Shine news
31st May 2018
Welcome to Shines’ monthly Education blog, with information and advice about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
THE POLITICS STUFF-
14th June 2018 is the deadline for written submissions about support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND). Follow the link to make your opinions known:
This national trial, lasting 2 years, is about the single route of redress currently available and extends the powers of First-tier Tribunal (SEND) to make non-binding recommendations on the health and social care aspects of Education Health and Care Plans in England: https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/first-tier-tribunal-special-educational-needs-and-disability
Further information is available from the Council for Disabled Children website and from local Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Services: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/information-advice-and-support-services-network/find-your-local-ias-service
YOUR CHOICES-
The Call for Evidence on issues connected with elective home education closes on 2nd July 2018. If you would like to have your say on the registering, monitoring and supporting of children and young people for home education then follow the link:
The DfE also welcomes comments on drafts of two Home Education guides, one for local authorities and one designed for parents. The link to the Home Education Guide for parents is:
Voice Ability has guidance to support advocates on challenging decisions or actions with or on behalf of individuals and explains issues related to the Mental Capacity Act: https://www.voiceability.org/uploads/Challenge_Guidance_-_Advice_for_Advocates.pdf
EHCP Journeys was created by ASK Research and is supported by the Department for Education and the Department for Health.
On this website, you can read the families’ stories, give feedback on local services and also rate and improve local delivery of services. For more information about Education Health and Care Plan experiences go to: http://ehcpjourneys.com/
LOCAL LIFE
Local areas in England are being inspected, following the Children and Families Act of 2014, to check their compliance with the SEND Code of Practice. The inspection teams will include an HM Inspector, a CQC specialist and an Ofsted inspector.
For more information about the local area inspection procedure and the results of inspections visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-area-send-inspections-information-for-families/joint-inspections-of-local-area-send-provision
The school transport campaign, led by Contact for Families of children with disabilities and supported by other children’s charities, continues. If you would like to sign the petition to close the school transport loophole the go to: https://contact.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns-research/school-transport-inquiry/
First Discoverers provides guidance about a range of topics such as Inclusion and SEND.
The NPA has a guide to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice, which provides quick references to important questions about the SEND reforms in England: https://www.portage.org.uk/support/resources/parent-guides/portage-guide-send-code-practice
All Local Authorities were asked by PD Net to complete their national survey of support for learners with a physical disability. This second survey will enable PD Net to update the national profile of support for learners with PD, at a time when the educational landscape and LA role is changing rapidly.
To date, the survey response rate has been very low. It is hoped that members might be able to help by alerting PDNet to who the best person to contact is in their LA so that they are able to remind them of the survey. Previously the survey has been sent to all Directors of Children's Services. Pd Net would like the information to reach the right person.
If you are able to help please email support@pdnet.org.uk with any details.
FAQ
Shine Support and Development Workers receive many questions from members and professionals regarding a wide range of issues so here are some answers to a few of those frequently asked questions.
SENCOs and teachers in mainstream schools often ask how they can make sports days more inclusive for pupils with additional needs. Parents are also seeking advice on ideas for inclusive games to pass on to schools or to use at home during family activities.
Teachers seeking advice on making PE lessons and Sports Days more inclusive can ask for support from their local authority’s team of specialist teachers of pupils with physical disabilities.
Your Local Offer may also contain useful information like this link: http://www.essexlocaloffer.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Advice-for-education-settings-sports-day-and-athletics-including-pupils-with-physical-disabilities.pdf
In addition, there are a number of charities and organisations, which give advice to schools about inclusive PE lessons. Professionals can gain free advice and training about modifying games to suit a range of abilities:
Families often ask for support when transferring from one Key Stage to the next, from one school to another or during Transition at 14 towards adulthood. Here’s some links to websites offering guides with answers for parent carers and professionals.
