Open mtgs report, send reforms & bbc work experience

Open mtgs, SEND Reforms & BBC work experience 22nd April 2015 Dear All Open Meetings with Anna Chiva and others We have had the first two Open Meetings (Barnes and New Malden) and both were positive, useful meetings. Anna Chiva, Head of SEN for Achieving for Children, is expecting to attend all the meetings and we’re very grateful for her time and candour in explaining the Education, Health & Care Plans (EHCP) as well as answering parent’s questions.

Eamonn Gilbert, 14-19 commissioning is also at most of the meetings explaining the plans for new Post-16 education provision and his handout is attached to e-mail. Eamonn welcomes your comments on this and is keen to work with families in developing this provision. Please reply to this e-mail if you would like to contribute.

We are also joined by one of the Independent Supporters at each meeting – and find their experiences of working with families on producing these EHCP’s invaluable.

Also available is an exemplar (real, but anonymised) EHCP which we are handing out and referring to during these meetings. It’s quite long and there are plenty of hard copies available at the meetings.

At the next Open Meeting we are joined by the new Support Broker for personal budgets.

Jo Dixon and Nicola Staines will be co-facilitating on RSFV’s behalf: Friday 24th April

10.30am to 12noon

Whitton Youth Zone 1 Britannia Lane Whitton, TW2 7JX

Jo & Nicola Anna Chiva J Rourke (IS - P) S Marshall – support broker

A full list of all the events is here: www.richmondsendfamilyvoice.org/events Customer Services & the SEN Team As mentioned above, Anna is very open with regard to the challenges faced by the SEN Team in working to a whole new system whilst continuing with the old one. In fact, it’s a nationwide challenge and my understanding is that central government are just beginning to understand the enormity & local impact of implementing the SEND Reforms.

The SEN Team are undergoing a thorough programme of Customer Services training which involves ‘live’ coaching as they make their calls and immediate feedback afterwards. To me, that sounds quite daunting!

However, it is a pragmatic, honest approach to developing the SEN Team’s skills in this brave new world of equal partnerships.

If you have any feedback or comments you like to share – please reply to this e-mail, or come to one of the Open Meetings and talk to Anna.

Implementing the SEND Reforms As a family voice, we participate in the decision making forum that is the ‘Joint SEND Implementation group’ held within Achieving for Children. The last meeting was on 16th April and Penny Hoffmann-Becking has written an update report for this bulletin. Thank you!

1. Post 16 Provision Eamonn Gilbert explained the additional post 16 provision that will be available from September 2015. (See attached document for details). It was proposed that an event be held in May / June to communicate this provision to families. Anna Chiva asked that the information be communicated as soon as possible as young people are being asked to make choices by end of May on further education and colleges.

The Cheam PEP provision being discussed will not open this September but it is hoped that it will be in place for next year.

Gill Higgins (Post-16 Specialist Case mgr) gave an update on transfer of Statements to EHCPs for young people in years 11-14. She clarified that anyone staying in school (going on to do A levels) will keep their statement for the time being – only those transferring to other provision will be transferred to an EHCP by the end of May. 2. New EHCP requests Anna Chiva gave an update on new EHCP requests (140 from Richmond, 80 from Kingston).

She explained the process that is being followed and stressed the need for new requests to specify why the current educational setting is unable to meet the child’s additional needs within their own SEN support budget - and that often Early Years settings were not doing this clearly enough leading to EHCP requests being rejected or delayed. She reiterated that families are being asked to nominate a Lead Professional and that the Lead Professional should ensure that Outcomes are defined properly during the EHCP process.

3. Local Offer This web site is on course to go live on May 1. A group of parents have been active in providing feedback and ideas to the developers of the site. Simon James (Associate Direct for SEND) expressed his thanks to the parents & young people for operating under such time scales. Simon confirmed that there will be a full time post created for the first year (Karen Lowry) responsible for managing the on-going development and updates of the Local Offer.

Once the site is up and running a community launch is to be planned to communicate to the wider parent community.

4. Video guides to the SEND reforms and EHCPs The Young Champions Group presented a video that they have made to explain the role of the Lead Professional. They feel strongly that short videos are much easier for young people to understand than a lot of text and they therefore want to make a series of these to help Young People (and others) understand the SEND reforms. It was agreed that they would be given budget to make further videos aimed at explaining aspects of the SEND reforms and the EHCP process. Once these are made they will be made available to all via the Local Offer website.

Carers Grant update Caroline Jager, Aiming High & Short Breaks mgr for AfC has an update on this grant…

“AfC have received some Health funding to be used specifically for carers of disabled children and young people.

This funding is reduced from previous years, but we are still able to provide a carers grant to eligible families.

All children and young people who are eligible for services from the Disabled Children's Team in Richmond are eligible to apply for the carer's grant.

In order to apply, the family should contact their child's Social Worker, who will carry out an assessment. Once the assessment is completed, the request is discussed at the Short Breaks Funding Panel, which is held monthly.

Families can apply once during this financial year (1st April 2015 - 31st March 2016).

