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Supported Internship events (online)
Mon 27 Feb (10am or 7pm)
Tues 28 Feb (1.30pm)
Preparing for Adulthood (online - Zoom)
Wednesdays - 29 March (7.15pm), 19 April (7.30pm), 10 May (7.15pm), 14 June (7.15pm)
EHCP workshops (Carlisle Business Centre)
Tues 14 March, Thurs 23 March (10.30am - 1.30pm)
World Autism Acceptance event (Bradford City AFC)
Thursday 30 March 2023 - 10am to 2pm
Bradford City AFC, McCall Suite, Bradford BD8 7DY
Inclusive sessions (Keighley library)
Third Tuesday of every month (4pm - 5pm).
Sessions with support from Carers Resource and the Family hub -
Tuesdays - 21 March, 18 April, 16 May, 20 June, 18 July.
Supported Internship events (online)
A supported Internship might be the next step for a young person with an EHCP aged 16 - 24 years, who is considering what options they have in the world of work. Mencap's supported internship programme in Bradford aims to progress learners into paid employment at the end of the programme.
Learn about Mencap's supported internship programme in Bradford at two online information events.
- Monday 27 February (10am or 7pm)
- Tuesday 28 February (1.30pm)
Scan the QR code on the poster here, or email, roxanne.coleman@mencap.org.uk or phone, 07812 494635.
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As part of our work to improve lived experience for our SEND children and young people we are increasing our work with both schools, post 16 provisions and other service providers to ensure the voices of our children and young people are heard.
As part of this work we have recently appointed a SEND Children’s Participation Officer who will be joining the team in April 2023 to work directly with schools, services and children and young people.
To help raise the profile of some of our inspirational young people we hope to be able to share more stories from within our district written by our young people.
Phased school transfers
With the phased transfer process for 22/23 coming to a close, the SEN Assessment team have remained very busy. Since June 2022, the service has been processing annual reviews for phased transfers for children in the early years, year 6 and year 11. We can confirm that all cases have remained on track and processed within the statutory timescales of 15 February (Early years and year 6) and for year 11, we are on track to process by the statutory timescale of 31 March 2023.
We will always do our best to allocate the school of your preference, however in the event we are unable to, your final EHC plan will come with ways you can appeal or contact us for further support.
SEN assessment team - extra job roles created
To align to the increase in EHCPs we are:
- increasing the capacity of the service from 14 casework officers to 16.
- creating eight new Annual Review Officer job roles.
- adding five new Complex and Vulnerable Casework Officer posts for children and young people most vulnerable to our Local Authority who have an EHC plan.
- putting in place a new deputy manager to support the five new Complex and Vulnerable Casework Officer posts.
We hope to have all staff in post for September 2023 as we are currently undergoing the recruitment process.
Communications
We are currently doing a review of our communications, including the number of calls into the SEN Assessment business support service, our response times and how family friendly our letters are. We hope families who contact our business support team have a positive experience. We will continue this work and update on developments in our service.
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The school nursing team is on Social Media!
The school nursing special needs team provide a service to special schools in the Bradford district and support children with their health needs. The team have been working hard to reach out to children and families and would like to promote their social media accounts where you will find useful health advice, local signposting and find out more about the work the team are doing in schools.
If you would like to speak with a member of the School nursing special needs team, call 01274 221203 (Monday to Friday).
Find us on Social Media!
Facebook: BDCFT School Nursing Special Needs Team
Instagram: BDCFTschoolnursingspecialneeds
Twitter: @BDCFT_SNSN
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Preparation For Adulthood (PFA) Zoom meetings
SNOOP are running a number of Zoom meetings for parent/carers who have a child or young person in year 9 or above.
Weds 29 March (7.15pm)
Josh Wadsworth, Preparation for adulthood workstream lead - leading a session about PFA and EHCPs and post 16 lived experience of parents.
Weds 19 April (7.30pm)
Claire Reeves and Jack Skinner from Bradford MDC social care team will be doing a session on Learning disability assessments, direct payments and adult social care.
Weds 10 May (7.15pm)
Vicky Donolly from Waddiloves, a locally commissioned services for people with learning disabilities will be running a session about annual health checks and social prescribing.
Weds 14 June (7.15pm)
Lucy Smith from Shipley College will be running a session about transitioning to college and college life.
For more information or to book on any of the sessions please contact Sophie Turnball at Snoop, email: Sophie.Turnball@snoopcharity.org
Please also remember the Preparing for Adulthood, PfA Prospectus is now live on the Local Offer website, please share with children, young people, families and professionals. This is a fantastic prospectus which we are sure will help many people learn about what is available in Bradford.
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The Social, Communication, Interaction and Learning (SCIL) team
The team includes specialist teachers and practitioners, access and inclusion officers and an Early Years project support officer.
