Sen team, outcomes, family support & links

SEN Team, Outcomes, family support & links 2nd May 2015

Dear All So much going on...

News from Open Meetings The Open Meetings continue to be useful and thought provoking meetings. Two more next week: Tuesday 5th May

6.30pm to 8pm

Hampton Hill Junior School St James’s Avenue Hampton Hill, TW12 1HW

Romany & Sophie Anna Chiva Jackie Grimes (IS - E)

Friday 8th May

11am to 12.30pm

Strathmore School Meadlands Drive Petersham, TW10 7ED

Kate & Harry Anna Chiva J Rourke (IS - P) S Marshall – support broker

Hot of the press is a letter from the Anna Chiva about the re-organisation of the SEN Team in Richmond (Kingston to follow soon). The letter is attached. Parents will (hopefully) receive this twice and it’s winging its way to you in the post.

Also attached is a single page, very simple, explanation of a structure for writing ‘Outcomes’; these are a more child centred and specific version of ‘targets’ and form a vital part of the new Education, Health & Care Plans.

What else are we up to?

Richmond SEND Family Voice (RSFV) meet monthly – we are a team of volunteers who contribute time and act as conduits to wider disability specific groups and specialist schools.

And, as well as organising the Open Meetings and sending regular bulletins, here are some of the other projects we are working on:  

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A dedicated facility (building) for integrated health & social care services in Richmond; this is how RSFV started, and we’re still plugging away…!

In partnership with Healthwatch, with magnificent support from Richmond NAS & Richmond ADHD, we are developing and facilitating the distribution of a User survey of family’s experiences of CAMHS (Children’s & Adolescent Mental Health Services).

This survey will be circulated via us, our networks and the schools; and the output will inform both the CAMHS strategy and commissioning. More news to follow once this is finalised by the Healthwatch board.

Parent’s involvement in the SEN Panel; we have a discussion document on this which we will share soon.

SEND Reforms Implementation; as well as the Open Meetings, we continue to work closely with Achieving for Children on the delivery, family experiences and understanding of the SEND Reforms. In particular the Education, Health & Care Plans – with a number of our steering group directly involved in the ongoing development.

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The Local Offer; likewise, we continue to work closely on developing and generating feedback on what works, and what doesn’t. www.afclocaloffer.org.uk More news to follow next week.

We are facilitating the consultation process on developing new Post-16 education provision and ‘pathways to employment and other destinations’ with the Education commissioner. This has begun with the Open Meetings and more specific work is to follow.

We are also trying to find the time to sort out and qualify the membership of our email distribution list!

One of the things we are planning for the future is to have an event/s that are 'surgeries' or 'clinics' whereby we have a variety of SEN related professionals and parents can book a slot (or take ticket) and spend 1:1 time. These professionals might include a Snr SEN Case mgr, an Educational Psychologist, a Speech & Language therapist, Early Years advisor, perhaps representatives from disability specific support groups and so on. What would be useful for you?

Richmond ADHD - meeting on Benefits Advice Richmond ADHD meetings are open to anyone who has concerns or has family and/or friends with a diagnosis of ADHD; if families from outside the borough wish to join their meetings, they are very welcome. In their own words "ADHD rarely sits as a single diagnosis but alongside many other mental health conditions , so we might touch many families and carers and are only too happy to offer support and info."

Tuesday 5th May - 11am to 1pm Richmond Royal Hospital, Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey Please see the attached poster for further information, or follow this link: http://adhdrichmond.org/ Sitting & Befriending Services Local charity; Richmond Users for Independent Living (Ruils), has decided to keep the Sitting & Befriending service going and are working on fundraising at the moment.

The Ruils Sitting & Befriending service has been nominated for a £10k Aviva Community Award. And they need your help. The projects with the most public votes will make the final.

Please help Ruils to save this service. To VOTE all you need to do is click on the link below and register. It only takes a minute but can really make a difference. https://communityfund.aviva.co.uk/voting/(X(1)S(dj3nmveyaeh5xx04xfdi1abk))/project/view/3122/?AspxAutoD etectCookieSupport=1 For more information on Ruils, follow this link: http://www.ruils.co.uk/ Family Play and Chat Room “This is a place where you can meet other parents, chat, make friends and find out about local services to support children with additional needs and families members. If you have pre-school age children you are welcome to bring them along. Whilst we don’t have crèche facilities, we do have a lovely volunteer who is happy to keep your little one’s entertained so that you can have a chance for some grown-up talk.

