AET newsletter for teachers and other professionals

Autumn Term, September 2019, Ed 43

We hope you had a wonderful break over the summer and enjoyed the mainly good weather! With just a year to go before PSHE (including alcohol education) becoming statutory, there are many ways we can help you plan, prepare and deliver effective and enjoyable lessons, saving you time and worry! Our regionally based trainers are here to support you and thanks to our wonderful funders, our highly evaluated ‘Talk about Alcohol’ resources for 11-18 year olds of differing ability and experience are free of charge.

Having expanded our work across the West Midlands and South West as well as Scotland this year, we are thrilled, thanks to The Tesco Centenary Fund, to be expanding our work into the East Midlands, Cumbria and Lancashire next year too!

We are always on hand to help you so please do get in touch if you would like to order our resources for use this academic year.

10th Anniversary Celebrations at The House of Commons - your chance to get involved!

As part of our 10th anniversary celebrations of helping children make safer choices, this year we are holding a celebratory event in The Jubilee room at the House of Commons by kind invitation of Sir Oliver Letwin MP. It will take place on Thursday 7th November from 4-6pm. This will be a wonderful chance for us to thank those who have helped us over the past 10 years. There will be an opportunity for a guided tour of the House of Commons beforehand too.

We would like some students to attend and are thinking of a short performance as part of the afternoon- 10 or 15 minutes on any theme covering alcohol. If you would like to be considered for this exciting opportunity, please contact kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org. The alternative is a short debate hosted and run by the students on what is important to know about alcohol and why PSHE is important in school.

Resource Reminder

We are delighted to be able to support all UK schools with the following highly evaluated and evidence-based resources free of charge:
- A hard copy of our 100 page Teacher Workbook- including lesson plans, games and activities organised by topic and year group. You can also download a full copy of this 100 page resource via https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/teacher-area/download-teacher-workbook/
- Up to 110 copies of our 'Talking to Kids about Alcohol' parent guide offering factual information, top tips and advice on keeping children safe around alcohol. **LATEST REPRINT NOW AVAILABLE!**
- Up to 110 copies of student guide 'Alcohol and You' offering accessible advice and factual information for teens on alcohol and staying safe. Please email kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org to order or to learn more.

Talk about alcohol activity box of films, resources and activities

To support our free resources we now have a carefully crafted comprehensive activity box which is particularly suitable for one to one or small group work. This contains laminated conversation starters and higher harm discussion cards, games and quiz activities as well as knowledge sheets on units, the law and more. It also includes the BAFTA winning 'Just a few Drinks' DVD and picture led activities especially designed for children with additional needs.

The activity box is available for just £45 and is fully compatible with the Talk about Alcohol workbook and online games and resources on www.talkaboutalcohol.com .
If you work with a high number of pupils with SEN/ ASN or who are looked after, please let us know as we may be able to provide a copy free of charge due to grant funding.


Teacher, Staff and Parent Talks
Our regional coordinators are always very happy to deliver familiarisation and training for staff as well as supportive and informative talks about alcohol and teenagers to parents and carers via schools, organisations and clubs. Please contact:
brian@alcoholeducationtrust.org for Scotland
kathryn@alcoholeducationtrust.org for the North
karen@alcoholeducationtrust.org for the South, West and Midlands
kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org for all other areas

 

Update from Kathryn - Northern Schools Coordinator

Kathryn is continuing her work supporting Football Club Community Foundations and will be delivering a training session to Everton in the Community next week. Kathryn also has teacher training sessions planned in Durham and Northumberland both in special and mainstream schools. She will be attending Blackpool Schools PSHE forum to showcase our training and resources and York Schools Partner School Engagement meeting this term.

Update from Karen - South, West and Midlands Coordinator

The School summer holidays are always a much needed chance to recoup some energy and plan for the next academic year.

In August I was lucky to be able to deliver training to the Taunton Dean and West Somerset School Nurses. They were a pleasure to work with and we had a very enjoyable and informative session on what must have been one of the wettest days of the month!

I also managed to team up with Active Dorset, part of Sport England. Lots of future partner activity was discussed including being part of their PE, Health and Wellbeing Conference in September.

With the arrival of the beginning of term, it’s all systems go! I’m off to several Fresher’s Fairs in Dorset and Cornwall to spread the Alcohol Education Trust message. There’s also lots of upcoming teacher training scheduled in Bath and North East Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall and Wolverhampton.

