Welcome...
Improving what we do is at the forefront of all our minds, but we mustn't lose sight of who we are doing this for - Coventry's children and young people.
The decisions we make everyday have to focus on improving outcomes for our children, and we need to keep challenging ourselves on this.
There's lots going on around the service so take a few moments to catch up on what's happening.
We've also created a place on the intranet which we will continue to update with the information you need. I hope you find it helpful.
John Gregg, Director of Children's Services
john.gregg@coventry.gov.uk
|
Putting Practice First in Coventry
An event held by Coventry’s Children’s services aimed at sharing and improving
social work practice has been hailed a great success.
The
‘Putting Practice First’ event focused on improving outcomes for children,
young people and their families.
It
bought together more than 120 social work professionals including the UK’s
Chief Social Worker for Children and Families Isabelle Trowler, who was one of
the keynote speakers.
Find out more about the event
|
What
life is like in Children's Services
Last
year you told us what it's like to work in Children’s Services through a health
check survey and focus groups.
Since then we've been busy working on some of the key things. In the last month, we have:
Find out what we are doing and planning to do as a result
of what you told us
Agile working in Coundon
Staff at Coundon have been
embracing the challenge of agile working since the introduction of Kickstart.
Despite reservations, the team has worked to establish new ways of working.
Hear in their own words what they think.
|
Tea with the Royals
Two of our young people have been invited to a Royal Garden Party in the summer.
Jamal Vincent and Danielle May will be attending with Sheila Bates (Children's Champion) and Lee Pardy-McLaughlin (Principal Social Worker) in recognition of the work they did for the Office of the Children's Commissioner about what makes a good social worker.
|
Transformation Programme updates
Work
is progressing on each of the projects in our work to transform Children's
Services and put children and their outcomes at the heart of what we do.
Visit our update page to find out what's been happening this month.
If you have questions
or comments e-mail childrenstransformation@coventry.gov.uk
Adoption Services 'pen down' days
Pen down days are helping the Adoption Team prioritise updating
records on LCS, so all relevant and current information is available.
On pen down days, the Business System team is on hand to provide support.
This has proved hugely successful and helped the
Adoption team tackle outstanding issues and bring records up to date.
If you
think this would help your service please contact Sue
Phillips.
Doing the right thing with information
We all have a statutory duty to safeguard the information we
record and use. It is your responsibility to do everything you can to safeguard
information held about service users, and only access case records if you
have a professional reason to do so.
Everyone must complete the recently revised Data Protection training. If you have not done
so already, please complete it as soon as possible.
Please be vigilant. If you have concerns about how information
is being used, inform your manager immediately.
Find out about the updates to LCS and EHM
The LCS and EHM systems were upgraded at the end of January.
The new versions provides a
number of new functions that will provide additional information and options
for you to use. This includes the Atom tool that helps you pictorially
demonstrate family/carer and professional connections. Find out about
all the new functions
If you have any questions please
contact LCSHelp@coventry.gov.uk or EHMHelp@coventry.gov.uk.
Birthday notifications
One of the top tips for social workers from some of our young people is to send birthday cards and well done cards because it means a lot to them.
A recent change to the LCS system means notifications can now be sent to remind a looked after child’s allocated case
worker when it's their birthday.
The notification will be sent a month before and
again a week before so case workers have plenty of time
to make any arrangements such as sending a card.
If you have any questions contact Lee Pardy-McLaughlin.
|
Vacancy for a Lay Member
Are you passionate about keeping children and young people in Coventry safe?
Find out how to apply.
|
Wellbeing @ work
A
happy and healthy staff is vitally important for any organisation – and that
means looking after your wellbeing.
Personal happiness - feeling good and living safely and healthily – determines
our quality of life – and even how long we live.
And that means living as stress-free as possible, at home and at work.
Find out about the support available and tips to help you manage stress.
It's important we all take responsibility for improving our practice. Here are four must-reads for everyone this montn:
Aspiring to social work
Are you ready to take the next steps towards becoming a social worker?
Have you worked for Coventry Children’s Services in a direct role with children and families for at least two years?
Find out more about an exciting opportunity with Children's Services and the Open University.
Training available in February and March
There's lots of corporate training coming up over the next few weeks so have a look at what's available and book yourself a place.
If you're a manager, you might be interested in the Managing
Social Work performance course. You can find out more on Beacon.
Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty (DOLS) training
At the end of this bitesize training course you will be able to understand:
- the legislation and recent case law relating to Mental Capacity Act, and Deprivation of Liberty
- how this legislation impacts on young people and their families
- the learning and apply this into professional practice and decision making.
The course takes place on 27 February, 2pm to 4.30pm in New Committee Room 3. You can book a place on Beacon.
Looking after yourself in practice
These
workshops are aimed at frontline Children’s Services' practitioners and social workers.
They will provide the opportunity for staff to explore and understand
what personal resilience is and how this can be developed.
22 March, 10am -1pm 22 March 1.30pm to 4.30pm 28 March 1pm to 4pm
All sessions take place in the Lord Mayor's Hospitality Suite, Council House. You can book a place on Beacon
Putting
Practice First Workshop
Relationship Based Social Work (Tuesday 14 March, 9:30 – 12:30)
Professor Harry Ferguson, leading Children and Families
Professor of Social Work, will be co-leading a workshop with Lee
Pardy-McLaughlin to celebrate social work.
Harry will speak about relationship based social work in children and families services based on his recent
publications and research.
To book a place on the workshop please e-mail jade.skilling@coventry.gov.uk. Talk your manager before booking.
Restorative
practice: Transforming the culture of children's services
Find out more about a seminar looking at restorative practice at the University of Birmingham on 2 March, 12.30pm to 2.30pm. The seminar will be delivered by Andy Lloyd from Leeds City Council.
Coventry Safeguarding
Children Board briefing sessions
David Peplow, Chair
of the Safeguarding Children Board, is hosting informal briefing sessions on the latest work of the
Safeguarding Children Board,. There will be an opportunity to explore how we can
continue to work together across agencies to improve our response to children.
22 March, 3.30pm – 5pm, Foleshill Children’s Centre,
E-mail coventrylscb@coventry.gov.uk to book a place.
In case you missed it...
Get in touch
Email joanne.moynihan@coventry.gov.uk with your updates, comments or suggestions.
|