Campaign to protect Moulsecoomb Primary continues

Community march planned for 15 May

Member Education: Time for Change series resources available

With only two webinars in the series left to host before its conclusion, the South East Education Team have held six webinars for members across the region since September, as part of the ‘Time for Change’ series. Webinar topics have included Redundancy Support and Information, Finding a Job, CV Writing, Interview Advice, Stress and Change […]

Petition launches to get COVID tests for all education staff

Westminster government’s testing priority list only includes ‘teachers’ for education in England, forgetting the rest of the education team

Let’s talk self-care – Wellbeing Webinar

Throughout the current Covid-19 national emergency, we’re seeing once more the importance of learning for people’s wellbeing and mental health. UNISON South East’s Regional Learning and Development Organiser, Abbey Dunn, and Area Organiser, Vicki Gibbs, have developed an hour long wellbeing webinar for all members within the South East. It is vital that we look […]

Education unions’ agree statement on the safe reopening of schools

Ministers should step back from 1 June target and put safety first

A win-win opportunity

UNISON learning reps from across the South East region gathered in Guildford for a network day earlier this month. Vicki Gibbs, Area Organiser for education and equalities, organised the event, and spoke about the ‘many joys’ of lifelong learning. The learning reps discussed their experiences so far.  Presenting learning as a ‘win-win’ opportunity for employers […]

Meet the new Lifelong Learning team in Southampton District Branch

Helen Capstick, ULR at Solent University I have been a member of UNISON since 2011 but have become more active in recent years when I took on the role of Union Learning Representative (ULR) at Solent University. I became a ULR as I wanted to use my skills to develop more informal learning sessions for […]

ULR Carol Wilkinson talks helping members overcome barriers to learning

How long have you been a member of UNISON? I  became a UNISON member 14 years ago when I started working in my daughters’ school as both teaching assistant and midday supervisor, when I moved to EDF Energy I transferred my membership and I was able to be more involved with helping our members within […]

Hampshire branch delivers on Challenging Behaviour in Schools

For some time, Hampshire UNISON has been raising the subject of challenging and often violent behaviour towards school support staff across the county. A branch-wide survey was undertaken in 2017 which discovered that violent behaviour and challenging behaviour in schools was on the rise. School support staff work in incredibly challenging conditions, many of them […]

Funding for our Future: a new learning grant scheme for UNISON South East low paid women members and activists

UNISON is a union of women, over 1 million of them working across the public and private sectors delivering quality public services. Our women members are in all professions, catering assistants, nurses, midday supervisors, librarians, cleaners, social workers and cooks amongst a wide variety of jobs. A large proportion of our women members are low […]

ULR Emma Nand talks about making positive changes for her colleagues in the workplace

  How long have you been a member of UNISON? I joined as soon as I started work, aged 17, so about 15 years ago. I first started my working career in the NHS as a nursery nurse at the Southampton General Hospital, and then four years ago I transferred my membership over when I […]

Using learning activities for recruitment and retention in Grovember

A number of branches in the South East used UNISON’s member learning opportunities as a way to recruit new members and engage with existing members. Activists from Hampshire Local Government Branch offered members and potential members the opportunity to develop their professional skills and build their confidence, with a ‘Power to be you’ taster session. […]

UNISON and Thinking Schools Academy Trust:  Working Together for Wellbeing

UNISON South East was delighted last month to organise two inspirational CPD day’s for over 250 people at the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT). With separate days at Portsmouth and Medway, this was a fantastic opportunity to bring together school support staff from across the trust’s 14 different schools. UNISON organisers delivered interactive, wellbeing-focused workshops […]

Activist Spotlight | Jenny Ford Life Long Learning Coordinator

Jenny Ford, Lifelong learning Coordinator and Joint Branch Secretary, Portsmouth Health branch. Facilities manager for Solent NHS Trust, based at St James’s Hospital in Portsmouth. How long have you been a UNISON member? Gosh I can’t remember! I think around 18 years! How long have you been involved in member learning? The same amount of […]

‘Fair funding’ must also mean sufficient funding, say education unions

Following the publication of the Government’s final proposals for its long-awaited National Funding Formula (NFF), organisations representing school staff, teachers and leaders – ATL, GMB, NAHT, NUT, UNISON and Unite – have updated the schoolcuts.org.uk website to reflect the funding losses facing each school in England. The picture is extremely bleak.  The Government has accused […]