SENDIASS Spotlight - April 2024

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SENDIASS Update

All here at Norfolk SENDIASS hope you’ve had an enjoyable Easter holiday.
We are currently very busy, if you no longer need your appointment, please cancel with at least 24 hours’ notice so that the appointment can be booked by other parent/carers that need to speak with us.

We have a great deal of resources and booklets on our website to support you with answering any questions you might have, whilst we are currently busy please do look at our website to see if it is able to help you move forward.

We are in the process of updating our website to make it more accessible and currently have a parent/carer consultation survey out. Please take some time to fill this in, this is a great help to us:
Website parent/carer consultation (office.com)

We had a great time at the Family Voice Conference that took place in March, we had a very busy stand and had to replenish a lot of our booklets! It was great being able to speak with many parent/carers and had some fantastic feedback from those we spoke with, one parent/carer said that they weren’t sure what they wanted from the conference but visiting our stand and receiving advice on how to move forward had made their entire day.

Advice Clinic

Book an hour face to face appointment with one of our SEND Advisors to discuss or review paperwork related to special educational needs in education.

For example, we can support with:

EHC Needs Assessment paperwork
SENDIST (First Tier Tribunal) paperwork
Draft Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

23rd April - Gorleson

Due to the high demand for attendance at our monthly advice clinics we have recently had a wait list in case of any cancellations. Unfortunately, we have had a number of people not turning up for their appointments on the day, and although we know sometimes this can’t be avoided if you book an appointment at one of our advice clinics but can no longer make it, please tell us so that we can offer this to others waiting to meet with us.

You will receive reminders for the advice clinic from Eventbrite, and we will also call and email you a few days before to remind you of your appointment.

One off support

We are now offering one off support as a service through Norfolk SENDIASS, this service is for parent/carers who require support to complete forms such as Education Health and Care Needs Assessment requests and appeals paperwork or support with going through a draft EHCP. Through our one-off support we are also able to support at mediation meetings and school meetings where things haven’t improved even with information and advice from us being given previously.

We are not always able to accommodate those with pre-booked meetings if we don’t have sufficient time to allocate you a SENDIAS Advisor or if we don’t have capacity. Those that request one-off support will go on a wait list before being allocated a SENDIAS Advisor and must have had an appointment with our Helpline Advisor.

Parent/carer training

We offer a variety of free SEND training for parent/carers. You can book your place via our website. More training and dates will become available throughout the year.

Upcoming Events

APRIL 2024.

22nd April 2024 - 10:00 - 13:00
Appealing a final EHCP - FACE TO FACE - Harford Community Centre, Norwich NR4 6ET
This training is for parent/carers to give an understanding of how to appeal a final EHCP to the SEND Tribunal including looking at what can be appealed, what forms need to be completed, timescales and the processes, what evidence needs to be submitted and what a hearing is like.

30th April 2024 - 11:00 - 13:30
Suspension and Exclusion - ONLINE
An understanding of the legal tests and processes around fixed term suspensions, illegal suspensions, permanent exclusions and managed moves.

MAY 2024

16th May 2024 - 17:00 - 19:30
SEN Support - ONLINE
This training is for parent/carers to understand what is SEN Support, what should settings do and examples of SEN support.

22nd May 2024 - 10:30 - 13:30
Appealing a final EHCP - ONLINE
This training is for parent/carers to give an understanding of how to appeal a final EHCP to the SEND Tribunal including looking at what can be appealed, what forms need to be completed, timescales and the processes, what evidence needs to be submitted and what a hearing is like.

Staff Spotlight

I am Bridget, and I have worked for the Norfolk SENDIAS Service for 5 years. I have a background in Youth Work and teaching, and I have always enjoyed working with children and young people directly. I am also a single parent with two children with additional needs and disabilities. I have experienced first hand the challenges, and rewards of this, and I struggled to navigate the SEND system, and get my children the help they needed.

I worked on our helpline for 2 years before I changed roles, and since then I have been the Children and young person supporter, in the team. My primary responsibility is the Norfolk SEND Youth Forum, which is a brilliant group of children and young people aged 11 – 25 years with experience of SEND, who work together to improve services. We meet monthly, on-line and also meet up in person, a minimum of x3 times a year.

After a recent restructure my job title has changed, to “Advice & Engagement Worker, “and I am looking forward to being joined by two new full-time workers (in the same role) for us to extend our work and reach more families. I feel strongly that children, young people and their families, with SEND, are the “experts” in SEND Services, and are best placed to feedback and influence how these services are improved, for our children and young people.

Watch this space for updates on our activities, and opportunities for you to be heard too!!

Professionals

We are offering online training for professionals. You can book your place via the professional section of the website.

Who are Norfolk SENDIASS - 8th May 16:00 - 17:30
SEN Support - 14th May 15:30 - 17:30
Duty of a Governor - 20th June 16:00 - 18:00

As a professional you can book an appointment to speak with an advisor using the booking link on our website.

