This month we said goodbye to one of our SENDIAS Advisors Amy who was covering maternity, we want to thank her for all her work and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
In last month’s newsletter we explained that we would be looking at ways to make some of the service offers better for parent/carers.
Moving forward we will no longer have Advice Clinics across the County instead we have our offer of ‘one-off’ support where parent/carers or young people that need support filling in forms, looking through tribunal paperwork or going through a draft EHCP can be offered this.
We will also be spending time over the Summer adding training recordings, resources and FAQs to our website, following 6 months of providing live training the overwhelming feedback we received from parent/carers and professionals was that they wanted recorded training that they can watch at a time that suits them and they can refer back to as many times as needed. Please keep an eye on our website from September as we will have lots of new information, advice and support on there.
We are currently very busy, 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.
We have a great deal of resources and booklets on our website to support you with answering any questions you might have, whilst we are currently busy please do look at our website to see if it is able to help you move forward.
We are in the process of updating our website to make it more accessible and currently have a parent/carer consultation survey out. Please take some time to fill this in, this is a great help to us:
High Courts and Upper Tier Tribunals can make rulings on parts of the law that need clarifying (the grey areas), those rulings are called ‘Case Law’.
Following a Case Law ruling all other Courts and Tribunals then have to follow this and it takes precedent over what the law says.
Derbyshire CC v EM and DM [2019] UKUT 240 (AAC) This ruling centred around Derbyshire County Council’s decision that SEN provision could not be provided by a school or other institution for two disabled sisters and whether it was necessary to name a school or other institution in section I of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) if this was the case. The First-Tier Tribunal determined that as the sisters wouldn’t be attending a school or other institution it wasn’t necessary for a school or other institution to be named in Section I of an EHCP and it would be appropriate to leave Section I blank. In these cases ‘education other than in school’ (EOTIS) would be provided.
The Upper Tier Tribunal agreed with the First-Tier Tribunal’s ruling and decided that there is no requirement for EHCPs to specify a school or other institution in Section I if the Local Authority (LA) considers that no school or other institution is suitable for the child.
Many families have welcomed this ruling as it had caused them distress to have a school or other institution named in an EHCP when this was inappropriate for that child or young person. This does not mean that Section I has to stay blank for the duration of a child or young person’s education, as normal they will have a yearly review which means that section I can be amended at a later date if a school or other institution becomes a possibility for a child or young person.
Local Authorities must be absolute in their decision to leave Section I of an EHCP blank, it can only be done when it is wholly inappropriate for a school or other institution to be named. Section I must not be left blank if the LA believe that there is a school or other institution that can meet the SEN provision of the child or young person.
Staff spotlight
Kelly Drew, Business and Communication Co-ordinator
My name is Kelly, and I am the Business and Communication Co-ordinator for Norfolk SENDIASS. I have worked for Norfolk SENDIASS since 2015. Before working for Norfolk SENDIASS I worked for Norfolk Family Information Service and Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service.
My responsibilities as Business Communication Co-ordinator include being the first point of contact for parent/carers who contact us, collecting and analysing data and reporting to the Steering Group, Service Manager and any other relevant stakeholders. Conducting market research and analysing for statistical and development purposes. Managing the services website and social media accounts, contributing to the future development of online services and the design and development of marketing materials and the technical and strategic lead for our service database, booking system and newsletter.
I love being part of this team and contributing to delivering a invaluable service to parent/carers children and young people in Norfolk.
Parent/carer training
We offer a variety of free SEND training for parent/carers. You can book your place via our website. More training and dates will become available throughout the year.
Upcoming Events
JULY 2024
1st July - 11:00am Suspension and Exclusion - ONLINE
An understanding of the legal tests and processes around fixed term suspensions, illegal suspensions, permanent exclusions and managed moves.
11th July 2024 - 12:00pm Overview of an EHCP - ONLINE This training is for parent/carers to give an overview and understanding of the processes related to an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
We were also able to share our experiences of this years SENDFEST; all those who attended agreed that it had been a great day out for them!
We were joined by Michelle Gurner, Life Skills Broker, who is leading on a Pilot project for NCC. Michelle had sought to consult with the group, about their experiences or expectations around the transition from school to further education.
Michelle asked the following questions:
How was your transition from 5 days at school to 3 days at college?
What went well?
