Well , Advent is here, and the first vaccine authorised so positive times head at last, we hope! Despite this difficult year, we have kept busy making sure young people learn how to stay safe around alcohol nationwide. Amazingly, we have supported 1083 schools, special schools, children’s homes, Pupil Referral Units, youth and sports clubs with our resources this academic year, so we, like so many of you, who have had to adapt and deliver in new ways, are looking forward to a Christmas break later this month!

In our final newsletter of 2020, you can find out about our outreaches during Alcohol Awareness Week, hear about our new films and resources for older teenagers and read about our 2021 conference, plus we have some exciting grant news to share.

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas, thank you for your support and interest in our charity, which has never been more needed, or appreciated!

We were thrilled to launch two new films of case studies for older students during Alcohol Awareness Week, as well as a competition to create a short film or poster campaign on ways to stay safer around alcohol. The case studies, presented by two young criminal lawyers, talk through a night that goes wrong and ends up in an assault in the first film, with an audience of teenagers asking questions once the legal issues have been explained. Accidents and assaults are one of the greatest risks that young adults face as they head out on nights out, so this tool will aid mature discussion and debate around an important issue.

The second case study carefully considers the thorny issue of consent and how it can be affected by excessive drinking. This can be really tricky for teachers and professionals to discuss in a sensitive way, and the two young lawyers do it brilliantly. Do take a moment to watch and share!

Alcohol and violence - https://youtu.be/ToQc7EBrJqI

Alcohol and consent - https://youtu.be/FCjXzKBoVXg

Midlands, South and West

With all current contacts having been provided with a reminder of our amazing online resources for Alcohol Awareness Week, we received great feedback such as "I have found the videos and leaflet- they are great! I have used them all." Fosse Way School, Radstock

We also made a bespoke film with tips on alcohol awareness for four hundred sixth formers at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester and worked with Year 11s at Oak Academy in Bournemouth.

In addition, thanks to liaison with Community Alcohol Partnerships in both Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, copies of our Talk About Alcohol information booklets for parents and carers were distributed through retail outlets during the week.

This was followed with training for staff through Gloucester Healthy Living and Learning, an umbrella organisation for Gloucestershire Healthy Schools and further education and a presentation to the Drug and Alcohol Strategic Commissioner in Shropshire, which was very positive: ‘Really helpful and the resources are fantastic.’

Two more training sessions are arranged in Leicestershire, open to all secondary schools and organised through Leicestershire Healthy Schools, extending our reach across the East Midlands.

The North- update from Kathryn

What a fabulous Alcohol Awareness Week we had in the north of England, with two virtual training sessions and a face to face session with Rochdale Football Club BTEC sports students.

I thoroughly enjoyed our Zoom training session at Manchester Youth Zone which was attended by two youth organisations, and the Pheonix Centre, Prestwich, where we focussed on our fantastic resources. We spent some time looking at virtual alternatives to our face to face activities, on our Talk about Alcohol website, including playing the alcohol clock game and watching Emily's story.

Thank you also to Virgin Care Lancashire School Nurses for hosting the first of two sessions, which we were able to run fully funded due to the amazing Tesco Bags Of Help Centenary Grant we received. Full packs have also been sent out to all Lancashire School Nurse teams, which will cover every secondary high school across Lancashire!

My final session of the week was a face to face session for BTEC Sports Students at Rochdale AFC. What a fantastic group of young people! We talked about sensible drinking, looking after your mates, staying safe and what to do if things go wrong and units. The group planned a night out using our alcohol clock game, and demonstrated how to put someone into the recovery position.

It is wonderful to see the developments in the building of our new office, café and community space! The windows and doors have recently been installed and the solar panels are so well integrated into the roof. We are so grateful to the funders, individuals, organisations and businesses that have made it happen at last and particularly to our landlords The Duchy of Cornwall, The Town Council and the builders CG Fry for their much appreciated hand holding and support. We are expecting the handover to take place during the week beginning 23rd December and then it will be over to us for fit-out! We plan to move the office from our garden garage in late February and to open the café in late March!

As you may know, we were due to run this conference in June this year in partnership with the DSM Foundation. This has now been rearranged for 28th June 2021 and will be held at the Guildhall in London face to face!

This will be a day for professionals to hear from leading experts on the latest research on alcohol and drugs prevention, attend a choice of workshops on evidence-based programmes, and receive planning and evaluation advice for effective PSHE. You can find out more here .

We were thrilled to receive a grant of £10,000 from the Postcode Lottery. This means we have funds to spend on making films by young people for young people and on improving our digital offering on both www.talkaboutalcohol.com and on our new older age group website – as well as for teachers. We have decided that a good way to do this is via an open competition which you can read more about below. It will also enable us to equip the PiP's community space with IT to make it more suitable for the youth club for example.

It just remains for us to say we hope you have a very happy and safe Christmas and here’s to a much better 2021!

From all of us at

The Alcohol Education Trust