2015 Somerset. SEND Reforms. Newsletter. Welcome to the. January Go on, share your achievements and tell us what you are doing!

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1 SEND Reforms Training & Support Team Update January 2015 Welcome to the 2015 Somerset SEND Reforms Newsletter It s a New Year, the evenings are beginning to get lighter and we are delighted to let you know about developments happening for us all as part of the Special education needs and disability reforms for example the SEND training and support team, Learning Support Service and SENCO forum are busy working in partnership with parent carers to support the workforce and coordinate a variety of new SEND training opportunities and support packages. You can discover more about these in this newsletter, as well as reading about: the SEND reforms and what the changes mean for them An update on the local offer, have you seen it recently, it s evolving! SENDIAS they started the New Year with a new name, previously known as Somerset s Parent and Young Peoples Partnership Service, you can read more about the service they offer including Independent Supporters Listening and acting- the High Needs Hearing Support Review celebrates positive partnerships Our online workforce survey results, find out how we are using the results to shape our future work priorities Finally, we would like to hear from you, your views, share your good practice and resources from across Education, Health and Social Care. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter please HZZMay@somerset.gov.uk. The deadline for contributions for the next Newsletter is Monday 2 March 2015, the theme is Good Practice. Go on, share your achievements and tell us what you are doing! Working in partnership with; An opportunity for you to apply for FREE training to be delivered to young people on

2 SEND Reforms Training Are you looking for training on the SEND reforms? Here we share a variety of regional and local training events if you can t find what you are looking for contact the SEND training and support team SENDreforms@somerset.gov.uk REGIONAL TRAINING EVENTS FEBRUARY TO MARCH 2015 Organised by Council for Disabled Children with their partners Workshop Date Description Person centred approaches 4 February 2015 Person centred approaches and Preparing for Adulthood reviews to transfer statements and LDAs to EHC Plans. They will share the good practice guide that Preparing for Adulthood launched on 15 January. This workshop is for planners, those responsible for transfer reviews and anyone else who is interested, eg schools, colleges, LAs and partners, Adult Social care staff should attend given the links with the Care Act. For more information, please contact Rosemarie at Bishop s Hull House, Taunton. rosemarie_dambrosio@learningsouthwest.org.uk Tel: there is a cost of 50 for this event. Educator s Priorities under the Children and Families Act Making the most of the Local Offer Housing support for young people with special educational needs and disabilities 11 February 2015 The key areas of development for schools. It will focus on, Partnership working, person centred planning, the graduated response, the role of the SENCO and supporting children to achieve good outcomes. Please book at This will be Bishop s Hull House, Taunton. This is a workshop running from to 2.30pm. 2 March 2015 This event will look at the ways the Local Offer can support children and young people to achieve the best life outcomes and support the commissioning process. To book onto it please go to: The venue is Abbey Manor Business Centre, Preston Road, Yeovil BA20 2EN. 10 March 2015 This will be a full day meeting looking at the different ways that young people can choose to live with the level of support they require. They hope to have input from the Housing and Support Alliance to guide us through the housing maze. The venue is Engineer s House, Clifton, Bristol If you wish to attend, please contact Catherine King at NDTi Catherine.king@ndti.org.uk 2

3 Workshop Date Description Early Years Providers what do the special educational needs reforms mean for you? 12 March 2015 This session is mainly for people involved in early years provision or for those parents who have a preschool child. It will cover the legal requirements introduced by the special educational needs and disability reforms under the Children and Families Act They will cover children who may need an education, health and care plan. It will take place at Bishop s Hull House, Taunton from pm Local authorities and Colleges working together 17 March 2015 This event will focus on how LAs and Colleges can work together to deliver person centred assessment and EHC plans and reviews. They will be meeting at Weston College, Weston Super Mare. If you are interested in attending, please contact Catherine King at NDTi Catherine.king@ndti.org.uk Conference A New Landscape for SEN and Disability: The challenges and successes of implementing the Children and Families Act Council for Disabled Children is pleased to announce the return of the CDC Spring Conference Programme, which will discuss learning from the first six months of implementation of the SEN and disability reforms. The conference, in London on Wednesday 4 March, is essential for senior management and delivery staff across education, health, and social care. If you wish to find out more or reserve your place at the London Conference then please click on the link SENCOs are invited to come along to one of two Helen Sanderson Associates bespoke training events Learning Support Service Person Centred Practices, Making it work in all settings, for everyone Date/Time Tuesday 24 February 9.00am until 4.00pm Monday 16 March 9.00 until 4.00pm Venue Dillington House, Ilminster Haynes Motor Museum, Sparkford 3

