Summer Holiday Minecraft Meets

Are you looking for a fun activity to keep your primary age pupils entertained during the Summer holidays?

The Curriculum Innovation team are running two exciting activities over two weeks this Summer at The Innovation Centre, in Bradford.

The sessions are aimed at 6 to 11 year olds and are £9.50 per child.

 

Week 1 – 26th & 27th July

The first activity is a journey into the Toy Story world where you will embark on a quest with Buzz and Woody. In the second you will fight waves of mobs to win emeralds in an epic dungeon quest.

Visit: tinyurl.com/MMBfdSumW1 to book your place

 

Week 2 – 31st July & 1st Aug

First you will discover what its like to be a mouse in an exciting chase the cheese adventure. The choice of 4 worlds awaits you in the second quest – will you decide on creative, crafting, redstone or robot.

Visit: tinyurl.com/MMBfdSumW2 to book your place

Congratulations to the winners of the Foster Carer Awards 2017

Bradford foster carers have been recognised and awarded for the selfless work they do looking after some of the city’s most vulnerable children, at a special awards ceremony organised by Bradford Council.

The awards are the Fostering Service’s opportunity to thank its carers and celebrate their achievements in supporting Bradford’s most vulnerable children. The ceremony was held on Monday 10 July 2017 in City Hall and celebrated the long service, commitment and dedication of Bradford’s foster carers.

Three inspirational fostering families in Bradford were also celebrated as exceptional carers at the Awards ceremony, alongside recognition and commendation of all the fostering families who have achieved long service milestones of between 10 and 35 years.

Cllr Val Smith said:

“Bradford’s foster carers dedication and commitment to the most vulnerable children in our city is amazing. It has been humbling and very moving to hear all their wonderful stories of love and care. It was fantastic to see them receive their awards from the Lord Mayor and to share this special moment with them.”

Michael Jameson, Strategic Director Children’s Services opened the ceremony with a speech about the importance of the work that carers do in keeping making a fantastic difference to  our children’s lives.

Jim Hopkinson, Deputy Director Children’s Services, announced each carer receiving a long service award. The Lord Mayor, Cllr Abid Hussain, presented each carer with a certificate of appreciation. Carers who had reached 15 years or more also received a bouquet of flowers and those carers who had achieved 20, 25, 30 and 35 years also received an engraved crystal award in recognition of their long service.

For the new Exceptional Carer Award, social workers in the fostering service were asked to nominate carers who had shown exceptional service over the past year – 21 carers were put forward, which reflects the scale of the number of Bradford’s foster carers who will go above and beyond what is required of them to support and care for a child in need.

The winners and runners up of the Exceptional Carer of the Year Award were selected by a panel made up of the fostering team managers.

Gareth Flemyng, Fostering Service Manager for Bradford Council, invited the three nominees’ champions to explain to the audience of foster carers, social workers, and senior Children’s Services staff, why their carers had been nominated. All three nominees were presented with awards and certificates in recognition of the service they had provided.

The winning foster carers for Exceptional Carer Award of 2017 were:

Evelyn and Raymond Harrison – Mainstream Foster Carers

Evelyn and Raymond’s commitment and dedication to Natty throughout his short life was exceptional. Natty came to them when he was 9 weeks old and he was 12 years old when he passed away. From the very beginning of his life with them, Evelyn and Raymond fully embraced his complexities and loved him like he was their own son. Their whole family life orbited around Natty and his needs.

Natty was born with drugs in his bloodstream and he struggled with a wide range of disabilities and complex health needs due to his mother’s drug addictions during her pregnancy and his difficult birth. These had profound effects on Natty for his whole life – he had significant global developmental delay, severe irritability, microcephaly, severe birth asphyxia and neonatal abstinence syndrome. He was gastrostomy fed and had an ileostomy.

Little Natty was always uncomfortable laying down and would have frequent epileptic fits, which would twist his little body in to painful shapes, so Evelyn spent a lot of his life holding him and carrying him in her arms to give him the comfort and support he needed.

