Welcome to the Oxondads Blog: October 2015

Friday 30 October 2015

Your Oxfordshire - County Council News

Friday October 30 2015

Autumn events

Got plans for Fireworks night? Experience Oxfordshire has a great roundup ofactivities taking place across the county for you to check out.

Trick Or Treating at Oxford Castle

A ghoulish line-up of inmates will be locked up in the old cells of Oxford’s former prison this Halloween to put the fun and frights into trick or treating at Oxford Castle

Pumpkin recipes

Are you putting a pumpkin outside your house this year? Send us your best designs! In the meantime – save on food waste with these ideas for your carving leftovers. Tip: they’re so good that you’ll probably want another pumpkin!

Calling all budding writers!

They say everyone has at least one novel in them, and Oxfordshire libraries want to publish yours as an ebook. Following last year's very popular competition the libraries have two android tablets to give away, so get writing!

Wifi in Libraries

Despite the savings we have to make, we have no plans to close any of our 43 libraries. In fact we think they’ll be needed more than ever as public spaces, so it’s great that we’ve beenawarded a grant to add wifi to any libraries that don’t have it already.

Fireworks safety

We know you don’t like it when we remind you to stay safe, but every year our firefighters see too many horrible injuries to families and friends. Please do follow our safety checklist, and have fun!

Opportunities across Oxfordshire

Ready for Winter

As the nights start drawing in, the weather is getting wilder. While there's plenty to enjoy there are a few things you can do to make sure you're ready for the winter.

Oxfordshire History Centre Open day

BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are recently featured the Oxfordshire History Centre, and they’re running anopen day on Saturday 14 November to help you take a closer look at their range of resources for local and family history. Go behind the scenes in our strongrooms, see some treasures from our collections and grab a cuppa or some cake in the recently refurbished café

Wheels to Work

Struggling to get to your job, apprenticeship or learning?Wheels to Work can help get you on the road by providing safe, taxed, insured, fully serviced and maintained vehicles from as little as £26/week.

Healthy Oxon

Our new Healthy Oxon page is full of tips, advice and encouragement on how to stay well and healthy. We’d love to hear what you’d like from the page – healthy recipes? Ideas for school lunches? Offers and vouchers for sport in the county? Let us know!

Free Social Media workshops for women
Want to learn more about how to use social media in business or develop a career in social media? How about all that for free? These courses have been wildly popular and there are a few spaces left so grab them before they go!

Roadworks

Get the latest on essential work to keep Oxfordshire moving direct from the teams on site, and stay up to date ahead of any changes.

Frideswide Square

Resurfacing work is taking place overnight with signed diversions in place.
Park End Street – resurfacing work is taking place and we will be moving into the second phase towards the end of next week

Cutteswlowe and Wolvercote

Resurfacing is taking place on the A40 and A44 whilst work continues on other areas of the scheme

Hagbourne Hill

Work is progressing well under a full closure of Hagbourne Hill. Signed diversions are in place during the work.

Milton Interchange

The next phase of traffic management is planned to be beginon 9 November. More information here

Chilton north facing slips

Work is progressing well and is not affecting the local road network

Budget Savings Options (Closes 30 November)

We are now consulting on our budget for 2016 and 17 and are asking for your thoughts in the context of the budget limitations the council is facing. You can comment on individual savings as well as on Council Tax levels, our overall priorities and the council’s budget in general. Take part here

Children's services (Including Children's Centre's) (Closes 10 January)

We would like your views on our proposal to adopt a new model of children's services in Oxfordshire for children aged 0-19 to save £8 million from the budget by 2016-17. Have your say and find out more about our consultation events here

We think this news story will be of interest to our visitors. However, please note it is from another source and does not necessarily represent the views of Oxondads. If you would like to comment on this article please click on the "No Comments" below or alternatively E-Mail info@oxondads.co.uk

30 October 2015 - Things To Do Over The Weekend, In & Around Oxfordshire

To find out what is on over the weekend via "Daily Info, Oxford" please click HERE

To find out what is on over the weekend via "Oxford Mail " please click HERE

To find out what is on over the weekend via "Jack FM" please click HERE

Monday 19 October 2015

Sign up for Movember !

Date for the Diary : Fostering Seminar 18/11/15

The KEEP Programme - keeping foster carers trained and supported

Wednesday 18^th November, 6.30-8.00pm

Led by Clare Campling, Programme Coordinator for KEEP in Oxfordshire

Clare has worked in Oxfordshire for 30 years, both with the local authority and the voluntary sector. She worked as a music therapist and project manager for Macintyre Care, and as a volunteer recruiter and trainer with the Oxfordshire Befriending Network and coordinator for Home Start Banbury. She later trained as a social worker and worked in the Family Support Team in Banbury before being appointed KEEP Programme Coordinator for Oxfordshire County Council in 2012.

Her talk will cover:

· A brief introduction to fostering

· Information about KEEP, an evidence-based parenting programme for foster carers and kinship carers

· The impact of lack of nurturing in the early years and the challenges for foster carers

· Tools and approaches to support therapeutic parenting to build on skills and success

Venue: The Cherwell Centre, 16 Norham Gardens, Oxford OX2 6QB

Cost: £10 non-members, £5 for OPF members. Priority booking for OPF members.

Parking: Free on-street parking is available in Bevington Road; parking in Norham Gardens, Crick Road, Fyfield Road and Bradmore Road free after 6:30pm

Light refreshments will be provided

Places must be reserved in advance. Please email admin@oxfordshire-parenting-forum.org.uk. Payment can be made in cash or by cheque before or on the day; please make cheques payable to Oxfordshire Parenting Forum. Oxfordshire County Council delegates can pay by BACS using Creditor No. 11351.

Friday 16 October 2015

16th October 2015 - Things To Do Over The Weekend, In & Around Oxfordshire