Summer greetings 

Hello everyone, this week it has been lovely to see some sunshine in the Bradford district, which has allowed us to enjoy more time outside. We hope many of you have now had or are in the process of having your Covid-19 vaccinations. This week the Government has announced a delay to the removal of some restrictions which were due to take place on 21 June so they can vaccinate more people, due to the Delta variant of Covid. In the meantime we can continue to meet in groups of up to 30 outdoors and six people or two households can meet indoors (and stay overnight). 

The SEND transformation and compliance team are here for you to provide support and information to you and your family each month. 

There has been some changes with the team, as Jane Hall, Sarah Pawson and Luke Metcalfe will all be leaving the team between May and June to begin new ventures. We would like to thank them all for their contribution to the team work in developing the SEND Partnership in Bradford.

We have good news to share that Nigel Hammon, who has been working in our team for a little while as a project officer on the Local Offer has successfully been recruited into the position of the SEND Local Offer lead. He brings with him a wealth of experience and passion to further develop the Local Offer for the district. 

We have also successfully recruited to the Team Manager role, Stu Barratt will be joining the team in mid June. Stu has been working in Bradford Social Care for the past few months and has experience of working in SEND and overseeing SEND inspections in other authorities.

We are all looking forward to our new team members beginning in post as they both bring a lot of experience that will support the team.

The Department for Education (DfE) has made funds available to every local authority in England to coordinate free holiday club provision, including healthy food and enriching activities, for children on benefits-related free school meals for the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.

Bradford Council have plans to ensure eligible children and young people across Bradford district have access to a diverse range of exciting holiday clubs, offering a blend of district-wide and more locally-based activities.

The Short Breaks Statement (2021 - 2022) is under consultation and we welcome the families who were involved in the initial consultations (2020), as well as any other parents or carers to provide additional comments or feedback. These will be added to all the responses already collected, so that a final version of the interim Statement can be developed and considered by the Council Executive in early Autumn.

Please send your views and comments to: SBstatement.feedback@bradford.gov.uk before 7 July 2021.

A project is continuing to move the Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) assessment process online.

The focus is on streamlining and improving the experience for families undergoing the EHC assessment process. This includes the provision of a parent/carer portal to request assessments and to monitor the progress of the assessment process.

A professional portal will also be launched to enable schools, social workers, health and other professionals involved with your child to request assessments and contribute to the final EHCP. 

This is a free online magazine packed with interesting articles, personal stories and advice:

• financial support for families.
• emotional well-being for parents of disabled children.
• top tips for helping children's fine motor skills.
• Support for children with bed wetting problems.