Caring for Natty on a day-to-day basis would have been a huge challenge for any carer, yet throughout the 12 years of his life, Evelyn and Raymond were constant in their commitment and love for him and are slowly coming to terms with his death. They are sensitive and compassionate people who gave Natty an exceptionally good life.

The runners up were:

Mark Smith – Support Care

Mark was nominated because of the support and dedication he has shown since 2015 to a teenage boy. The young man has been through several massive upheavals in his personal life but Mark has remained steadfast providing a trusting, supportive relationship and a safe space for the teenager to be himself and have time away from his stressful home environment and the uncertainties surrounding his future.

As a support carer, Mark provides planned short respite breaks for children after school and a couple of overnight stays over the weekends twice a month, but during this young man’s most stressful period of life when he had nowhere to stay, Mark offered for him to come and stay full time until a permanent home could be found. Mark continues to provide a respite placement for the child and remains the only consistent male role model in his life.

Mary Thompson Lister – Connected Person (Family & Friends Carer)

Mary was nominated for her devotion and commitment to providing a loving and stable family home for her grandchildren. Mary currently looks after her two youngest grandchildren, but she also cared for their older brother and sister, who are now adults. The two younger children have complex needs including ADHD and FASD, along with autistic traits so, through no fault of their own, can be a handful to care for and are constantly on the go from the moment they wake until they fall asleep at night.

Mary has attended lots of training over the years to help her better understand and meet the children’s needs. She is also an outstanding advocate for the children at their school, working with the school to make sure their individual needs are met. She has engaged the children in their wider community and has helped them become involved in the local Royal Legion. Mary has helped the children experience the wider world by taking them on holidays both home and abroad – they are regular visitors at Butlins and have their own red coats.

‘Reading Matters’ brings together those passionate about Closing the Literacy Gap

A locally-based charity who work to improve reading skills and life chances for young people held their annual literacy conference last week.

This year’s conference was created to address the issue of ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ and how to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve the same as their more fortunate peers.

Popular children’s authors, Tom Palmer and Andy Seed both presented at the conference speaking about ways to make reading more accessible for all children and the role that authors can play in igniting a love of reading.

The conference keynote speech was delivered by Bradford-born Matt Bromley, a leading education writer and consultant who was able to raise his own aspirations and academic achievement above those expected by his circumstances by becoming an avid reader.

Matt spoke of the importance of reading for pleasure on social mobility and how the “word rich” will inevitably become more affluent and the “word poor” more impoverished. He implored teachers, as those who have the “superpower” of being literate and loving books to pass it on and stressed the value of parents reading to their children at home.

The highlight of the day was when children from two Bradford schools – Dixon’s Kings Academy and Bowling Park Primary School spoke to the enthralled delegates about how their Reading Leaders training had helped them to improve the confidence and reading ability of their younger reading partners.

The Reading Leaders training which prepares older pupils to provide effective one to one reading support to the younger ones is a great way to engage children from disadvantaged backgrounds who often learn better from other young people.

The other expert speakers were Dr Paula Clarke of The University of Leeds who shared strategies for teaching language comprehension to support those that struggle, Deborah Bullivant of the Grimm and Co social enterprise in Rotherham that uses an apothecary shop as the inspiration for creative writing and Rachel Van Riel who shared tips on how to make library spaces for children as attractive and accessible as possible.

Workshops covered topics relevant to ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ including the best support for those with English as an additional language and using comics to enhance learning.

Over 150 people attended the conference, mainly teachers from primary and secondary schools along with librarians, learning mentors and other education professionals with some travelling from as far as London to be part of this motivating event.

Rachel Kelly, Chief Executive of Reading Matters said: “It was a really inspiring and enjoyable day and it’s so great to bring together all these people who are dedicated to doing their best for children and helping them to reach their potential”.

Reading Matters has been helping young people to read with confidence and enthusiasm since 1997 and provides schools with Reading Mentors in South and West Yorkshire. Their accredited training courses are available nationwide for peer mentors, education professionals and parents.

