Everyone here at Norfolk SENDIASS wants to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Just a reminder but we will be closed over Christmas from 12pm on the 24th December and will reopen at 9am on the 2nd January. Any emails or voicemails will be picked up once we reopen and we will make contact with you as soon as we can.
We are currently very busy on our helpline so if you no longer need your appointment, please cancel with at least 24 hours’ notice so that the appointment can be booked by other parent/carers that need to speak with us.
Whilst we are so busy on our helpline, please look at other ways you can get information, advice and support from us. We have a vast range of resources, booklets and bitesize training videos on our website:
Our Engagement and Advice Workers are out and about across Norfolk doing drop ins, in Libraries, outreach and booked appointments at Family Hubs. Have a look on their page for more information - Engagement and Advice Team
UPCOMING TRAINING
We are joining forces with Kids Mediation Service to present free online training on the 29th January and we will be covering;
· Who is Norfolk SENDIASS? · Who are Kids? · What is Mediation? · What is Disagreement Resolution? · What is the purpose/point of attending Mediation and how can it be worthwhile
This virtual training is for parent/carers and will include a Q&A at the end, this will be recorded and available to watch at a later date. This training coincides with our next ‘Focus Week’ on Phase Transfer with an EHCP in January. BOOK YOUR PLACE
Phase transfer update
A reminder that for those children and young people moving from one phase of education to another with an EHCP in September 2025 - The process should have started no later than the Autumn term of 2024 in preparation for the 15th February and 31st March (for those moving into post 16+) when you will find out what amendments have been made to the plan including placement.
Norfolk SEND Youth Forum update
This month the Youth Forum met in Norwich for mini golf and lunch, which proved to be a great success, and always a great opportunity for our young people to develop their friendships, and for the parent carers to have a catch up.
We also met on-line, and were pleased to welcome Claire Jones and Amy Driver from NCC who came along to share information around the launch of the NCC SEND Survey. They also asked our members to provide ideas for how to improve the wording of the survey before its formal launch next month. We were really impressed by their ideas and suggestions, and hopefully this will make the overall survey more accessible to its target audience.
We finished the meeting with a game of Scavenger hunt (with a Christmas theme), which has become something of a tradition for the group!
Our next on-line meeting will be 15th January 2025. We wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and we look forward to sharing more insights into the work of the Forum in the coming year.
Bridget Robinson, Engagement and Advice Worker
Engagement and Advice Team update
It has certainly been a busy first year for our expanded Engagement and Advice team, with a huge variety of work being undertaken to support parent/carers, children and young people across Norfolk. We are already starting to get things booked in for January and February, these will be advertised on our website and our Facebook page, so keep an eye on where you can access our support in the new year.
Youth Groups We would like to celebrate the work we have done throughout December, including attending youth groups and schools and talking to children and young people about reasonable adjustments and their rights. We have attended the Sunbeams youth group in Great Yarmouth where we got crafty and chatted about the kind of support that the young people have, or would like to have, in school. We talked about reasonable adjustments and made fidget bracelets and stress balls. The young people were great at expressing their needs and what works for them. We will be returning in the new year to continue this work.
If you know of a group of young people with SEND who would love to have their voice heard and to learn more about their rights, please get in touch with us on: nsendiassengagement@norfolk.gov.uk.
Reading Cafes We have also been working with younger children within schools, delivering reading cafes based around books with different SEND topics. This month we have delivered a reading café at a specialist unit around the story ‘Leo and the Octopus’, a book about autism. We have also delivered a reading café at a mainstream school, specifically aimed at their reception year children, based on the book ‘Super Duper You’. The book talks to children about difference and each of us having our own talents. The children and their parents spent time creating superhero masks, completing super hero puzzles and creating playdough faces of themselves and a friend. These reading cafes provide an opportunity for parent carers to ask questions and get advice around SEN processes too.
If you would like us to deliver a reading café session at your school or educational setting, please get in touch with us on: nsendiassengagement@norfolk.gov.uk.
Library Drop-in Sessions We are organising library drop-in sessions throughout Norfolk and already have lots in our diary for the new year. These sessions are becoming increasingly popular and are an opportunity for families to chat with one of our Engagement and Advice workers in a friendly, relaxed environment. We can give parent carers next step advice around all SEND processes including SEN Support, EHCP’s, Mediation, Tribunals, Disability Discrimination and much more.
You can find more information about our upcoming events on our Facebook page or by scanning the QR code below:
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very wonderful Christmas and we look forward to meeting many more of you in the new year.
Big Norfolk Festive Holiday Fun
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