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Wednesday 2 September 2020
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Our Stars 2020 – have you or your team been nominated?
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We were pleased to be able to reopen the Our Stars staff awards nominations process back in June following its pause back in March, and you responded amazingly, with nearly 120 nominations gathered across all categories. The nominations highlighted some of the ways that hero colleagues have gone above and beyond over the last year, many related to the work undertaken as part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but others who had done a great job delivering for our residents in other ways. Pictured left are some of last year's winners.
Nominations closed at the end of July, and our awards judging panel met last month to shortlist and decide on the winners for each category. We are delighted to be able to announce the full list of nominations for each category today (click here to view the full list and see if you or your teams have been put forward for a prize). In two weeks’ time, we will be sharing the shortlist for each category with you, before announcing the winners at online ceremonies next month.
The virtual events celebrating your successes will be run in two tranches – on the evenings of Tuesday 20 and Thursday 22 October. Nominees will be informed later this month of which event they should attend. While COVID-19 restrictions mean we unfortunately can’t have a physical gala awards night, we will still be giving special recognition through these virtual ceremonies to our amazing winners and nominees, and hope to run a physical event to mark their hard work early in 2021, depending on future developments or changes to existing restrictions.
As always, some of our most popular categories were Employee of the Year (23 nominations); Team of the Year (13 nominations); Manager of the Year (15 nominations) and Support Staff Star of the Year (10 nominations). The special COVID-19 Heroes award for teams that have stepped up and played a key role in our pandemic response this year attracted a total of 19 nominations. Other categories include Graduate/Apprentice of the Year; Talent Award; Outstanding Contribution; and awards based on our five Values.
Chief Executive John Hooton said: “It has been an incredible and very challenging year and 2020’s Our Stars awards ceremony will no doubt be a unique occasion too. I’m very happy that today we are sharing with you the full list of nominations received. So many people have done so much great work across all of our services and teams and I am really looking forward to highlighting just a handful of the many stories out there at this year’s ceremonies.
“Thank you once again everyone for what you do for the people of Barnet.”
To see the full list of teams and individuals nominated for an award this year, click here.
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A smooth transfer to Barnet Education and Learning Service
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Workplace Wellbeing Month starts – don’t miss our virtual events
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Perhaps because many schools and educational institutions start their year in September, it’s a month associated with new beginnings. So it is extremely timely that as of the 1st September, the council’s education service transferred from Cambridge Education to a new company established and owned by the council, Barnet Education and Learning Service (BELS).
In just eight weeks, all of the Education and Skills services and staff were transferred from Cambridge Education to BELS. The same management team remain in place with Ian Harrison as Chief Executive, and although there is a new company and a new board of directors, children, young people, families and schools will still receive the same excellent services as before. Barnet is currently second in the country for both Progress 8 and Achievement 8.
Although the transfer to Barnet Education and Learning was very complex, there was a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes across a range of teams, including Commercial Services, Finance, Human Resources and Legal.
Ben Thomas Assistant Director- Education, Strategy and Partnerships, said: “The main focus of the transfer was to make it as smooth as possible at a time when the focus for the service is supporting schools in getting children back to school. Setting up a new company and then managing the transfer to Barnet Education and Learning Service (BELS) involved a really amazing team effort by everyone. I want to thank everyone involved, especially Andy Joseph, who hadn’t managed such a big project before.”
Andy Joseph, Commercial Performance and Development Manager, added: “If I could add anything, it would be to emphasise the team effort it took to get the transfer over the line on time and to acknowledge the support of all my LBB colleagues from a multitude of different departments during the project. Many individuals and teams were sometimes called upon at (what could be considered) unreasonably short notice to provide information or execute critical tasks and everyone delivered. This attitude is the key to why the project succeeded like it did.
“The most important result of the transfer is that it will ensure that the quality of education services that Barnet currently offers is maintained. On a personal note, this was my first foray into project management, but look forward to doing it again soon…after a holiday!”
All Cambridge Education contracts with external parties, including schools, will transfer to BELS, except the school meals contract between Cambridge Education and ISS, which will transfer directly to the Council, but BELS will manage the contract on behalf of the council.
Visit Yammer here to read more.
