Support for Northumberland young people to continue through summer

The local authority’s pledge to keep providing mental, health and educational support includes the continuation of the pop-up scheme and virtual school.

The pop-up scheme, running since April, has provided targeted activities and support for mental health and wellbeing, while the virtual school for looked-after and previously looked-after children provides online resources for all ages, one-to-one support for Year 11s and careers advisers for Years 9 and 10.

A range of support, much of it designed to prepare children for September’s full return to school, remains available at https://tinyurl.com/y2vhtr7v

Plus, 10 first and primary schools and three secondary schools have signed up for funding to support them in providing a transitional school offer towards the end of the summer break to support children moving up into Reception and those heading into final exams – Year 10 into Year 11 and Year 12 into Year 13.

Cllr Wayne Daley, the cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We made a promise to our families and their children to support them through this crisis as much as possible. Schools have now closed for the summer, but our support doesn’t stop there.”

Meanwhile, the council’s youth service has continued to offer bespoke specialist support, making use of digital platforms to communicate and deliver support virtually.

It has reached out to more than 370 young people via phone during the past 18 weeks, completing more than 2,500 phone calls.

Northumberland Sport provided 400 sports packs to encourage physical activity, while a detached youth work programme has made face-to-face contact with young people more than 570 times.

Cllr Daley said: “This package of support by the team has helped many young people stay focussed, helped them to feel part of something and kept them in contact with others during this time.

“I commend the team for their commitment, they’ve worked extremely hard to ensure that this reached all those who needed it, and continue to connect with young people as we move into a further easing of lockdown.”

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