Ideas Pack

We hope this pack provides ideas and suggestions to help you run a successful Child Employment fortnight in your area. This year’s emphasis is on Health & Safety of children whilst working. Resources for use in schools and informing employers of ‘Newspaper boys and girls’ of Health & Safety issues have been included in the pack. It is important to ensure you get appropriate permissions from your manager in advance of the event.

All documents mentioned in this pack can be downloaded from the NNCEE website. These are all sample documents.

If you have any further questions or comments please contact someone from the working party:

Wendy Smith - Wendy.Smith@eastsussex.gov.ukJo Booth - joanne.booth@surreycc.gov.uk

Gwen Medd - gwen.medd@buckscc.gov.uk

For more information visit www.bucksinfo.net/nncee

Child Employment Fortnight 2011

28th March – 8th April 2011

CHILD EMPLOYMENT FORTNIGHT28th March – 8th April 2011

Preparation before the event:1. The new Child Employment Fortnight flyers and posters have been sent out. If you

have not ordered any, or need more, a PDF of the double-sided poster/flyer (copy write NNCEE) is included in the pack so you can print as many as you require.

2. Think about what you want to do for the event in your area. Perhaps brainstorm with your team and discuss your ideas. This year’s emphasis is on Health and Safety of children whilst working and lots of resources for use in schools are included. Seek relevant approvals before getting started on planning and preparation

3. Inform relevant parties of the dates of the week e.g. other colleagues communications team etc

4. Start recruiting individuals that can help you during the fortnight e.g. EWO’s. Give them plenty of notice as they may need time to arrange their diary and get their line manager’s approval

5. Keep an eye on the NNCEE website for any relevant updates about the event

Posters: • The posters and flyers are double-sided this year. One side on child employment,

for use during Child Employment Fortnight. The reverse side has information on ‘Entertainment’ so you can use any spare posters and flyers for raising awareness on Children in Entertainment in your area later in the year if you wish.

• There will also be a PDF version on the NNCEE website available should you need it

• There is space for you to add your contact details - LA logo/stamp.• Display posters in your offices and reception areas and send posters to other staff

in your LA for them to display at their offices• You may be able to set up a display stand in the reception to your office• Other places you may want to send a posters to are libraries, youth centres, local

businesses, children centres, local borough councils etc• This year we are raising awareness of Health and Safety of children working, so you

might want to send some posters to your schools, see later section on ‘Schools’

Press release: • There is a press release included and on the NNCEE website for you to download. • The idea is to start working on publicity now to allow plenty of time for the article to

be approved and sent out. • This press release is only a suggested article that is there for you to use should you

wish.• There is space for you to personalise the article by adding on your Local Authority’s

plans for the event and relevant contact details etc• It is important you get the document approved via your manager, communications

team or other appropriate department before sending it anywhere• With permission send to local newspapers, radio stations, newsletters etc• You may also be able to get the event put onto the internal website for your LA. You

should be able to do this by forwarding the article to your communications team or relevant department

For more information visit www.bucksinfo.net/nncee

• They same department may also be able to get the article into an internal magazine, newsletter or on an e-bulletin

Schools:

• Child Employment fortnight is a great opportunity to raise awareness and work with schools especially as the emphasis is on keeping children safe whilst they are working. You may want to start by sending out letters to schools informing them of the week see sample letter included on the NNCEE website.

• You may want to include a poster or a copy of the press release with this letter• You could also use this opportunity to offer pupil or staff talks during the fortnight or

later in the year. • You could run a competition in schools to design a poster promoting child

employment fortnight.• See if you are able to put up display board in an area of the school where it will be

supervised by school staff e.g. reception area or school library • Offer to do a drop in session during the pupils’ lunch break where they can meet

you and discuss their individual questions regarding their part time work. • There are lots of resources included for lessons and assemblies in schools. These

include:o A word search o 2 Quiz Sheets together with answer sheetso 2 sample ‘Spot the Hazard’ sheets for different types of employment. There

is one for ‘hairdressing’ and one for a café worker’ but you can make more for yourself by adding different pictures for different employments. The idea is to give them to the children and get them to list the hazards they can think of and possible solutions – just like a ‘risk assessment’

o ‘Ryan’s Story’ Discussion document. This is a true story, thought provoking story. Give this to the children to read and then get them to discuss the issues – possible questions to help them think it through are included at the end.

o Sample Job Adverts. Lots of fictitious adverts that children might think of applying for. Get the children to think about whether they would like to apply, what questions they might need to ask about the job. Is the job going to be suitable for them – type of job, hours of work, permits needed, etc.

o PowerPoint’s – various different PowerPoints that you can customise to suit your individual circumstances. Don’t forget the obvious – that you need to change the wording to include your own Local Authority contact details. Some are already designed for different year groups, maybe for short assemblies. Some are designed for a longer PHSE/Citizenship style of lesson. Don’t forget to take copies of your ‘Child Employment Leaflets to give to the children.

