West Midlands Fire Service is committed to making its communities safer, healthier and stronger. In recent months we have seen an increase in house fires starting in the kitchen and part of our strategy to tackle this is to deliver safe and well visits to everyone, but mainly targeting our more vulnerable members of the community. We aim to improve safety in the home, offer road safety advice and signpost where appropriate. Fire fighters will fit smoke alarms and specialist equipment where needed free of charge and will leave you with a booklet with handy tips for making your home as safe as possible. Please use the QR code to book a safe and well with your local fire crew and help make the West Midlands a safer, healthier and stronger place to live.

Castle and Priory Neighbourhood Learning Centre Dudley

Resilience – Masterclass Details:

The aim of this course is to enable you to understand how to become more resilient and cope with setbacks in life, improve wellbeing and achieve your goals.

Date: Friday 9th July 2021 (10.30 – 12.30) Venue: Castle & Priory Neighbourhood Learning Centre

Cost: FREE

Contact: 01384 818143 or Emily.whitehouse@dudley.gov.uk

Are you interested in gardening or would you like to grow your own veg? If so, you are very welcome to join The Priory Pharmacy Community Garden. There’s no need to bring anything, just turn up on a Monday from 2pm – 4pm.

The Priory Community Garden has reopened and is now a Covid Safe ‘Place of Welcome’. There will always be a cuppa, biscuits and maybe some homemade cake to enjoy. You can find out more on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/PrioryPharmacyGarden/

Naomi is starting a 0-5 year old session at Sledmere Centre on Fridays. Babies under 12 weeks are free and their is a siblings discount available. Get in touch to book your place via moomusicsedgley@yahoo.com or call 07955 701366

Children’s Mental Health Week is taking place on 1-7 February 2021. This year’s theme is Express Yourself.

Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.

The Children’s Mental Health website has lots of free resources that will help children and young people to explore what it means to Express Yourself. All of the ideas can be adapted for use in school, for home-schooling, online lessons or independent learning. 

You can get more information from a Place2B which is a children’s mental health charity with over 25 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools.

St Thomas’s Community Association are delivering some really great, fun, creative activities during February for young people aged 11-25, from photography and film making to theatre, dance and Henna painting! There’s something for everyone!  The programme will run over 6-8 week period. Below are the activities for week one.

Monday 1 February

Film Making 4:30pm-6pm

Urban Fusion (Over 16’s) 6:30pm-7pm

Tuesday 2 February

The Art Room (Over 16) 4:30pm-5:30pm

Urban Fusion (11-16 year olds) 6pm-7pm

Wednesday 3 February

Photography (11-16 year olds) 4:30pm-5:30pm

Photography (over 16) 5:45pm-6:45pm

Urban Fusion Dance (over 16) 6:30pm-7:30pm

Thursday 4 February

Creative Hub (11-16 year olds) 4:30pm-5:30pm

Quiz night (Over 16) 7pm-8pm

Friday 5 February

Open Mic (11-15 year olds) 5pm-6pm

Open Mic (16+) 6pm – 7pm

Saturday 6 Feb

Gather and Grow (11-16 year olds) 10am-11am

Youth theatre (11-16 Year olds) 11am-12noon

Henna Hand Painting (17-25 year olds) 1pm-2:30pm

Sunday 7 February

Youth Theatre (17-25 year olds) 11am-12noon

To sign up for any of the sessions email stthomasca@outlook.com or call 07957 683696. Follow (5) St Thomas’s Community Association (Sledmere Centre) | Facebook for more information!

If your child doesn’t have access to a laptop you can also use Xbox or PlayStation to access your schools Home Working Base. An alternative method of accessing remote learning during times of lockdown

Xbox

1 Plug a keyboard in to the Xbox USB slot

2 Go to my games and apps

3 Find Microsoft Edge and select

4 Type in HWB and log in as you would in school

5 you can then access your work through google classroom or OneDrive and use key packages including – word, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Your emails

6 to move around you use the Xbox control or plug in a mouse

Playstation

1 Identify the playstation internet browser icon (its the WWW with dots around it)

2 Press the PlayStation logo on the controller

3 Go to the library and find options for games and applications

4 Go in to applications and you will find the internet browser

5 Type Hwb into the browser and log in as you would in school

6 You can then access your work through google classroom or OneDrive and use key packages including – word, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Your emails

You may also be able to increase data allowances on mobile devices for children click here to find out more

While staying at home due to coronavirus, parents and carers may be worried about their children’s development and the effect of missing school or nursery.

No one expects parents to act as teachers, or to provide the activities and feedback that a school or nursery would. Parents and carers should do their best to help children and support their learning while dealing with other demands.

Get specific advice on how education can continue at home for children here