December 2011 - NSAP

Blade Education is currently working with a skilled team of community translators to bring NSAP to as wide an audience as possible. The consultation for the project has come to a successful conclusion and the final output is being produced with the help of the all members of the NSAP team.

November 2011 - Shared Spaces funding.

Good news this month for the Shared Spaces Project with further funding secured for the project from the Essex Heritage Trust. This funding will make possible the placement of the Heritage Trail Boards, a major aim of Shared Spaces, that will be accesible to the public. Many thanks to the Essex Heritage Trust for their support. We are looking forward to starting Shared Spaces in 2012.

Essex Heritage Trust Website

October 2011 - Thanks to the King's Lynn Players.

We would like to thank the members of the King's Lynn Players who gave their help and support in taking on difficult roles within the NSAP films. Particular thanks to Anthony Maley, Teresa Sharp, Carol Storey, Jo Manning and Tobias Nichols.

If you would like to know more about the King's Lynn Players please see their website.

September 2011 - Shared Spaces project funding approved.


Blade Education is happy to announce that it has received funding from the Ernest Cook Trust to begin the first phase of the Shared Spaces Project - that will be run in partnership with the Westborough School, Local Funeral Directors and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Burial Services Department.

Shared Spaces is an Outdoor learning heritage project that aims to help children understand the world around them, help schools make better use of the community resources they have and conserve the heritage of the people who lived in Southend in the past.

August 2011 - NSAP film production


Based in Norfolk, BE has begun the production of the filmed component of the Norfolk Safeguarding Awareness Project. With the help of our Norfolk DASVB partner organisations, Blade Education has scouted locations and gathered the cast of the 5 films that will be made into 3 age specific versions in 6 languages to bring a total of 90 individual films to make up the core of the NSAP service.

We would like to thank all of the people who have given their time and effort to bring the production together and those who are taking part in the films themselves.

NSAP filming will continue throughout the holiday period and into September - we'll keep you updated.

July 2011 - Norfolk Safeguarding Awareness Project

Norfolk Safeguarding Awareness Project is all about challenging stereotypes, safeguarding children and early intervention - where the money that is needed is a tiny percentage of the alternative.  Analysis published in January 2011 by the Trust for London and the Henry Smith Charity estimated that the cost of a Domestic Violence homicide is £1 million and annually in the East of England, Domestic Abuse costs £590 million.

The co-occurrence of domestic and child abuse is recognised nationally and internationally.  90% of children living in violent households see their development detrimentally affected by that abuse.   According to the Department of Health nearly 75% of children on the ‘at risk’ register live in households where domestic violence occurs.  There are huge gaps in services and knowledge of the services available to women and children. Cultural beliefs do act as barriers to seeking help, as well as limiting choices and abusers can use that knowledge to their advantage.

The indicators are that early intervention is very cost effective , however whiles some of the work that has been done has been excellent, it has been fragmented, non multi-agency and lacks the ability to tackle these issues on a wide scale; whereas NSAP will be able to do all these things.  Most of all previous work has not been effectively delivered in order to be widely used in schools. NSAP take-up of the films and their crucial messages will be pursued and this should guarantee that NSAP reaches the widest possible audience in Norfolk.

The majority of victims minimise the danger of their situation, and feel that they are powerless to do anything to change things when they are being abused.  NSAP works with IDVAs and other key professionals to be able to identify those families that need help earlier and more efficiently.

Blade Education has now received clearance to begin to turn these scripts into the 15 films that will be the core of NSAP, with the aim of finishing production in September 2011.

June 2011 - Shared Spaces Project.

The Shared Spaces project aims to approach the conservation of the heritage of a Southend-on-Sea Victorian Burial Ground in a completely new way. Blade Education is working with the Westborough Academy and Southend Bereavement Services to bring this project to fruition and preserve the stories and memories of past generations for everyone.

By working with the local community and schools we want to reconnect people to this essential green space and to preserve the heritage of the 8945 people buried there. Our main aim is for future generations to have a permanent resource generated by the 2011 community so that it is possible for them to understand how these people lived and influenced the town.

May 2011 - Explaining school survey

Blade Education is currently running a survey on how to help parents prepare their
children for school. If you have a few moments, we would really appreciate your input.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7RJNW2S

October 2010 - Build with CaRe Update Film 2

The second of four Build with CaRe update films on the Prittlewell Chapel regeneration project has been released by Southend Borough Council. Blade Education is working with SBC and BWC to document the process of turning a decaying Victoria chapel into a beacon on energy efficiency. Film 2 follows the progress of the project, explains some of the major technologies used in the rebuild and hears from the organisation that will run Prittlewell Chapel for the next 20 years.

July 2010 - The Phoenix Project DVD premiere.

The Phoenix Project DVD received its premiere this month at the East 15 Studio in Southend.
The event was arranged by the Westborough School and pupils, staff, parents, governors, council representatives and many others filled out the venue. Proceeded by speeches from the Westborough Head, Jenny Davies and Deputy Head, Gerri Bennett and a performance from the Year 5 orchestra, the Blade Education DVD was watched by the gathering on the cinema sized screen at East 15 and was enthusiastically received by everyone in the audience especially the stars - the children of Year 5 of the Westborough School.

You can see a taster film of the Phoenix Project on our films page:

Blade would like to thank the Westborough School, Creative Partnerships and all of those who contributed to the Phoenix Project and the Blade Education production.

Read the article from the Southend Standard

June 2010 - Blade Education form partnership with Norfolk.

Blade Education is happy to have formed a partnership with a multi agency working group in Norfolk in order to develop a programme of Child Protection and Domestic Violence resources. The partnership will begin in July and the project is expected to deliver its output in January 2011. Working with Blade Education will be Norfolk and West Norfolk Constabulary Child and Domestic Abuse units to assess the needs and appropriate information to include in the project that is expected to output 2 sets of films in 5 languages.

Norfolk Constabulary Child Protection information: Child Protection Web page

May 2010 - ESIS Online is 20!

Blade Education is proud to announce that its ESIS Online service has reached 20 languages with the addition of Ukrainian. The E-Schools Induction Service has been running continuously since the beginning of this school year providing the 21 child friendly films that contain the information that all children should have available to them when they start school.

The addition of the Ukrainian translation to ESIS Online brings Blade Education right on target with its aim of bringing ESIS Online from the original 11 languages up to 20 by the end of the school year.

With value for money at a premium in the current climate, ESIS Online offers an excellent range of induction material for a relatively low cost when compared to bringing in an interpreter or having your own induction materials translated when the standard cost is upwards of 10p a word. The agency cost of translating a similar amount of content to ESIS Online would be at least £500 per language, so we think that 20 languages for £250+vat per school licence is good value in anyone's terms.

To purchase ESIS Online you can either email us and we will send you an invoice or you can buy online at:
www.blade-education.org.uk/buyesis.html