4 Course Description: Developing good person centred strategies underpins the new Code of Practice. It is essential to the success of good quality planning and assessment of individual needs, both in everyday practice as well as in the contribution toward EHC plans. SENCOs will leave with a deeper understanding of what is an authentic person centred approach; reflect on how this approach works in practice and how this can be developed further in individual settings. Fee: This training course is being subsidised by the SENCO and Officers Forum. It is free to LA settings and Somerset Academies and will include lunch. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 6 FEBRUARY 2015 There are 80 places available on each training day. Due to the popularity of this event we will issue places on a first come first served basis and can only accept one representative per setting. To apply for the above course please contact Gayle Smith and ask for a booking form (gsmith2@somerset.gov.uk) SENCO and SEN Governors Conferences 2015 Beyond Compliance In addition there are SENCO and SEN Governor Conferences in February and March which follow on from the summer term conferences. The theme for these is Beyond Compliance and continues to support schools in implementing the changes including: How schools can plan strategically The characteristics of good participation The voice of the child Date Time Venue Audience; Secondary Schools Wed 25 Feb 9.15am pm Taunton Racecourse Audience; Primary Schools Thurs 26 Feb 9.15am pm Canalside, Bridgwater Thurs 26 Feb 12.45pm 3.30pm Canalside, Bridgwater Fri 27 Feb 9.15am 12.00pm Dillington House, Ilminster Fri 27 Feb 12.45pm 3.30pm Dillington House, Ilminster Fri 6 March 9.15am 12.00pm Taunton Racecourse Fri 6 March 12.45pm 3.30pm Taunton Racecourse Wed 11 March 9.15am 12.00pm Wells Golf Club Wed 11 March 12.45pm 3.30pm Wells Golf Club The flyers have been sent to all SENCOs but can also be found on the education support services website or through Gayle Smith gsmith@somerset.gov.uk. 4

5 Training for Governing Bodies LSS in partnership with governor services are holding presentations on the SEND reforms and the responsibilities of governing bodies in the evening on the following dates (venues to be confirmed). Wednesday 4 th March Sedgemoor Wednesday 11 th March Mendip Wednesday 25 th March - Taunton Thursday 26 th March South Somerset Information will be sent to governors via governor services or can be obtained from Sheila Martin. Opportunity for Young People Your rights, your future: Making sense of the new law Do you work with disabled children and young people? Do they know about how the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms affect them? The Council for Disabled Children and the Early Support programme are currently offering free face-to-face training workshops for young people on the changes to their SEND support. These training workshops are an opportunity for young people to find out about: The SEND reforms and how they affect support for children and young people Education, Health and Care Plans what are they? Do I get one? How they can be involved in their Local Offer Personal budgets Support after 16 to help them prepare for adulthood How they can get involved in decisions about their support The Council for Disabled Children will deliver workshops to established young people s groups across voluntary and statutory services, in health, education or social care settings. The training is available from 24 November 2014 to 31 March If you are interested in them delivering some free training for the disabled children and young people, and those with SEN you work with, please register your interest by contacting pshaw@ncb.or.uk or Crobinson@ncb.org.uk. 5

6 Following our Local Offer trailer last month, announcing that development changes were afoot for our Somerset Local Offer ( we have now made structural changes to help people find the information they are looking for. Key changes to the Local Offer include: Changes to the drop down information menu on our Local Offer Homepage This now includes new sub-heading areas for: EHC Plans Social Care Transitions Personal Budgets Health We have included our guidance on disagreements under the new Legal and Guidance area under the drop down information menu. These areas are continuing to develop. We are working on the accessibility of the information under these areas for all users of our Local Offer. New red buttons These have been changed to: Communicating and Interacting Understanding and Learning Social and Emotional Needs Mental Health Sensory & Physical Needs Support networks Finding your way Short breaks Transport Preparing for Adulthood Apprenticeships and Training We are working in partnership with the relevant teams and Somerset Parent Carer Forum to achieve these changes. Editing your card on Local Offer We are looking to enhance the red buttons further and we have contacted in excess of 560 service card holders requesting that they check and edit their service and retag to the new red button(s) that are appropriate for their service. If you receive an , or letter about this and are not sure what to do with it, please pass it to the person in your team dealing with special educational needs/disabilities, together with the accompanying summary card instructions. Our development work on Local Offer is on-going. Look out for further updates in the next SEND Reforms Newsletter, where we will be updating you on our meetings with Future Gov and other County Councils using Future Gov. Adding and updating your service card Please check your service is on our Local Offer and its details are up to date. Local Offer can you the summary guide on how to do this, if you need it. Local Offer is moving forwards, thank you for your support with this. Please continue to visit the website and send all your feedback to: 6

7 New Year New Name! To reflect changes in the Children and Families Act 2014, Somerset Parent Partnership Service has now become Somerset SENDIAS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support). What s different? In addition to supporting parents as we have always done, we are now able to provide a free, impartial, service to children and young people (up to the age of 25) about Special Educational Needs and Disability. Local Authorities must arrange for children and young people with SEN or disabilities for whom they are responsible, and their parents, to be provided with information and advice about matters relating to their SEN or disabilities. Source: Children and Families Act 2-14, Section 32 How can we help you? A telephone enquiry line and website for general SEND enquiries plus leaflets on a range of topics relating to SEND One to one support; Information on SEND legislation and local SEND policies An Independent Supporter to help you through the EHC Needs Assessment and information on EHC Plans You can contact us on , or info@somersetsend.org.uk or visit Independent Supporters provide advice and support for parents of children with special educational need and disability, and young people with SEND, through the statutory assessment and Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) processes. In Somerset this support is being provided through Somerset SENDIAS (contact details above) and Careers South West who can be contacted on or somersetindependentsupport@cswgroup.co.uk 7