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The Five Ways to Wellbeing (Be Active; Give; Learn; Connect; Take Notice) are driving our first virtual Workplace Wellbeing Month, which has started this week. An early morning fitness session from personal trainer Andy Aransibia kicked off events yesterday morning, with an online yoga session from Karen Morrell taking place this evening.
We’ve had a great response to our month-long photo challenge, with lots of great images already submitted on the theme of ‘connecting with nature’ – some from Barnet, some from further afield. A selection of the submitted images can be seen in the collage above – and find out who has submitted them on the Yammer group here. If you want to start thinking about next week’s challenge, the theme will be Recovering from Lockdown.
This Friday (4 September) and Monday (7 September) will see Andrew Sofos host 8am tai chi and guided relaxation virtual sessions. Access Friday’s session on Zoom here (password SAS123) and Monday’s here (password SAS123).
We will be sharing all the joining instructions for Week 2 tomorrow, but some of the events you have to look forward to include a lunchtime quiz on Tuesday 8 September, hanging basket making on Wednesday 9 September (sign up here), an Understanding Stress in the Workplace webinar and yoga (both also on Wednesday 9 September).
Thursday 10 September sees the first of our free cook-a-longs with the Detox Barn, where you can make a Turkish-inspired bulgur wheat salad from the comfort of your own kitchen – register your interest in that session here.
And remember you can also sign up for our second cook-a-long on 24 September with Natural Chef Sheila Tompkins here, and find out more about our Seated Dance Challenge here. There really is so much going on that there is something for everyone!
To keep up to date with all the latest on Workplace Wellbeing Month and get updated as soon as new activities are publicised, join the Workplace Wellbeing Month Yammer group here.
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Microsoft Teams update: recording now available for all
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Discover Barnet: encouraging residents to shop safely & locally
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All staff are now able to record Microsoft Teams meetings, with immediate effect. Especially as we are continuing to work remotely most of the time, this will be a very useful tool for many colleagues, enabling team members to catch up on meetings they have missed and easier access to decisions or action points.
The functionality can also be utilised for training purposes, with recordings able to be sent to other colleagues within the organisation for instruction on specific programmes, projects or development opportunities.
Recording can be used for a range of other purposes, including group presentations, large events, board or forum meetings, full team meetings and minute taking. However, recording is not allowed for one to ones, sensitive case meetings or confidential meetings.
When a meeting has been recorded, it is available through Microsoft Streams to all attendees of that meeting. The owner of the recording (the person that initiates the recording) can make it accessible to a wider audience if they wish. Through Microsoft Streams, a searchable transcript of each meeting is also available for easy access to decision or action points.
To read about the new functionality in more detail, read our article on Yammer here. Email the Office 365 Team with any questions here.
We are also looking for Microsoft Office 365 Champions across the council. Champions will be expected to attend a 30-minute weekly call, communicate new Office 365 features to their team and provide feedback from their teams. Click here if you want to become a champion.
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On Monday 7 September, we are launching the next major phase of Discover Barnet, our ‘shop safely, shop local’ campaign. The campaign will be visible throughout the borough on poster sites, bus stops, and via targeted digital advertising. It will also be winding its way through the streets via advertising on the back of 21 buses.
The campaign encourages people to return safely to our high streets and shop locally, highlighting the vital role that small businesses play in Barnet’s communities and local economies. Spearheading the campaign are interviews with seven local business owners in seven of our town centres: Edgware, Burnt Oak, High Barnet, Cricklewood, Golders Green, North Finchley and Finchley Central.
Jo has run Aspen’s Florist in Burnt Oak for five years: “I really believe that local businesses help the community to stick together. Shops like ours provide a great service, keep the high street buzzing, and create jobs for local residents. With everything that’s happening at the moment it’s more important than ever before that people shop local as much as they can – it’s a good thing for everyone living in the area.”
Dave and his brother have run Dave’s Trade Centre in Finchley Central for nearly 40 years: “Shops like ours are part of the community. A busy and vibrant local high street attracts more shoppers, and more businesses. Supporting your local shops makes where we live and work a more pleasant place to be.”
In these very digitally oriented times, more and more people are saying that very little replaces that special quality of face-to-face human interaction. So, if you are in the borough of Barnet take some time to visit the local shops and keep our high streets alive. Find out more about the campaign and hear the full stories of all seven business owners at: https://engage.barnet.gov.uk/discoverbarnet
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