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Home for Good Summit

Over 400 people attended the first Home for Good Summit in October in Birmingham. Speakers included Louise Bomber - a thought leader in attachment-based parenting - Jeremy Cooper, the CEO of Impower which advises local authorities on recruiting foster carers, adoptive mum and president of Girls’ Brigade Rachel Gardener and foster dad and adoptive dad Krish Kandiah, Home for Good’s founder and director. On the day, a phone helpline for Christians thinking about adoption was launched. Krish said: ‘It was such an exciting day seeing hundreds of people passionate about making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children. It felt like a movement of compassion and hospitality is beginning to sweep through the UK Church.’

The Great Bible Bake Off

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As Mary Berry brought another series of The Great British Bake Off to a close, Premier Childrenswork took up the mantle with The Great Bible Bake Off. For three episodes we pitted the crème de la baking crème against each other with a series of baking challenges. We saw blue meringues, extravagant fruit tarts and bowls of cereal. Head to the link section for all three shows.

Food eating contests

Children will eat more fruit and vegetables if it is made into a competition. Research carried out among 600 primary school pupils by Edinburgh University showed that a third of those involved chose healthier foods because of the competition, with the scheme having a bigger impact on girls than boys. The scheme saw rewards being given out for choosing healthy food options at school.    

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GODLY PLAY CONFERENCE

The 2015 UK Godly Play conference will host Dr Jerome Berryman, the brains behind Godly Play. The two day event takes place in London and will focus on ‘Flow, play, love and contemplation in Godly Play,’ and ‘The quality of laughter in Godly Play.’ The conference will take place at St Mary’s Church, Putney on the 10th-11th April.

HAND-IN-HAND CONFERENCE  

The annual Hand-in-hand conference returns to Eastbourne next year on 6th-8th February. This year the focus will be on ‘Dads and lads’ – looking at how churches can engage with men, provide good role models and make church more boy-friendly.

Children failed in early years

A government adviser has said that children’s future prospects are harmed because society fails them in early years. Sir Michael Marmot said that high levels of deprivation and a lack of services and support for parents were having a negative impact. Sir Michael also highlighted figures that suggested half of five-year-olds were not ready for school and that a quarter of households lived below minimum income standards. He said: ‘When we first looked at these figures, we assumed there must be something wrong with the measurement. How can it be the case in England, one of the richest countries in the world with our long history of being a brainy country, that only 52 per cent of children can have a good level of development?’     

Bob the Builder gets a makeover

The children’s TV legend, Bob the Builder, has had a makeover. The new series, airing next year with a revamp from toy company Mattel, has seen Bob go computer-animated with Lee Ingleby from the Harry Potter films taking over Bob’s voice. Bob’s new look didn’t go down too well on Twitter:

@chestNUTay: Can we fix it? NO. No we can’t.

@finnmciver: The new Bob the Builder is just creepy, cartoons shouldn’t look like actual human people.

@justbiglee: I refuse to believe the new Bob the Builder is old enough to hold any kind of qualification.