More Gold, Safety, News & Changes 22nd April 2017 Dear All Back to school and back to work… but we’ve only got positive news (we hope?) and lots of it!
The Golden Booklet The Golden Booklet is the shorter, easy read version of the Golden Binder. (OK – it’s not gold more a kind of mustard colour. But the contents are GOLD!) The intention of the Golden Binder was, and is, to ensure that everyone has the same information, and that everyone has ownership. That includes parents and young people, as well as service providers, SEN Team, Schools, Health and Social Care. Every six months, the process governance group – with representatives from all the above – meet to make considered, collective changes. We are delighted that we have managed to produce the Golden Booklet in the same way. Therefore, there is co-ownership! It’s a booklet – and it’s accurate (prizes to anyone who spots a typo). Right now, the booklet is at the printers, and we will be sending printed copies to all families of children and young people with either a Statement of SEN, or Education, Health & Care Plan. Accompanying this, will be a letter with details of our events this summer term. You can read the booklet on our website, and download a copy from the Local Offer here: https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/1031-the-golden-booklet-has-arrived And we must say a loud Thank You to Penny Hoffmann-Becking (SFV’s EHCP Lead) for leading this work on family’s behalf.
Online safety: Keeping Children and Young People Safe SEND Family Voices will be providing informal community learning, for parents and carers of children and young people with the additional needs. Our aim is to produce a Top Tips guide based on real life experiences from families. The focus of these informal and practical workshops is on safety & awareness of: • social media and the internet • prevention of online grooming • supporting young people • supporting parents/carers to support safe interaction online • and to build individual and community resilience Our funding from the Community Learning Fund, makes these pilot events available for families in Richmond. (we’re hoping to extend this to Kingston in the near future) Please text or e-mail SEND Family Voices to book your place: 1. Monday 12th June - 10am to 12.30pm Whitton Youth Zone
2. Thursday 15th June - 6.30pm to 8pm York House, Twickenham 3. Wednesday 21st June - 10am to 12.30pm Castlenau Community Centre, Barnes Both of us (Caroline and Romany) will be facilitating these events on behalf of SEND Family Voices. We expect to be joined by Achieving for Children’s ICT and Online Safety Adviser and the Safeguarding Standards Manager – who will be able to give an insight into the practice and application of statutory duties. More news to follow.
Health Joining Up (Kingston & Richmond) “As part of the newly formed South West London Commissioning Alliance, five clinical commissioning groups [CCGs] in south west London have chosen to work collectively to maximise health outcomes for local populations. Sarah Blow has been appointed as accountable officer for Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth CCGs from 2017/18 and NHS Sutton CCG from April 2018. Kingston and Richmond CCGs have agreed to work more collaboratively and have appointed Tonia Michaelides as managing director. Tonia was previously the chief officer at Kingston CCG. The CCGs will remain statutory bodies in their own right and retain their own governing bodies and GP memberships. However, where it is appropriate to do so, staff will work across both boroughs to make the best use of available resources.” CCG = Clinical Commissioning Group = they commission all Health services for their boroughs (in our case, Kingston & Richmond)
New local special schools... news at last! Many of you may remember we held consultations last year on the possibility of two new special schools for Kingston and Richmond – the applications were put in by the newly formed Auriga Trust. We offer an explanation on the local Academy Trusts in the next article, and here is some news on Auriga’s application… “The Department of Education announced the decisions about the latest set of free school applications last week. Of the two Auriga Trust applications, one was approved (the one to be based across two sites in Twickenham) and the other (planned to be based at Moor Lane in Chessington) was declined. For the Twickenham school, whilst the Trust is aiming to open in Sept 2018, timescales will depend on how quickly issues around the sites can be resolved between the Council and the Education Funding Agency. Overall, London did disproportionately badly in terms of approvals - you may have read national and local press articles about it. Of the four applications for Richmond and Kingston, the special school for Richmond was the only approval. The Auriga Trust will be seeking further clarification on why the Chessington bid was not successful, and will then be putting in an application for Wave 13.