There is no cost and no need to book or commit to regular attendance. If you like the idea of a parent support group and you are free, why not give the Family Play and Chat Room a try! ” Details are as follows:

Time: 1pm to 2.30pm - every Wednesday during term time Place: Ham Children’s Centre, Ashburnham Road, Ham.

Links A lovely lucid poem written by Lia Filby (age 8) and is the winner of Radio 2’s ‘500 words’ competition. The title is Autism and Me – if there was the space, I’d print it in full! There are lots of other stories, from the finalists, on the same webpage. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4xQRdTyJC1bhNj5kXN4xqs9/autism-and-me Friday 1 May was Global Developmental Delay Awareness Day, and Contact a Family offered advice and information for parents. http://www.cafamily.org.uk/news-and-media/get-advice-from-contact-a-family-on-globaldevelopment-delay-day/ Finally, an attachment from the Department of Health: an easy-read guide to the Care Act. As ever, if you have any queries at all, please ask and I'll do my best to find an answer.

With best wishes, Romany RSFV phone: 07469 746 145

How to write an Outcome • By (time period) • X will have gained the (description of skill) • so that he can (measureable impact /behavioural observation)

Time Period

Description of the skill that will be gained

Description of what the pupil will be doing differently

By the end of Year 6…

…Malie will have gained understanding and use of spoken language skills…

…so that she can hold conversations with other children and adults, describing (in simple detail) things about her everyday life

With Thanks to A Massey.

Education, Children’s Services SEN Team 42 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3BW Tel: 020 8891 7541/7591 Fax: 020 8891 7714 Email: afc.sen.team@richmond.gov.uk www.richmond.gov.uk/education_special_educational_needs

April 2015

Dear Sir/Madam Reallocation of Cases to an Alphabetical System Following a review of our existing practices I am writing to inform you that from 5 May 2015 we are changing to an alphabetised system of case management. The reason for making this change is to bring our practices in line with the new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Reforms and SEND Code of Practice (2014).

The new Code of Practice promotes a family centred approach and in order to help us achieve this it has been decided to change the way in which cases are allocated from a locality/school basis to an alphabetised system, based on the child's surname. This means that it is more likely that families will only have to deal with one case manager, regardless of which school or educational setting their child attends and that the case manager will remain working with the family until your child reaches Year 10. At this stage the young person will transfer to the Preparing for Adulthood Team and will be allocated a new case manager, also based on an alphabetised allocation. If your child is already in Year 10 or above you will receive a separate letter giving you details of who your case manager is.

This change will also result in a more equitable spread of work across the SEN Team and in so doing will improve our service to you.

Attached is a table of the new allocations which gives the name of your case manager and their contact details. It also gives you details of the business support officer who will also be able to assist you when your case manager is not available.

We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for your children and young people.

Yours sincerely

Wendy Bolsover Principal SEN Case Manager Special Educational Needs Team

Letter Range by Surname

Case Manager

A - BZ

Wayne Pigeon-Coote Senior SEN Case Manager  Wayne.pigeon-coote@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7529 Locality: Ham and Richmond

C - GO

Kofi Olcoo Case Manager  Kofi.ocloo@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8487 5035 Locality: Heathfield, Whitton, and West Twickenham

GR - MAT

Barjinder Bal Case Manager  Barjinder.bal@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7179 Locality: St Margaret’s, Twickenham and Teddington

MAU - ROF

Annette Smyth Case Manager  Annette.smyth@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7533 Locality: Kew, Mortlake, Barnes and East Sheen

ROG - Z

Fran Scott Case Manager  Fran.scott@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7582 Locality: Hampton and Hampton Hill

Business Support : General  020 8891 7541 A - KHU

KI - Z

Cai Michell/Zaki Din Business Support Officer  Zaki.din@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7836

Sarah Cox Business Support Officer  Sarah.coxl@achievingforchildren.org.uk  020 8891 7330