please nominate us

November 8, 2018

Dear Friends and supporters of GARAS,

Ecclesiastical Insurance is inviting people to nominate a registered charity close to their hearts to benefit from a festive boost. Nominations are open now, and you can vote for your favourite charity at www.ecclesiastical.com/12-days/

Each weekday from 6 to 21 December, 10 charities will win £1,000. That’s £120,000 to 120 charities in 12 days!

You will require our Charity Number if you wish to nominate us and it is 1082388

The more nominations they receive supporting us the greater our chance of being a recipient, so thank you in advance. We rely on donations to help make a significant difference to the work of GARAS such as helping clients get to appointments or helping with a salary to continue to provide the best advice we can to our vulnerable clients.

Thank you
Adele

jobs and opportunities

October 26, 2018

Dear readers,

A coupler of issues from GARAS maybe of interest to you.

Please be aware that GARAS is looking for another person to join the (Syrian) Resettlement Team. Here is the job ad:

Support Officer

Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers is seeking applications for the Post of Resettlement Support Officer

Full Time: 37.5 Hours a week (with some ‘on call’ requirements)

Salary: £23,111 NJC Scale 25

Location: Gloucester but some travel required

Closing date: 9am Monday 12th November 2018

Interview date: Tuesday 20th November 2018

This one year post aims to work with Syrian Refugees arriving in Gloucester/shire under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme and help them to start their new lives in the UK. This will involve supporting individuals and families through the stages of integration, including preparation and planning prior to their arrival; housing; financial support; access into education; health and employment. The post holder will be working within a team

Post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Checks.

For information and application pack please e-mail: info or telephone: 01452 550528.

postponed

September 21, 2018

Just to let people know, that due to a low take up we have had to postpone the Interpreters Training that was due to start next week at GARAS.

If you, or anyone you know, may be interested in considering Interpreting and in particular, within a Therapeutic setting please let us know and we will reschedule this for later this autumn.

Adele

More Interesting Encounters.

September 7, 2018

I think I may have mentioned before how varied a life I get to lead and how many interesting people I meet. This is always true through the interaction with our clients, but is also in the conversations I have when I visit different groups and schools to talk about our work. Just this week I had a lovely time at Field Court Junior School where I spent time with all the Year 6 groups. What an inspiration they are and what wonderful questions and conversations we enjoyed.

One girl asked, “Can it really be right to put up barbed wire to stop people being safe?”. Absolutely – it’s responses like this that encourage me for the future.

Yesterday I spent time with a lovely group of women at the other end of their lives. Amongst them was one who had been interred in Sumatra during the Second World War. As she is now 86 she has strong memories of that time and the effect on her parents, (her mother was 3 1/2 stone when they were freed!). She was put to work as a ten year old.

A second woman was a refugee from Poland. Her father and uncle had escaped after the the war, but it was not until the mid 1950’s that she and her mother managed to escape from the grip of communism and be reunited with her father.

What amazing stories, what a great reminder that so many of us have such an interesting and revealing past.

Adele

job opportunity – please feel free to share

August 29, 2018

Details of a vacancy you might be interested in. Job Ref – 2/CF/18/545 Job Title – Transitional Learning Mentors Location – Gloucester Salary – Employer – Gloucestershire County Council Description Fixed term for 12 months Term time only plus 2 weeks

This exciting opportunity has arisen following a successful bid to the DfE to implement a pilot focusing on supporting the educational improvement of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) residing in Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire County Council, Youth Support Team, and Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (GARAS) are the core partner agencies working together to increase capacity for and access to education for UASC in Gloucestershire; funds have been secured through our joint bid to develop our offer to UASC, and part of this bid is funding the creation of two Transitional Learning Mentor (TLM) positions for a fixed period of 12 months with the possibility of a further 12 month extension following receipt of funding after April 19.

UASC can be some of the most vulnerable children in the country and accessing education can be challenging for them; both of the TLMs will, in summary, make sure pre and post 16 UASC residing in Gloucestershire (looked after by both Gloucestershire and other LAs) have a quick and smooth transition into school / training by facilitating support for each UASC and being their champion. They will also make sure that UASC are able to access and maintain post 16 education, training or employment.

Both TLMs will work closely with a range of agencies including schools, colleges, training providers, Gloucestershire Virtual School, other Virtual Schools around the UK, Youth Support Team, Prospects, GARAS, Designated Teachers, Social Care teams, Health professionals, and voluntary agencies.

As the funding for the pilot has been provided by the DfE, both TLMs will be involved in the pilot’s monitoring and evaluation of impact, and will be contributing to the DfE resource bank for UASC support. The TLM’s work and impact will also be shared with the DfE

For further details about the positions, please refer to the job profile.

For further reading, please use the links below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-and-refugee-children

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/656429/UASC_Statutory_Guidance_2017.pdf

For an informal discussion please contact Sue Faulkner via email susan.faulkner