Ordinary lives, PEP, SEND Transport & moody teenagers 27th February 2016 Dear All Every time we draft one of these, we can never quite believe how much is going on in our world of Special Educational Needs & Disabilities…
The right to ordinary lives… your questions answered SEND Family Voices free workshop with Steve Broach will cover the following: 1. Education, Health & Care Plans; what should you expect from your school and fhs statutory services with regard to Education + Health + Social Care (all in one plan)? 2. What are your new rights* to out-of-school support and activities (short breaks) 3. How can you request more support? For instance, Parent Carer Needs Assessments. 4. The right to an ordinary life; changes in law over the last two years* recognise the need for parents and carers to have ‘an ordinary life’ and to provide support that allows parents & carers to continue to care. This is very new; what can you expect? 5. The ‘SEND Reforms’ cover children and young people from age 0 to 25 years old (instead of 0 – 19). How does this affect those who are over sixteen years of age? 6. What is reasonable for you to expect from further education / college to make it possible for your young person to attend? * new rights = since the Children's and Families Act (Sept 2014) and the Care Act (April 2015) We’re very keen that as many people as possible take advantage of our workshop with renowned SEND barrister Steve Broach. He presents clearly and unambiguously on the subject of SEND law. We are also anticipating that there will be the opportunity of 5 minute surgeries offering free legal advice during the lunchtime (we’ll know early next week). All being well, these slots will be booked on the door, on a first come, first served basis. Monday 7th March – 10am to 2.30pm Harlequins, The Stoop, Langhorn Drive, Twickenham, TW2 7SX There is plenty of parking on-site and Twickenham railway station is only a 15 minute walk away. There is no charge to anyone attending this workshop & lunch is included. However, you must register using the link below, and if you have any additional or dietary needs, please email us. http://www.eventbrite.com/e/steve-broach-talks-with-send-family-voices-tickets21428062913
World of Work & a new ‘Opps Pack’ A reminder of this event, plus the new Opps Pack that goes with it. The Opps Pack is an invaluable resource explaining further education choices for every student over 16. Copies will be available at the World of Work, or you can download a copy here: https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/uploads/afclocaloffer/document/file/262/OPPS_PACK.pdf
World of Work Harlequins Rugby Club, Twickenham - Wednesday 9 March 2016 There will be over 70 exhibitors available including employers and training providers who will talk to the young people about training, apprenticeships and future employment opportunities. There will be a quieter session at 11am to 12.30pm for those that want to be unhurried and avoid the crowds. From 12.30pm the event will begin to become more crowded. (that’s when we’ll be there) This event is open to students from Key Stage 4 upwards and parents are also very welcome to attend. Please let Amanda Dowden at Achieving for Children know if you would like to attend: amanda.dowden@achievingforchildren.org.uk “
PEP: a new college course This is a brand new education provision for young people in Year 11; it will be based in Kingston at the Richard Challoner school from September 2016.
What is a PEP? PEP stands for Post-16 Entry level Programme and is a further education course for young people with a Statement of SEN or an Education Health and Care Plan that states ‘moderate learning difficulties’ as their primary need. The curriculum isn’t finalised, but we can announce that Richard Challoner will be offering 8 PEP places from September 2016. Their course will be based on the Cheam PEP model: http://www.cheam.sutton.sch.uk/235/pep-post-16-entry-level-programme Richard Challoner are currently recruiting staff and will be producing a booklet in the near future. The plan is to increase places from 8 to 16 from September 2017. Also, by September 2017, we hope that a Richmond based PEP will be open. One of the SFV team, Prisca Cox, has been championing the need for a PEP in this borough for nearly two years. We’re delighted that it’s now opening this year!
SEND Transport Some while ago, we held four open consultations with parents on the proposed new SEND Transport Policy. A team of four parents (two from Richmond, two from Kingston) also formed a steering group to work with the Achieving for Children commissioner on the detail of the policy. And yes, in the last meeting we really did go through this line by line by line… and the results of this are clear in the box below. The policy is not yet published (but should be early next week), and we can tell you that the Richmond Cabinet agreed the policy last week. Kingston will be ratifying the policy on 16 the March. We’re looking forward to working on the family friendly user guidelines in April. For any immediate queries, please contact: Eamonn Gilbert, Associate Director, Commissioning, Achieving for Children: eamonn.gilbert@achievingforchildren.org.uk
Please see the extract from the Richmond Council Cabinet’s public reports pack below (complete extract from the reports pack is attached) 2.1 Cabinet agrees the revised policy for home to school transport for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and notes that Achieving for Children will implement the revised policy from September 2016 7. CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT 7.1 There has been extensive consultation with parents and professionals on the revised policy through the SEND Transport Steering Group. Consultation events for parents and carers took place in November and December 2015 in partnership with SEND Family Voices, a local community organisation funded by the Department for Education to represent the views of parents of children and young people with SEND in Richmond upon Thames. There was also consultation during the development of the policy with the head-teachers of local primary, secondary and special schools. Responses to the consultation and medical advice led to a revision to the policy to enable passenger assistants to administer the medication Buccal Midazolam. A family-friendly version of the approved policy will be produced in partnership with SEND Family Voices in April 2016.
