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April 2024

Welcome to your April newsletter!

April is almost over and we are hoping that it will start to feel spring-like sometime soon! Come on sunshine and warmth, we know you're out there somewhere!

As we approach May, there is plenty to look forward to, whatever the weather. We have family events in the diary at our Family Hubs in Bradford South (Reevy Hill) and Keighley/Shipley (Rainbow), with further events in planning for Bradford East and West the following month.

As always, our newsletter provides links to activities, courses and support for the Bradford District's families, both from our Family Hubs and our friendly partners. This month we also have a fantastic savings offer from the Bradford District Credit Union, to support single parents with school-age children.

Our section dedicated to practitioners, further down in the newsletter, provides five different free training opportunities for you to take up. Please take a look and use the chance to get some professional development for free.

As always, at the end of our newsletter we have links to the latest Family Hub timetables and the contact details for the Bradford District's main Family Hubs.

See you again next month - hopefully we might have warmed up by then!

Save the date! Family days at our Family Hubs

We have two fantastic family events coming up soon:

Family Fun Day - Reevy Hill Family Hub 

• Wednesday, 29 May, 10.30am to 3pm
• Reevy Hill Family Hub, Bedale Drive, Bradford, BD6 3ST
• With free activities for all ages, from face painting to dance along zumba, and free refreshments.

Your baby is 'ready to relate'

Did you know, babies are born sociable, interested and seeking companionship?

The new Ready to Relate resource will help you to understand, and interact, communicate and build your relationship with your baby.

The Ready to Relate website has useful information about how 'your baby is amazing' as well as activities for your to do with your baby.

There are links to lots of further useful information, so if you have any questions or concerns head to More links and information – Ready to Relate (bdct.nhs.uk).

There is a special 'password protected' area - this is for families who have had specialist 'Ready to Relate' advice from a trained practitioner. If you are interested in this, please contact one of our main Family Hubs and ask about 'Ready to Relate'.  

Preparation for Parenthood - a new, free course for expectant mums and their partner or a friend/family member

** Next online course starts Tuesday, 14 May at 6.45pm **

Are you or your partner pregnant, or do you know someone who is?

A new FREE 6-session programme is now available from HENRY, to help you prepare for the arrival of your baby. Your partner, or a friend or family member are encouraged to attend alongside expectant mums.

• Helps you prepare for the arrival of your baby.
• Helps you feel more confident about having a healthy pregnancy, giving birth, and bonding with and caring for your new baby.
• Meet other expectant parents and build friendships.
• Available to all families across the Bradford District. 

The next online course starts 14 May – other courses will be advertised later in the year. 

This course has been funded by Family Hubs and Start for Life.

To find out more visit the FYI website and scroll down to 'HENRY - Preparation for Parenthood (for expectant parents).

Why not also try - Becoming a new family

There are many wonderful ways to become a family, and everyone who will find it useful is welcome at this workshop.

This free, 2-hour workshop will help families and expectant parents prepare for becoming a new family. 

• One-off workshop of 2 hours.
• Looks at expectations of family life and builds confidence.
• Discover healthy ways to manage relationships, emotional health, activity, eating well and sleep.
• Meet and chat with other soon-to-be new families.
• Available to all families across the Bradford District. 
• Available online and in person. Dates and times will be shared with you once you have requested your place.

This workshop can be attended in addition to ‘Preparing for parenthood’, or as a stand-alone session.

To find out more, or to register interest, visit the FYI website and scroll down to 'HENRY - Becoming a new family workshop'.

Give your child the best start for life – Let’s Get Talking Bradford!

Did you know the FYI (Families and Young Person's Information) website has amazing interactive resources to help you help your child with talking and communication? It has support for children aged up to 5 and you can even use this during pregnancy to talk to your (or your partner's) bump!

The materials and activities include:

• Talking Bradford online step-by-step guide (for ages 0-5)
• Fun and easy activities to try at home
• Find a free ‘Play and Learn’ group
• Talk to staff at your local Family Hub
• How to get extra support in the Bradford district

To find out more, visit Talking Bradford on the FYI website:

Talking Bradford pathway for families

There is also a section for the workforce: Talking Bradford pathway for Early Years practitioners. And if you are a professional in this area, please scroll down to the professionals and practitioners section, for news of free training in this area from Speech and Language UK.

