  Bi-weekly newsletter in association with our Local Offer
Consultation opens on proposal to increase autism provision at Crawley school
People
are being asked for their views on a proposed change to the special needs
provision at a Crawley school.
The
change would affect the special support centre at Maidenbower Junior School and
see it change from providing for additional learning needs to providing
additional support for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions.
West
Sussex County Council has been reviewing the specialist provision on offer
across the county and says the change is due to the needs of pupils as well as
making the best use of available funding.
The
consultation will run until Sunday 10 December 2017. People can take part in
the consultation at https://haveyoursay.westsussex.gov.uk
Richard
Burrett, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “I am really keen to
hear people’s views on the proposal and this will help me come to a decision on
the best way forward. My ultimate aim is to make sure that our pupils receive
every opportunity to fulfil their potential and that they thrive.”
Following
the end of the consultation the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills will
take a decision on whether to approve the proposal. A final decision on the
proposed changes is expected to be made in January 2018.
If
the proposal goes ahead the change would be implemented from September 2018.
Disability Register
The
Compass Team at Amaze recently announced we had registered 2000 0 to 25 year
olds with special educational needs and disabilities on ‘Compass West Sussex’,
the disability register for West Sussex County Council. Those 2000 children and
young people are all benefiting from a broad range of Compass Card leisure
discounts and offers across the county and beyond – but there’s also an
important benefit for SEND professionals.
2000
registrations means that Compass West Sussex now holds the data of an estimated
23% of the total number of children and young people with SEND in the county.
This robust, accurate data hasn’t been available before and could play a role
in your service planning, policy development and funding bids.
The
Compass Team enters all the information from Compass West Sussex registration
forms onto the Compass West Sussex database and we ask families to re-register
every two years so we can ensure data is up to date. Personal details are
protected under Data Protection legislation by Amaze, but the collated
anonymised data, which can include some or all of the questions from the
registration forms, is a treasure trove for SEND professionals. We can also
create targeted mailing lists to promote services and events to Compass
families and we have a weekly e-newsletter, ‘Compass News WSx’.
To
find out more contact Tina, the Database Manager at Amaze, by emailing tina@amazebrighton.org.uk or by calling 01273 234020.
Please
do tell Amaze if you’re able to use Compass West Sussex data – they’d love to
be able to spread the word about how it’s being used!
Reaching Families
Reaching Families have published an e-Book
version of the new edition of Making Sense Of It All. The book is now available
free in iBook and Kindle format and can be downloaded directly from their website. They would be grateful if you could share with parents and
colleagues in your networks.
http://www.reachingfamilies.org.uk/ebooks.htm
Volunteer Opportunities
Due to recent
increase in participation for a number of the Crawley Wellbeing programmes we require more
volunteers to support our programmes.
- Do you enjoy
getting involved?
- Do you want to be
part of something engaging and inclusive?
- Are you
passionate about helping people with disabilities?
We are currently looking
for volunteers aged 16+ to help deliver weekly sessions with Moving Barriers
(Disability sports club), footloose (disability dance sessions), Wheels for
wellbeing (disability cycling sessions) and Health walks.
All are great opportunities to develop new skills,
meet new people and make a difference in Crawley.
For more
information contact Crawley Wellbeing on 01293 585350
Email: Wellbeing@crawley.gov.uk
NEW services listed on our Local Offer:
Little Angels Contact and Mediation Services
Little Angels Contact and Mediation Services. We have 2 centres in Haywards Heath and 1 in Hastings, We also offer Community Contacts. Travel Service Supporting children with disabilities For other areas of support that we offer please visit our website. View more on our Local Offer.
STAGE: Teaching School Alliance
STAGE TSA is a SEND focused Teaching School Alliance supporting mainstream and special schools to develop practice and provision for pupils with SEND. With St Anthony’s, QEII and Manor Green Primary as the Lead Schools, the Partnership comprises of an alliance of special schools and representative members from WSCC and Chichester University. View more on our West Sussex Local Offer.
Children in Care Council (CICC)
The Children in Care Council (CICC) is a regular group of young people who are looked after by West Sussex County Council. They meet every two weeks to discuss issues that matter to those in care, and help shape the services that are provided. View more on our Local Offer.
Free Your Mind Campaign
Free Your Mind is a group of young people in West Sussex who are passionate about challenging views about mental health. The aim of their campaign is to provide information for young people around mental health issues as well as:
• Challenge stigma and increase awareness • Provide young people with the opportunity to have their voice heard • Enable young people to find out more about existing mental health services • Better target young people with information about services view more on our Local Offer.
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