"Little children, headache; big children, heartache" ~ Italian Proverb

In celebration of my youngest child reaching the age of 13 years, I thought it may be interesting to take a look at those strange creatures we collectively call "teenagers".    There is a magical process in the human growth cycle when a human develops from a child, travels through a process called puberty (with all those accompanying loathsome, unpredictable hormones), eventually emerging the other side as a fully grown and sexually mature adult.

"Adolescence: a period of rapid changes.  Between the ages of 12 and 17, for example, a parent ages as much as 20 years" (author unknown)

Did you know that humans are the only remaining animals on earth to have a 'teenage' stage (source New Scientist) but scientists are still undecided why this happens.   I suspect that most parents of a 15 year old often wonder the same thing!  There are many factors that explain some of the unusual behaviour displayed during this time due to surging hormones and rapid brain/skeletal growth (such as aggression, sleeplessness, monosyllabic grunting, risk-taking, spots and wearing Adidas track pants), but despite the arguments and evidence about the cause and effect of 'teenage' behaviour, we parents and educators we have a slight advantage over children ...

...we already know that they are going to be silly and obnoxious, simply because we were!  So the challenge is getting them safely to adulthood so they can discover for themselves how right we were.

"It's difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have - or are" (author unknown)

Now I am a firm believer that if you are hoping to raise a balanced teenager capable of supporting themselves mentally and physically, and able to make healthy life-choices during these difficult years, then the pre-teen foundations need to be set before they reach the end of Year 6.  Ok, so it's easy to blame the parents for all the wrong-doings of their offspring and this is not always the case; particularly when we are looking at supporting young people with learning difficulties and mental health problems.  But generally speaking, if you have set the foundation during their toddler/preschool years and built up the structure during KS1 & 2, then you can have some faith that they will construct the rest of their building blocks according to your architectural plans.  They will also fill your house during this time with odd smells, unsuitable friends and loud music...but at least they are still in a safe environment to experiment with building a solid structure into adulthood.

"Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree" (author unknown)

So the importance of 'getting it right' as early as possible and providing help and support for families is a priority for all of us seeking positive outcomes for all children.  It offers an argument for Children's Centres, Family Support and supporting families at an earlier level of intervention before their 'little problems' turn into 'large mountains of trouble'.  It was this idea that led our drive to provide an additional stream of early intervention via Family Support in Schools, and I am happy to report that all of our CAPP schools are now signed up to receive this service in partnership with Portsmouth Relate. I very much look forward to introducing our new Family Counsellor, Andy Bridgen, to our Parent Support Advisers (your primary referral route to Family Counselling) at an informal network lunch on Friday 13th November at Community Action Fareham.

Family Relate Poster

Of course we must not forget that 'School' is often the only Children's Service that parents and carers access during their child's development which highlights the importance of local schools having a stronger voice when planning Children's Services, and those services being delivered in a safe and familiar environment.

It is also essential that children and young people are also fully involved in the planning of services that affect their lives as a fully participatory process.  The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child states that children who are capable of forming opinions should have the right to express them on matters that directly affect them whilst giving due weight to the age and maturity of the child.  For instance, my children have very strong opinions about eating salad.  But this doesn't stop me giving them salad; instead I just make it in the way that is acceptable for them to digest (and not sneakily hide it inside my flower pots when they think I'm not looking!)

The Hampshire Children's Service Participation Team advises and supports practitioners working with children and young people, encouraging children and young peoples' engagement in the planning, delivery and evaluation of their services.  This falls in line with the new Hampshire Children and Young People's Plan 2009-12 (young persons' version), which states clearly that "Children and young people will be asked about, and plan the services that affect their lives" (no mention of salad!).  For 10 top tips of how to listen to young people then please take a look at the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) site; they have listed children's ideas about what makes an effective adult listener.

For more information about consultation, participation, involvement and giving young people a voice, please feel free to visit the Hampshire Participation Pages.  To view the 2009-2012 strategy for participation then please click below:

Participation Strategy for Children and Young People 2009 - 12

Which leads me nicely onto the Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Award.  The RRR Award recognises schools who display a high commitment to promoting children’s rights and encouraging youngsters to respect others and display a good understanding of their rights and responsibilities. The award is about having an impact on improving children's overall well being (including academic performance), promoting tolerance, understanding, and good behaviour and encourages children to understand their role in the wider community and also as part of the larger, global community. There are now about 100 Hampshire schools going for the award, the largest number in the country, and I am proud to say that this this includes many of our CAPP schools.  With the implementation of the CYPP Plan 2009-12, Hampshire County Council is encouraging more schools to consider going for the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award. 

So why bother?  Before answering that question, please take time to visit the DCSF web page The Children's Plan: Making a Difference and Human Rights in Education: Hampshire Case Study to see the impact the Hampshire RRR Award is making. Then decide if it will enhance your school improvement plans.

