The cost of school uniform can be daunting and is yet another financial pressure on many parents during the current cost of living crisis, so the council has joined forces with a local church this summer to help.

St Columba’s United Reformed Church has been running a uniform swap shop since the summer of 2019, when it started with just a few rails of clothing, but by last summer was handling 1.1 tonnes of clothing. The City of Wolverhampton Council has partnered with St Columba’s to help even more families this summer by enabling parents and children to drop off unwanted uniforms at Yo! Wolves events throughout the summer holidays.

Adult Education Wolverhampton will be launching a new series of its popular Multiply courses this autumn. They are designed to give people the maths knowledge, skills and confidence they need to help improve their financial wellbeing.

Courses will be taking place at Wolverhampton libraries in September, October and November and include Shop Smarter – Spend Less, Debt & Health – Manage Your Finances, Fuel Poverty – Save on Your Energy Bills, and Look to Cook – Food Preparation. The Multiply courses were launched last year to help residents through the cost-of-living crisis by growing their confidence in dealing with everyday money matters.

The Bulat Utemuratov Foundation has allocated $5 million for its five-year Young Leaders program to develop leadership skills among school students in Grades 5-11 in Kazakhstan. Throughout the school year, the students attend elective classes, and participate in monthly mini-conferences and specialised training sessions.

They also learn to use their soft skills, including leadership, critical thinking, communications, public speaking, teamwork, project management and negotiation. To date, more than 24,000 students from 110 participating schools have completed the Foundation's leadership training courses.

This week the University of Warwick hosted its first moth survey event. The survey is part of National Moth Week and found ten varieties of moths live on campus. The survey attendees were able to learn more about these creatures, why they are so important to the ecosystem and what they can tell us about climate change.

Katherine Mayfield, Sustainability Champion at the University of Warwick, said: “We’re really pleased that we’ve found ten species of moths – it means we have a good foundation to build on and I’m optimistic that we can attract other moths onto campus. Surveys tell us a lot about the habitats we have on campus and are a key part of our Ecology and Biodiversity Plan. If we find a wide variety of moth species, it’s a sign of a healthy habitat According to Butterfly Conservation, the number of moths in the UK has decreased by almost 30% since the 1960s, with more than 60 species becoming extinct during the 20^th century.

There has been a +51% increase in (desk-based) public sector job roles for the first half of 2023, when compared to the same period last year.

If job vacancies continue at the pace that they have, then job volume for professional roles within the public sector will be +35% up on 2022 – making this the only industry segment to see an increase in white-collar / head-office roles this year.

Elms Farm Primary School, BASEDIN Sheldon, in Birmingham, has created a brand-new outdoor fitness area for its students, thanks to a £5,000 grant from Health for Life.

Health for Life, an evidenced-based, award-winning programme funded by Mondelēz International, selected Elms Farm Primary School as one of three schools to receive a substantial £5,000 grant to celebrate the programme’s 10th anniversary last autumn. Since then, the school has been working hard behind-the-scenes to design and build the all-new outdoor gym, increasing scope for physical activity and encourage their students to live an active and healthier lifestyle.