Transition

If your child with special educational needs and disabilities is in the final term of their current setting it’s important to prepare them for the transition by starting the conversation with the next setting as early as possible
The main areas to discuss:

What does your child struggle with?
What concerns you about the transition?
Are there any reasonable adjustments that have been put in at the current setting that you would like the new setting to use
What does the transition look like for your child?
Are you able to visit when the school is closed to see the classroom and meet the teacher?
Can there be an early transition with extra transition days?
Can social stories with visuals of the new school be given to help your child feel safer about where they are going?

It's also important that you check that the current setting will send any information about your child that they have, including any SEN support plans, behaviour plans, health care plans etc. to the new setting.

It may be a worrying time for your child, and we recommend you gather their feelings and wishes to relay both to the current and new school to help support them through this period.

Moving on (transition in education) - Norfolk County Council
Transition (justonenorfolk.nhs.uk)

Norfolk SEND Youth Forum update

This month, we had a busy virtual meeting, and eight young people attended. We revisited the FLOURISH pledge and looked at the theme of Access to Learning.

The group were invited to tell us how the Youth Forum has helped them to develop new skills. It was lovely to hear their positive feedback, and below is a sample of their comments:

“It has helped me gain confidence and helped me learn to unmask and be myself. It’s given me a safe happy place that accepts me for who I am”.
“To help me build my confidence “
“Good communication”
“I spoke to people in a meeting without my camera on”.
“It’s given me more knowledge about some of the things that are happening in Norfolk”.
“To let me have a go at things “
“it’s making me feel better being here meeting with people on the PC”.

We used the opportunity to ask the group to make any requests for further learning opportunities. They suggested:

cookery and life skills sessions
technology
Managing money, learning about banks and all the complicated adult stuff
to help me achieve more in my life as things are harder once you finish school and college.
helping me find courses that I can access.

We now intend to explore how, and when we can run some extra sessions with our members, and these activities will be part of our planning when we meet in July to review the year and plan for 2024 – 2025.

We were also pleased to welcome some visitors. We were joined by Amy Driver, who is a Participation Officer for young people with Special educational needs and Disabilities (SEND), from Norfolk County Council. Amy came to ask the group for their feedback on a document for young people which explains the Norfolk County Council (NCC), Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy.

Members were reliably honest and clear about words which were difficult to understand, and their feedback will be important in improving the language which is used. Young people, who will read the final version will hopefully find it easier to understand.

We were also happy to welcome back Maxine Blocksidge, a Senior SEND Adviser at Norfolk County Council, who provided a great update about the SENDFEST which takes place in June. Maxine thanked the group for all their contributions and ideas which have been included in the planning of the festival. Members were encouraged to book their tickets!!

Our next on-line meeting takes place on May 15^th , and welcome new members – to register and join please go to: https://www.norfolksendiass.org.uk/young-people/registration-page/

Bridget Robinson, Engagement and Advice Worker

Engagement and Outreach update

Jo and Laura, our new Engagement and Advice Workers, have hit the ground running this last month by getting out and about around the county. They are starting to make appearances at all sorts of community events to help spread the word of our work, offer initial advice and get to know other services.

Jo said ‘We’ve been to a range of opportunities including a community coffee morning, family fun day, library drop in, school wellbeing event and the family voice conference, from Thetford to Great Yarmouth and North Walsham to Long Stratton. It’s great to get the chance to talk to people about how we can help. We are listening to the individual situations families are in and helping them access the next steps as well as signposting to the appropriate information and support. We are doing activities with young people to help them understand how we can help them and getting to network with other services to help them understand how our role and information can support their work ’

If you know of a community or networking event coming up in your area that Jo and Laura could attend then please email us and let us know.

SENDfest 2024

Norfolk County Council are excited to announce this free event for children and young people with SEND and their families.

https://www.norfolkmusichub.org.uk/site/sendfest-2024/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1pVUZKDb2_KLr55azagdhZfcQmPr8Pgs-Omj9wp8X56_stNVhrEu87VII_aem_AcT0fnoSmF0QI0zatbKWAE0635GvIbthjI6edaateslQG0RF6gEiGNmqBNyUBSe2FZUQQ46EEe6uu6ldi8iQ0Bie

Discover Your Ability 2024

Able2B is a Norwich organisation supporting children and adults with a disability. One of their main inclusive events is Discover Your Ability (DYA). DYA2024 is about to start with the first 'training session' on May 2^nd and the main event on June 16th.

This is a great opportunity for children and young adults whatever their ability to come together and break down barriers and change perceptions with the aid of the expert Able2B team using sport at the basis of team-building. It is an ideal opportunity for your child to get involved in a truly inclusive event overseen by experts working at Able2B.

You can sign up via their website or the link provided in the information.
For more information please see attachments or follow this link to previous events:
https://youtu.be/n_X3fOr70ro?si=Y700MO6eXbO9oLkd

There is now only a couple of weeks before the event starts so please act quickly to get involved.