The charity, which specialises in one to one reading support for young struggling and relucatant readers currently helps around 6,800 children each year with an average improvement in reading age of 13 months in just 10 hours.

For more information please see the charity’s website: www.readingmatters.org.uk

Follow Reading Matters on Twitter:  @reading_matters

 

 

District looks to develop its Early Help arrangements for families

Bradford Council plans to work with agencies across the District to extend ways in which it can provide Early Help for families who are in the greatest need of support.

Early Help is a way of giving families the support they need as quickly as possible when problems emerge. It means services working together to find solutions to small problems before they become big ones.

By taking this approach, the Council and its partners are able to:
• Provide the right help for those who need it most.
• Help families to help themselves where this is possible.
• Make sure limited resources are used in the best way possible.

The Early Help approach has already been developed for some services. The new proposals would look to extend this for a wider range of services for families and children and young people. This would include maternal health, parenting support, and early education take-up and ensuring young people have positive things to do. It would also look to tackle problem areas such as parental mental ill health, domestic violence and substance misuse

The proposals would look to bring different services closer together to improve information sharing and reduce duplication. This would provide clearer access to families most in need and would help them get more effective support. It would do this by:
• Improving how we deliver help so we can stop families getting stuck and help them make clear progress towards improved lives.
• Improving family support by making it clear what help is available.
• Making it easier for families to find services so they only have to tell their story once.
• Building on the Council’s Families First approach so we have one family, one plan and one key worker so we help families to receive the right support at the right time.
• Finding more ways to help families and communities help themselves.

The new model will look to deliver services more locally across a number of ‘clusters’. This is an approach that is already in place for some services such as children’s centres.

The Council plans to engage with families, partner organisations and staff over the summer about the best ways to deliver services before a more formal consultation on proposals takes place in the autumn.

Coun Val Slater, portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, said: “There are many families across our district who need help and support. Demand for this help is growing at a time when funding is reducing. This means we will need to do things differently in the future if we are to deliver the services that our communities need.

“These proposals will look at how all the agencies who deliver services can work together to provide better targeted help at the earliest opportunity when problems first emerge in a person’s life. This can offer better outcomes for children and families and can also help us avoid expensive care at a later stage. We want to talk to families and providers about the best ways we can deliver services.”

School celebrates consistent record of Ofsted success

Newby Primary School is celebrating its latest Ofsted inspection report which praises it for creating a friendly and caring environment in which children enjoy their education.

The school in West Bowling, Bradford, has been rated as good in its latest short inspection by Ofsted inspectors.

This means the school has consistently been recognised as being good or better in all its inspections since Ofsted first visited back in 2001. Before this Newby Primary had been recognised as a Beacon School, a status given to the strongest performing schools in the country by the Department for Education in the 1990s.

The new report praises the school and its leadership team for maintaining a good quality of education since its last inspection in 2013.

Inspectors found that children are happy and enthusiastic about their lessons and that staff enjoy working at the school.

It adds that the teachers “particularly value the way in which families are at the heart of everything” the school does.

Inspectors also said staff at Newby Primary School speak with pride and enthusiasm about their work. It adds: “One member of staff stated : ‘Staff go the extra mile for children at this school and I feel it is a strength that together we make a difference to pupils and families.’”

Ofsted praise the way in which the school effectively monitors the progress of pupils and for its work with other schools in the area to provide support in developing leadership skills.

Headteacher Janice Stephenson said: “The whole school is very pleased with this report which recognises how happy and well supported our pupils are. I think it shows the strength of the entire school community here that Newby Primary School has always been a good school but as the report makes clear we are still striving to improve.”

Coun Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Education, Employment and Skills said:  “Congratulations to everyone involved in this latest Ofsted success. It is pleasing to see Ofsted praises Newby Primary School not only for the quality of its education but also for putting families at the heart of everything they do. As our Education Covenant makes clear education is everyone’s business and schools can only be successful with the support of their community.”

Newby Primary’s Chair of Governors Jackie Walters paid tribute to “the dedication of school staff, governors and parents in achieving these great results and especially the amazing pupils who are an inspiration to us all.”