8 LISTENING AND ACTING High Needs Hearing Support Review positive partnership working Over the last 18 months or so work has taken place to look at how Hearing Support provision will, in the future, be delivered to those children and young people with a high need hearing impairment. Over the last 12 years the numbers of children and young people requesting places in the hearing support resource bases has dropped significantly from 25 to 6. The expectation is that these numbers will reduce even further. This reflects a change in placement choices, not a reduction in numbers of children. A stakeholder reference group made up of parent carers, voluntary sector, social care, health services, service staff and SCC representatives have worked together since September The group developed a set of principles and outcomes for the service and a model was developed for future delivery. It is proposed to offer individualised education provision in mainstream settings to children and young people aged 0-25 years and to cease the hearing support resource base provision by September A range of consultations were also undertaken with young people, parent carers and schools; this informed the final proposal which is out for consultation until the beginning of February 2015, for more information on the consultation visit The process of involving all key stakeholders right from the very start and consulting with the right people in the right way has been a positive experience for all concerned resulting in consensus and most importantly good outcomes for children and young people in the future. Working with our Workforce Summary Analysis Online Survey Working for you, with you Last year, through an online survey, we asked a wide range of you to tell us what was important for the SEND reforms to be a success locally. The results have helped us to understand what is working well and shape our priorities for For a full summary analysis of the online survey, read the attached document. Thank you to the 316 of you who completed the survey, we discovered that most of you had received information about the SEND reforms, either through your own organisation or Somerset County Council briefings. Survey Responses 19% School Community 7% 8% 37% Early Years Community Parent/Carer, Young Person (37/6) SCC Education Teams Health Community Other 13% 16% 8

9 As a direct result of the survey we have strengthened Team around the Child meeting for the new Education Health and Care Plan processes. The meeting focuses on listening and sharing information and agreeing the plans together. A feedback card, designed by parents and practitioners, captures their thoughts on the meeting and assesses whether the focus has been on the child or young person s needs and outcomes. You told us that our priorities needed to include: Better engagement of health and social care, FE/HE and school governors Better engagement with parents and young people Better information that relates to individual circumstances which means listening and communicating better and responding to what we hear Improving how information is available to everyone about SEND Working with specific groups, eg SENCOs on making changes at school Working with everyone to understand and develop the wider offer for SEND We are now working hard with parents, young people and practitioners to continue to share news, promote resources and good practice and deliver training and support on the SEND reforms to a wider audience, across Education, Health and Social Care. You told us we needed to work closely with Parents and Young People, to support this we will be investigating involving an Engagement Officer and Young People Champions look out for more news on this in the next newsletter. As a result of the survey we will be starting an online satisfaction survey in May this year, the results from this will help us find out how we are doing, what has worked well and what we need to do differently in the future. Useful Resources 1. SEND Code of Practice D_Code_of_Practice_approved_by_Parliament_ pdf Education, Health and Social Care practitioners 2 Health professionals guide to SEND code of practice h_professionals_guide_to_the_send_code_of_practice_-_sept14.pdf 3. Social Care professionals guide to SEND code of practice 4. Schools guide to the SEND code of practice 9

10 5. Further Education guide to SEND code of practice 6. Making it Personal: A Provider Guide to Personalisation, Personal Budgets and Education, Health and Care Plans aw_lr- 1.pdf Parents 7. Changes to special educational needs and disability support - easy read guide for parents 8. Making it Personal - Family Guide to Personalisation, Personal Budgets and Education, Health and Care Plans dance-1.pdf 9. Making it work for you guide for families Guide to EHC Plans (Somerset) servicetype=inline Children and Young People 11. Changes to special educational needs and disability support - easy read guide for children and young people ad%20send%20reforms%20young%20people%20v11_1.pdf 12. The Young Person's Guide to the Children and Families Act Can t find what you are looking for, your request to SEND@somerset.org.uk Contact the SEND Training Team The SEND training team are responsible for supporting and coordinating the delivery of the SEND reform training across the Somerset workforce. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with your teams and share the key messages from the reforms, you can contact any of the below through SENDreforms@somerset.gov.uk Heather Burton Training & Support Coordinator (Taunton) Hannah May Training and Support Officer (Mendip) Jane Cooke Training and Support Officer (Online) 10

11 Other Useful Links Somerset Parent Carer Forum Council for Disabled Children SEND pathfinders Somerset Parent and Young Peoples Partnership Service Careers South West Local Offer Early Support Contact a Family Preparing for Adulthood National Network of Parent Carer Forum Please share and distribute this newsletter 11