Billericay Parents Forum

Transition Sessions for Parents of children about to enter Secondary School

All Change!

Is your child moving up
to Secondary School this year?

Click here for full details
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The Spring 2010 Open Meeting

Our Spring Open meeting took the form of a worshop on Cyberbullying.

The aims of the workshop were to raise awareness about how cyber-bullying differs from other forms of bullying and increase parents'confidence in supporting their children. The team from the Essex County Council Behaviour Support Unit gave an interactive talk followed by a short DVD showing the impact of cyberbullying on a young teenager. You could of heard a pin drop. Cyberbullying can be 24/7 with no relief even when at home. It opened our eyes to just how many sources of "technology" can be used in bullying, not just the phone or computer. We managed to list out about 30, from mobile phone to playstation to chat-rooms; apparently some children listed up to 41. In groups we then discussed how we would react and what we would do if we found out that our child was being bullied and also how we would deal with our child if we found out he/she was actually bullying.
Surveys show up to 33% of children are affected at some time by cyberbulling and it is a growing problem. Do take the risk seriously, if you would like some tips click below-

Cyberbullying Tips

Parentchannel.tv is an exciting new online service being launched by Parenting UK and partners, as part of the Parent Know How Innovation Fund.

The Forum is pleased that it has been selected as one of six groups from across the country who will form a virtual community in accessing this new site. The forum will provide a group of fifteen parents who will share views on the videos, ease of use of the site and act as a sounding board for prioritising topics.

This new website offers parents short and engaging videos about problems they may face as parents. It provides a new way of supporting parents and carers, especially those not currently accessing services.
The videos are designed for parents with children from the ages of 5-19 and range across three main categories of learning, behaviour and well-being. Through the website and videos, parents will be offered practical advice delivered by parents and experts combined with signposting to other resources and organisations.
We recommend that you take a look at this exciting new site

www.parentchannel.tv

We would be delighted to hear your views of this new site, to do so click here

The Autumn 2009 Open Meeting

Sigrid Doktorowski from Essex Young People’s Drug & Alcohol Service gave a talk about drugs and alcohol with an emphasis on parents’ emotional reactions to the subject. Sigrid did, however, encouracge parents to learn as much as they can about the subject including the street names for the various drugs.
As with much of parenting good communication is vital and parents are advised to talk about the subject with their teenage children.

If you have concerns or would like advice do contact the service on 01245 493311

The Summer Open Meeting

Over eighty people turned up to hear Jon Gilmartin from I CAN give an inspirational talk on communicating with your child. Jon urged us to keep talking with children and said why it is so important to talk to your child from the moment s/he is born. Communication skills affect a child’s ability to learn, form relationships and make friends, as well as helping them express their feelings and needs. Without the right help at the right time, children can miss out and may never catch up.
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If you would like to look at the I CAN website click on the logo

Transition Sessions

In July the Forum completed seven transition sessions held at local junior schools. Over 70 attended and from feedback felt that it was an evening well spent.
The Forum would like to wish the parents and their children well as they take that large step into secondary school

Open Evening on Knife Crime

Over 30 parents and students attended our Open Evening on Knife crime at Mayflower High School. The meeting was timed to follow on from the Year 7 students having attended the Essex Police award winning "2SMART Roadshow". Ann Oakes-Odger who has established KnifeCrimes.org spoke about the impact of losing her son to a mindless knife attack. Julie Dawes, our Community Police Officer explained the law and also the no tolerance policy implemented by the police and schools regarding students found with knives. Advice was given to help parents to support their teenagers and tactics to keep young people safe were suggested. It was emphasised that it is "Not Cool to carry a knife".
Again it was emphasised that knife crime was not a big problem in Billericay or Essex and sessions like this help to ensure that it stays that way.

Prestigious Award for the Forum

At its February East of England conference the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners presented the Forum with an award "For work with parents that is innovative, sustainable and unique within the Eastern Region"

Celebrates its Second Year

The December meeting of the TiME group will be its second anniversary. Initially the meetings were held monthly but with the help from a grant from NHS SW Essex we were able to run twice a month. Since September the sessions have been run in Partnership with the "Billericay Children's Centre" and continue to be supported by local Health Visitors.

Launch of "Be a Better Parent" DVD

The "Be a Better Parent" DVD was officially launched on Friday May 25th. by John Baron, MP for Billericay. The DVD, produced by Essex Media Workshop for Billericay Parents Forum, was funded by Billericay Education Community (BEC) as part of a commissioning agreement with Essex County Council. The DVD will be available to all schools in BEC to use with parents and encourage them to join our courses.

Chairman (Mark Conlon) welcomed the 50 guests and Rosie Novis spoke about the DVD, the Forum’s achievements and the value of working with our partners. Heather Stuart (Extended Schools Co-ordinator for BEC) endorsed the Forum’s work, saying she herself had benefited from attending a course.

John Baron said that the DVD would be a very useful resource and thanked the team of facilitators and committee for all the hard work that they put into making the project a success. He wished the Forum continued success in providing a valuable service in the community.