Special Educational Needs and Disability Termly Newsletter
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Special Educational Needs and Disability Termly Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 Special Education Needs (SEN) Service Education, Learning and Skills London Borough of Lambeth 0207-926-7754 and 0207-926-9460 [email protected] 10th Floor International House Canterbury Crescent Brixton, SW9 7QE Dear Colleagues, Parents and Carers, Guest of Honour Ade Adepitan leads the grand opening at The Michael Tippet College. I am pleased to welcome everyone back for the new School year. This It was a fantastic evening! newsletter is a way of updating you all with what is happening in the SEND Team. I hope that you will find it a useful way of receiving service updates and news from the team. Adam Yarnold SEND Head of Service SECONDARY TRANSFER FOR PUPILS WITH STATEMENTS OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OR EDUCATION HEALTH CARE PLANS We understand that secondary school transfer can be a stressful time for you and your child. Please come along for support and advice about choosing and applying for a secondary school. We will be there to explain the whole process and answer any questions you have. Date: 12th of September 2017: 10:00 am – 1pm Venue: We are 336, Lambeth Accord 336 Brixton Road SW9 7AA SEND Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 http://www.younglambeth.org.uk/local-offer/landing- Page 1 of 12 pages/local-offer.html EHCPSpecial Assessment TeamEducational: Needs and Disability We areTermly very busy with Newsletter a lot of requests for assessment. A huge thank you to SENCO’s for holding EHC Outcomes Meetings while we continue to experience staffing issuesSummer in the assessment Term 2017 team. It is greatly appreciated. SENCOs - When making requests for assessment please ensure that you review the list of Key Professionals on the SEN Support plan prior to sending it off. This will ensure that we contact the right professionals for statutory advice if the application is agreed. EHCP MONITORING TEAMS The SEND Service is pleased to introduce Sam Morris as the new Principal Officer for 14-25 year olds. Some of you may already know Sam from other educational roles in Lambeth. The 14-25 service will continue to work with local providers of further education to develop a broad range of educational and vocational options for mature learners. There will be a particular focus on developing Supported Internships as a graduated approach to seeking employment for Lambeth’s young people who are preparing for adulthood. ANNUAL REVIEWS As you know it is a legal requirement that each pupil with an EHCP or statement must have a yearly review. It is our role to remind you that this must take place and formal termly reminders should be reaching you. Please can you make sure that all your pupils have had a review in the last 12 months and that the Lambeth SEN service has received all relevant paperwork. CONVERSIONS We now have less than 12 months to ‘convert’ all remaining statements to the EHCP format. Please can all schools ensure that any remaining pupils who still have a statement have the conversion held as soon as possible in order to meet this deadline. SEND Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 http://www.younglambeth.org.uk/local-offer/landing- Page 2 of 12 pages/local-offer.html Early SpecialYears SEN Team Educational Needs and Disability After a restructure in April, we are now pleased to introduce The Early Years Special Educational Needs (EY SEN) Team.Termly Newsletter The TeamSummer continues Term to offer 2017 advice and support to families who have children under 5 with Complex Needs or Autism (or awaiting diagnoses.) The Team is made up of 2 Home Support Workers and a Service Manager who work across Lambeth. The service offers various different information drop-ins and inclusive groups which are held at various different children centres. If you would like more information on these please look on the Local offer or contact Catherine Pearson on the below details. For those families with children with an Autism diagnoses we offer the EarlyBird parenting programme. EarlyBird is a three month parent programme combining group training sessions with individual home visits, where video feedback is used to help parents to combine theory with practice. If you are interested or would like more information about the course please contact [email protected] To contact the Early Years Special Educational Needs (EY SEN) Team please email Catherine Pearson on [email protected] or phone 020 7929 9966. SEND TRANSPORT Independent travel training and travel buddying What is Independent Travel Training? Travelling independently is an important part of your child’s development. Travel Training gives children with Special Educational Needs the skills and confidence to travel independently on public transport. How