EHCP Transfers, SEND News & two Shows

EHCP Transfers, SEND News & two Shows 20th October 2017 Dear All Half-term next week? All schools seem to be different this year… Hope you enjoy yours.

Who are SEND Family Voices?

Lots of readers know we are, but we sometimes forget that this isn’t true for people newer to us…

We are collective of ten parent-led volunteer disability specific support groups in Kingston & Richmond, plus individual parents. Take a look at our About Us page on our website to see who we are: www.sendfamilyvoices.org/about-us Our ‘spoke and hub’ model means we can be pan-disability and reflective across the SEND community. Our reach is tremendous and our common purpose is the same; to make things better.

Trigger Letter, Transfer, Talking… EHCP Transfers Are you going through or are you about to go through the process of transferring a statement to an EHCP? Can we help?

You may be aware that the Government deadline for transferring from a statement to an EHCP is 31st March 2018. You may be one of the hundreds of families in Richmond and Kingston who have not yet transferred. If so you will most probably be going through this process over the next few months, you may already have received a “trigger letter”.

Achieving for Children have put in place a transition team of 4 EHCP coordinators and additional educational psychology resource, however there will still be considerable pressure on the system with so many children and young people going through the transfer process in such a short space of time.

To help families to help themselves we are running a series of workshops / open meetings to help you understand the process, what you can do to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible, and what to look out for. We will also explain the jargon: “trigger letter”, “transfer review meeting”, “preparing for adulthood” being just a few that have been causing confusion recently.

When & Who? The workshop will be run by Penny from SEND Family Voices (the EHCP Lead and main author of the Golden Binder) and Alex Hardy of the Independent Supporters. Dates are: Friday 3rd November - 10:00am to 12:00noon at Winter Garden, York House, Richmond Rd, TW1 3AA Thursday 9th November - 7pm to 9pm at DoubleTree Hilton,1 Skerne Road, Kingston, KT2 5FJ Friday 17th November - 10:00am to 12:00noon *

at MeToo&Co, The CrossWay Centre, Twickenham, TW1 2PD * creche available. Contact Fiona: info@metooandco.org.uk If you are able to register attendance that would be helpful, but feel free to just turn up.

E: events@sendfamiliyvoices.org

And a final word If for any reason you have not transferred to an EHCP by 31st March 2018 the Government have confirmed that your child’s statement will be legally valid after this date. So, no need to panic.

SEND Threshold Guidance “The SEND Threshold Guidance will be reviewed in November. To support this review Achieving for Children (AfC) are seeking opinions on how well it is working. The guidance is intended to be used by schools, AfC officers, health professionals, social care professionals and families.” You can find the full Guidance here https://www.afcinfo.org.uk/local_offer/blog_articles/1604-achieving-for-children-afc-senthreshold-guidance-review

A Short Introduction The aim is to ensure transparency and parity between schools in terms of identification.

When a school identifies a pupil as requiring SEN support, the school should ensure that expectations regarding assessment, quality first teaching, interventions and resources are met swiftly. The pupil’s response to these interventions should then be monitored over time.

For a need to be a special educational need, a significant negative impact on the education of the pupil must be demonstrated.

Keeping it Simple We can’t say it’s an easy read… but it is important. We know that parent feedback is valued by the authors, so if you have the time, perhaps the best bet is to look at the chapter – or part chapter - that interests you. The chapters are: Communication and interaction o Speech, language and communication needs o Autism (including Asperger’s syndrome, and communication and interaction difficulties) Cognition and learning o Global or general learning difficulties o Specific learning difficulties Social emotional and mental health difficulties o (Including for example, attachment difficulties or disorders, conduct difficulties, anxiety) Sensory and/or physical needs o Hearing impairments o Visual impairments o Physical disabilities

The survey is here: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/thresholdguidancereview/

SEND Ofsted – One Year On This week saw the publication of the government report titled ‘Local area SEND inspections: One Year On’. We offer a precis of Special Needs Jungle’s article on this subject (thank you SNJ!); you can find the links to the full article and government report below.