The Trustees working party met last week to begin the task of putting together our preopening plan for the Twickenham schools, with a view to the school opening in September 2018. At present, there are still a few fundamentals to be sorted and once they have final agreement on these, the plan is to bring together a Parental Advisory Group to move the project forward.” Please let SEND Family Voices know if you are interested in being a part of this group.
The Trusts Explained The special schools in Richmond and Kingston belong to two separate Multi Academy Trusts. A Multi-Academy Trust is a legal entity that governs a group of schools through a single set of trustees. It is set up by a group of schools, usually a local collaboration, that share a common ethos and vision.
The Auriga Trust (includes Clarendon and Strathmore special schools) “The Auriga Academy Trust aims to provide outstanding special needs provision for the local community. The Trust works in a supportive partnership with local special schools with each school maintaining its unique identity and ethos. Through the Trust the schools work collaboratively together to ensure maximum benefit for all students through shared best practice, resources and economies of scale.” http://www.aurigaacademytrust.org.uk/
OCH&AT (includes Bedelsford, Dysart and St.Philip’s special schools) “Orchard Hill College and Academy Trust (OHC&AT) together form a family of specialist providers with a focus on pupils and students achieving their maximum potential within their local communities. By working together as a family, we are able to offer our members the mutual benefits of strength and value from larger volume, especially for smaller providers. Our collegiate approach ensures the free flow of knowledge and expertise between members, allowing everyone to maximize value and reduce duplication.” https://www.orchardhill.ac.uk/academy-schools/
Mental Health in London “The London Health Board, chaired by the Mayor, is developing a mental health roadmap. This aims to shine a spotlight on mental health and galvanise action to improve mental health support for all Londoners.“ https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/london_assembly_deaf_and_disabled_report_fi nal.pdf
Reminder - Opportunity to talk with an Educational Psychologist “This is a pilot scheme being offered to 20 families in Richmond in the first instance. The offer is to families whose children have had a neurodevelopmental/CAMHS assessment, between November 2016 and March 2017, through the neurodevelopmental assessment team based at Springfield Hospital.” For more information, follow this link: https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/1008-educational-psychology-offer-postneurodevelopmental-assessment-support
Get Started with Robotics Thank to Karen for sending this in…
“If you are aged 16-25 and not in education, training or employment Get Started with us and achieve your goals. ALL are welcome to join our free Apps programme where you will: • Work with Roaming Robots, the company behind hit TV show Robot War. • Design and build your own robot. • Access to our “Get Hired” employability days with live vacancies, traineeships, apprenticeships and other training opportunities in variety of industries and sectors. • Receive up to three months' progression support with the Prince's Trust to help you find work, setting-up your own business, get into education or training. The course is FREE to attend and includes travel expenses, lunch will also be provided. You will then receive three month’s support to help you move into education, training or employment.” This course will run 8th-13th May 2017 in South London. A taster session is being held on Wednesday 3rd May 2017 in South London. For more information, or to book a place, CALL/TEXT APPS to 07415 364 808 Or email Dominic.john@princes-trust.org.uk
Changing Places in Bentalls? (with your help) From Phyz (the local support group for families of children with physical disabilities)… “One of the parents at SEND Family Voices raised the issue that the disabled toilet / changing at the Bentalls Centre in Kingston is inadequate. As a result of contacting the centre we understand that the centre manager is currently undertaking a general review of the facilities there. We therefore have an opportunity to get the centre to put in a proper Changing Places toilet but we need to make our voice heard to make this a priority for the centre. We would ask as many of you as can spare 5 minutes to send an email to the centre manager asking him to consider the installation of a Changing Places disabled toilet. More information on why this matters below. His email address is marcus.march@bentallcentre.co.uk. THERE IS NO CHANGING PLACES TOILET ANYWHERE IN THE CENTRE OF KINGSTON AT THE MOMENT.
