News from West Sussex County Council 10 July 2021
2 July 2021
Covid-19 update
As the number of positive Covid-19 cases continues to rise across the county it remains important that we all continue to follow the Government guidance and help prevent the spread of the virus.
Washing hands, physically distancing, wearing face coverings, letting fresh air in, vaccinations and testing are still relevant in combating coronavirus. You can remind yourself of the current rules and restrictions on the GOV.UK website.
Regular testing can identify Covid-19 where symptoms are not present and help protect yourself and others. Visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/communitytesting to order packs of free rapid lateral flow test kits.
Anyone with symptoms should self-isolate immediately and book a free PCR test here or call 119.
You can check infection rates in your local area through the postcode tool on our Data Dashboard. Please share the link with others who may not receive this eNewsletter.
Latest on vaccinations
As of Tuesday (29 June), 610,663 people in West Sussex have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccination, which is 81.7% of our county’s estimated population for those over 18 years. Find out all the latest data on vaccination take up in your area on our data dashboard.
Get your vaccination at a walk-in clinic next week
As all adults are now eligible for their vaccination, there are walk-in clinics taking place across West Sussex.
Find your nearest walk-in clinic.
You can attend these without an appointment and you can go with friends or family. Please just bring one form of ID (photo ID not required) and your NHS number, if you know it. Please encourage anyone you know who hasn’t yet been vaccinated to get the jab.
As well as attending a walk-in, you can book an appointment for your vaccination. Your GP service may have written to you or texted to offer the chance to book a vaccination slot with them directly. You can book directly with them or you can book a vaccination appointment at any time through the national booking site.
There are vaccination centres in Chichester, Crawley, Haywards Heath and Horsham, amongst others.
Book your appointment online or call 119.
Make sure you attend your second vaccination appointment
If you’ve had your first jab, please make sure you get your second. If you’re aged 40 and over, you’re now invited to bring forward your second appointment to eight weeks from the first. If you booked your first jab through the national booking system or by calling 119, go online or call the team again to bring your second jab forward.
Thank you for doing what you can to keep you and those around you safe. Please don’t forget to follow government guidance around ‘hands, face, space and fresh air’ once you’ve had your vaccination.
Digital safety help
With children spending more time online than ever before, it can be a huge challenge for parents and carers to keep up to date and know how to implement parental controls and privacy settings to help keep their children safe.
On hand to give friendly help and support, a team of Library Digital Volunteers are now offering remote support for basic digital safety enquiries and can talk you through how to set up privacy settings and parental controls on a range of apps and devices.
To get in touch with this free service, phone 0330 222 3455, or email your name, phone number and a brief description of the help needed to: library.digital.support@westsussex.gov.uk.
Register here to get regular information about how to stay safe online.
Come and work in our children’s homes
Outstanding people are needed to work in our Outstanding children’s homes.
We run a number of homes across West Sussex for children who need support to fulfil their potential and we need new staff who share our vision to do this.
The county council’s homes near Haywards Heath and Crawley have all just been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted — and we will shortly be opening newly refurbished homes in Worthing, Durrington and Shoreham. We have vacancies and are looking for people who have a passion for working with children to join our friendly teams.
A range of jobs are available across our homes, including:
- Childcare staff — daytime and night-time positions available
- Premises officer
- Cooks
- Bursar.
Make sure you have ReSPECT!
Have you thought about setting out your care and treatment preferences in case you are in an emergency situation and unable to make decisions or express your wishes?
ReSPECT stands for Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment and a ReSPECT plan is created through conversations between you and your health and care professionals and stays with you. As a result, should you need emergency help, your wishes regarding your care and treatment are already known.
We’re backing the latest THINK! road safety campaign
Research has found that many young men who have been driving for a while are overconfident in their driving ability and believe they can safely take risks when at the wheel.
This includes driving too fast, especially when in a hurry or on roads they think they know well, and using a handheld mobile at the wheel.
However, research also shows that for this group of young men, the mates they prefer to be driven by are those who drive safely.
The campaign hopes to encourage young men to talk about safe driving by encouraging them to see that ‘mates respect mates who don’t take risks on the road’.
Please help us by visiting their campaign page and sharing the link.
Have your say
We want to hear your views on the following consultations:
- Proposals to help ease congestion and make journeys safer and more reliable on the A259 by changing junction layouts between Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Closes: Sunday 25 July.
- Plans for a new school as part of the Northern Arc development to support a growing community across Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and Hassocks. Closes: Monday 26 July.
- Proposed changes to the future of Shaw Healthcare day services for older people at six centres in West Sussex. Closes: Thursday 5 August.