The Ofsted report marks the end of a very successful academic year for the school as Mrs Walters was awarded the Governor of the Year Award at the 2017 Bradford and District Teaching Awards in March, having given more than 25 years service to Newby Primary School.

Spring Bank Holidays Minecraft Meet

Are you looking for a fun activity to keep your primary age pupils entertained during the Spring Bank holidays?

The Curriculum Innovation team are running 4 Minecraft meets on Wed 31 May & Thu 1 June at The Innovation Centre, in Bradford

The sessions are aimed at 6 to 11 year olds and are £9.50 per child.

We will be delivering two exciting activities….

The first is a treasure hunt – will you be the first to find all 10 hidden quest objects and win the game?

In the second we will teach you how to program a robot in Minecraft and then use it to compete in a mega obstacle course race!

As a memento of the day you will be given a free photo of you in a Minecraft world to take away with you and a special souvenir. You do not need to bring any equipment along – all resources and laptops will be provided.

There is no need for parents/guardians to stay – all our staff are DBS registered and the sessions are led by experienced classroom practitioners, but if you feel more comfortable remaining on the premises we have a space where you can wait.

 

The meets are being held on Wednesday 31st May and Thursday 1st June and are repeated four times with the same session on Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon.

Please use the ‘Select a different date’ option on the right hand menu to select the date and time you would like to attend.

If your child is a Minecraft enthusiast then this will represent the ideal activity for the half term.

To book your place please click here.

Initiative to promote healthy bedtime routine for young children

Bradford Libraries & Children’s Centres will celebrate Booktrust’s Bath, Book, Bed campaign during 24 to 30 April with over 25 events including Peppa Pig themed activities and rhyme times.

Book Trust’s campaign puts stories firmly at the centre of a good night’s sleep.  They feel that Bath Book Bed is the answer all parents/carers of young children have been looking for.

Hirst Wood Children’s Centre and others are thrilled to be taking part in the campaign and have lots of plans including water bubbles, bathing dolls, using sensory items like lavender and getting the children dressed up in their pyjamas.

Amongst other events Wyke, City & Bingley libraries will be taking up the Peppa Pig theme with rhymetimes, Peppa masks and dress up and a special activity storyboard at Wyke with Peppa and George characters that can be in the bath, in bed etc.

The full list of events is outlined below:

• Fagley Children’s Centre 9.00am to 10.00am on Monday, 24 April – Messy Play
• Menston Children’s Centre 9.15am to 10.45am on Monday, 24 April – Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Baildon Children’s Centre 9.15am to 10.45am on Monday, 24 April – Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Barkerend Children’s Centre 9.30am to 11am on Monday, 24 April – Messy Play
• Rainbow Children’s Centre, Keighley 9.30am to 11am on Monday, 24 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Mortimer House Children’s Centre, Thornbury 1pm to 2pm on Monday, 24 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Eccleshill Library 2pm on Monday, 24 April – Goodnight Maisy storytime, rhymes and craft.
• Idle Library 2pm to 3pm on Monday, 24 April – Storytime with “Dinosaurs don’t do bedtimes” – children can wear pyjamas at this event
• Bingley Library 10.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Peppa Pig themed Rhymetime.
• Hirstwood Children’s Centre 9am to 10.45am on Tuesday, 25 April –  Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Menston Children’s Centre 9.15am to 11am on Tuesday, 25 April –  Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Gateway Children’s Centre, Thorpe Edge 9.30am to 11.00am on Tuesday, 25 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Mortimer House Children’s Centre 10.00am to 11.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Barkerend Children’s Centre 9.30am to 11.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Shipley Library 2pm on Tuesday, 25 April –  Bedtime stories and hanging mobile craft activity.
• Strong Close Children’s Centre, Keighley 9.30am to 11.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Community Works Children’s Centre, Undercliffe 10.30am to 12noon on Tuesday, 25 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Highfield Children’s Centre, Keighley 10am to 11.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Daisy Chain Children’s Centre, Silsden 9.30am to 11.30am on Tuesday, 25 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Low Fold Children’s Centre, Keighley  1.15pm to 2.45pm on Tuesday, 25 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Burley Library 1.45pm on Tuesday, 25 April – Bath Book Bed Bear Event with Sleeping Teddy Craft.
• St Stephens Church, Keighley 9.30am to 10.30am on Wednesday, 26 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Keighley Library 11am on Wednesday, 26 April –  Bedtime stories and hanging mobile craft activity.
• Tree Tops, Haworth 10am to 11.30am on Wednesday, 26 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Community Works Children’s Centre 1pm to 2.30pm on Wednesday, 26 April – Messy Play
• Cottingley Cornerstones Centre 1pm to 3pm on Wednesday, 26 April –  Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Tree Tops, Haworth 10.00am to 11.30am on Thursday, 27 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Fagley Children’s Centre 1pm to 3pm on Thursday, 27 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• Bangladeshi Community Centre, Keighley – 1.15pm to 2.45pm on Thursday,  27 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play.
• Baildon Library 2.30pm on Thursday, 27 April –  Peppa Pig themed Rhymetime.
• Little Lane Children’s Centre, Ilkley 1.30pm – 3pm on Thursday, 27 April –  Bath Book Bed Let’s Play.
• Daisy Chain Children’s Centre, Silsden 2.15pm to 3pm on Thursday, 27 April – Bath Book Bed Music & Rhyme.
• Wyke Library, 10am on Friday, 28 April – Peppa’s Bedtime Fun.
• Low Fold Children’s Centre, Keighley 9.15am to 10.45am on Friday,  28 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play
• Rainbow Children’s Centre, Keighley 10am to 11.30am on Friday, 28 April – Bath Book Bed Stay & Play
• Parkland Children’s Centre, Idle 1pm to 3pm on Friday, 28 April – Teddy Bear Sleepover
• City Library 11am on Saturday, 29 April – Stories and Peppa Pig mask & dress up

All parents/carers worry about getting young children to sleep at night – and of course getting enough sleep themselves. But it doesn’t have to be a bedtime battle. Reading a book before bed as part of a regular nightly routine is the perfect way to get your little one ready to visit the land of nod. Bath, Book, Bed is all you need to remember.

The UK’s largest children’s reading charity BookTrust have also launched a free new booklet featuring the top tips and advice of TV parenting expert Jo Frost of as part of their Bath, Book, Bed campaign: an initiative encouraging families to make stories part of every child’s bedtime routine.

Research* has shown that bedtime routines are associated with improved sleep in young children. Benefits include earlier bedtimes, shorter amount of time in bed before falling asleep, less night-wakings and longer sleep duration. And regular language-based bedtime routines such as singing, reading, or storytelling are associated with children’s increased sleep duration and improved cognitive skills.

But it doesn’t stop there. The same routine every night involving a story and shared reading won’t just help them fall asleep – it will also feed their imagination, creativity and confidence. Children who are read to every night start school ahead of those who aren’t – and the gap only widens as they get older.

Parents/carers can pick up their free copy of the new Bath, Book, Bed booklet from Libraries & Children’s Centres. The booklet can also be downloaded from the BookTrust website which features a Best Bedtime Books list and has lots more ideas, guidance and practical tips on ensuring stories are part of every child’s bedtime routine.

 

Visit www.booktrust.org.uk/bathbookbed  to find out more about the campaign.

*Research shows that a regular nightly bedtime routine is associated with improved sleep in young children; regular reading, singing or storytelling at bedtime are also associated with children’s increased sleep duration and improved cognitive skills. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine argues that positive bedtime routines involve a regular sequence of pleasurable and calming activities before a child goes to sleep – including a soothing bath, brushing teeth and reading a bedtime story (Mindell et al, 2015). At BookTrust we also know that sharing books with your child is a wonderful way to improve their literacy, confidence and wellbeing.

Visit www.bradford.gov.uk/libraries for information on libraries and events.

