Robs Weekly Round Up

01 December 2023

Dear colleagues,

I hope this email finds you all well. The countdown to Christmas has begun.

The start of advent as always brings the first day of our staff advent calendar. Between now and Christmas Eve we’ll be showcasing some of our best work of 2023 as well as some of the schemes open to staff and our residents that can help us all enjoy this Christmas.

Behind the first door is our Santa’s Cause campaign. The response from staff so far as been great and the piles of gifts at the collection point in the Civic Offices is growing steadily, as are the financial contributions online. Our Social Services Business Management and Innovation team were one of the first off the mark with fundraising this year. Zoe Gibbs from the team got in touch earlier in the month with some information on their fundraising.

I know we’ve also had bags of presents from staff at our residential homes and that colleagues across the organisation are fundraising in different ways. I’d love to hear from anyone else doing anything innovative to raise money. This is work that really underlines our teams’ commitment to supporting vulnerable residents. I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has played a part in this year’s campaign. If you know of someone who’s done something great to fundraise, or you just want to spread some Christmas cheer, our Christmas message page is also now live.

In a similar vein we have also this week relaunched our cost-of-living grant fund. The fund is designed to give cash support to groups and organisations whose work is supporting local people through the cost-of-living crisis. The scheme is a great example of us being able to directly support those in our communities who are working together to make a difference. Last winter we were able to support activities linked to health and well-being, managing money, getting into employment, and tackling food poverty. Organisations can apply for a maximum of £2,500. If you work with any group who could benefit please point them towards the info on our website.

The Christmas period is always a very busy one for our Tourism and Events team. More than ever we need to try and convince Vale residents to shop local and our team have helped put on a festive events programme that will do just that. In November the team supported the annual light switch on in Penarth and the Cowbridge Christmas parade. They are currently flat out helping make the Barry Christmas festival a success and on Saturday will be juggling this with supporting the Llantwit Major lantern parade.

The Show Love Shop Local campaign has seen branded billboards at the Christmas lights switch on events, an advertising van travelling around Vale, train station advertising in Barry and Penarth, bus stop advertising, billboard advertising, adverts placed in the Barry and District News and Penarth Times and promotion through those newspapers’ digital channels.

The campaign has also been mentioned on Bro Radio, alongside messaging on Vale Town Centres’ social media channels, while a batch of shopping bags bearing the campaign name have been supplied for traders to give to customers for free.

I never cease to be impressed by what the team are able to achieve Their consistent success in making good use of grant funding to support events and local businesses is a great example of how we can still make a difference during tough financial times. Diolch yn fawr – gwaith gwych.

Keeping with the festive theme the Council will be supporting Wales Climate Week next week with a Christmas clothes swap. The event, at the Civic Offices, gives you the chance the reduce, reuse, and recycle by donating any unwanted gifts, Christmas jumpers, party outfits, or toys, and pick up a few things for yourself in return. As well as saving your pocket and the planet you can learn a little more about work in the Vale to address climate change and share your thoughts as part of the ‘climate conversation’ that will be running all day. New climate change related modules and resources are launching on iDev next week as well and you can sign up to Project Zero Learning Café emails to receive updates with links to learning, information and events. Throughout the week we will be sharing good news from our Project Zero work on social media too, so keep an eye out for that.

If you are a follower of our online channels you may already have seen pupils and staff at Llanfair Primary School celebrating being awarded the Armed Forces Friendly Schools Cymru from SSCE Cymru earlier this week. Funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, the award is presented to schools who support Service children and create a positive environment for them to share their experiences.

Llanfair is the third school in the Vale to receive the Bronze award, with St Athan and Llantwit Major accepting the award earlier this year. Alyson Jones, who runs Llanfair’s MOD club, accepted the award with a few of her MOD club members on behalf of the school.

Those of you from Service families, or who work with our Service families here in the Vale, will understand how difficult it can be for parents and their children to be apart from one another so seeing our schools that children from the Armed Forces Community attend being recognised for the outstanding work they do to support their service children and their families is fantastic to see. RAF Wing Major Wedlake also attended the ceremony, explaining the challenges that Service children face, and thanking the school for the work they do to support Service children when their parents are on duty. I’d like to add my own thanks to this as well for this excellent work. Diolch yn fawr.

The team at Cogan Primary School have also been attracting plaudits online this week. Heledd Fychan MS visited the school for a Q&A with the school council and to hear about how staff have worked with the Big Fresh team to support the roll out of universal free school meals. It was great to hear how well received our work was by the regional member of the Senedd and I am sure she was delighted to hear about the difference the roll out free school meals to all primary school pupils in the Vale is having on learners.

If that wasn’t enough two more schools in the Vale also received some national recognition for their best practice this week. Cadoxton Primary School has been selected as a Community Focused Schools case study by Welsh Government. While Sport Wales highlighted the excellent work at Pencoedtre High School to deliver a programme of activities in the 2022 school year that included dance, Tai chi, self-defence, baseball, yoga, skateboarding, running and golf. Angela Stevens in our Healthy Living Team, worked closely with colleagues at the school, and I know was instrumental in its success. Thank you to everyone behind this sector leading work.

It is always great to see our staff getting the recognition they deserve, especially when it is for going the extra mile to support those who use our services. I’d like to give a shout out this week to Simon, Nima and Chris in the Networks and Communications team in IT for doing just this to support pupils at Ysgol Y Deri.

David Davies who is the IT Manager at the school got in touch to pass on his gratitude for the work of the team in “making staff and students lives so much easier”. Whenever I see emails like this I am reminded that our IT team are working constantly behind the scenes to make sure the systems we all depend on are there when we need them. As well as echoing David’s praise of Simon, Nima and Chris I’d like to extend my thanks to the whole ICT Services team for keeping our digital infrastructure running so smoothly day in and day out. Diolch pawb.

That digital infrastructure and the applications it supports will be vital components in changing how we work in the coming months and years. I received some very encouraging feedback this week about a digital project that we launched recently and the impact it is having. Our Revenues and Benefits team are six weeks into a trial of a new platform that allows residents to make payments over the phone without speaking directly to one of the team. So far 60% of calls to the team have been managed by the new system. This makes it quicker and easier for residents to make payments and frees up time for the team to offer better support to those who really need it. While it is still early days, I know colleagues in Corporate Resources are already looking at where else we could use the approach and what opportunity is there to automate other processes. Thanks to everyone in the team for the work on this so far and for the willingness they have shown to change how they work in order to offer a better service. In particular, I’d like to mention Andrew Saunders and Sue Jones who have played a big part in pushing this project forward. It is one that will significantly benefit residents, allowing the team to spend more time with those that have more complex enquiries. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Before I sign off for this week I’d like to encourage you all to spare five minutes to complete the Stonewall Staff Feedback Questionnaire and share your thoughts on whether the Council is doing all it can to be an inclusive employer. All the information you provide is anonymous and completely confidential. The feedback received will help shape many aspects of our work to support staff and really is needed.

Thanks as always to everyone for their hard work this week.

Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Rob.