Transition mini-guide for schools and families is useful for parent carers and for teachers and has been newly updated: http://www.nasen.org.uk/resources/resources.transition.html
Sign up for targeted information: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/transition-information-network
The NNPCF shares advice on transition and there is an outstanding Guide to Transition produced by Sheffield PCF: http://sheffieldparentcarerforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Transition-Timeline_web.pdf
This guide has proved to be a shining example to other parent carer forums such as Stockport PIP, who use the content in their own transition publication: http://www.pipstockport.org/index.html
A few parents have noticed that their children have some difficulties with food textures at school and at home, causing problems with swallowing.
Shine health advisers and local Speech and language Therapy (SaLT) teams can support families with this concern.
Headway charity has a fact sheet about dysphagia, which may also be of help: https://www.headway.org.uk/media/2799/dysphagia-after-brain-injury-new-factsheet.pdf
Giving Voice offers advice on feeding and swallowing difficulties. 14th March was Swallowing Awareness Day, drawing attention to feeding and swallowing difficulties of children, young people and adults with neurological conditions that affect their ability to eat and to drink safely. Giving Voice has fact sheets and a toolkit for families:
http://www.givingvoiceuk.org/swallowing-awareness-day/
Finding accessible holiday destinations can be difficult so here’s the latest guide, offering advice on accessibility. Rough Guide to Accessible Britain:
https://www.motability.co.uk/news-views-and-events/rough-guide-to-accessible-britain/
Financial difficulties can prevent families with children who have additional needs from going on holiday so Disability Grants has put together a list of grants for holidays: https://www.disability-grants.org/holiday-grants-disabled-children-adults.html
Dates for your Diary
The Federation of Children’s Book Groups has its annual Share-a-Story events this month and this year has chosen the theme of sharing a world of stories. Use the link to see events around the UK in May: http://www.fcbg.org.uk/national-share-a-story-month/
Shine has Bella and Benny Bear stories to share and Scope has a series of storybooks for children about issues, which raise awareness about disabilities. Scope’s free books are available via their website about children’s experiences of using a walker or wheelchair, having new splints, being Peg fed or having sensory needs: https://www.scope.org.uk/support/families/books/children?_ga=2.77259925.1609719898.1524687099-890994760.1442496050
Follow the link to show your support: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/69608-the-fight-for-fortification
The seminar is with Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Parenting from Wakefield and is on Wednesday 23rd May from 5pm to 8pm at Irwin Mitchell’s offices 2 Wellington Place, Leeds LS1 4BZ. Contact Olivia-mae.powell@irwinmitchell.com by 16th May if you wish to attend.
General Data Protection Regulations and schools information is available by following the link: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKDFE/bulletins/1e33cd3
There will be talks for families about hydrocephalus and education, focusing on how to support children at home, tips for managing at school, assessment arrangements and coping with homework: https://www.shinecharity.org.uk/our-community/regionalteams/northernireland
The keynote speaker will be Sally Philips, actor and parent of a child with Down syndrome. Tickets for professionals are £45, the cost for parent carers is £15 and tickets for children and young people cost £10. For further details go to: http://www.festable.org/
Action for Kids Transition seminar is on Wednesday 20th June in central London at the St Alban’s Centre, Baldwin’s Gardens London EC1N 7AB. The cost per place is £15 for families and £45 for professionals, including lunch: https://www.actionforkids.org/Pages/Category/for-young-people
At King Power Stadium in Leicester, costing £120 per delegate with workshops on Transition, Examinations and Assessments, Inclusive Creative Arts and Inclusive technology: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unlocking-potential-pdnet-national-conference-2018-tickets-43139447248
Thanks again to Sharon, Elizabeth, Jo, Christine, Kathy and to everyone else for their many ideas and contributions to the latest Update.
If you’d like to share information or advice about Education with Shine staff, members and interested professionals in the Education Update for June then contact Jan via jan.tippett@shinecharity.org.uk
All contributions are gratefully received and if not shared over the next few months then they’re sure to be added to education materials currently in production for the new Shine website.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this Update is accurate at the time of publishing. The information provided does not constitute legal or professional advice and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.