physical Activity Training

SOSCN's Physical Activity training remains a great practical session for OSC staff to learn about the benefits of being active, as well as providing the skills for how to get children of all abilities to take part in, and overcome the barriers to, getting active. This training also looks at the benefits of physical activity in terms of developing children's skills and attributes and looks in more detail at resources and activities promoting inclusion, self-awareness and goal-directed behaviour.

You can find out more about the two sessions in the series, as well as some testimonials from those who have taken part, here: https://soscn.org/participate/active-training