What could have been better?
What are your expectations for your move?
Responses from Youth Forum Transition Issues
Transitioning this September. Prefer three days rather than five days as too much work and need time off to relax. Will be less stressed and more time to do homework on days off.
I did not know what to do on the two days off especially when mum and dad are not off work.
I would like more things to be offered on the two days off.
I preferred college as could focus on less subjects.
I think when I transition to college, I was kinda scared since most of the people that I knew from High School were going to a different college. Later on, maybe after two weeks, I got new people to talk with and I got used to the new place easily.
College was closer but I missed my friends from school.
I would like to see more access to being helped in class, so you get additional support.
I was hoping to get more support to make more progress and to find work.
l would have liked to do a childcare course but people who don't want to be at college seem to take that course on
Transport/Distance
I was disappointed as I go into college four days instead of three days. I travel for over an hour each way sometimes for only 2 hours at college.
I could only do level 1 at my nearest college, and I would have been bored.
College is over 40 miles away from where I live.
There is nothing suitable closer.
There is somebody at my college who has to take the train.
Michelle thanked everyone for their feedback and input into the project .
Michelle would like to come back to another meeting to update the group on the project.
We are thrilled that one of our longest serving members, Charlotte, agreed to be part of the Flourish Awards Young Person Judging panel, last weekend, and we look forward to hearing her feedback of the experience!
We were also able to plan for our next face to face meet up, which is on 13th July at County Hall, where we plan to review the year, celebrate the groups achievements, plan for the coming year, and enjoy a hearty lunch.
We will be taking a short break over the summer; our monthly meetings will begin again in September!
We’re certainly getting busy and getting the miles in across the county. This last month we’ve been to a wide variety of events and have managed to talk to people in all sorts of places. We’ve been at a school SEND parents evening, SEND cafés and stay and play sessions run by the Library service, parent support cafes and toddler groups. We’re starting to be at the Family Hubs and we’ve even been at a Teddy Bears Picnic on, which felt like, the only summer’s day of recent times!
Jo said: ‘It’s hard to pick out the highlights but going along to the Hamlet Centre Exhibition was definitely a favourite of mine. The centre put on a night for families to see their young person’s artwork and creations – all of which were incredible. It was very well attended and a great chance to talk to the centre’s community. We were also able to start to support the centre to develop their own youth forum’.
SendFest was obviously a key date in our calendar this month and such a great opportunity to be a part of a great big, countywide event for lots of our team. We spoke to a lot of very keen young people who’ve got some great ideas about influencing change – we look forward to lots of sign ups to our youth forum group.
Laura has also started the ‘Reading Café’ offer to schools, a great first for us which really shows how our work can add value.
Laura said: ‘We read the story ‘You Choose’ and the children were learning about the importance of having their views, wishes and feelings heard. We talked as a group about some of the pages and the children were very excited to share their favourite things on each page. The session focussed on children having the confidence to talk about their likes and dislikes.
The children had the opportunity to create a home, the book asked the question ‘What kind of home would you choose?’. Child N created the Titanic with his Lego: “I love the Titanic!”
The children used images from the book to create a portrait of themselves, full of all the things they like. Child S said “Bacon is my favourite food. I love rollercoasters, my favourite are wooden ones!”
Children had a selection of photos to choose from and were able to sort them into ‘I would not like to do’ and ‘I would like to do’. Child E said, “My favourite at the park is the swings. I want to start dance classes, Mum said I can go soon, I want to do street”.
Here’s where you can catch us over the coming weeks;
RAF Marham Wellbeing Drop in, Thursday 20th June, 10am-2pm
All Angels Community Fayre, Chapel Break Infant School, Saturday 22nd June, 12-3pm
Nansa Parent Support Group, Seagulls Centre, Great Yarmouth, Tuesday 25th June, 10am-12pm
Library Drop In, Aylsham Library, Friday 28th June, 2-3pm
Community Engagement Event, West Earlham Community Centre, Monday 8th July, Norwich, 4-5.30pm
Making Sense of SEND Roadshow, Greenfields Community Centre, Norwich, Tuesday 9th July, 10am-12pm
We’re also making appearances at the PEEP sessions, getting involved with the Health Sector as well as linking with special schools and community organisations but obviously, we’re always open to new ideas.
Making Sense of SEND Free Information Fair
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