What makes a good quality EHCP?

We are pleased to say that the SEND Strategic Partnership Board approved the EHCP Quality Assurance Framework in October. Our thanks go to everyone who inputted and supported in developing this over the past months.

Our next step is to undertake further coproduction to ensure our performance measures reflect what our parents, carers, families and partners wish to see in the framework. We will be holding short drop-in sessions in late November to seek your views on this. These sessions will be asking one question: what makes a good quality EHCP?

For further information about this, and the dates and times for the drop-in sessions, please visit our Local Offer page here.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Parent/Carer support groups Many of our parent/ carer groups have their own newsletters and offer their own training and support. We encourage all parent/ carers to join a parent/ carer support group if they have not done already for peer to peer support and training, diagnosis specific support and to access some of the many opportunities our groups offer to support families. The groups have parent/ carers with experience and many of the groups have leaders who are also parent/ carers. The Parent Forum for Bradford and Airedale (PFBA)  have compiled a list of groups in the Bradford area please see the link below. If you are a practitioner please can you share this list of parent/ carer groups with your parent/carers. SEND parent/carers may feel isolated at times and signposting to support networks can really help. https://pfba.org.uk/support-groups-in-the-bradford-area/

New SEND Short Breaks team

Many parents contributed to the review of our overall short breaks offer in 2020. The outcome of this work enabled us to secure some additional funding to set up a new short breaks team. The team leader was appointed at the start of the year and has since recruited a team of short breaks assessors to work on this team.

The new service has been set up to help reduce the number of SEND children and young people within the district who do not have access to a short break. The SEND Short Breaks (SSB) Assessment Team will be supporting children and young people with an EHCP who do not have access to a short break and are not allocated to a social worker, and do not access any activities. To help with the roll out of this piece of work the new team will be prioritising working with children and young people of primary age in special schools and resourced provisions who do not access short breaks or have a social worker. Referrals will be made by the schools the team are working with at present and they will contact parents/carers directly for initial consent. If your child or young person is of primary age and at a resource provision or special school and you would like a referral to the team please contact your school.

The new team will complete an assessment to help understand the level of need for support for each child or young person referred into the service by school. The support includes after school, evening, weekend and/or during school holidays. The new team will extend the existing offer once the initial work is complete. The SSB Team compliment the services provided by the council’s Specialist inclusion project (SIP) and the (CCHDT) Childrens Complex Health & Disability Team. They are not a replacement for the other short break services in place.

New online support for children with speech, language and communication needs.

A new platform of interactive online resources has been launched to support parents and carers of children with speech, language, and communication needs. The all-new series of webpages offer a wealth of tailored information for children from 18 months up to over 11 years old.

The Children’s Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) team at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (BDCFT) is behind the launch and say they will make an enormous difference to how the community can support these children.

One local parent, Thelina, says the pages are long awaited and will make a real difference to anyone who finds themselves in the situation she was in two years ago, when her son was referred to the service.

Visit the Children’s Speech and Language Therapy pages on the BDCFT website now to get advice and guidance on how to support a child with speech, language and communication needs.

If you are unsure what to expect and when in terms of your child’s speech and language development, you can use the Ages and Stages Guide to Speech and Language Development on www.speechandlanguage.org.uk to find out more.

Specialist Inclusion Project  Have you accessed support from the specialist inclusion project? Would you like a say on what services are offered in the future? The specialist inclusion project are working with children’s commissioning to look at what parent/carers and young people feel about the current offer and what they would like to see change. If you would like to be involved please click the below link. Children and Young People Parents and carers

SEND Young People Democracy and Youth Voice

We are continuing work with our young people across the partnership to gather their views on a young person’s democracy for SEND in Bradford. Thank you this month to Hanson Resourced Provision and the staff and students in the school, the AWARE Moving on group for offering their views at one of their activity sessions and the students at Shipley College.

If you have a group of young people with additional needs, either in a school setting or another provision, that you feel would be interested in contributing to this work please get in touch with Sally Skipper at SENDT&C@bradford.gov.uk

If you are a young person with SEND or work with a young person who may be interested in representing other children and young people please email us at SENDT&C@bradford.gov.uk.

SORM- Into Employment Group The School of Rock and Media Into Employment Group are now well into their course and some have started work placements at various locations around the city. Leaving school and college is a big step for many special educational needs young people and getting work experience and developing work skills is one of many way young people can gain confidence and learn more about the sort of jobs they may want to do. Learn more in the newsletter developed by the young people at SORM with their reflection on their work placements. If you know a young person thinking about their next steps after leaving school who would like some more help and advice, Skills House can help and is based in Bradford council. Skills house contact details

Personal Assistant Recruitment Meet and Greet

Bradford Council is holding a networking event on Thursday 8 December 10am- 1pm at Margaret Mcmillan Tower for anyone interested in working as a personal assistant (PA).

A personal assistant is someone who helps people live their lives as independently as possible through practical and emotional support.

The event is also open to parent/carers and people who may be looking for new personal assistants.

Learn more about the PA Recruitment event.

SEND Parent/ Carer Ambassadors Are you a parent/carer to a child or young person with additional needs in the Bradford Area? Would you like to have your say, help provide feedback to services and get involved in SEND service design delivery and reviews? We always welcome new parent/carer ambassadors. We would particularly like to hear from any parent/carers with children and young people in special schools or with complex health problems. The SEND parent/carer ambassadors meet monthly and you can attend either face-to-face or online. Please email SENDT&C@bradford.gov.uk if you are interested.