Many thanks to Kent, Surrey and East Sussex for providing these PowerPoints and resources

Shopping Centres:

• See if it is possible to put up a display board in a shopping centre • The shopping centre will probably require you to provide a copy of your

organisations public liability insurance (usually held by your legal department) prior to you putting up display boards and may stipulate the type of display you have – e.g. in some places you will need to have material on both sides – some centres will provide you with a table and table cloth, chairs etc in others you may have to

For more information visit www.bucksinfo.net/nncee

provide this equipment yourself. (Note most do not allow you to store things in cardboard boxes under your display table – plastic boxes are usually allowed!)

• Also when planning your day take into account that you will have to set up and take down the display when the centre is closed to the public.

• You will also require staff to cover the lunch break to allow you to move away from the stand – often no food or drink is permitted by the stand in shopping centres.

• If you are not able to arrange a stand the shopping centre manager may be able to distribute leaflets to all the shops for you or posters for them to display

• Or see if you can walk round the centre and hand out flyers advertising the fortnight

Employer Visits:

• Other sections of your organisation may be happy to help you carry out employer visits. E.g. trading standards, environmental health.

• Can you enlist the help of your Education Welfare Officers? (Check with your manager first)

• Arrange to target employers in particular areas. Working in teams or individually, visit as many employers/shops/businesses in one area.

• Use the visit record form on the NNCEE website to collect information regarding child employment (also included in pack)

• Go armed with your information leaflets and work permit application forms, to give to employers who may not be aware of the legislation. You may also wish to mark up the relevant application forms with a sticker or other mark so that you can see which employers have sent back registration forms as a result of the week

• Make sure you follow up any employers found to be employing children, to ensure they comply with the legislation. You can download a sample letter from the NNCEE website (copy included in pack)

• Working in teams with colleagues, it is possible to reach lots of employers in a day to raise awareness.

Letters to Employer:• If you are not able to visit employers you could write out to them during the fortnight • Or you may wish to do both visits some and write to others• This year with the emphasis being on Health & Safety of young workers, we

suggest you may like to target newsagents, as they are traditionally the biggest employers of children especially the younger ones.

• We have included a letter you can send to newsagents, together with a leaflet called ‘Know the risk – Get Smart’ about Ryan who was killed whilst doing his paper round, and one about completing a risk assessment.

• Addresses can be easily found from yell.com• Please feel free to amend the letter to suit your area and purposes.

Press release after the event:• There will be a press release after the event. The NNCEE will try to get this article in

the national press• You will also be sent a copy for you to send to your local press or to your local

authorities press officer to send out

Who else to contact:

For more information visit www.bucksinfo.net/nncee

There are a number of groups or places you may want to contact to help promote the fortnight. They may want to get involved in a big way or wish to display posters or flyers advertising the event. Either way it could help raise awareness of the event. Here are a few examples to start you off and there is also a sample letter that you could send out on the NNCEE website: • Connexions teams • Borough council• Libraries• Children/family centres • Youth centres • Leisure centres • Other sections of your LA e.g. Trading standards, Environmental Health • Gateways – some local authorities have Gateways which are a resource centre for

the public to get information about various council services• Citizens advice

The working party hopes this pack has helped your LA plan and run a successful Child Employment Fortnight. We also hope you

have enjoyed being part of this important national event.

A questionnaire will be sent out after the event for your feedback on how it all went. Please be honest with your answers and make sure you send the completed questionnaire back to us when required. When planning Child Employment Fortnight 2012

we will rely on your feedback, ideas and suggestions.

Having provided resources and posters for Child Employment Fortnight for several years, we are in very much in need of some ‘new blood’ to help with ideas and all the work involved for 2012 If you wish to join the working party (you don’t have to be in the

SE, we try to do most of it by email) for child employment fortnight 2012 then please let us know. The working party is only

just a few of us and we would appreciate more help to spread the workload

Best of luck with running your fortnightWendy Smith, Jo Booth, Gwen Medd and the SE NNCEE

For more information visit www.bucksinfo.net/nncee