Inside Devon - Friday 15 December - 'Positivitree' and festive cheer

Devon County Council sent this bulletin at 15-12-2023 12:05 AM GMT

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Young people, councillors and council staff plant a Rowan tree

Tree planting symbolises commitment to care experienced young people

Care experienced young people, councillors and colleagues, planted a tree together outside County Hall last week, to represent our ongoing commitment to supporting young people in our care. The cheerful crowd, including care leavers, our Chairman Councillor Percy Prowse, and senior councillors and officers, planted a Rowan tree to symbolise our work with care experienced young people to create the best possible support.

It’s part of a national project, called ‘Positivitree’, organised by the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum, which plans to plant trees with local authorities across the country. Devon was one of the first!

Twenty-four-year old Koda was one of the care experienced young people who attended the tree planting event. They said:

“Things have got so much better since I was 18. Six years ago, things were bad, but now it’s actually pretty decent. While I won’t benefit much from any further improvements myself, it’s good to see Devon committing to making things even better for young people who’ve been in the care system.”

Watch our short Instagram video of the tree planting event

Key messages 📣

⏱️ Please send articles and content for next week's edition of Inside Devon by 5pm on Tuesday 19 December. Got something to share with your colleagues? Get in touch.

🌟I nformation for people working during the Christmas and New Year period, including Scomis and ICT, HR and social care opening hours. Please contact the communications mailbox if you spot any errors.

🎄 Reminder: You can find details about Christmas working pay and leave arrangements for 2023/24 on Inside Devon. Pay day is Wednesday 20 December.

🛠️ iTrent will be unavailable on Saturday 23 December from midnight to midday due to planned maintenance.

🚝There are no London Paddington train services on Sunday 24 December and Wednesday 27 December.

💬 Today's Care first webinar at midday is Keeping active this Christmas. Care first is our Employee Assistance Programme and they host webinars throughout the week. Access the full list of health and wellbeing webinars on Inside Devon.

Carols at County Hall concert - musicians, singers, Council Leader John Hart and CEO Donna Manson

County Hall carol singers spread festive cheer

Colleagues joined members of our Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), councillors and choir members to sing festive carols together last week.

Talented colleagues played instruments and sang to spread some Christmas cheer. Many familiar festive favourites, such as 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem', filled the Ante Chamber at County Hall supported by musician colleagues on strings, brass, wind and percussion. People danced along to an upbeat version of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' and the event was rounded off with a joyous rendition of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'.

Read the full story and see more photos from the event on Inside Devon.

National Care Advisor, Mark Ridell, and Claire Richardson from the participation team

National Advisor for Care Leavers recognises the progress we’re making in Devon

On Tuesday 12 December Mark Riddell, the National Advisor for Care Leavers, returned to Devon to check on the progress that we have made since his previous two-day visit in June.

Mark is care experienced himself and visited Devon in the summer to explore what is working and what needs to improve for our care leavers. Six months on, Mark said it was pleasing to see that some significant changes had been made. Read more about Mark's feedback on Inside Devon.

Two people sitting at a table having a discussion

New approach to appraisals

People First is all about building relationships. Putting people at the heart of everything we do is at the centre of our new People Strategy. There is no better place to build relationships than in having some one to one time with your line manager. This is a safe space where you can be yourself and understand how you can work with your line manager to achieve your individual, team, and service goals.

Following a review of our appraisal and one to one approach we have produced an updated set of guidance notes to keep the conversations current and relevant to all aspects of your role. Read more about the new approach on Inside Devon.

Festive quiz from our Data Protection and Information Security Team 🎅🏽

It’s that time of year again and a certain Mr Claus is putting the finishing touches to his official 2023 ‘Naughty and Nice’ list. Just think... an enormous list of all the children in the world - approximately 2.2 billion to be exact!

Santa is processing lots of personal data and it is therefore essential that he meets his obligations under Data Protection Legislation.

The Data Protection and Information Security Team have prepared a festive quiz to help us examine Santa’s data protection practices.

Take the Santa Special Data Protection Quiz

Learning and development 💡

Graphic of a person pointing at a Calendar

Minimise your meeting admin with Microsoft Bookings

If you are looking for an easy way to offer appointments to your clients in the council, Microsoft Bookings can help you. Once your page is set up, people can easily book time with you thanks to the power of AI. If you want to learn more, join the IT Change Team on their advanced session, Microsoft Bookings Calendar Creation. It’s next running on Thursday 21 December.