The families can request a maximum of £100 per parent/carer, so a total of £200 per family.”

Caroline can be contacted on: caroline.jager@achievingforchildren.org.uk Links IPSEA’s resource on understanding the legal duties of schools for children with, or without, a Statement or an Education, Health and Care Plan: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/what-you-need-to-know/school-duties Contact a Family’s resource on understanding the various benefits, and how to claim them. http://www.cafamily.org.uk/news-and-media/disability-living-allowance-and-other-benefits/ “Extend is a BBC-wide placement scheme which offers appropriately experienced and/or qualified disabled people a great opportunity to gain six months paid work within the BBC. We have many challenging and imaginative placements across the country, in both programming and support areas.

Over the last 18 years, Extend has recruited 628 disabled people. Although there is no guarantee of a full-time job at the end of the 6 month placement, last year over 75% of the Extendees gained further work at the BBC.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes-and-apprenticeships/extend/extend As ever, should you have any queries at all, please ask and I'll do my best to find an answer.

With best wishes, Romany www.richmondsendfamilyvoice.org Tel: 07469 746 145

SEND Open Meetings - 16th April 2015 The Post 16 Review, of education and training, identified the paucity of employability and vocational provision, this is identified as the key priority in year 1 2015/16.

In response to the significant changes and liberation of post 16 Funding it is important that we also diversify the local education and training offer to reflect recent changes in the post 16 education and training. Since 2013/14, vocational routes are now more fully embedded in the post 16 policy and funding landscape.

In light of the availability of these broader vocational and employment options for young people with SEND, which include Supported Learning, Supported Internships, Traineeships and Apprenticeships, Supported employment and Volunteering.

For many young people with SEND employment in its various forms should be, as it is for most young people, their Adult destination. The new national polices mean that creating local provision, in partnership with boroughs, schools, colleges and training providers has never been more important.

High Needs (SEND) funding is allocated by the Government to each local authority for the purpose of securing appropriate provision which lead to fulfilling adult destinations. These include employment, independent living, good health, friendships, relationships and community inclusion.

This will, we believe, lead to less out of borough residential provision. This is not because it is expensive, but rather that it is more appropriate for young people who intend to grow and prosper as adults in the community in which they have grown up, close to and with, the support of their families and friends.

New Vocational Post 16 Provision has now been commissioned and agreed with: 

Kingston College Supported Internships, 10 Places



Orchard Hill, Supported Internships & Traineeships, 20 places, plus BESD Provision 00 places



Kingston Adult Education Study Programme (Steps to Employment) 24 places



RACC Study Programme, numbers 20 (TBC)



RuTC Project Search will run again for 2015/16 10 places



RuTC Post 16 BESD Provision, still in negotiation over funding of 10 places

On the 12th March Edward Timpson, announced a £5 Million grant to Local authorities in England ‘to use the money to create relationships with employers, establish employment services and help schools to offer high-quality preparation for employment’. In response: AfC will create a bespoke post in the Education Business Partnership for those who deliver WEX (work experience) for young people with SEND; this is to currently to work with local schools, employers’ and providers and identified young people to secure more vocational pathways, such as Supported Internships and develop sustainable routes into sustained employment, with continuing support

Additional Post 16 Education Provision  

New Sixth Form at Bedelsford set to open in September 2015, 10 places.

We hope to deliver a Cheam PEP model Sixth form in a Richmond School site in 2016/17

Preparing for Adulthood is a difficult area to quantify, the national overarching aims are set out below.

National Preparing for Adulthood Outcomes 1. Develop a shared vision of improving life chances with young people, families and all key partners.

2. Raise aspirations for a fulfilling adult life by sharing clear information about what has already worked for others 3. Develop a personalised approach to all aspects of support using person centered practices, personal budgets and building strong communities.

4. Develop post 16 options and support that lead to employment, independent living, good health, friends, relationships and community inclusion.

5. Develop outcome focused multi-agency commissioning strategies that are informed by the voice of young people and families.

AfC Preparing for Adulthood: Proposed Actions         

Ensure all local and AfC commissioned Post 16 Education and Training provision is available on the Local Offer site by 1st May 2015 Create new commissioned and locally delivered SEND education and training provision by 2015, with a particular focus on vocational pathways Increase the number of young people, moving into vocational pathways by 2015/16 Increase the number of young people accessing local provision and reduce the reliance on out of borough provision (post 16) in terms of starts by 2015/16 through to 2017/18 Create funded capacity to deliver Independent Travel Training to young people currently accessing SEN Transport, upon demand Increase the number of young people with SEND accessing sustained employment Create suitable local accommodation and support for young people with SEND, where appropriate Ensure access to appropriate health support including therapies when placed out of borough Embed a clearly understood pathway for supported transition 14-19 and beyond.

All of the above vocational and employment opportunities will be available in detail on the Local Offer website – from 1st May – under Preparing for Adulthood.

Eamonn Gilbert: Eamonn.gilbert@achievingforchildren.org.uk