NEWS HeadStart Kent awarded additional year’s funding


HeadStart Kent, a programme that has enhanced the mental health and well- being of young people in the county since 2016, has been awarded extra funding to continue its vital work for an additional year. The National Lottery Community Fund, which has funded six HeadStart


programmes in England since 2016, including the one led by Kent County Council, has announced it is making an additional £8.7m available to allow the schemes to continue until 2022 rather than ending next year as originally intended. HeadStart Kent will receive £1,036,277 of this, bringing its total funding for the six years to £11,255,879. The funding boost comes at a critical time when people of all ages,


including the 10 to 16-year-olds HeadStart works with, may be struggling with their mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Sue Chandler, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Integrated


Children’s Services, said: “HeadStart Kent has made a real difference to the lives of children and young people in the county over the last four years. Now more than ever it is vital we all look after our mental health, so I am very pleased that HeadStart has received additional funding to allow this work to continue. “I would like to express my gratitude to The National Lottery Community


Fund for making the additional funds available after already dedicating more than £50 million to these very worthwhile programmes.” HeadStart began in 2016 as a five-year, £58.7million programme with local


Calling all budding mini MasterChefs!


Children’s food and farming education initiative Kids Country are thrilled to announce the launch of their annual Winter Warmer Soup Challenge, which this year will be judged by MasterChef 2018 finalist, Simon Spooner. Simon is an award-winning private chef who


reached the top 10 of MasterChef in 2018 and now runs the private catering and events company Knife Fork and Spooner based near Stamford, Lincolnshire. Simon commented: “The Kids Country Winter Warmer Soup Challenge covers many things that are close to my heart, helping school children become more at home with great seasonal British produce and learning important nutrition and cooking skills.” The annual cooking competition gives primary schools the opportunity


to win a £200 first prize for their school – jointly donated between Central England Co-operative and Kids Country - as well as the coveted Winter


Warmer Soup Challenge Trophy and a behind the scenes visit to a local farm, subject to Covid-19 restrictions. Sandra Lauridsen, education manager for Kids


Country, the East of England Agricultural Society’s education programme, says: “We are thrilled that we can still run our popular cooking challenge this winter, despite the restrictions that the Covid-19 pandemic has put on so many activities for children this year. We are grateful to Simon for joining the competition as our head judge, and he will be cooking up the three finalists’ recipes at the final stage of the competition. We hope that the Winter Warmer Soup Challenge will give primary schools an opportunity to not only engage with seasonal British


produce, but also that it will be something that children can really put their imagination into.” More information can be found on the Kids Country events page: uhttps://www.kids-country.co.uk/events/


Amber wins gold with ‘Just One Voice’


A Solihull School pupil has won Gold in the Anne Frank Trust Creative Writing Awards. Amber Huckfield, who is in the Lower


Fifth at the independent coeducational 3 – 18 day school, entered the Poetry (aged 13 – 15) category of the competition which invited young people across the country to take Anne Frank as their inspiration and create a piece of writing that called for a world free from prejudice. Out of 937 entrants from across the UK,


Amber was selected as a Gold Award winner for her emotive and original poem - ‘Just One Voice’. Tim Robertson, CEO of The Anne Frank


Trust said: “The Anne Frank Creative Writing Awards took place during an especially turbulent period in our


society and I congratulate all who rose to the challenge and submitted an entry. “We have been overwhelmed by both


the quality of writing displayed by young people and by their obvious commitment to challenging prejudice. We and the judges really had our work cut out in shortlisting and then selecting winners from the hundreds of entries. “Congratulations to Amber from Solihull


School for being among them. Her Gold Award for her work ‘Just One Voice’ is very well deserved.” Amber won two books including ‘The Promise’ signed by Holocaust Survivor Eva Schloss, as well as a £20 book voucher.


uwww.solsch.org.uk 8 www.education-today.co.uk October 2020


authority-led schemes in Blackpool, Hull, Wolverhampton, Newham and Cornwall as well as Kent. The idea behind HeadStart was to find new ways to explore and support the mental health and resilience of 10 to 16-year-olds with the aim of preventing serious mental health issues developing. 5,418 adults in schools and community organisations have been trained in ways of supporting young people’s emotional well-being and resilience.


uhttps://kentresiliencehub.org.uk uhttps://moodspark.org.uk


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