On behalf of Oxondads we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

"Thanks to Fathers Work..." An ongoing video project that highlights the importance of working with dads.

To highlight the importance of fathers work and what it means to dads and their families, Oxondads have been asking dads to comment on their experiences from using their local services, the majority provided by Childrens' Centres, and how they have benefited from attending such groups as SaturDads & Disco Dadz.

Thank you very much to Jose a dad from Grandpont Childrens Centre for participating.

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

Guest post from Chris Sewell on behalf of Save Oxfordshire's Children's Centre Campaign

From Save Oxfordshire’s Children’s centres Campaign:

The Department of Education's Children's Centres Impact Study was published yesterday.

Unsurprisingly Oxfordshire County Council did not want to wait for this highly regarded report's favourable findings on the country's children's centres to be released before making a decision on Oxfordshire's children's centres....

The full report is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-centres-their-impact-on-children-and-families

From the report

"Organised activities, such as 'Stay and Play' sessions where parents and their children played and learned songs, were linked to small but significant reductions in parenting stress, improvements in mothers’ health, and better learning environments in the children's own homes.

Children's centres operate in disadvantaged neighbourhoods to provide a wide range of services tailored to local conditions and needs, but they are also intended to target the most vulnerable families. The Oxford study shows children’s centres with the best funding and staffing levels did reach families in ‘most need’ – the poorest households and families with dysfunctional parent-child relationships"

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

Dads Guide to Surviving Xmas !

This Christmas, spare a thought for the dads of the world. It can be a stressful season for anyone, but, come the big day, Super Dad is expected to appear and mend model railways almost as soon as the red coat and beard are put away. Here’s a list we put together (check it twice, now) of tips and hints to make surviving Christmas that bit easier for you and your family.

1. Get plenty of rest
The busy dad needs to be on his game the whole day through. Ricky Willis, father of the popular blog The Skint Dad, says, ‘I suggest getting the earliest night possible on Christmas Eve so, come Christmas afternoon, instead of having a snooze on the sofa, I can spend some extra quality time with the children.’ Energy budgeting – we wouldn’t have expected anything less from the Skint Dad.
2. Come prepared 
There can be few things worse for a child on Christmas morning than unwrapping a toy, finding it needs batteries and then realising the shops are shut. The resourceful dad will have thought this through before hand. Says Stuart Thomas of Shropshire, ‘start storing up the batteries as soon as Christmas is over, and make sure you store them in a place you’ll remember next year!’
3. Work on those wish lists 
‘I ask everyone to create a wish list,’ says Karl of YorkshireDad.co.uk. ‘It makes shopping much easier and the time I save is spent on fun activities and stuffing my face.’ Time saving seems to be something that Karl specialises in: ‘Never waste hours wrapping up presents,’ he advises. ‘Instead, ask the stores to wrap the presents for you.’ Sounds like Karl is a dad who knows where his priorities lie.
4. Festive forward thinking 
Dave Thompson, a dad from Belfast, is full of hard-won wisdom when it comes to surviving Christmas. ‘Make sure the toys you buy are easily replaceable and won't be discontinued any time soon,’ he says. ‘My daughter is currently on Piglet number 17. We always have a spare one in the back of the cupboard in case current Piglet gets lost, left at nursery or vomited on.’
6. Keep the noise down 
Speaking of forward planning, here’s Stuart Thomas again, back with a little health and safety advice. ‘Remember not to buy toys that are too noisy,’ he says, ‘as you’ll need your nap in the afternoon after that early start.’ Like some kindly Dickensian spirit, he has plans for Christmases yet to come, too: ‘Wait until you have grandchildren and then buy the loudest toys you wish you had bought for your own kids years ago.’ Thanks, granddad.
7. Package preparation 
Of the dads we asked, a good number had advice on packaging. Ben Woodiwiss of London never lets unwrapping commence until there are recycle bins positioned around the room, while Rob Wood of Solihull goes as far as unpackaging the toys before he wraps them up. ‘It's no fun trying to unshackle plastic superheroes from their bonds, knee-deep in wrapping paper, ear-deep in Slade,’ he says with an audible shudder.
8. Remember the magic 
Brendan Boxall, a dad from Tooting, believes in the magic of Christmas. If Santa doesn’t leave any obvious signs of having visited in the night, ‘tread wellies through piles of talc to recreate the track of his snowy boots across the carpet,’ and, if there’s no sign of the big man before they go to bed, ‘get the kids to look out for him from the bedroom window while you hide in the garden jingling bells.’ Lastly, for the modern family, there’s always www.noradsanta.org – ‘the digital way to follow Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve.’ Father Boxall, we salute you!
9. Keep smiling 
Not everyone thinks Christmas is the most magical day of the year. According to Rich Lines, a dad living in South London, ‘You may as well accept that Christmas belongs to the children and make the best of it. Wear a stupid jumper, watch mawkish movies, turn your house into an LED-lit, tinsel-festooned grotto and keep smiling. The more you resist, the more it hurts.’
10. Keep Christmas in your heart 
To finish on a mega Christmassy note, let’s give the big daddy over at
DaddyDazed.co.uk the last word. ‘Note to self,’ he begins sagely, ‘Christmas is no longer about eating too much, arguing with your brother and vegging out in front of the TV. Now you are a father, Christmas is an opportunity to spend quality time with your daughter, to create magic, spread love, and make memories that will last a lifetime.’ Merry Christmas to all (dads), and to all (dads) a good night. You’re going to need the sleep.

