Our Achievements – in light of the SEND Reforms 31st May 2018 We would like to list the ways in which we as dedicated volunteers have tried hard over the last 4 years to make the reforms work. All of this work (except writing the regular newsletter) has been done without remuneration. •
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Building a steering group of 22 parents of children with special needs, covering most types of SEN and disability, from pre-schoolers to adults and further comprising representatives from most disability specific charities in Richmond and Kingston Building a membership database of 730 families across 2 London boroughs, of which 20% are SEN Support vs EHCPs. o We reach families where parents themselves have learning disabilities, single parents, BME, EaSL, and parents who have complex family situations. Our newsletters are forwarded and read by a further 50% (thus increasing the reach to nearly 1000 families). o Our Professionals database numbers 125 and is mix of Education, Health and Social Care professionals, including Schools and Councillors. In addition, our newsletters are also sent to every SENCo within the 2 boroughs. o We have 1655 Twitter followers, and a weekly reach of 1000s o Our annual Music & Magic event (co-funded by NHSWL Grassroots) in particular enabled us to reach a number of families that are seldom heard. Helping to design and publicise the local offer and providing content and input on an on-going basis Organising the local offer launch event Hosting several series of open meetings, where parents could meet professionals from AfC and other service providers, including SEN team, social workers and Educational Psychologists Running and mediating a (heated) parent consultation process to inform the rewriting the SEN Transport policy Providing a parental perspective in the commissioning of SENDIASS service Writing, producing and distributing the Golden Binder - a nationally recognised best practice resource containing detailed guidelines for parents, professionals, schools and the local authority on all aspects of the SEND reforms and how they have been implemented locally. On a pro-bono consultancy basis, running multi-disciplinary workshops to help AfC and associated professionals articulate their processes for implementing the SEND reforms, which became the basis for the Golden Binder Designing and supporting the establishment of a multi-service, multi-disciplinary process governance group to own this guidance and drive better practice across all services. SFV still co-chair this group Highlighting the need for, and co-producing, a Parent Carer Needs Assessment process and form Running a consultation process on accessibility which led to the creation of an information booklet and a film relating to Reasonable Adjustments which we provide to parents and schools
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Authoring, production and distribution of ‘Parents/Carers Guide to the SEND Reform’. For all parents, SENCos and more – in advance of September 2014. (AfC did not produce anything similar) Authoring of EHCP Quick Start Guides for families and schools Producing other information booklets on the SEND reforms, and School Exclusions & SEND. Distributing these booklets free of charge to any school or other institution who asks for them Working with other PCFs with regard to the 5 South London Boroughs on CAMHS pathways, including consultation and input to service redesign (co-presented with Wandsworth pcf at LSMN, January 2018 – as an example of cross-borough co-productive working) Running workshops and producing guidance to help parents through the EHCP transfer process (after AfC had not taken up our offer to work together to do this) Participating in the Local Learning Disability Mortality Review Board (LeDeR) Involvement and contribution to the All Age Learning Disability Strategy Project, Kingston Participating in the Profound Learning Disability (PLD) Quality and Commissioning Action Group Running 2 extensive public consultations on the short break requirements of local families in order to inform commissioning Working with AfC to formulate service specifications for short breaks commissioning Running a workshop to understand the overnight respite needs of parents Working with AfC to develop short breaks eligibility criteria Writing an easy-read guide to short break services for parents At the request of the Director of Children’s Services compiling a detailed, evidence-based document detailing the failings of one of AfC’s departments Working on a “moving on” guide for young people Post 16 (which has proved impossible to complete – because there is so little information available) Consultation and parent engagement relating to new school place provision both in specialist resource provisions and new free schools Providing significant input to the local children and young people’s strategy Running a series of meetings in schools “what you can expect from a school…. and what you can’t” to help build the school SEN community Publishing a weekly newsletter that regularly carries information on AfC related information and events, as well as other local and national information Participating in and contributing to SENCO forum meetings and conferences Participating in AfC’s SEND improvement programmes in various workstreams Running workshops on puberty and sexuality and staying safe online for parents of children with SEND Membership of and contributing to the Emotional Wellbeing Board (EMWB) Richmond – including the CAMHS Transformation Plan 2015-2020 Co-producing new ND Pathway for Richmond (now a pilot) Contributing to Risky Behaviour Review for Kingston & Richmond new policy
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Provide a telephone, email and web-based contact service where parents can contact us to request support and signposting. We have hundreds of contacts each year Run regular open meetings and drop ins where parents can meet us and each other and find some support over a coffee and a biscuit Manage a log of all the issues that have been presented to us by parents so that we can provide data to service providers and decision makers on the types of issues that parents are coming to us with Attend many meetings at AfC and other service providers so that we can present parent views and provide constructive input to service development and delivery Attend London Strategic Managers Network meetings, National Network of Parent Carer meetings, Contact and Council for Disabled Children conferences to stay abreast of national issues and best practice and share our experiences Participate in IPSEA and other training to keep on top of legal and other key issues Maintain an active social media presence to keep our local community informed of local and national news
SFV 31st May 2018
www.sendfamilyvoices.org
Registered Charity # 116298 3