What is a "changing places" and why does it matter? Some of you may be aware of the national campaign to put fully accessible disabled changing facilities into public buildings - with hoists and changing beds. For somethis means that their chil is able to go out to e.g. Kew Gardens with a carer and without their parents as there is the ability to hoist - meaning that her companion doesn't need to lift her to access the toilet. Life changing for us and our child as it provides the ability to become more independent. There is a web site through which you can see where these changing places are located. They are much more like the toilets at a special school - and much more suitable for people who need to access the toilet with a wheelchair - and who may need hoisting or bed changing. Here is the web site link. http://changing-places.org It would be great if we can persuade the Bentalls centre to put one in - it is exactly the sort of place that should have one (they have one at Westfield). Let's try to get this to happen.... Please contact Phyz to talk some more: info@phyz.org.uk
@SENDFamilyVoice
We have tweeted and liked many hundreds of tweets this week, and have welcomed 40 new followers. Here is a list of interesting reads - not exhaustive, so please follow us on Twitter for a lot more daily news and views: Windsor & Maidenhead pay £750,000 to join Achieving for Children. What does this mean for us all? http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/2003490/council-agrees-gbp750-000-admission-fee-tojoin-childrens-services-mutual Looking to find a family like yours? Try Contact a Family's new portal & please feedback comments https://www.cafamily.org.uk/news-and-media/introducing-our-brand-new-onlinecommunity-%E2%80%93-sign-up-today/ Given this week's snap election announcement - voting & SEND https://www.dimensionsuk.org/campaign/love-your-vote/ This is what social care needs to avert a crisis https://www.theguardian.com/social-carenetwork/2017/apr/18/social-care-green-paper-avert-crisis-paul-burstow?CMP=share_btn_tw Being non-verbal & recognising pain http://yvonnenewbold.com/recognising-pain-in-thenon-verbal-child/ Challenging behaviour and positive behaviour support http://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk/information/information-sheets-anddvds/keymessagespbs.html Using the law to challenge short break cuts - the great Steve Broach speaks https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqiVZ0iai4 Delaying ASD Diagnosis Isolates Parents and Puts Children at Risk http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/16069670?utm_content=buffer3d095&utm_medium=social& utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Undiagnosed conditions - the fabulous SWAN, always worth reading case studies like this: https://www.undiagnosed.org.uk/news-events/news/ava-rose-s-story/ How different countries see ASD https://spectrumnews.org/news/parent-reports-autism-features-vary-country/ School funding: an electoral battleground https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/education-funding-cuts-couldprove-a-key-battleground-general The real message EHCP stats should give Ministers https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/ehcp-message-to-theministers/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost
Special Needs Jungle We have so many new families added to our list, here is a plug for something you may not have heard of before… “Special Needs Jungle creates easy to understand resources, articles and information for parents and carers of children with special needs, disabilities and health conditions to better
enable them to navigate the special needs system. We aim to inform, educate and empower families to self-advocate confidently, so their children get the help they need to live the best life they can.” https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/
Express CIC (via Facebook) 20th April at 12:35 · “Oooh nearly at 1000 likes, we just need 18 more! You know us we really like neat round numbers so if you know somebody who might 'like' us let them know about us.” https://www.facebook.com/ExpressCIC/posts/1385370508175873?notif_t=notify_me_page&n otif_id=1492539707740008
Friendly places… 1. “Plans to make Glasgow the first autism-friendly city centre in the UK are moving forward, say Glasgow City Council. The authority is working with the city’s business community and Autism Network Scotland to transform Glasgow into an inclusive, family-friendly location for all.” http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-plans-first-autism-friendly12801814 2. “Due to their historic construction, it would be easy to believe that castles do not generally afford particularly good access to disabled or elderly guests. However, we have many castles that allow guests with disabilities or limited mobility to enjoy the experience of a historic stay.” Castles in Great Britain, Eire and France http://www.celticcastles.com/castles-with-disabled-access/ 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