This article is taken from Westfield.com

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

The Proposed Cuts to Childrens Services via The Oxford Mail.

Parents make a point in first of council budget cut forums.

Keeping mum: From left, Jill Huish, Jan West and Lucy Marshall, 11, support the children’s centres

PARENTS rallied and protested against council proposals to axe £50m from its budget at the first in a series of events for the public to have their say.

Children’s centres were the main talking point of the evening after more than 120 people gathered at County Hall in Oxford to quiz Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth as the authority works out where it should swing the axe.

Short presentations explaining why the council’s reasons for having to cut services were given, before a Question Time-style debate was opened to the floor.

Campaigners were mostly interested in the effects on children’s centres and adult social care.

Mr Hudspeth, who was joined by a panel of council officers, said he wanted to hear ideas about where some of the cuts could be made.

He added: “If you stand up tonight and say to me ‘you cannot cut that service’ then please tell me where else cuts can be made.

“We may have to cut more than £50m, we may have to cut less. It’s about working together and that’s why we are holding the consultations. We have to set a balanced budget.”

In the audience was father-of-two Alex Palmer, who said he felt “dejected” after the questioning event.

“We have used Cutteslowe Children’s Centre and it has been a lifesaver for us.The 37-year-old added: “I don’t think the situation has got better.

“It seems like they aren’t listening and that the council has already decided where it is going to cut. I don’t understand how the council doesn’t see the link between children’s centres and the numbers that go into adult social care.”

The consultation was the first of three events for the public to voice their opinions after the authority said it would have to make “tough decisions” on how to balance the books in the face of Government cuts.

The county council said the 90 options suggested, which total £52.6m, represented “a worst-case scenario” in which the Government would cut its budget by up to £50m.

It added that the fresh round of cuts proposed would start from next year and continue into 2019/20, with the authority rolling back much of what it provides to focus only on helping the “most vulnerable”.

Children’s centres across the county are under threat of closure as part of a shake-up to save more than £6m.

The county council said it could no longer afford to support all of the county’s 44 centres due to ongoing budget cuts.

Jill Huish, from Banbury, attended the consultation event with about 25 other parents campaigning against the potential closure of her children’s centre.

Some of the group taped their mouths shut and wore placards with “may as well say nothing”.

She added: “We are fighting for all 44 of the children’s centres.

• Dejected: Alex Palmer gets his question across

“It would be absolutely devastating is they closed. They are vital services that need to stay open.”

Emma Burnett from Botley said she understood the position the county council was in, but that it did not make it okay to just scrap certain services.