I have availability for staff training and resource familiarisation in addition to being available to host talks to parents/ carers, so if you would like to arrange, please contact me via karen@alcoholeducationtrust.org  

Update from Brian - Scotland Director

We have now fulfilled our initial aim of supporting 100 schools across Scotland this year with either hard copies or online downloads of our resources.Without exception, each school we have supported has emphasised how good it is to have quality evidence-based resources within a very structured Teacher Workbook supported by a great interactive website www.talkaboutalcohol.com . Schools from across the whole of Scotland have been supported.

We now have a separate newsletter for Scotland so if you’d like to subscribe to this, please email kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org or it is online via https://preview.mailerlite.com/e5k4b5 .

Tesco Bags of Help

We are delighted to have been selected by the Tesco Bags of Help Centenary Grant scheme in two regions this year.

Tesco customers across Cumbria, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire will be able to use their blue tokens to vote for one of three charities throughout October, November and December in store, one of which is us and we will be awarded a share of a wonderful sum of money according to how many tokens are popped in our box! We hope you will support us .

Our Coordinator for the North Kathryn commented, 'I am delighted that we have been successful in our application for the Tesco Bags of Help Centenary Grant Scheme for Lancashire and Cumbria regions. If you are a school or youth organisation in either of these areas please do vote for us and spread the word to family and friends'.

The funds we receive will be used to support children and young people in schools, special schools, pupil referral units and youth/sports clubs throughout these regions with interactive resources and training that build resilience and promote safer life choices around alcohol. If you live in these areas, please contact us to learn more and PLEASE pop your blue token in our box!

Alcohol Awareness Week 11-17 November 2019

As you know, Alcohol Awareness Week is a busy and important time for us. This year, the theme is 'Alcohol and Me' and offers schools a great opportunity to focus on alcohol issues. You could hold an assembly, read our student leaflets in class or have discussions during tutor time. Please do get in touch if you'd like resources to support this. You can find out more about Alcohol Awareness Week 2019 via https://alcoholchange.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/alcohol-awareness-week/about-alcohol-awareness-week

UK Guidelines on Alcohol Education in Secondary and Further Education

The NICE guidance on alcohol interventions in secondary and further education was published over the summer, along with the supporting evidence and stakeholder comments received during consultation and the responses to these comments.

The guidelines describe suitable approaches for alcohol education in secondary and further education that aim to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people aged 11 - 18. Separate guidelines offer guidance for young people aged 11 to 25 with special educational needs or disabilities in full-time education.

The guidance includes recommendations on planning alcohol education, delivering universal alcohol education and on targeted interventions. You can find out more via https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng135

Statistics Round-Up

Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England 2018
Results from the biennial survey of secondary school pupils in England in years 7 to 11 (mostly aged 11 to 15), focusing on smoking, drinking and drug use was published in August.

In 2018, 44% of pupils said they had ever had an alcoholic drink, the same as in 2016. Prevalence of having ever had an alcoholic drink was the same for boys and girls. It varied with age, increasing from 14% of 11 year olds to 70% of 15 year olds. 6% of all pupils said they usually drank alcohol at least once per week, increasing with age, from 1% of 11 year olds to 14% of 15 year olds.

Pupils who drank alcohol in the last week consumed an estimated (mean) average of 10.3 units that week whilst the median average was 5 units. A fifth (21%) of pupils who drank in the last week were estimated to have drunk more than 15 units, above the weekly low risk guidelines for adults.

11% of girls and 9% of boys had drunk in the last week. The proportion increased after the age of 12; 2% of 11 year olds and 3% of 12 year olds drank in the last week, compared to 23% of 15 year olds. White pupils were most likely to have had an alcoholic drink in the last week, with 13% having done so . This compares to 7% of mixed ethnicity pupils, 3% of Black pupils and only 1% of Asian pupils.

A logistic regression model was used to explore which characteristics might be associated with drinking in the last week. 7 factors had a significant association with having drunk alcohol in the last week. Having parents who don't discourage drinking had the strongest association, followed by age (being older), and recent drug use.

Supply of alcohol to 11- 15 year olds is overwhelmingly from parents or carers until the age of 15, showing the importance of engaging them at school through talks.

9% of pupils said they had been drunk in the last four weeks, including 6% of pupils who had been drunk once or twice, and 2% more often. Girls (11%) were more likely to have been drunk in the last four weeks than boys (7%). The proportion of pupils who reported having been drunk in the last four weeks increased with age. 22% of 15 year olds reported having been drunk in the last four weeks, compared with 1% of 11 and 12 year olds.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/smoking-drinking-and-drug-use-among-young-people-in-england/2018/part-7-young-people-and-alcohol-the-context

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