For more information about UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award please visit: www.unicef.org.uk/rrsa.

May I take this opportunity to wish Portchester Community School the best of wishes for their Unicef assessors visit on Friday 20th November.  I hope that we can celebrate a Level II RRR Award in 2010.   I will also like to give you advanced warning of the Portchester Arts Festival taking place in July 2010.  We hope that it will be bigger and better than ever, with Community Arts Workshops for all age groups taking place over the weekend (date to be confirmed).  A definite date to pop into your 2010 diary is the fabulous Portchester Gala.  This will take place on Saturday 19th June 2010, and I would urge all of our stakeholders to get involved in this large-scale community event.  For more details about the gala, view photos from previous years (including your ESCO as a clown in 2008 and Madonna in 2009) and to download an application form (for either a stall or a procession entry), then please visit Portchester Gala web site.

Following an invite to all of our Fareham schools to the re-launched Children's Partnership I have been asked on a couple of occasions to explain the structure of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).  I think that some of you may be a little confused by how everything fits together locally.  Rather than going into depth on this page about Fareham's seven thematic partnerships (one of them being Children and Young People), I think it is easier to signpost you to a very simple explanation at the Network Fareham web site.  Please take a chance to have a quick look and I would be more than happy to answer any further queries.  To show a diagram of the seven thematic partnerships, the diagram below may be of use for our more visual learners:

Network Fareham LSP - thematic partnerships

Children's Trusts have been strengthened through the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Every local area is required to have a statutory Children's Trust Board with statutory responsibility for producing the local strategic Children and Young People's Plan. Children’s Trusts have also been strengthened through the addition of new relevant partners. And as you are aware these new statutory partners also include schools.  This short leaflet (left) will help schools understand their role as statutory partners to the Children’s Trust; describes briefly the new legislation; what Children’s Trusts are and why they are necessary; and the role of schools within the Children’s Trust as statutory partners.

Please click here to download the 6 page leaflet Children's Trusts - Improving Support for Schools (pdf)

Another exciting development for schools who are supporting families who have a child with additional needs is Parent Voice.  The web site gives details of our local hub located in West Street Fareham (pictured left). Parents and carers can access information either online, by telephone or by calling into the local hub. 

Another issue raised at a meeting in the past month was an increasing number of local young people displaying aggressive behaviour towards their parents and causing then actual physical harm. The Hampton Trust have recently secured a substantial amount Big Lottery funding to deliver a 12 week programme called LINX.  At the present time I do not have any literature about this programme, but please keep an eye on the LINX web page for more details. 

So let's travel quickly to more teenage activities, and find out the latest news from Westland's Youth Club.  I am proud to say that the numbers are steadily growing each Friday and the young people have enjoyed a variety of activities over the past term, climaxing with a Halloween Disco Party Night on Friday 4th November.  As a former wannabe fashion designer (amongst other things), I have to confess that my favourite activity was our 'Trash Fashion' week, which included a fine display of recycled costumes by both the youth workers and the children being paraded along the catwalk at the end of the evening.  You can see some of the photos from Trash Fashion and Science Week in the latest edition of Portchester People, produced for the community by Portchester Community and Keepsake Children's Centre. The Portchester People is a fantastic way to keep local families informed about the Children's Centre and Extended Services developments in our area.  For an update on all of our local news across the Cams and Portchester Partnership then please feel free to browse through the PP pages below:

I think the thumbs up from Paul, our Fareham Borough Council's Play Ranger, brings me neatly to the end of this month's teenager blog.  Before I leave however, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Emma Barrett and all of the incredibly hard-working staff at Cams Hill for all of their kind help with setting up the successful Cams Community Club, Intergenerational Project. 

Please can I also remind our partners about anti-bullying week (16th - 20th November).  I'm sure that you are all aware by now that the theme this year is cyber-bullying and you will find plenty of resources for both primary and secondary resources at the Teachernet site, the Anti-bullying Alliance, Beat Bullying organisation and the Anti-bullying Week web site.  In addition to all of the school resources available via these sites, if you would like a copy of the DVD "Let's Fight it Together: what we can all do to prevent cyber-bullying" then please feel free to ask. I have a box of these excellently produced, and emotive DVDs in my office. 

Now I couldn't possibly leave this month without trying to lighten your mood a little. So here is Harry Enfield appearing as "Kevin the teenager" washing the family car... 

Finally...

Long Term Assignments - Briefing Note for Teenagers: These are given the night before they are due. This explains the name "long term". It is a long term commitment to time that begins at 9.30pm and ends at 11.50pm (or later!)  It is important that the whole family is involved in the project. It is imperative that at least one family member races to the stationery store for poster board, and that one family member ends up in tears (not necessarily the student). One parent needs to stay up to complete the project. The other parent needs to call the school and leave a message that the student is sick. It is not necessary to have the student's name on the assignment.  AND STUDENTS PLEASE REMEMBER:   Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.