The next consultation event will take place at Banbury Town Hall on November 2 from 7pm to 8.30pm, followed by another on November 5 at the Regal Centre in Wallingford.

People can also have their say by sending comments to the council by accessing their website at oxfordshire.gov.uk

This article is taken from The Oxford Mail Online

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

The Future of Childrens' Centres - A Guest Post by Malcolm Fearn from Oxfordshire Parenting Forum.

The following guest post from Malcolm Fearn, Chairman of Oxfordshire Parenting Forum was published in The Oxford Mail/ Oxford Times Letters Section.

The consultation on closing the 44 children’s centres and seven early intervention hubs in Oxfordshire has now commenced.

The only options proposed by the county council are to replace all of them with just six or eight centres across Oxfordshire and this is clearly totally unacceptable.

There does not appear to be any attempt to consider the value, but just a desire for short term savings.

Yes, the county council has to achieve savings, but surely not at the expense of the future of our children.

Money spent on children pays continuing dividends as they move through life.

Giving children the best possible start in life means that in later life they are less involved with health services, social care, mental health services, criminal courts, probation and prisons.

This means significant savings for years to come.

Children’s centres play an important part in ensuring parents can easily access those services which are most appropriate for them, and meet other parents in a relaxed setting.

The county council is not suggesting that children’s centres are failing, just that they are not prepared to fund them.

Right next to us in Buckinghamshire, they have decided they can achieve the necessary savings without closing one children’s centre, never mind the wholesale closures proposed for Oxfordshire.

The proposed reductions will leave large parts of rural Oxfordshire with no access to the range of services that a children’s centre can provide, as well as severely limiting access in the towns.

So please take part in the consultation, attend the public meetings and tell our local councillors that you do not accept any of the options that they propose.

Ask them to reconsider their priorities and not to make the swingeing cuts to the children’s centre budget.

Malcolm Fearn

Oxfordshire Parenting Forum Chairman.

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

"Thanks to Fathers Work..." An ongoing video project that highlights the importance of working with dads.

To highlight the importance of fathers work and what it means to dads and their families, Oxondads have been asking dads to comment on their experiences from using their local services, the majority provided by Childrens' Centres, and how they have benefited from attending such groups as SaturDads & Dadz Disco.

Thank you very much to Garry a dad from The Leys Childrens' Centre for participating.

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

"Voices From the Field" - Case Study Example - "Making Changes"

To herald the upcoming publication of "Voices from the Field" by Martin Andrews, a report on fathers work in Oxfordshire commissioned by Oxfordshire Parenting Forum, Oxondads have been given a sneak preview of some of the case studies that will be included in the finished report.

Below is an excerpt from Making Changes - a programme for male perpetrators of domestic violence.

The full case study can be seen by clicking  HERE

If you are interested in receiving a completed copy of the final report then please email

info@oxondads.co.uk

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

The Future of Childrens' Centres - A Guest Post by Chris Sewell from Oxfordshire Parenting Forum.

The following statement has been issued by Chris Sewell, Oxfordshire County Council’s former Family and Community Support Manager, now retired and former chair of Oxfordshire Parenting Forum.

Children’s Centres provide vital services for children, families and communities and are part of the county’s strategy to provide early intervention for children and families in need. They promote children’s development, parental involvement, parenting skills, healthy lifestyles, personal development and empowerment. They also protect children from harm and can intervene as and when the needs of children and families arise, providing access to specialist services. They need to be a community based service so that people can attend voluntarily and without barriers of access and geography. It is right that they should target their services in areas where need is greatest, but this does not mean that services should be restricted to those in greatest need. To do so removes their ability to respond to the needs that most parents feel at some stage in their family life and allows a vacuum to develop in which problems can escalate to the point where children’s safety is at risk. Further, to deny access to parents within the locality who are not perceived as ‘in need’ cuts the most vulnerable parents and children off from the support that they can get from fellow members of the community. ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’.

