As the road map for our moving out of lockdown materialises, we have been busy planning how we can best support young people in settings such as schools, youth clubs and colleges over the next months. We are beginning to take bookings for face to face training and workshops from July, the first being for school health nurses from London. In the meantime zoom is proving a great way to ensure that we can continue to support those we work with day to day. Please do email karen@alcoholeducationtrust.org to book a session on how to use talk about alcohol, the games, interactive quizzes and resources – as ever our services remain free of charge for teachers and youth professionals ad those working with young people and those with learning disabilities.

The importance of digital development

Way before lockdown we realised that one of the best ways to connect with young people was through on line games, quizzes and scenarios, so we developed www.talkaboutalcohol.com which includes a virtual night club, who do you think you are? and many different choice making activities. So we are thrilled that website visits have been healthy in April with over 8,000 unique visits (an average 400 a day). These break down into 2,700 unique visitors to the teacher area and 2,800 for parents – the most popular landing pages are alcohol and the law, units and guidelines and effects social and physical. With the Talk about alcohol site 1365 individuals used the virtual nightclub alcohol clock game alone which you can use here https://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/alcohol-clock-game/ again everything is free to access. There is also a separate parental advice area via: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/parent-area/

Virtual PSHE lessons or for parents and carers at home

For virtual PSHE lessons the following film clips and true stories https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/teacher-area/effects-physical-and-social/effects-physical-social-ice-breakers/ are great conversation starters. The four BAFTA award winning Just a Few Drinks stories ( 6 minutes long each) which you can link to here https://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/just-a-few-drinks/ come with full lesson plans in our teacher workbook: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/teacher-area/download-teacher-workbook/ and you can email us via kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org if you’d like the accompanying powerpoints ( there are six altogether).

You could ask students to use the body zone to find facts on alcohol and its effects via: https://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/interactive-body/ - you can scroll over the body to find out how alcohol affects different parts of the body or try one of the quizzes to test knowledge via: https://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/body-zone-want-to-learn-more/

Resources and activities for vulnerable young people and those with learning disabilities

Our wonderful activity boxes designed for use in small groups, for those more vulnerable to alcohol related harms and for young people with additional learning needs will be back in stock in early June and we are taking orders now. Thanks to a wonderful grant, now in its fourth year, we can support schools, social workers, children’s homes, virtual schools, youth settings and charities working to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of 11- 18 year olds with the interactive games, films and resources as well as a training session ( highly recommended and this can be via Zoom).

You don’t need to take our word for it. feedback from the 190 new setting we have supported over the last twelve months include for example from Rotherham Aspire PRU ‘ We used within PSHE lessons towards NCFE accreditation, It is an excellent resource that is easy to use across different sites’ and SWRAC ‘ We used the resources with SEND groups in class – loved the ease of use, excellent’ and Bicton College who loved the variety of activities – great resources and finally Moat house who say ‘ really useful resources that I will be using again and again’ just email us via kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org to see if you are eligible, or to buy it is £60 via: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/store/

Enter your favourite charity in prize draw for 500 grants of £1,000 - will you nominate us?

The first round of the insurer Ecclesiastical's Movement for Good awards is open for nominations until 24 May and we would really appreciate it if you would nominate us to give us a chance to be awarded £1,000 – every penny counts in these uncertain times. That’s enough for us to support 10 schools or clubs with talk about alcohol – or to provide three bespoke workshops. You can vote via: https://movementforgood.com/#nominateACharity and our charity number is: 1186202. One of our most valued supporters is charity insurance specialists Ansvar who are part of Ecclesiastical insurance and they have helped us reach thousands of young people and their parents over the last five years.

With best wishes from us all at AET. Stay safe and well.