Our Local Offer, All about Health, National News & Local Music

Our Local Offer, All about Health, National News & Local Music 28th August 2018 Dear All We didn’t expect to send another newsletter just yet. But the Department for Education and others don’t rest (including Karen Lowry)… here’s what they’ve been up to. Oh, and a plug for The Richmond Music Trust (open to all)

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Karen Lowry and the Local Offer – the survey and links More from the Local Offer - Early Intervention Panels SENDIASS – local survey All about Health and SEND (three articles) <SEN.IMPLEMENTATION@education.gov.uk> #1 (residential provisions) <SEN.IMPLEMENTATION@education.gov.uk> #2 (when people can’t agree) Blue Badge scheme extended to include hidden disabilities New Sensory Room at Legoland Windsor Richmond Music Trust. Inclusion? Who needs that word?

1 Karen Lowry and the Local Offer – the survey and links We are fortunate that our Local Offer website manager is very keen on collaborative working and does her absolute best to ensure families (parents, children and young people) are involved in its development. Here is an update from Karen on her work over the summer holidays.

From: Karen Lowry, AfCinfo/SEND Local Offer Website Manager E-mail: karen.lowry@achievingforchildren.org.uk Contact Us: https://www.afcinfo.org.uk/enquiry_forms/local_offer_enquiry/enquiries/new NB: all enquiries made to the Local Offer Contact Us page must be answered; both the query and the answer must be published annually (the exception to this is defamatory or abusive commentary).

Reminder about the SEND Local Offer Survey “Thank you to anyone who has taken time to add their views to the survey so far. You have given lots of useful feed and encouraging feedback- again thank you.

Some feedback we can respond to quickly, other subjects will need to be fed back to senior managers in a more organised way. The survey will remain open into autumn to collect views of those who may not have seen it over summer.

The link to the Survey: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SENDLocalOfferKingstonandRichmond

Information for Carers As a result of your feedback we have created a new section on the Local Offer "Information for Carers". We have invited local groups to attend a Focus Group or meeting to review this and the wider Local Offer, again this will be held in the autumn term. We will also invite parent /carers to a similar group - more details to come on this.

The link to the draft carers page: https://www.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/local-offer/information-and-advice/information-for-carers

Feedback on the Young People’s Hub Another section on the website that we have received a huge amount of comment on is the Young People's Hub. Some of you may have seen that we have responded to feedback and published a plan for developing the Hub in the autumn term. Since then we are still receiving comments with some people saying they are not convinced about the plan, are concerned that only a small number of young people have been consulted about the plan and that don't think it will work. I have been working with the Participation Team and young people on this project and from my perspective I would like to say.

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The team are dedicated to Participation work.

We are lucky to have a team - many areas don't.

The Participation Team are busy - so are young people - therefore working together in a genuine way takes time Anyone can join in Participation activities if they (the young person) wants to. If you know a young person who would like to find out more or join in Participation activities, then please contact the team by email: participationiscd@achievingforchildren.org.uk

We don't know if the plan will work - but we will give it a go. We will work with some groups to begin with to trial and hopefully set up examples to inspire others to contribute. It may take time as everyone is busy as the new term starts. If it doesn't work, we will try something else.

If you know a young person who would like to give their view about the plan we have for the Young People's Hub, then the survey is still open. Please support them to answer. Please indicate in the comments box on the Hub question that this answer represents the view of a young person.”

The link to Young People’s Hub: Follow the yellow button on the right to read the feedback on this page. https://www.afcinfo.org.uk/sections/young_peoples_hub

2 More from the Local Offer - Early Intervention Panels …published by Charis Penfold - Director for Education (22 August 2018) “We held consultations with schools, governors and families earlier in 2018 and laid out our plan to focus on identifying children and young people’s needs earlier. We want to be able to intervene so that children’s needs are understood earlier, responded to more quickly and escalate less.” https://www.afcinfo.org.uk/local_offer/blog_articles/1823-new-for-autumn-2018-earlyintervention-panels

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SENDIASS – local survey

SENDIASS is the acronym for Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) Information, Advice and Support Services (IASS)

“KIDS is carrying out a review of the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS). We are very keen have feedback from parents and carers so that we can make improvements to the service. We would be very grateful if you are able to take the time to fill in the following questionnaire. All your responses are confidential. Please contact me if you would prefer to give feedback on the phone or in a face to face meeting. Thank you for your help.” https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Z5MQ93Y

4 All about Health and SEND (three articles) “Two new NHS England Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Quick Guides have just been published. Both aim to assist health commissioners and providers with joint commissioning of services and provide guidance on developing processes to ensure that children and young people with SEND are fully supported. The Quick Guides can be found and downloaded via the following link:” https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/care/children-young-people/send We can’t say for certain that these ideals are met right now. However, we do know that the current CCG Children’s Health Commissioner for services across Kingston & Richmond is committed to co-production and local services for local families. The two Quick Guides are here - and you can read what we should be aiming for:

#1 - 27 pages - Quick Guide: Guidance for health services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) “This Quick Guide aims to help health commissioners and providers tackle the challenges involved in implementing the joint commissioning of services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) introduced by Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014. …14% of school children have an identified special educational need.