Sadly the County Council has decided that they can no longer provide preventative services and has decided to focus on early intervention once children are at risk. We need both prevention and intervention. The present proposals to provide services in a very limited number of places with outreach to ensure a wider spread are based on a false premise that the most vulnerable are best cared for in isolation from other parents. Those of us who have run parenting groups know that parents learn and change most through their interaction with fellow parents and that mixed groups, if well managed, are a superb source of mutual support for parents. The highly successful Parenting in the Community course at Rose Hill has been an excellent example of this for many years. It has been both preventative and a means of intervention in specific cases of risk. We may ask what is proposed to happen once prioritised families have been supported and are considered to be no longer at risk? Who will provide ongoing support? This is just what children’s centres provide. Without children’s centres the safety net won’t be there and they may very likely become isolated and vulnerable once again.

The prospect of families falling back time and again due to the lack of community support must be a great concern. Not only will it badly affect the quality of life for their children, it will also be wasting scarce resources. In the long run children’s centres save money.

The current regressive proposals take us back fifteen years to the dark days of stigmatised family centres with families taxied in to centres at the command of the courts or social workers. Parents feared the intervention (or interference as they saw it) of social workers and many parents resisted attempts to draw them into open-access sessions such as stay and play. Vulnerable parents and children do need specialist support, but within the context of a wider community of supportive and confident parents. The proposed model of ‘one coherent 0-19 years’ service’ will not provide an ‘integrated response to families’ needs’ nor will it prevent the escalation of need. I believe it will ignore the needs of parents at a lower level of need and will lead to an escalation of those needs.

The proposed model is a million miles from the universal and integrated services that Children’s Centres currently provide. Children’s Centres are a launch pad to give all young children, especially the most vulnerable, the best possible start in life. They are also a safety net that catches and supports those in greatest need and refers them on for multi-agency support where necessary. Take the safety net away and many more will fall and they will not have the access to the mutual support of parents and the timely interventions of professionals. Most Children’s Centres have built up local networks of support involving local schools, health practitioners, playgroups, childcare, parenting groups, basic skills and, yes, the much maligned ‘stay and play sessions’ which provide a strong local safety net. The safety net also provides community cohesion by involving many minority groups such as refugees and asylum seekers, ethnic minorities, victims of domestic abuse, teenage parents and, of course, fathers. They provide an inclusive and safe place for many on the margins of society, helping them to feel included in their local community. Stronger self-sufficient communities are an invaluable benefit of integrated services at Children’s Centres. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

Despite the menace of austerity, we need to retain prevention as well as intervention. To enable integrated services to be delivered we need an element of accessible professional support in communities along with voluntary sector support, parental involvement and suitable community buildings. Don’t kid ourselves that buildings suitable for young children and parents can automatically be used for youth work – and vice-versa. We need an appropriate mix of resources. The County Council is right to allow for local communities/groups and parishes to play a part in service delivery, but don’t be deceived into thinking that being able to bid for funding for alternative models will plug the gap left after the closure of centres. There will be winners and losers and short term funding will provide little security even for the winners. At a stroke universal services will be scrapped and what remains in the voluntary sector will have to rely on the lottery of a bidding process to maintain open-access services. There will be a heavy price to pay if we remove preventative services. More children will be at risk as a result.

Children’s Centres provide the best preventative support and targeted work that we have seen in generations. Don’t ignore the evidence of effectiveness. Integrate services as effectively as you reasonably can but make sure that preventative services, through children’s centres, are a major part of that mix.

Chris Sewell

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

Reasons Why We Mo' in Movember

It's still not too late to register and start Mo'ing

Sign up at MOVEMBER UK

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

"Thanks to Fathers Work..." An ongoing video project that highlights the importance of working with dads.

To highlight the importance of fathers work and what it means to dads and their families, Oxondads have been asking dads to comment on their experiences from using their local services, the majority provided by Childrens' Centres, and how they have benefited from attending such groups as SaturDads & Dadz Disco.

Thank you very much to Byron a dad from Rosehill & Littlemore Childrens Centre for participating.