“What does the Ofsted/CQC SEND inspection framework do?

The SEND inspection framework holds local area leaders to account for how they implement the SEND Code of Practice 2014 and for their strategic leadership of services in the local area. In particular: • identification of SEND • providing for and meeting needs • outcomes for children and young people who have SEND

What does success look like?

In the most effective local areas, strong strategic leadership had led to established joint working between education, health and care services. This underpinned their success when implementing the reforms of the Code of Practice.

Children and young people who have SEND and their families typically had good access to high-quality short breaks.

Early Years; the established joint working of professionals from education, health and care in early years settings had ensured that children who have SEND had effective plans to move from early years to school

Written Statements of Action (WSA) 9 out of the 52 authorities that have been inspected, received a WSA; detailing areas of significant concern. Some similarities in areas who were told to produce a written statement of action: • Leaders’ strategies to implement the reforms were weak and lacked impact. This included the role of the designated medical or clinical officer, which meant leaders were unable to succeed with collaboration, • Leaders’ evaluations of the effectiveness of their services did not focus on improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND. • Elected council members were not holding local area leaders to account well enough, meaning a lack of leadership scrutiny.

• Parental dissatisfaction was a main weakness in the majority of the nine and leaders’ engagement with parents was particularly poor. “ You can read Special Needs Jungle’s full report here: https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/ofsted-and-cqc-report-on-one-year-of-sendinspections-it-isnt-pretty/ You can read the Government report on One Year On here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652694/loc al_area_SEND_inspections_one__year__on.pdf

@SENDFamilyVoice There is so much information out there!

How to help a child who is struggling to attend school - a guide for families & professionals https://itmustbemum.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/how-to-help-a-child-who-is-struggling-toattend-school-a-comprehensive-guide-for-professionals-and-families/amp/ **Very important** Tribunal win for high rate mobility DLA for a boy with severe social impairment: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/AAC/2017/391.html

£100 million funding gap in SEND provision across London https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/ps100m-funding-gap-send-provisionresearch-reveals?amp Louis Theroux explores anorexia & eating disorders on October 29th: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/44/louis-therouxanorexia?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_press_office&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkna me=corporate ASD guide to using London Underground https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/understanding-autism/are-you-aged-16-25-andon-the-spectrum/myvoice/autism-and-me/using-the-london

Transforming Mental Health in Richmond (age 18+) Join Healthwatch Richmond for an evening exploring Mental Health care in Richmond: the challenges people currently face, the improvements being made, and the road to better care.

9th November 2017 – 6pm to 9pm York House, Twickenham, TW1 3AA For more info, please follow this link: http://www.healthwatchrichmond.co.uk/transforming-mental-health-richmond

A Midsummer Night's Dream For young people with autism and their families 16th to 28th October 2017 - Mon–Fri 10.30am & 2.00pm, Sat 10.30am Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, All tickets £10 Booking is by phone only – call Izzy at OT Take Part, 020 8940 0141. http://www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-midsummer-nights-dream “Flute Theatre, who make work especially for young people with autism and their families, return to the Orange Tree. Up to fifteen children on the spectrum become the participants for each performance, sitting with six actors in a circle on our stage. For ages 10+ The Orange Tree Theatre is wheelchair accessible and the performance is suited to every young person with autism spectrum conditions, including those who are entirely non-verbal. It was just voted London’s Welcoming Theatre at the UK Theatre Awards for a second year in a row. All participants and their families are welcome to join the cast for tea and biscuits after the performance.”

Orionid Meteor Shower – Free Show Absolutely nothing to do with SEND – just something nice and free!

“The sky will be filled with shooting stars this weekend thanks to debris from Halley's Comet.

The annual Orionid meteor shower will see around 20 meteors passing through the sky every hour. The shower is visible throughout the month, but experts say the peak time to view it in the UK will be early on Sunday, between midnight and 03:00 BST.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41694290 As ever, if you have any queries at all, please ask and we'll always do our best to find an answer.

With best wishes, Caroline North (for Kingston) and Romany (for Richmond) Phone: 07469 746 145

www.sendfamilyvoices.org