 We’re supporting two great Christmas gift giving campaigns this year to show people in need that others in their community are thinking of them.
We’ve launched our annual Giving Tree campaign, which provides gifts for victims of Domestic Abuse and their families over Christmas. This year we’ve also created a special Community Santa project for people who have been experiencing hardship due to Covid and have been nominated by their communities to receive a gift.
Due to pandemic restrictions, this is being done digitally this year and we’re asking people to choose a gift recipient via two pages for Community Santa and Giving Tree.
You’ll be able to select a label with anonymised information on the person you’re buying for, for example ‘Girl 8-9 years’ or ‘‘Male 80-89’. Once you’ve made your choice, you will receive details on how to arrange delivery of the gift to us and we’ll arrange distribution.
The campaigns also provide a good opportunity to support local businesses by buying gifts from local retailers. We’ll be encouraging gift givers to ‘Shop Local’ this Christmas, whether online where necessary or in person when possible.
In order to arrange delivery by Christmas, please choose your gifts before the scheme closes on Monday 7 December.
 We’re delighted to announce completion of the building work for the brand-new Highwood Copse Primary School. It’s a milestone moment! Having identified a need for additional primary school provision in the area we selected Newbury College Academy Trust (NCAT) to run the school, which has been built on the College campus.
We’ve been working with Newbury College to ensure the provision meets the needs of the local community and want to thank Feltham Construction Ltd for their work in creating such an outstanding building.
As the Local Education Authority, we are committed to providing the very best education for our children and this is demonstrated by the building of this brand new school. It follows the new primary school in Theale which opened earlier this year.
Highwood Copse is a purpose-built school for children aged 4 - 11, which stands in its own dedicated grounds on the campus and opens in September 2021. The first intake will be for children in the Reception class, who will be the founder members of the school and will be joined by each new cohort of children as the school gradually expands to its full capacity.
A ground-breaking scheme to protect vulnerable children in West Berkshire is being hailed a success by an independent evaluation commissioned by the Department for Education.
The programme brings groups of professionals together under one roof to provide intensive support to parents whose problems with substance misuse, mental health and domestic abuse put their children at risk of harm. Under this new Model, the number of children entering care has dropped by more than 40%.
In its first year, 20 fewer children from West Berkshire went into care, a drop of 41%. In the second year, another 14 fewer children went into care, a drop of 29%.
Read more about this new model.
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 Sign up and support your local community today for just £1 per ticket for the West Berkshire Lottery. Out of every £1 ticket purchased, 50p goes directly to the lottery player's chosen charity and 10p goes into the Council's good cause fund to further support the local community.
Each ticket you purchase is in with the chance of winning weekly cash prizes up to the £25,000 jackpot. As a special extra, if you enter by Saturday, 19 December, you will also be entered into a national draw that evening for the chance of winning one of five Entertainment Bundles. Each Entertainment Bundle contains an Amazon Echo Show 8, Echo Dot 3rd Gen and a Fire 7 Tablet. The Entertainment Bundle national draw results will be announced at 8pm on 19 December on the lottery website.
Since its launch in March 2019 West Berkshire Lottery has raised more than £98,000 for local charities. So far, there are 125 local causes signed up for players to choose to support including PTAs, Sports Clubs, Community Associations, Animal Welfare, and so much more.
If you are a local, not for profit organisation or group and would like to sign up to raise funds through the West Berkshire Lottery you can do so for free and take advantage of the great offers to help you with your fundraising. Visit the West Berkshire Lottery website to register today.
 In a year of extraordinary change and uncertainty, alcohol awareness week offers us a chance to think about the ways in which we may sometimes use alcohol to help us cope when we’re feeling low, anxious, stressed or worried.
Regular drinking can mask underlying mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and prevent them from being properly addressed, or even worsen them.
Through our social media channels this week, we will be raising awareness of the links between alcohol and mental health and will be providing helpful tips on ways to cope and feel better, and signposting to help and support. It is not about being ‘anti’ alcohol but about giving our residents the chance to consider their drinking levels and coping mechanisms.
If you want to find out how much you are drinking, you can use a unit calculator.
See additional information on how to cut down on alcohol.
 The UK has left the EU and is in a transition period that ends on 31 December 2020. We're encouraging all EU/EAA/Swiss citizens who have not yet done so to apply for “settled status” if they have lived in the UK for more than five years or “pre-settled status” if they have lived in the UK for under five years. This will enable you to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021. You can also apply if you’re the family member of an eligible person of Northern Ireland.
You have until 30 June 2021 to apply. You will still be able to work in the UK after 31 December 2020 and while you are awaiting the outcome of your settled status.
The process to register is simple and free. Visit the Government’s EU Settlement Scheme website for more details and to register. Guidance has also been translated into 26 different languages.
The Citizens Advice website also provides helpful explanations on applying for pre-settled and settled status.
You can also visit the government’s checker tool to get a complete list of what you need to do for you, your business and your family.
 We need your help on how we can communicate key COVID-19 messages across West Berkshire in an engaging and motivating way.
Our Insights survey has been designed to understand people’s views and attitudes towards Covid-19, national guidance and existing communications.
We are offering a chance to win a £50 shopping voucher as a thank you for taking part.
Please follow this link to complete the survey in full. There’s a link on the page for people to use if they want help with translation. Deadline: Sunday, 22nd November.
Please circulate this link as widely as possible – anything you can do to drive a wide range of responses to this important work will be very much appreciated.
This survey is being carried out by Social Change UK, an independent research company. All of the answers will be stored securely and kept confidential.
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