May 2009

May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar and named for the Roman Goddess Maia.   Maia is known as the ancient Roman Goddess of springtime, warmth, and increase.  She was honoured by the Romans on the 1st and 15th of May, and at the Volcanalia on the 23rd of August - the holiday of her sometimes husband, the Fire-God Vulcan. 

She seems to have been paired up with Vulcan because they were both considered Deities of Heat.  So despite Maia, the Goddess of the merry flowering springtime may seem a bit 'fluffy-bunny', the roots of her name point to a powerful and ancient Goddess of the Earth, growth, fertility and heat.  As the amateurish gardeners amongst us will be aware, May is the month when many of our flowers emerge (as do the pesky slugs and snails) and hopefully our crops begin to sprout.  Subsequently it is a month of great celebrations in the northern hemisphere. 

When we think of the 'merry month of May', we may think of flower garlanded young women and men adorned in bells dancing around exulting in their youth and fecundity.  But despite this link to fertility, May is not the month for marriage - either now or in ancient Rome.  Indeed, the saying 'Marry in the month of May, and you'll live to rue the day' dates back to Pagan times when May, the start of summer, was dedicated to outdoor orgies (ie the summer festival Beltane), so hardly the best way to begin married life!   May was also a busy month for the Roman farmers leaving little time for fun, frolics (and certainly not fecundation), but an important time when the farmers had to make sure everything was as it should be to ensure a bountiful harvest.  

There is an amusing old wives' tale that says that the early morning May dew has magical properties and that anyone who washes their face in it will have a beautiful complexion throughout the year. The May dew is supposed to be able to remove freckles, spots, pimples and those various other atrocities that celebratory gossip magazine regularly airbrush out of pictures.

Excuse me while I snort cynically into my cup of coffee.  Alternatively I could suggest that you stay in bed until midday with your 'Heat' magazine resting on your mottled décolletage, log onto the Internet, and simply part with £17.62 for a pot of Maia Goddess Treatment Balm!  

Which leads me cosmetically onto dazzling smiles and dental hygiene.  Were you aware that we are now in the middle of National Smile Month?  For more information about this campaign please visit:

National Smile Month

The British Dental Health Foundation web site above has downloadable resources for children and young people if you are interested in celebrating this event.  For instance, you may wish to link National Smile Month to your Healthy Schools status - or even plan a crunchy CAPP carrot patch in the school grounds?  I would particularly welcome ideas from our partners how to combat some of the startling statistics surrounding declining dental health in our primary schools. 

We are looking at piloting the Saving Smiles Scheme at Red Barn Primary but this inexpensive service can also be offered at pre-schools, nurseries, breakfast and after school clubs.  For more information on the package and our local contact details, then please feel free to get in touch with Susie (ESCO).  Read the press release at Portsmouth News Saving Smiles Scheme

Of course a healthy start in life is absolutely essential for developing strong teeth and bones - and what better way to start than getting to our mums in Fareham east at the earliest opportunity?   With this in mind we are looking at how we can work more effectively with pre-natal bumps, post-natal babies, and also take care of our new mums.   The first of these measures is a series of four Pregnancy Yoga Taster Sessions at Keepsake Children's Centre starting on Monday 29th June at 12 noon - 1.30 pm.  Places are strictly limited so encourage any mums-to-be to book a place by phoning: 02392 210070 or e-mail: admin@portchesterca.org.uk.

Keep up-to-date with all of the activities on offer at our linked Children's Centres to display on your extended services notice boards by logging on regularly to the Children's Centre web sites at:

Keepsake Children's Centre

Oak Meadow & Strawberry Meadow Children's Centre

Merryfields Children's Centre (web site pending - however this link will give you some details in the meantime)

From my rather traumatic experiences of pregnancy and birth (and notably my size 8 body increasing to the size of a small heifer), I was interested to see that a valuable service during pregnancy and birth can now be bought!  Please let me introduce you to Sue's Doula Service. 

If you are scratching your head and wondering what on earth a "Doula" is, the word originates from ancient Greece, meaning “female caregiver” or “hand maiden”.  A Doula these days is a woman experienced and trained in offering emotional and practical support to a woman (or couple), before, during and after childbirth. 

I wonder if the Doula shares my sentiment that children are like desktop computers?  You have absolutely no idea how much assembling is required until it is at home in pieces on the study floor, and you and your husband are screaming at each other about whose idea it was to get one in the first place. 

Which leads me perfectly to the first item in the CAPP news update....

Fareham Parenting Workshop

Friday July 10th

 4.00pm @ Portchester Community School

I have put my head together with our District Parenting Officer and we are planning a jam-packed session for school staff, children's centre staff and all voluntary and statutory services who deal with families across the borough.  As you may be aware, when I carried out my school audits back in 2008, one of our gaps in extended service provision surrounded 'parenting' so this is a really important local event to share information. 

Although we have now made amazing progress over the past year, this workshop event will offer a fantastic opportunity to find out about the mystical magic properties of Triple P "Positive Parenting Programmes", give advice on how to deliver parenting information sessions at key transition points and you even get a chance to view some of the new resources to engage, support and help your families.  It will also offer a chance to network informally with colleagues.

I would encourage as many people to attend as possible, so please start the jungle drums rolling and disseminate this date throughout your networks.

Portsmouth Relate - for those of you lucky enough to hear Jackie Buckley speak at our May partnership meeting, I'm sure you were really impressed by her enthusiasm surrounding the Family Relate service that is currently being offered across schools in Portsmouth and Gosport.  Following this meeting, feedback from stakeholders has been really positive as a measure to combat family problems at an early intervention stage (pre-CAF).   I am very keen to see whether head teachers and other agencies working with families would be keen for us to provide this counselling service in Fareham.  