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

"Voices From the Field" - Case Study Example - Disco Dadz

To herald the upcoming publication of "Voices from the Field" by Martin Andrews, a report on fathers work in Oxfordshire commissioned by Oxfordshire Parenting Forum, Oxondads have been given a sneak preview of some of the case studies that will be included in the finished report.

Below is an excerpt from Disco Dadz.

The full case study can be seen by clicking           HERE

If you are interested in receiving a completed copy of the final report then please email

info@oxondads.co.uk

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

Fathers' Work Seminar 11th November 2015 - Spaces still available

Places are still available for this upcoming free seminar of Working with Fathers.

Please email   info@oxondads.co.uk for details.

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

What’s a Dad to Do When His Daughter Wants to Dress as Han Solo?

…put on a Princess Leia costume, of course.

—

Ever since my daughter was old enough to make special requests, I’ve let her pick my Halloween costumes. Having kids at Halloween is a lot of fun and watching the sheer delight that my daughter receives from having me dress up to meet her normally very polite requests is tremendously satisfying. Over the past three years, I’ve been Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz from Phineas & Ferb, Wreck-It Ralph, and Grunkle Stan from the fantastic kids’ show Gravity Falls. All year, my daughter had been expressing her interest in going as Hermione Granger for Halloween, so I was preparing myself to throw together a Snape or Professor Lupin costume. But then, after I showed my seven-year-old Star Wars for the first time, she turned to me and asked…

“Do you think I could be Han Solo for Halloween?”

Immediately, I responded “Yeah, why, of course, you could. That would be amazing. Why couldn’t you be Han Solo?” And, even though I didn’t want her response to come, it did. “Welll…. I’m a girl.”

Screw that. I grabbed my laptop and started showing her some really excellent examples of other girls and women cosplaying as Han Solo. She nearly shrieked when I showed her one of the members of Team Unicorn(a geek-girl pop culture group that she loves) in full Solo regalia and then I found this extremely cool tutorial on how to make a Han Solo costume for a woman from The Stylish Geek.

My daughter’s eyes went wide. She was sold on the idea. This could happen. But then she turned and looked at me, “But what are you going to be?” She thought for a second and said “Well, if I’m a Han Solo, you should probably be Princess Leia, I guess…” She looked at me with an implied question in her eyes. And, c’mon, if I immediately told her “YES, a girl can be Han Solo,” it would’ve been pretty hypocritical of me to say “Nope, a boy can’t be Princess Leia.” So, as quickly as I could, I said, “That would be FANTASTIC. I totally should be Leia.”

And that’s exactly what I did. Because that’s what dads do.

I’ll admit—my take on Princess Leia Organa isn’t 100% flattering to Carrie Fisher, but, you know, I made due with what I had. I found an incredibly cool Princess Leia hoodie at HerUniverse.com that came with the trademark Leia hair buns on the hood, which made it hard to resist. The skirt is a Red Cross nurse’s skirt from a local uniform store. And the thermal underwear and crappy sneakers? Well, it’s Michigan and it was cold and we were going to an event at the local zoo, so, yeah, I dropped the ball on that one. I need to find some better Leia boots for actual Halloween.

All in all, I think my daughter and I will make a great pair for Halloween. We got nothing but smiles at the Halloween event we attended last night and even got a few laughs when I came face-to-face with a mom dressed as Princess Leia and said “Well, this is embarrassing…”

But, I think, my big take-away from all this will be—equality goes both ways. If I’m going to tell my daughter that she can do almost anything a man can do (excepting some very specific biological acts), then I also need to show her that a man can do almost anything a woman can do too… especially when it’s something awesome like dressing up as a character from one of the best movies ever.

This article was taken from The Good Men Project

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

"Thanks to Fathers Work..." An ongoing video project that highlights the importance of working with dads.

To highlight the importance of fathers work and what it means to dads and their families, Oxondads have been asking dads to comment on their experiences from using their local services, the majority provided by Childrens' Centres, and how they have benefited from attending such groups as SaturDads & Dadz Disco.

Thank you very much to Martin a dad from Grandpont Childrens Centre for participating.

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

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