Free fun, news & young people on film

Free Fun, News & Young People on film 7th January 2017 Dear All Hello and Happy New Year! Here we go again….

Free tickets New Wimbledon Theatre is holding a special relaxed performance of Dick Whittington next week. It is designed to specifically welcome people with additional needs, those on the autistic spectrum, a learning difficulty or living with dementia, their families and carers.

The performance is on…

Wednesday 11th January at 11am New Wimbledon Theatre & Studio, The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 1QG …and they are offering free tickets to all those groups listed above.

Sound levels and special effects will be quieter, the houselights will stay partially illuminated and there will be break-out areas around the theatre for any people who need to take time away from the performance.

Please contact the theatre direct and mention SEND Family Voices. Contact details are: Andrew Alty, Creative Learning Manager T: 020 8545 7909 E: andrewalty@theambassadors.com

Music & Magic …and Pottery and Lego and Cakes and Goodie Bags SEND Family Voices invite you to drop in to our free Music & Magic afternoon.

Saturday 4th February 2017 3pm to 6pm The Langdon Down Centre, Teddington, TW11 9PS (the centre is fully accessible) We will have a music workshop all afternoon, and Matthew Garrett (Inner Magic Circle Gold Star) magician to entertain us. There will be refreshments, creative pottery, facilitated Lego play and goodie bags. And all free!

Funded by NHS England via the Kingston and Richmond Healthwatchs’; this event aims to be fun for all the family. The deal is a) it must be fun and b) that NHS England will have the opportunity to chat informally to families of children and young people with additional needs about their health services.

Staff from NHS England (South West London) will be at the event and will seek your opinions either by asking you to complete a survey or just talking to you whilst your young people are entertained.

If you would like to come along, please e-mail, text or call us to book your places: T: 07469 746 145

E: sendfamilyvoices@outlook.com Note: whilst we will take great care to ensure everyone’s fun and safety, you are responsible for your children and young people at all times.

What can a school do to support your child? And what can't it do?

This workshop, run by members of SEND Family Voices at the invitation of the host school, focuses on children and young people in mainstream schools where needs are often being identified for the first time (eg dyslexia, high functioning autism and adhd).

Whilst we come with presentations, we find that an informal approach works best. For the two workshops below, we will cover:  Reasonable Adjustments  Identifying SEN  Practical approaches in school and home (what works, what doesn’t)  Plus…

Trafalgar (the host school) have a whole school focus on good mental health, and so we will be joined by a member of the Emotional Health Service, who will talk about what good mental health looks like in school and, in particular, in the classroom.

Tuesday 28th February Morning: 9.30am to 11.30am Evening: 7pm to 9pm Trafalgar Junior School, Elmsleigh Rd, Twickenham, TW2 5EG If you would like to know more about the Emotional Health Service, please follow this link: https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/health/emotional-health-service

From MeToo&Co “ Everything you could need to know about the SEND educational system Fiona Slomovic of Advocacy and Mediation Consultants will be running a workshop for parents of children with additional needs on Friday 13 th January from 10am to 12midday.

Next Friday, she will be running an open session at which parents are invited to come with their questions about the SEND system, EHC Plans, transition to secondary school, tribunals, choosing a school, your rights and responsibilities and any other hot topics you may have. Please note that this is a group forum and topics will be for general discussion, so if a subject is particularly personal, Fiona may suggest that you make an appointment with her for further advice.

This session is free of charge but donations are welcome. It will take place at our usual venue at the Crossway Centre. To book your place, please email info@metooandco.org.uk “

Update - employing people to work with your children Just before Christmas, we included piece on how to safely enquire / research / vet people that you employ to work with your children. The Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) are going to come back to use with some pointers. In the meantime, Thank You to Sue at Ruils, and Caren (parent) for sending us these suggestions: From Sue: “If parents ask about employing someone to look after their child, you are welcome to refer them to us (at Ruils). Not necessarily for the sitting & befriending service - but we have a lot of experience and knowledge in this area and we are happy to advise. “ http://www.ruils.co.uk/services/sitting-befriending/

From Caren: “Just a quick one about employing someone to care for your child - people need to know they will generally be employers of the carer so are liable for paying their taxes and providing payslips if they earn over £212 per week. (You may need to check that threshold of when to declare it). https://www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/nannies Soon, you also have to enrol them in an automatic pensions scheme. …this can be done through some companies like nannytax, or the nanny agency. It also gets tricky when you are doing nanny shares as one family might not pay the tax on the personal allowance of earnings, and another family will have to pay the taxes (ie it's a different cost to each of the families!!)

Other things to check before employing someone beside DBS is current first aid certificate, OFSTED registration if using childcare vouchers, DVLA check for points on driver's license if they are driving your child, references. Once employed you need to provide a contract to the person.”

Richmond CAMHS Plan Applause for the co-produced, refreshed plan for children and young people’s mental health services (CAMHS) in Richmond borough. Thank you to all that contributed…

“I am writing to thank you for your contribution towards our joint CCG and LBRuT CAMHS plan submitted to NHSE in November.