Public Reports Packs Those at SFV who love ferreting for information (you know who you are), have come up with the following. They’re not easy reads, but they are informative on a wide range of issues affecting children and young people in both boroughs. If you would like us to forward copies, please let us know. These are public reports packs and they’re also available on Kingston or Richmond council website Kingston - Adults and Children's Committee held Wednesday February 10th 2016. Public reports pack published 2nd Feb (77 pages) Richmond - Cabinet public reports pack – meeting held Thursday 25th February (372 pages).
CQC Panel - Richmond First of all – let’s translate the acronyms: CQC: Care Quality Commission = the independent regulator of health & social care in Britain SWLSTG NHS Trust: South West London, St Georges, National Health Service Trust = one of the things they do is provide CAMHS to Richmond CAMHS: Children’s & Adolescent Mental Health Services Here’s the invite: “The CQC is coming to visit the SWLSTG NHS Trust in March, and we have just heard that they would like to visit Richmond CAMHS on 16th March. As part of that visit, the CQC panel often like to meet with local users and local user groups. You would be more than welcome to be a part of that if you would be interested, along with young people or parents from your groups." Please contact us (just reply to this e-mail) if you would like to be a part of this parent/carer panel.
From the Council for Disabled Children’s digest… “ New revised edition of “Disabled children: A legal handbook” now available as a free download The unrivalled legal resource “Disabled children: A legal handbook” has just been published in its second version. It is an authoritative yet accessible guide to the legal rights of disabled children and their families in England and Wales. The authors Steve Broach, Luke Clements and Janet Read expertly navigate sources of law, explaining the difference between what public bodies must do to support disabled children and that which they may do. We are giving away the whole book for free online. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/1UQBRXv
Short Breaks Matter month Contact a Family have launched Short Breaks Matter. A month of sharing info and advice with parent carers about short breaks services including helping families to understand their rights. Watch parents talk about why #ShortBreaksMatter here To find out more visit. www.cafamily.org.uk. #ShortBreaksMatter
Survey looking at bullying of children with SEND The Anti-Bullying Alliance is looking at how to provide advice on bullying to parents of disabled children and those with SEN in the best possible way. To do this they are running an online survey on anti-bullying information and advice: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SJDGS5Q “ We recommend having a look at their website, and perhaps signing up for the monthly digests: http://www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/
Small Steps to a City network for working parents of disabled children About Small Steps… Small Steps was founded in 1998 to provide specialist help and support to parents with physically disabled children. At Small Steps, pre-school children work on all areas of their development, using the principles of conductive education. Children attending Small Steps sessions have cerebral palsy, other forms of motor impairment, syndromes or sensory impairment. Children attend a group session at Small Steps once per week with a parent or carer. There are up to 5 children per group who are all working on similar skills. A team of teachers, conductors and physiotherapists lead the parent/ child team through a structured programme designed to help each child achieve the next developmental steps. More information can be found here: www.smallsteps.org.uk
And the City network… “Rós, who is mum to little Patrick who currently attends Small Steps on Friday mornings, is a lawyer at Freshfields and she is trying to set up a network in the City for working parents of disabled children. The kick-off meeting, which will just be an introduction and an opportunity to explore the idea further, is on Thursday 17 March at Freshfields (65 Fleet Street) from 12.30 13.30. Lunch will be provided. If you are a working parent, or know any working parents with a disabled child who might be interested in joining, please contact Rós on ros.nidhybhain@freshfields.com “
(asd) Girls Connect “ South West London Girls Connect have noted that 70% of parents registered with them say that social skills/play/youth groups are a key need for their daughters who have an ASD. Two charities have been identified who would be interested in running such groups, and in order to take this forward, South West London Girls Connect would like to find out more specific information, including the number of girls, ages, locations, interests.
If you and/or your daughters are interested in attending a girls' group, could you please take a minute to respond to the short survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/69HL8P7 “
Moody teenagers… All children become teenagers – all of them. As parents of children with additional neds, we become very used to going that extra mile when it comes to supporting our children. And… like all children, they will push back as they grow up. Something about this article resonated… “…This might explain why a child who is very close to his or her mother will suddenly appear to have no interest in her anymore, and "replace" her with a friend. Teenagers are also prone to higher levels of anxiety – and they’re not just being dramatic. In adults and children, the hormone allopregnanolone released in the brain in times of stress will calm us down. However, hormone changes during puberty mean that allopregnanolone can actually have the opposite effect in teenagers, leaving them prone to heightened anxiety.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-are-teenagers-so-moody-a6874856.html 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, Romany (for Richmond) and Caroline North (for Kingston) Phone: 07469 746 145 www.sendfamilyvoices.org