Help your child get a better night's sleep - new dates and locations available from May to June

The Together Trust charity is offering free support to help families with a child aged 2 to 11 who has sleep difficulties. 

Together Trust will provide advice, information and practical approaches to help your child improve their sleep.

All sessions are open to families across the Bradford District and Craven. You do not need to live in the local area where the session is taking place.

Sessions and workshops are available as follows:

Sleep session drop-in - in person - 2 hours

This 1.5 to 2-hour session will be hosted by a qualified practitioner, to help you learn tips and strategies for your child's sleep, with a chance to ask questions.

Bradford East (Barkerend Family Hub)

• Monday, 13 May
• 11am to 12.30pm
• Barkerend Family Hub, 365 Barkerend Road, BD3 8QX
• Drop-in session, no need to book.

Silsden

• Friday, 21 June
• 1pm to 2.30pm
• The Hive, 53-55 Elliott Street, Silsden BD20 0DE
• Drop-in session, no need to book.

These sessions are also on the Family Hub timetable for the area they are taking place.

Please note you do not need to live in the local area where the session is taking place, these sessions are open to families across the Bradford District and Craven.

Uniform Savers from Bradford District Credit Union 

If you are a single parent with school age children, did you know you may be eligible for £100 to put towards the cost of school uniforms?

Credit Union has teamed up with Bradford Council to bring back the popular UniformSavers for the third time!

UniformSavers is a West Yorkshire Combined Authority-funded project that helps single-parent families to get into the habit of saving. Save just three times before August 2024 and receive a £100 incentive.

To apply, simply contact uniformsavers@bradford.gov.uk or visit www.bdcu.co.uk.

Information and training
for professionals and practitioners

Feeding Bradford’s babies! Free training for professionals

• Does your service work with families who are pregnant or have babies?
• Would you like to have a better understanding of the issues parents face around feeding their babies?

Then this short training session is for you.

This 2.5 hour training is a treasure trove of information and learning about one of the most basic things in life – feeding our babies!

The session will provide you with a broader understanding of:

• why human milk needs to be a priority for human babies
• what you can do in your role to enable women who chose or are able to breastfeed their babies to do so for as long as they wish
• the barriers in society and how you can contribute to removing them.

This session does not cover physiology and practical ‘how to’ breastfeed.

Where and when

There are currently four sessions available, at two locations: 

• Rainbow Family Hub, Keighley: Thursday, 16 May, 9.30am to 12 noon
• Farcliffe Family Hub, Bradford West: Thursday, 30 May, 1pm to 3.30pm
• Rainbow Family Hub, Keighley: Tuesday, 4 June, 9.30am to 12 noon
• Farcliffe Family Hub, Bradford West: Thursday, 27 June, 1pm to 3.30pm

More dates will be added throughout the year, with sessions taking place at our other  Family Hubs in Bradford East and South.

Funding from Family Hubs and Start for Life has allowed for these additional sessions of this popular training course.

How to book

To book please email training@bdct.nhs.uk. Please quote 'Feeding Bradford’s babies' and state which session you would like to attend.

Feeding Bradford’s Babies follows UNICEF Baby Friendly standards.

For detail of practical training or a session specifically for your staff team, please contact Jane Dickens, strategic breast feeding lead at jane.dickens@bdct.nhs.uk.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Professionals - do you work in the Bradford District or Airedale with families in pregnancy and with babies?

The FREE Ready to Relate training is for you - and new dates have opened up for booking.

Research shows that babies are born ‘Ready to Relate’, seeking companionship and with innate communication skills.

Find out more about amazing babies and how to support the parent-infant relationship on this training, using the Ready to Relate resource cards, and the new digital web-based companion.

Through this training you will learn (or get a refresher on) skills to helps you facilitate important conversations with families about their baby.

Course information:

• The course is available two ways - online or in person.
• Multiple dates and training locations available - find one that suits you.
• Please book at least two weeks before your chosen date to allow time for mailing you your free resource pack.
• Book online using Evolve (Bradford Council and BCFT colleagues) or Learn and Develop Bradford (all other organisations).