Zootropolis – Easter holiday film screening

Children on their Easter holidays are invited to a special screening of the 2016 Disney film Zootropolis at Cartwright Hall in Bradford on Thursday 13 April from 11am to 1pm.

In the film the enthusiastically optimistic rookie cop Judy Hopps discovers that being a the first bunny on a police force of big, tough animals isn’t so easy. Determined to prove herself, she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with a fast-talking fox.

The Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film is a comedy-adventure directed by Tangled’s, Byron Howard and Wreck-It Ralph’s, Rich Moore.

Children are invited to come dressed up as their favourite animals to enjoy the film which has genuine cross-generational appeal and is funny with likeable characters.

The film has a PG certificate and tickets are £3 in advance or £5 on the day, spaces are limited to book call 01274 431212.

While at Cartwright Hall visitors can also enjoy the ‘Animal Craft’ exhibition with animal art by UK designers and makers and they can try out artist Rachel Barron’s stamp table to create their own animal art.

Following the film, why not picnic in Lister Park and join the free Animal Crackers family drop-in workshop between 1pm and 3pm? Children can also pick up an Animal Trail at the front desk to find out about the animals in the exhibitions and grounds of Cartwright Hall.

Follow Bradford Museums on Twitter – @BradfordMuseums

You may have heard a lot about the 30 hours childcare but what is it?

The Government calls this entitlement 30 hours extended childcare. It is a Government scheme to provide childcare support for children aged 3 and 4 to help working parents from September 17. A child is eligible the term after their 3rd birthday.

Early education and childcare is a great way parents can help their child make new friends, learn new skills and have fun.

What is classed as a working parent?

Working parent means both parents have to be working (or sole parent in a lone parent family) & each parent/carer earns on average a weekly minimum wage equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage (NMW) (for under 25 year olds) or national living wage (NLW) (if over 25 years old), and less than £100,000 per year. Even if you are on a zero hour contract you can apply for a place as long as you expect to be earning the above. A working parent can be self-employed and employed.

Foster carers are only eligible for the extended entitlement for their own children (if they meet the criteria). They are not eligible for children that they foster.

You are also eligible if both parents are employed but one or both parents is temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave or statutory sick pay, the parent is employed and the other parent has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring, or one parent is employed and one parent is disabled or incapacitated based on receipt of specific benefits

How do I apply for a place?

Parents and carers will be able to check whether they are eligible and apply online from summer 2017 through a national checker. As soon as the national checker is available we will ensure we get this information on here for you to apply.

To receive emails about the new childcare schemes please provide your email address to https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/childcare-schemes-interest/welcome.

Where can I access the extra 15 hours?

Eligible parents can access the additional hours for their child at participating Ofsted registered childcare providers, primary schools, independent schools or nursery schools. If your child is already attending a childcare provider (including out of school clubs and holiday providers) or a school nursery ask them if they will be offering places from September 2017.

The Local Authority is currently consulting with childcare providers, schools and nursery schools to see who will be offering places. Not all providers will be offering places as it isn’t compulsory for providers to offer the 30 hours extended entitlement.

Parents can access 30 hours during term time or fewer hours all year round and can use the additional hours at more than one childcare provider.

Parents who are not eligible for the additional 15 hours will still be able to apply for the universal entitlement of 15 hours of early education for 3 and 4 year olds and for 2 year olds if they are eligible.

Early Years Pupil Premium

Childcare providers and schools can claim up to £300 of additional funding for every eligible disadvantaged 3 and 4 year old child attending their setting for their free early education. This money will help provide activities and new equipment to benefit your child. Eligibility is based on the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment & Support Allowance
• Support under part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999
• The Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided not also entitled to Working Tax Credit) with earnings from employment below £16,190
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Looked After Children
• Looked After Children who have left care through Child Arrangement Orders (formerly Special Guardianship) or an Adoption or Residence Order

Check your eligibility for the Early Years Pupil Premium now

 

Contact details

Families Information Service

Telephone helpline : 01274 437503 (8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 4.30pm Friday)
Urdu/Punjabi Helpline : 01274 431252 (8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Wednesday)
Polish/Slovak/Czech Helpline : 01274 434905 (9am to 3pm, Wednesday to Friday)
Mobile : Text ‘FIS’ to 07781472076 and we will call you back.
Email : fis@bradford.gov.uk

Free arts and entertainment to be held in city centre

A series of free events is coming to Bradford city centre this spring, including parades, talent shows and live entertainment.

