We hope you are all settling back to busier schools and seeing more children face to face as well as continuing remote learning. Unbelievably another month has slipped by and since our last newsletter we’ve been busy upgrading our ability to engage digitally and to think beyond Zoom and Microsoft teams long term – invaluable thought they have been during lock down in enabling us to deliver remote workshops and parent talks. Please do get in touch if we can support you with training, advice or familiarisation with our lesson plans, films and on line learning zone www.talkaboutalcohol.com especially as the requirement to teach alcohol education as part of the Health Education curriculum moves closer. We include an update below from the DfE allowing schools some leeway until Summer 2021, so if you’re not completely organised for September, our conference on drug and alcohol education is now on the 5th February at The Guildhall. For further information, email kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org or view https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/basinghall-street/the-guildhall/drug-and-alcohol-education-conference-2020-why-it-matters-and-how-to-do-it-well/e-xdelep Back to full strength at the AET We’re thrilled that Kathryn ( looking after all youth/parent provision and training in the North), Kate ( our schools/team coordinator) and Brian ( looking after all youth/parent provision and training in Scotland) are back at work from the 1st July – Karen ( looking after the South, West and Midlands) has been flying the flag all throughout lockdown together with our CEO and Julie on the finance and governance side, so it will be lovely to be back to being a full team! It is important that we know how drinking has changed during lockdown for adolescents with House Party, virtual pub quizzes and drinking challenges, as well as youngsters now meeting up in larger groups socially – so please get in touch! We have six bespoke fully interactive lessons available for KS3 that can only be accessed by being in contact with us directly via kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org Looked after children face a range of barriers to their education and wellbeing. Written by Darren Martindale, a virtual school Head Teacher in Wolverhampton, this seven-page download offers schools practical advice on ensuring high-quality provision for looked after children .The discussion looks at attachment, trauma and emotional wellbeing, issues of secondary trauma and staff wellbeing, The feature also offers practical tips on creating and managing Personal Education Plans and working with virtual school Head Teachers. The golden five-step strategy for supporting vulnerable learners can be accessed here: www.sec-ed.co.uk/knowledge-bank/supporting-vulnerable-learners-five-golden-steps/ Don’t forget we have a wonderful range of activities to support vulnerable young people at risk of harmful drinking as well as for children with learning difficulties that you can order FREE of CHARGE by emailing kate@alcoholeducationtrust.org They will be back in stock in July and include games, discussion cards, rehearsal strategies, films and activities suitable for one to one or small group settings. Read the article via:https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice-ezine/supporting-looked-after-children-vulnerable-schools-teachers-best-practice-education-care-system/227815/440026/?utm_content=Supporting%20looked%20after%20children&utm_campaign=SecEd11June20&utm_source=SecEd&utm_medium=adestra_email&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sec-ed.co.uk%2Fbest-practice-ezine%2Fsupporting-looked-after-children-vulnerable-schools-teachers-best-practice-education-care-system%2F227815%2F%24AMF_FIELD_mab_userid%24%2F Drink Spiking feature in the Express Online. Incidences of drink spiking are rising and following Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You on BBC One The Express on line ran a feature I May Destroy You: How do you know if your drink has been spiked? What should you do next? Which we were pleased to contribute to. You can read the article here: https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1295819/i-may-destroy-you-spiked-drink-what-should-you-do-next-advice-symptoms-bbc-hbo If you’d like to know more about how to recognise drink spiking and ways to avoid it happening, then please see: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/parent-area/drink-spiking/ International survey of 220,000 young people finds Health Behaviours are generally improving Every four years, the amazing Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), a WHO collaborative cross-national study, has provided information about the health, well-being, social environment and health behaviour of 11-, 13- and 15-year-old boys and girls for over 30 years. The 2017/2018 survey report presents data from over 220 000 young people in 45 countries and regions in Europe and Canada. The report reveals trends on a large range of issues such as relations with family, peers, school and online, mental health, weight and body image, and of course key health behaviours (patterns of eating, physical activity and toothbrushing) and risk behaviours (use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis, sexual behaviour, fighting and bullying). New items on electronic media communication and cyberbullying are new to this latest report. In England, there has been a steady decline is most negative health behaviours since 2002 - Incidence of regular smoking and drinking has decreased dramatically from 2002 to 2018, with only very few young people reporting that they had smoked (3%) or drank alcohol (7%) at least 3 times during the last 30 days. Around one quarter of 15 year olds said that they had been drunk twice or more during their life. One fifth (21%) of 15 year olds said that they had ever tried cannabis, which is a substantial decrease since 2002 (41%).V Overall only 9% of young people reported that they had ever drunk alcohol to excess (been drunk) 2 or more times, both girls and boys. The prevalence of drinking to excess increased with age, with more than one quarter of 15 year olds reporting that they had been drunk twice or more during their life. We are very pleased to say that the proportion of 15 year old girls who reported that they had been drunk has considerably decreased since 2014 from 32% to 24%. England no longer the binge drinking capital of Europe We are also thrilled to say that England is no longer in the top rank of the youth drinking or binge drinking league in Europe, however the same cannot be said for Wales and Scotland. We are so pleased therefore that we have extended our outreach for young people, parents, schools and youth settings in Scotland now, and hopefully Wales will follow. We cannot say for certain that it is the impact of Talk About Alcohol being used in over half of secondary schools in England, that has led such a decline in regular drinking and drunkenness ( led by Denmark, Germany, Scotland and Wales) but as the most widely used programme and with few other differences between the Nations it is highly likely in the light of the impact ratings of the evaluation of our work. To learn more: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/child-and-adolescent-health/health-behaviour-in-school-aged-children-hbsc/publications/2020/spotlight-on-adolescent-health-and-well-being.-findings-from-the-20172018-health-behaviour-in-school-aged-children-hbsc-survey-in-europe-and-canada.-international-report.-summary Is Health Education still mandatory from September?
The statutory requirement to provide RSHE education is still in place from September, and schools should continue to prepare for this date where possible. However, due to the coronavirus and closures, schools who are not in a position to implement fully from September have until Summer term 2021 to do so.
In such cases, the DfE suggests a phased approach to ensure teaching begins as soon as possible, and that schools should consider prioritising curriculum content on mental health and wellbeing. See the updated statement here: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/DfE-implementation-of-Relationships-Education-Relationships-and-Sex-Education-and-Health-Education.pdf
Read expectations of schools here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-sex-and-health-education-guides-for-schools With all best wishes from The AET team | 