does it work? The child or young person will be paired up with their own experienced travel trainer. The trainer will conduct full risk assessments on a safe route to school or college and then accompany your child as they travel on public transport. On the way, they will pass on skills, hints and tips to help them get ready for making the journey on their own. Who is it for? The Travel Training programme is for young people who: Are aged 11-19 Live in the London Borough of Lambeth Currently use specialist transport Have an Education and Health Care Plan SEND Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 http://www.younglambeth.org.uk/local-offer/landing- Page 3 of 12 pages/local-offer.html Special Educational Needs and Disability What do I do next? If you know of a child who could benefit from Independent travel training and meets the requirements please speakTermly to their parents Newsletter or E-mail [email protected], or Call 020 7926 6839 You Summercan download Term a leaflet 2017 on independent travel training (Click on link) or for further information visit www.younglambeth.org.uk/local -offer/landing-pages/travel-assistance.html LOCAL AREA INSPECTION UPDATE The Children and Families Act 2014 places responsibility on the local area, which includes the local authority, health commissioners and providers (e.g. schools), to identify and meet the needs of children and young people and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities aged 0 to 25. Ofsted have been commissioned by Minister Edward Timpson to work jointly to deliver a program of local area inspections over the next five years to inspect local areas and evaluate how well they are fulfilling these duties. All 152 local areas will be inspected over a five-year period starting in 2016, so Lambeth could be inspected at any point during the next four years. Inspection teams will include one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) (lead), a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspector and an Ofsted Inspector (OI). Inspectors will focus on three key questions: • A: How effectively does the local area identify children and young people who have SEN and/or disabilities? • B: How effectively does the local area assess and meet the needs of c&yp who have SEN and/or disabilities? • C: How effectively does the local area improve outcomes for c&yp who have SEN and/or disabilities? Ofsted have published inspection letters, some of which have been identified as having serious concerns and therefore requiring the local area to produce a written statement of action. The published inspection letters can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-area-send-inspection-outcome- letters#history Ofsted have also produced a power point presentation giving an overview of the inspection and summarising the findings to date. This is available from: https://www.slideshare.net/Ofstednews/localareasendinspections210217 SEND Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 http://www.younglambeth.org.uk/local-offer/landing- Page 4 of 12 pages/local-offer.html Special Educational Needs and Disability LAMBETHTermly LOCAL OFFER Newsletter Lambeth sets out in its Local Offer the support available for children and young people with SEND. ThisSummer is published Term online 2017on the Young Lambeth website at http://www.younglambeth.org/local- offer. We ask that all schools include this link on their websites and within their SEND information reports. We are currently holding focus groups with parents and carers, to make changes to the Local Offer to make it easier to navigate and ensure that it contains the information they are looking for in an easy to find and read format. The new look Local Offer will be ready for October 2017 and we will let everyone know when it goes live. You will still be able to access it via the link above. We want CYP views. Can you help ? If you could email response to Claire Kirwan, [email protected] we will collate them and let you know responses to them in the next newsletter. 1. Do you know what the Lambeth Local Offer is? 2. Did you know there is a website? 3. Where do you go to find out information about the support available for you? 4. Where do you go to find out about things to do and places to go in Lambeth? 5. Have a look at Lambeth’s Local Offer - http://www.younglambeth.org/local- offer/landing-pages/local-offer.html 5a. Now you know this website exists will you use it? 5b. If not why, and what needs to change? 6. How old are you? SEND Newsletter Autumn Term 2017 http://www.younglambeth.org.uk/local-offer/landing- Page 5 of 12 pages/local-offer.html Special Educational Needs and Disability PARENTTermly AND CARER ENGAGEMENTNewsletter We Summerwill be having Term SEND 2017and Children With Disabilities Social Care coffee mornings on the third Wednesday of every month at We Are 336, Lambeth Accord, 336 Brixton Road, London SW9 7AA.