Doreen [the commissioner] has done a super job in pulling together an exemplary plan, which has been recognised by NHS England London, as green/assured in all areas – the only one in SW London.

However, talking to Doreen, we both recognise that this would not have been possible without all of your contribution to our thinking.”

The document is the first item listed here: http://www.sendfamilyvoices.org/third-party-documents/ CCG = Clinical Commissioning Group LBRuT = London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Student Request – Visual Impairment Please contact Victoria direct, and as soon as possible…

“My name is Victoria and I am a student at the Met Film School in London. I am currently producing my Master's Project which is going to be submitted in February, and I was wondering whether you might be able to help me find contributors for my project.

To give you an overview, my project is a short documentary-style video (1 to 5 minutes long) about blindness expressed from the perspective of children who have been blind from birth.

This project will be based on interviews, where I will attempt to grasp a better understanding of how blind children experience concepts differently to seeing people (for example: colours, dreams, memories).

Instead of focusing on what the blind don't see, I hope to enlighten people on what they do feel and experience. In a nutshell, I am aiming for a touching, uplifting and inspiring video that will break misconceptions about this disability.

The originality of this video is that it will be focused on sound and text (motion graphics), so there will be no filming involved. The idea is to turn the tables and encourage the audience to focus on what is being said rather than who is saying it.

I’m currently looking for children that are comfortable to be questioned and to share their experiences. Would you be able to help me get in contact with children who are blind from birth between the ages of 9 and 13 that would be interested in being interviewed? Naturally, I understand that parental consent might also be necessary.

Is there also a way I could contact the parents via a forum? (I was unable to find one online) The interviews will be recorded at the Met Film School in London and will most likely take place in mid-January so I would really appreciate it if I could get a reply as soon as possible.

Please feel free to reach me on the contact details below. Many thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you. “ Victoria Fistes Met Film School - MA Producing Mobile #1: +44 (0)7398196389 Email: victoria.fistes@gmail.com

What’s new on the Local Offer?

Locator map of Changing Places Toilets – alongside some other useful information https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/leisure-activities-and-shortbreaks/accessibility-and-facilities-in-the-local-area Cycle training in Kingston (Karen is researching what happens in Richmond) https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/leisure-activities-and-short-breaks/cycletraining-for-pupils-with-additional-needs

Phyz New dates for the New Year from Phyz (for families of children with physical disabilities)… they would like you to know that all are welcome!

“Our next meetings are: Friday 13th January 10:00 - 12:00 at the Crossways Centre (Me Too and Co) - that's NEXT Friday!

Friday 20th March 10:00 - 12:00 also at the Crossways Centre (Me Too and Co) MeToo&Co – The Crossway Ctr, Richmond Rd, East Twickenham, TW1 2PD We will also aim to do another pub night - probably in February - but we can discuss suitable dates and locations next Friday.

If there are any particular topics that people would like to cover do let us know (we still have an outstanding action to gather ideas around useful equipment) - otherwise it will be the usual format to catch up and chat over a coffee and perhaps get some useful answers from other members of the group.

Hoping to see you next Friday

Penny, Stacey and Sylvie “ info@phyz.org.uk

Grab a cuppa and take a break – young people on film…

No Limitz! - starring our kids More from Phyz… the signing on either side of the speaker is an excellent idea! 1 minute “Those whose kids attended the Whizzkidz wheelchair skills training may be interested to see that the campaign for which they were doing some filming launched (No Limitz!) and many of our kids have a role in the video. I have also seen two Phyz kids (can we call them that?) in the campaign tweets that have been coming. If you would like to see the launch video - it's here...” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNndEX5cXw

"We view autism as one of our key competitive advantages."

An American video - 4.37minutes A compassionate view on working with autism (we particularly liked the bit where one of the Dads say Mum did it all !) http://risingtidecarwash.com/

Locals make videos on autism too…

Created by Rosalind Hardy and Joe Fautley for The National Autistic Society. Music obtained from www.zapsplat.com 3.57 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsvWlsMJiU&app=desktop A personal insight into living on the Autism Spectrum. Written, presented, produced and edited by Joe Fautley. Music obtained from www.zapsplat.com 3.56 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek0m3ZQ5WZM&app=desktop

A reminder of our Reasonable Adjustments film This film shows twelve young people talking about their experiences of reasonable adjustments, what works and why it is important - In their own words. 8.57 minutes https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/754-reasonable-adjustments-the-film-of-thebooklet

And another of our film stars did this next...

Thank you to Ellen for sending this in… “Hal is one of a four-pupil team from Kingston Grammar School who recently won the national finals of a children's literature quiz competition called the Kids Lit Quiz. His team beat 35 teams from 25 schools in South London in November to win a place at the national finals earlier this month, where they beat the firstplace teams from 18 regions of the UK to win the national title. The team are going on to Canada in June for the World Finals of the Kids Lit Quiz.

Hal said that the Quiz Master for the competition was very happy to use Hal's radio aid for the quiz, and keen to make sure Hal was not disadvantaged [due to his hearing impairment]. He made a point of talking to Hal after the regional competition to make sure he could hear everything.”

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