In other news:
- Sign up to the Summer Reading Challenge for children and their families
- Construction starts for £8.85million project to help Crawley’s economic growth
- ‘Biker Down’ free training workshop for motorcyclists prepares for in-person sessions
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July 2021 | The newsletter in association with our Local Offer
Important: Not all of the services and events listed here are quality assured by the County Council or Local Offer. Some of the services may be provided by or on behalf of West Sussex County Council, to find out more contact the service and see our terms page. Please note, if you are viewing this newsletter on a smart phone, it appears best when holding your phone horizontally.
- Yippee with YMCA — Saturday Sessions — 10th and 17th July
- Saturday Mornings with THINK18
- Challengers Virtual Youth Scheme — 5th, 12th and 14th July
- Young Voices summer picnic Horsham — 7th July
- Springboard Family Fun Sessions — 18th and 1st August
- Inclusive Football with Albion in the Community (juniors and adults) — Saturdays in Worthing, Horsham and Burgess Hill
- Reaching Higher Athletics — Saturdays
The following activities are universal services that may be of interest to some readers, do ensure to check with services their ability to meet you or your child’s needs. Please note that these links will take you to the services website and not the Local Offer.
- Chichester Community Development Trust — Outdoor events in Chichester
- Barracudas Activity Day Camps for ages 4 1/2 to 14
- Experience West Sussex — A directory for finding things to do across West Sussex.
- Local Club and Society directory
- Chichester College Holiday Club
- Accessible Guide to Britain
- The Outdoors Project
- South Downs Leisure Centres
- Compass Card Offers
- Making Sense of Sleep (for children age 2–11years) — 6th July
- Making Sense of Wellbeing — Managing Low Mood — 6th July
- Making Sense of Wellbeing — Mindfulness: Mood Changing Exercises — 13th July
- Decision Making by Renaissance Legal — 14th July
The SAND Project Service Spotlight
Welcome to the first Local Offer Service Spotlight! I recently took a visit to The SAND Project’s Café in Worthing to speak to Kate about the work they do for young people with SEND. It was clear to see that the staff and young people enjoy their time working to develop their skills, and the food they produce there is delicious! Below is a summarised version of the conversation Kate and I had.
What do you/ your service do for people with a special educational need and/ or disability?
Bespoke work training opportunities for people with moderate learning difficulties. Currently we work with 18 to 25 year olds and from September we are expanding this and creating a sixth form (16 to 25 year olds).
How long have you been running?
We opened in September 2019
How does your service help people?
We identify someone’s skills and interests and then we create a pathway around that. So, we can do that in our café, which provides a lot of work experience. We also have the media centre for creative arts, such as writing, photography or filming. We then make sure to evolve their skills around an enterprise and find a way to market this in an attractive and appealing way.
Yourself, Marita and Laura do lots of great work to help people here. Is their anyone else that is involved?
Yeah, we have a network of mentors which are professionals in a range of fields. For instance, Kelvin in the kitchen loves carpentry, so we have bought carpenters in to work with him. We also have a workforce facilitator, Becki. Becki’s role is to focus on work skills and bridging the gap between our business and industry. To do this we have 43 SAND mentors who work with our guys to give them an insight into the world of work and support them in different ways.
There has been lots of things that have helped you get to where you are today. What would you say has been one of the most useful things to help in the process?
Lots of hard work! Also being partnered by West Sussex County Council means we have been able to open the doors to lots of other people. It is also really nice to be working with them to help make sure they send appropriate people to us to help.
What is the most important thing you have learnt from working in the SEND community?
I think the most important thing I have learned is not what I can teach young people, but what they can teach me and I think as facilitators we are responding to young people rather than dictating to young people, then we can take them a lot further.
What is the best way for people to find out more about what you do?
Check out the website, go on our social media and come and see us. We are on Instagram and facebook.
Do you enjoy coming here Jodie (a young person training at the Café)?
“I enjoy cooking and baking. There are lots of nice people to work with too.”
If you would like to be a future Local Offer Service Spotlight then please invite me to come along to see and talk to you about what your service/organisation provides.
Email: localoffer@westsussex.gov.uk
Dear Service Providers,
Are you planning on hosting family fun days, holiday camps or any other type of event that is suitable for the SEND community over the summer holidays? If the answer is yes, then help share the news by uploading the event on to the Local Offer! Events that are uploaded to the site are included in this newsletter and are also shared through social media.
Let’s all have a great summer together!
If you need any assistance with using the Local Offer please contact your Local Offer Officer.
A New Short Breaks Statement
The West Sussex Short Breaks Team have released their latest Short Breaks Statement 2021–2024, which is available to read on the Local Offer.
SEND and Inclusion June 2021 Newsletter
Head over to the Local Offer to read the latest newsletter from the SEND and Inclusion Team. This edition contains lots of useful updates and information on some engagements sessions!