The Creative Streets programme features colourful costumed parades, a quirky talent quest, an innovative indoor ‘art and performance park’ and an entertaining and interactive treasure hunt.

Bradford city centre will come alive with Bhangra, Bollywood and African drumming dance acts, cycling activities and a range of creative costume-making workshops.

Bradford’s cutting edge arts company, The Brick Box, will stage a follow-up production of their highly successful, Wild Woods ‘indoor woodland’ and performance space.

The Wild Woods in Bloom will put the spring back into Darley St and celebrate the new season with colourful and interactive installations, live performances from a host of exciting local talent, amazing workshops, family fun and games, and delicious food.

Local master mask and puppet makers, Cecil Green Arts whose workshop was destroyed in the Drummond Mill fire, will run a flamboyant Puppet Parade featuring huge colourful papier mâché pieces created by local people at special workshops.

The vibrant Puppet Parade will celebrate everything about Bradford and be accompanied by local musicians from Punjabi Roots Academy and Moseke Music.

There will be opportunities for budding cyclists to take part in Spring Flower and Shamrock Cycle Parades, and special workshops will be held to help people make costumes and decorate their bikes.

There will be chances for people to try out a range of ingenious and innovative adaptive bikes designed to cater for all ages and abilities and compete in various Tour de Yorkshire inspired activities at Bradford Capital of Cycling.

Shipley-based arts company, Q20, is teaching local school children costume design and construction, and street theatre skills so they can perform at a colourful Pirate Parade, complete with a mobile galleon.

Hundreds of young recruits will join local artists, John and Charlotte Lambert and Scott Vipond-Clarke, to rampage through Bradford city centre’s streets showing off their newly acquired buccaneering skills at a Pirate Parade.

The Pirate Pirade finishes with a swashbuckling picnic at Oaster Square.

Q20 will also stage a quirky talent quest, Top of Town’s Got Talent on 1 April.

Local people are being encouraged to ‘make an April fool of themselves’ by showcasing their special talents which could include anything from acrobatics, poetry, plate spinning, clog dancing to ear wiggling.

The fun continues with the April Fools’ Wacky Cycle Challenges where families can try out a range of unusual bicycles including reverse bikes which go backwards when you pedal forwards, tiny ‘monkey bikes’, tall ‘over-sized’ and companion bikes.

People can also try hand-cranked and recumbent cycle challenges.

Families will enjoy an interactive and dramatized treasure hunt where they will meet some larger than life characters, performed by Bradford Adept artists, Shanaz Gulzar and Steve Manthorp.

Participants of the In for a Penny Treasure Hunt will solve a series of clues to win a specially minted ‘Yorkshire Penny’ which can be kept or exchanged for discounts in selected  Bradford stores.

Lovers of Bollywood and Bhangra will enjoy an explosive performance from Bradford’s South Asian arts school, Punjabi Roots Academy in Balle!! Balle!

Punjabi Roots Academy will stage, The B3ats, a pioneering fusion music event featuring eastern and western instruments and a professional DJ.

The Academy will also run drumming workshops along with African drummer, Moses Ekebuisi.

Creative Streets runs from 11 March to 30 April in the ‘top of town’ area of Bradford including Darley Street, North Parade, Kirkgate Market and Oastler Market.

All events and workshops are free of charge.

Coun Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “Creative Streets will be lots of fun and we’re inviting everyone to come into Bradford to enjoy the free workshops and entertainment.

“This project is part of our on-going support designed to attract more people into the ‘top of town’ area of Bradford city centre and support the businesses in that area.”

For further information visit: www.facebook.com/CreativeStreetsBd