#2 - 18 pages - Quick Guide: Commissioning for transition to adult services for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) “This Quick Guide is intended to help local areas develop their transition processes for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) from childhood to adulthood.”

What is particularly pleasing is that the first chapter (after the introduction) is: ‘Participation and co-production’: “Young people and their families must be at the centre of every stage of the transition pathway. They must be involved in the development of every element of the local transition strategy. Their involvement is required by key legislation such as the Children and Families’ Act 2014 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012.”

#3 From the CDC (Council for Disabled Children): Requirements to provide Health Advice within six weeks This is slightly harder to read, follow the link below for more information.

“To develop high quality EHC Plans that integrate provision across service boundaries local areas need a clear, transparent process for undertaking EHC Needs assessments, developed in partnership with parents, young people and professionals.” https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/help-resources/resources/requirements-providehealth-advice-within-six-weeks

5 <SEN.IMPLEMENTATION@education.gov.uk> #1 (residential provisions) Date: 21 August 2018 at 10:53 Subject: SEND Newsletter: Newsflash - 'Good Intentions, Good Enough?' Report “In December 2016, the Department for Education asked Dame Christine Lenehan to lead an independent review of the experiences and outcomes of children and young people in residential special schools and colleges. Her report ‘Good Intentions, Good Enough?’ was published in November 2017 and the Government committed to respond more fully to the findings in 2018. Damian Hinds, Secretary of State for Education, wrote to Dame Christine with the Government’s formal response to her review.” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residential-special-schools-and-collegessupport-for-children?utm_source=e3b38d55-f301-43a3-9b8294ea7392b12e&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuknotifications&utm_content=immediate

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<SEN.IMPLEMENTATION@education.gov.uk> #2 (when people can’t agree)

Date: 22 August 2018 at 13.56 Subject: SEND Newsletter: Newsflash - Publication of a Young Person's guide to SEND disagreement resolution At 37 pages long, we should be glad there is an accessible version (how long might the inaccessible version be?). Happily, this is readable!

“This guide provides advice for young people aged 16-25 who are unhappy with their special educational needs (SEN) provision or support at school or college and need help and guidance to sort those problems out.” https://www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/send-complaints-a-guide-for-young-people-in-education

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Blue Badge scheme extended to include hidden disabilities

At the end of July, the government announced that the Blue Badge scheme in England will be expanded to include people with hidden disabilities, such as autism or mental illnesses.

This is the biggest change to the Blue Badge scheme since the 1970s. It comes after an eightweek consultation, which received over 6,000 responses. This article helps to explain the qualifying criteria: https://contact.org.uk/news-and-blogs/blue-badge-scheme-extended-to-include-hiddendisabilities

8 New Sensory Room at Legoland Windsor “LEGOLAND have opened a new permanent sensory space at their Windsor Resort for guests with sensory needs to enjoy. The all-new Total Sensory Space is the first dedicated sensory facility of its kind to be installed in a theme park in the UK.” https://posabilitymagazine.co.uk/new-sensory-room-opens-at-legolands-windsor-resort

9 Richmond Music Trust. Inclusion? Who needs that word?

This time last year, our newsletter covered Richmond Music Trust’s BANDIT event. This same course ran again this year and was more popular than ever.

Why does that matter to us?

Because the BANDIT course, and The Richmond Music Trust, are so welcoming to and for all young people that the word ‘inclusive’ isn’t needed. Whilst these courses are for children and young people wanting to make music (and our SEND community is diverse), this isn’t

about ‘mainstream’ or ‘special’; the Richmond Music Trust welcomes all young people with an interest in music. That’s it. Everyone is welcome, and the question is always ‘how can we help?’. Follow this link for more information on what they do. http://www.richmondmusictrust.org.uk 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 from all at SEND Family Voices T: 07469 746 145 E: sendfamilyvoices@outlook.com W: www.sendfamilyvoices.org