📅 Book this session or any of the Microsoft 365 support sessions through Sway.

Next week is also the last week of our Seasonal Shorts video reels where we’re counting down to Christmas. Why not take less than one minute out of your work day to learn something new on Viva Engage this December?

Getting Started with Teams, OneDrive and OneNote virtual training course

Would you like to learn more about the Microsoft 365 Teams, OneDrive and OneNote apps?

The Digital and Technology Service is offering one-day and half-day interactive virtual training courses to anyone who wants to learn the basics of Teams, OneDrive and OneNote. To find out more information book onto a Getting Started with Teams, OneNote and OneDrive virtual training course.

Your Financial Wellbeing (Focus on Your Finances) workshop

Identify the key financial issues that can arise during your working life and assist you with making key decisions. This workshop covers four steps that are crucial for a healthy financial life:

understanding your income and expenditure
reviewing borrowing
planning financial goals
preparing for retirement

This online workshop is on Friday 9 February from 1pm to 2:30pm. Book through Devon Learning (DeL): Course: Your Financial Wellbeing (Focus on Your Finances) - Virtual Workshop

Planning for retirement webinar

Are your retirement savings on track? Do you know how much income your pension savings may provide? Have you thought about how much income you might need when you retire?

Retirement might be up to 10 years away but it’s never too soon to start planning. This course is perfect for anyone thinking about retirement or who is already in the planning stages.

Don’t miss out, spaces are limited. This webinar takes place on Tuesday 16 January 2024 from 9:30am to midday. Book your place through Devon Learning (DeL): Course: Your Financial Wellbeing (Focus on Your Finances) - Virtual Workshop

In brief

New series of dates for the popular Midlife MOT sessions

Following high demand, we are pleased to confirm that additional sessions have now been arranged for DCC staff in the 44-to-56-year age range who would like to take part in this initiative, including those working through the Temp Bank.

Teachers Rock Abbey Road... and Exeter Cathedral!

On Friday 1 December, Devon and Torbay Music Education Hub partners, Teachers Rock® performed their brand new arrangement of The Judds ‘Love Can Build A Bridge’ for a feature on BBC Spotlight telling the story of their recent recording session at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.

More AVC webinars for the New Year

AVC Wise’s webinar ‘End of Tax Year Approaching…Act Now!’ is back by popular demand. This session will explain how to use Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contributions to save as much as possible in tax before the end of the financial year.

Recycle Devon - free book giveaway!

To celebrate Jane Austen Day (Saturday 16 December), you can pick up any pre-loved books from the reuse shop at participating Recycling Centres from Saturday 16 to 23 December for free!

The giveaway applies to all Devon Recycling Centres, excluding Totnes (due to the lack of a reuse shop), Torbay and Plymouth. Find your nearest recycling centre on our website.

What's trending on Viva Engage (Yammer)?

Where in Devon? 🔍

We'd love to see some of your photos of places in Devon to use in Where in Devon. Read the guidelines, get snapping, then send your pictures to the communications inbox.

Click on the image to see this week's photo on Inside Devon. You might spot some clues.

Last week's winner: Melissa Phillips, Commissioning Officer

Last week's answer: Bickleigh bridge

Send in your own photos.

Image of a residential street with cars parked either side and a church with a tower at the end.

✉️ Email us your guess for this week's photo

Latest roles on Devon jobs

Take a look at the latest Devon County Council roles available on the DevonJobs website.

You can check out the latest internal positions and secondment opportunities available on Viva Engage (Yammer).

News from across Devon 📰

Adoptive family with two dads and two primary school age children a boy and girl brother and sister

Cornwall Council adoption service to join Regional Adoption Agency

Cornwall Council’s adoption service, which also covers the Isles of Scilly, is to join the Regional Adoption Agency, Adopt South West, from April 2024.

Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly, will be joining the region already covered by Adopt South West, which includes the local authority areas of, Devon, Plymouth, Torbay and Somerset.

Adopt South West was established in 2018, bringing together adoption teams from neighbouring authorities, combining their resources and expertise to improve the experiences of adopted children and adopters.

Regional Adoption Agencies were established to improve the recruitment of adopters, to help children move into their permanent families as promptly as possible and to improve the support available to adoptive families across the region.

Cornwall’s adoption services and Adopt South West are already working together closely to learn from each other and improve practice.

Read the story in full on our news website

Further news headlines:

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