SGPC News - Issue 5 - Christmas 2022

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Season’s Greetings

As we approach the final countdown to Christmas we are once again reminded of the added pressure faced by our families because of the uncertainty, excitement, and overwhelm of the festive period. Our private Facebook community can be a great place to find peer support if it’s all getting a bit much, or for ideas of what’s one – do remember to reach out and support one another.

We wish you all a peaceful Christmas time and look forward to continuing to support you on your Parent Carer journey in 2023.

Season’s greetings from all at SGPC x

Farewell Hugh

We were sorry to learn that Hugh Disley (Strategic Lead Inclusion & SEND) will be retiring later this month and wish to thank him for his dedication and commitment to working co-productively with us during his time with the South Glos local authority.

In some final words shared with us Hugh said:

It has been a real privilege to have worked alongside [the] Parent Carer Forum and I have appreciated their support, challenge, energy and commitment in getting the best outcomes for children, young people, parents and carers who are part of the SEND community. In all my experience in this field they have been the best I have worked with and I know that as we update the Co-production Charter and the Inclusion & SEND Strategy in 2023 their voice, influence and leadership will be strong in every area … I wish you well for the future.

Our final words to Hugh are ones of sincere thanks and best wishes for a happy and healthy retirement.

We are able to share that Fiona Nnanyere has been appointed by the LA as the interim Strategic Lead for Inclusion & SEND and she will be in post until the permanent replacement arrives in the Spring of 2023. We understand that Fiona is passionate about SEND and is highly experienced, having worked with numerous local authorities. We look forward to working collaboratively with her and the rest of the team.

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I don’t know who my child’s EHCP coordinator is and I can’t get any reply from our EHCP case coordinator after numerous emails and phone calls.”

We’ve been hearing from families who have been unable to contact the Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) Coordination team working within the Local Authority or just want to understand who their EHCP coordinator is.

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We have been consistently feeding back how you feel, and the difficulties you have faced in trying to speak to the team.

We are pleased to tell you we have contact details and additional information for you to share wider and will be working with the EHCP team to ensure this continues to improve. We hope this helps!

Overview of 2021-22

We recently published our Annual Report and it came as no surprise to us that we have again seen an increase in the requests from local families asking for support. We are still bearing witness to the impact Covid-19 lockdowns had on families of children with SEND, and how children in their earliest years of development have been particularly affected. In addition to this, we were attending meetings with local health and education professionals and hearing first-hand the impact the pandemic had on waiting lists and systems that were already under stress. Impacts that directly affect our Parent Carer community.

Our response to the continuing fall-out from the pandemic was to focus our attention on community support and after spending much of 2021 reflecting, planning, and sourcing grants, the year ended with recruitment of our first Peer Supporters and a newly launched series of training events under the BNSSG (Bristol, North Somerset, South Glos) collaborative, based on the original training workshops developed by SGPC in 2018.

You can read more about our progress and achievements in our Annual Report.

New Website launched

After 18 months of planning we are thrilled with our new website! If you haven’t yet had chance to look around you’ll be surprised at the wealth of valuable content we’ve included for you – and the simplicity of use – check out the area you’re most interested in with ease now we’ve segmented the Parent Carer journey into Early Years, Schools Years, and Into Adulthood.

We’re on a mission to help as many parents as possible in our local area. Do you have a friend whose child has SEND, is struggling to access education, or may they are trying to make sense of their disruptive or distressed behaviours?

Pass a copy of this newsletter onto them so they too can join our community.

National Lottery Success

We’re thrilled to have been awarded a whopping £275,000 grant (over five years) from the Community Lottery Fund!

SGPC applied for funding to continue our services and extend our community so we can reach out to more families experiencing disrupted services, social communication setbacks, and other far-reaching consequences of the pandemic (one of the greatest challenges we’re witnessing is the rise in emotionally based non-attendance (EBNA) within schools).

Keep an eye on your in box for information on the different ways in which we are supporting you.

Dates For Your Diary

10th January Q&A with SEND & You online

11th January Local Authority workshop for parents (at BAWA) – theme: Presence (school attendance)

16th January Q&A with CAMHs – Dr Laurie Ledger-Hardy

24th January BNSSG – What is Autism?

Local Authority workshop for parents (at BAWA) – theme: Independence (Into Adulthood)

Check out our Events & Workshops page to book yourself a place on an SGPC hosted event, or the BNSSG Eventbrite page for details of training events we’re running with the Bristol and North Somerset parent carer forums.

A request for your help!

Dear Parents/Carers,

The Council for Disabled Children has been commissioned to deliver a programme of independent scrutiny about the Transition to Adulthood pathway on behalf of South Gloucestershire Children’s Partnership. They want to hear the views of parent/carers about how professionals, agencies, and services support children and young people with SEND along this journey.

Preparation for adulthood is a period of time when a disabled young person is supported to move from children’s services to adult services, or more broadly, from childhood to adulthood. It is important that all children and young people are supported to have good lives and to move into adulthood with jobs, independence, friendships and positive relationships, and good health.

This survey is part of a suite of information gathering approaches they will be using to gather your feedback. It will help the Council for Disabled Children make recommendations to the South Gloucestershire Children’s Partnership to help them improve the experiences of children and young people as they prepare for adulthood.

You can complete the survey by following the link here: https://iassn.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/parent-carer-preparation-foradulthood-survey-south-gloucs.

The survey should take no more than 15-25 minutes to complete and will remain open until 30th January 2023.

If you have any further questions about the independent scrutiny process, please contact the Council for Disabled Children by emailing Georgia Macqueen Black, Social Care Programme Manager, at GMacqueenBlack@ncb.org.uk.

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