“Oh yes there was…” lots of fun at the panto!

This year we were delighted to be able to offer free pantomime tickets to our care-experienced children and adults.

There were two shows at the Nottingham Arts Theatre of their panto, Puss in Boots on the 7th and 8th of December, and then an additional panto the week after on the 14th of December, Dick Whittington, at the Nottingham Playhouse.

Thank you to everyone who attended, one young man even got a special shout out from the cast for his 10th birthday. Across these events, two hundred tickets were allocated to our care-experienced young people and the feedback has been amazing!

One foster carer, Yvonne, who was at the panto with Emily and Finley said, “thank you, we had a fabulous time we all loved it.”

We would like to give a special mention to Colin Baker at Nottingham Arts Theatre and Sian Booth at the Nottingham Playhouse for organising tickets and ensuring those additional last-minute changes ran seamlessly.

The council's Achievement Service has secured some brilliant opportunities for our care-experienced young people (age 16-25, regardless of current education or employment status) to attend employability briefings to give an insight into the world of employment.

Some of the businesses taking part include Balfour Beatty, Boots, Center Parcs, East Midlands Airport, Via, Sainsburys and Nottinghamshire Police but there are more so please follow the link below.

This is a starting point for further career aspiration and development, and helping our care-experienced young people move closer to long-term sustainable employment. Those who sign up and attend three more briefings can also claim an Achievement Award!

To book, email rebecca.dixon@nottscc.gov.uk.

Did you know that Severn Trent Water has a scheme called Watersure, which can help if your income is low and you use a lot of water.

You can find out more about the scheme and whether you might be eligible, below..

FLAG stands for Fostering Liaison Advisory Group and is a quarterly meeting held by foster carers for foster carers, allowing you to hear from the leadership team and other key people around the fostering service.

It is a great opportunity to have your say and meet other foster carers you may not see at your hubs. Please join us online on Monday 16 January at 7pm.

Use the button below to join the online meeting.

‘KFIP’ - Keeping Fostering in The Public Eye

The recruitment team are always out and about trying to keep fostering in the public eye and find potential foster carers to grow the service. But we need your help…

Can you think of places in your local communities where we could come and do an informal drop-in? We have formed some excellent links with the Morrisons supermarket champions and can regularly be found around the county with our banner up in one of their cafes, but we need some more places to go.

If you can think of anywhere suitable, or you’d like to come along and join us sometime, please drop us a line via the usual channels – fostering@nottscc.gov.uk, @fosternotts on Facebook or 01158 044440.

Referrals

Just a reminder that if you refer a friend or family member to become a foster carer, you can bag yourself £1000 upon their approval.

Think about the people around you. Who knows better what qualities and skills are needed than someone already in the role? We look forward to following up on your leads and passing on the rewards to you!

If you are three or more years post-approval, you can attend a Therapeutic Group Consultation Workshop.

These workshops are for open consultation around your holistic health and wellbeing, and the therapeutic care of a child or young person. The workshop will enable you to seek guidance via peer mentorship and direction from our advanced practitioner and associated colleagues.

If you wish to attend but have less than three years post-approval experience, you can discuss this with your supervising social worker or fostering team manager.