Please click on the links to find out more - including a list of dates - and book your place:

• Link for Bradford Council and BCFT colleagues
• Link for all other organisations (you will need to create an account if you don't have one already)

This free course for practitioners is funded by the district’s Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. 

Speech and Language UK - free training

Do you work in a Family Hub or other setting working with families and children?

Speech and Language UK are providing 3 free workshops, packed with up-to-date information and helpful practical strategies to support speech and language skills in the early years.

The workshops cover these themes:

• An introduction to speech, language and communication skills in the early years
• Speech and language challenges in the early years: identifying needs and supporting children and their families
• Supporting and understanding the needs of children with complex speech and language challenges

The workshops are available to anyone working with children in any of the following settings:

New dates available! HENRY - free training for professionals

HENRY offers free training for professionals working with families of children up to five years old across the Bradford District.

The popular HENRY training course, Raise, Engage, Refer, which is FREE for professionals in the Bradford district, is next running on the following dates:

• Monday, 13 May and Monday, 20 May - 9:30am to12pm.
  (Both sessions must be attended.) 

You can register for this training by clicking on the following link https://www.henry.org.uk/content/professionals or contact henry-bradford-training@henry.org.uk. 

This free course, of two x two hour sessions, is suitable for a wide range of practitioners such as health and early years practitioners, school nurses and more. Practitioners attending the course will:

• Develop skills and confidence to raise sensitive lifestyle issues with families
• Understand why what happens in childhood is so vital for lifelong health and wellbeing
• Develop skills to build parental motivation to access HENRY support
• Gain understanding of the local HENRY offer and the ways families could benefit
• Understand the local process for requesting support for families

For families interested in HENRY programmes, please visit the FYI website. 

Together Trust - sleep training for professionals: 
New dates available from May to August

Three 'Sleep training' courses are available from the Together Trust charity, for professionals in the Bradford District and Craven, to help you advise and support families. 

All training sessions are free, but must be booked in advance by emailing SleepTraining@TogetherTrust.org.uk.

Online course - one day

This course, held live on MS Teams, will include an introduction to sleep science and sleep disorders, and will provide advice on creating a good sleep environment and other strategies to support good sleep.

Dates and times available:

• Wednesday, 22 May - 9.30am to 2.30pm
• Thursday, 20 June - 9.30am to 2.30pm
• Tuesday, 13 August - 9.30am to 2.30pm

Face-to-face course - one day

This face-to-face course will include an introduction to sleep science and sleep disorders, and will provide advice on creating a good sleep environment and other strategies to support good sleep.

Held at CNET Enterprise Hub, Bradford, BD8 7JF.

Dates and times available:

• Thursday, 11 July - 10am to 3pm

Please bring your own lunch. Tea and coffee will be provided. 

Face-to-face course - two day

This course is more in-depth than the one-day course. It will include sleep training methods, problem solving, sleep assessments, and how to write a sleep plan, with case studies to provide examples. 

You must attend both days. The course will be held at CNET Enterprise Hub, Bradford, BD8 7JF.

Dates and times available:

• Wednesday, 15 and Thursday, 16 May - 10am to 3pm
• Wednesday, 3 July and Thursday, 4 July - 10am to 3pm

Book your place

To book a place or find out more, please email SleepTraining@togethertrust.org.uk, and include:

• Your full name
• Job title
• Preferred session and date

Family Hubs and Start for Life
useful information and contacts

Latest Family Hub timetables - May

Our Family Hub area timetables show the sessions and activities that are taking place for families in the coming month.

Some sessions will need booking in advance - please contact your Family Hub if you would like to book a place.

Our Family Hubs around the district

Follow us on Facebook You can follow the FYI service and all the Family Hubs on Facebook: Bradford East  Bradford West Bradford South Shipley/Keighley FYI - Families and Young Person's Information

Why have I received this email?

You have received this email from Family Hubs and Start for Life because you previously subscribed to receive Family Hub Information from one or more of our Family Hubs: Keighley and Shipley, Bradford East, Bradford South and Bradford West.

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