For more information for CAPP schools, please take a look at the documents below and pass your thoughts or concerns to Susie, or alternatively one of our CAPP Strategic Group members. 

Portsmouth Relate - Information for Schools 

Family Counselling - Advertising Flyer Gosport

The month kicked off with the grand opening of the Westlands Youth Club.   Approximately thirty-five youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 bowled into Portchester Community Centre on the opening night and I'm happy to report that numbers have remained steady since.  The project which is being managed by a trained youth worker is supported by a large team of enthusiastic helpers; many of whom are young 'v-inspired' volunteers. 

Planning has already begun for our youth club's entry into Portchester Gala on 20th June 2009 - so look out for the glitz and glam of our wannabe Rock Stars in June!

If you are interested in taking part, or getting involved in the Gala (and it's a fantastic day out if you just want to pop down for a visit) then please take a visit to the Portchester Gala web site and register your details at Portchester Gala.  

Help is always required for stewarding on the day, so even if you don't fancy dressing up in an outrageous costume, then please volunteer for a rather more 'sedate' gala day duty.

D-Day, Discos and Downloads - It's full steam ahead for our community play as the production date creeps closer.  We now have our fantastic new promotional display banners that shall be making an appearance at Portchester Gala and tickets for the five performances will be printed very shortly.

The month of May found Brendon Burns (Artistic Director, Solent Peoples' Theatre) and his team, ably assisted by our young local oral-history researchers, conducting a series of workshop style auditions.  The sessions for adults were sedate affairs, however the auditions for our young people from age 13 onwards were interactive, full of fun and laughter, and incredibly popular.  Sadly, due to photographic permission purposes I was unable to take pictures of these sessions, so I shall imprint an image of one activity...imagine that your elbows and knees have suddenly inflated to twenty times their size; now how would you walk?  Now take that image one step further and imagine a room full of 30 young people with inflated knees and elbows. 

Of course we are very keen to get the whole community involved in the play, whether performing, set-building, making refreshments, costume making or assisting with lighting and sound.  From June our local primary schools will be asked if they would like to participate (in rotation over the three days of performances) by providing us with a 1940s choir, and possibly by helping to make the fabric bunting for the VE day street party and castle walls.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  More details (and song choice) will be sent shortly.  Also look out for our promotional video appearing at Portchester Community School in the next couple of weeks on the plasma screen in the entrance. 

Rock Challenge - May also saw our local schools rising to the 2009 Rock Challenge and producing some amazing results.  Congratulations go to the students from Portchester Community School, who entered for the first time, and not only won two awards, but came a very impressive overall third with their production based upon love and loss following the fall of the twin towers.  Wicor Primary also proudly brought home a third prize...and a few members of staff with rather croaky voices!  Well done to all CAPP schools who participated in this fantastic event, and to the amazing young dancers who showcased their performance pieces at Fernham Hall at the Fareham and Gosport Schools' Sports Partnership Dance Festival on 19th May.  

For more information about this fabulous school festival (and Cams Hill's entry above left) please feel free to visit: Cams Hill Bulletin 22 May

We look forward to working much more closely with our School Sports' Manager on future projects and warmly welcome Matt Lane to our multi-agency partnership.

Faith & Football Enterprise Challenge 2009 - Portchester Community School also have another reason to celebrate.  The 'Mugs for Life Enterprise Group' have scooped the first prize in this competition, presented by Pompey Footballer, Linvoy Primus.  This will mean the six students involved - Madi Burt, Lucy Cole, Franklin Heather, Cherie Moore, Harriet Terrill and Max Tuson will be flying out to Goa to assist first hand with the work in local orphanages, as well as enjoying the travel experience of a lifetime.  They follow in the footsteps of the 2007 winners who also attended Portchester Community School.

Congratulations to everyone involved - and just let me know if you need a trip escort (as I remain forever hopeful!)

For the press release please visit Portchester Community school's web site at: Portchester Community School

National Family Week 25th - 31st May - Although the date has passed for this year, it's never too early to start planning for the 2010 National Family Week.  To celebrate this first ever Family Week, Keepsake Children's Centre linked forces with Portchester Library to offer local parents a Charlie and Lola (one of my personal favourites) family story-time and themed craft session.  As I was buried under a snowy heap of funding application forms on this particular morning, I eagerly await photographs from our Family Learning Coordinator from the event.    I did manage to escape the paperwork briefly however, and offered my helping hands at our Family Messy Craft Session. 

And as expected, Messy Craft was exactly what it said on the box...............MESSY! 

However, the hour spent cleaning cornflour off of the floor, poster paints off of the walls and sloshing around in slightly soggy sandals was worth it to witness local families having fun together; and taking advantage of opportunities they may not have created in the home environment (and quite sensibly methinks!)  The National Family week web site is well worth a visit for great ideas, and money saving offers for families too- and lets get planning ahead for 2010!

It may not surprise partners that there are many other projects dotted around my desk or hastily scribbled on my notepad. Please bear with me over the next couple of months while I try and juggle many different sizes and shapes of balls in the air.

With this in mind could I gently remind the schools who have not yet returned their 2009 Audit Forms, with just the final section regarding 'inclusion' completed (it should only take five minutes or so) as soon as possible.  

Sorry to nag ... but according to my teenage son ... I'm very, very good at it!

To say thank you to all of tour CAPP schools for your cooperation over the past 18 months, and for the lovely warm, welcoming and enthusiastic reception I receive when I drop in to visit, here is an amusing little message that was sent to me via e-mail during May.  I hope it makes you smile...

School Answering Machine Message

 Back again in summer