The team offer specialisms in four key areas: Early Years, Communication and Interaction, Learning Support and Social Emotional and Mental Health.
What do we do?
- link teachers in schools and settings to work alongside the SENDCo to share specialist knowledge, skills and experience.
- develop the inclusive practice of all staff and support the graduated approach.
- offer training, workshops and coaching to develop the knowledge and understanding of inclusion for all staff.
- provide continuous professional development programmes for key staff in schools.
- allow opportunities to discuss concerns relating to individual children using a conversation based initial consultation with the school or setting, discussing a child’s strengths and needs and agree next steps.
EHCP workshops for parents and carers
The Parents' Forum for Bradford and Airedale (PFBA) will be running more EHCP workshops next month.
Tuesday 14 March and Thursday 23 March
The workshops will be held at the PFBA office in the Carlisle Business Centre, Bradford BD8 8BD (from 10.30am until 1.30pm).
The workshop will provide you with a pack of notes, drinks, biscuits and a light lunch. Book at place on one of our next workshops here.
Read the PFBA's February newsletter here.
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SENDIASS update
Bradford SENDIASS team have sadly said farewell to their bilingual worker Farzana, who will be missed by many families. The team are currently recruiting to a BAME caseworker post for 22.2 hours to cover this vacancy.
This week the team have welcomed Claire who joins the team for 18.5 hours per week working Monday to Wednesday 9-2 and Thursdays 9-12.30. Claire is a parent herself and is looking forwards to supporting other families going through the SEND processes in Bradford. Claire is currently in her training and induction phase but is keen to get up and running as soon as possible.
Due to these changes the team is under capacity at the moment and are experiencing a higher demand than ever before, so waiting times for call backs and casework have been affected. Currently the call back time is 5-6 working days and the waiting list for further casework support if required is approximately 6 weeks.
The team appreciate that many families are going through a difficult time at the moment but would ask for your understanding and patience whilst they recruit and train new staff. The existing team are working hard to get to people as soon as possible.
In the meantime parents/carers and young people can check the website Bradford SENDIASS | Barnardo's (barnardossendiass.org.uk) for a wide range of information sheets and videos to help with your queries.
There is also an email referral form to download if you wish to email your enquiry, and the team can provide a tailored response via email which is often quicker than a call back.
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Down Syndrome Training & Support Service update
Over the last few months the service has been busy finalising the details of a new publication for parents called ‘Down Syndrome and a Pathway Through Health’ and recording bitesize training modules aimed at midwives and health visitors. There are five modules, and each is 15 to 20 minutes long and delivered by Wendy Uttley.
The pathway book is being distributed to local hospitals and will be placed in all future new parent packs. It is written in parent friendly language and details what to expect from prebirth to adulthood following a diagnosis of Down syndrome. The team would like to say thank you to Claire Fisher who composed the original draft in 2015. For more details or to acquire a booklet email office@downsyndromebradford.co.uk phone 01274 561308 or visit www.downsyndromebradford.com
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Specialist Inclusion Project (SIP) review of Short Breaks
The Specialist Inclusion Project, (SIP) is a Bradford Council service that provides clubs, groups, holiday schemes and activities for young people with disabilities in Bradford, also known as ‘Short Breaks’.
SIP is undertaking a consultation with parents and young people to gather information to help plan future Short Breaks activities.
This survey was developed and created with parents, carers, families, and young people who access and attend the Specialist Inclusion Project.
Both consultations will take approx 5 minutes to complete and can be found here:
This consultation aims to understand better the type of activities, groups and service needs of families in Bradford so that the Council can fund these projects in the future.
If you wish to take part but need help with an online form, please call the team on 01274 438744, or if you have any questions about our services email: SIP@bradford.gov.uk
The consultation period end date is 14 May, 2023. We plan to feedback the results of this consultation in a future newsletter.
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New SEND inclusive sessions start at Keighley Library
A new inclusive session for families with Special Education Needs and disabilities, which is open for all parents, carers and their children, is due to start at Keighley Library this month.
The session will be available between 4pm - 5pm on the third Tuesday of every month and will include multi-sensory story-telling, large print braille picture books, sensory toys, comic books and more.
A survey of families with children with additional needs carried out via a partnership between Carers Resource - a regional charity, Bradford Libraries and Bradford Council’s Prevention & Early Help Service, found that parents were interested in attending a session where they could relax with their children and support them to have a love of books without worrying about a formal environment.
Support for parent/carers from Carers Resource and the Family Hub will also be available at the sessions which will take place on 21 March, 18 April, 16 May, 20 June and 18 July.
There’s no need to book, just turn up on the day.
For more information visit www.bradford.gov.uk/libraries.
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Cities of Learning programme
Bradford has become the first area in the North of England to join the Cities of Learning programme. It recognises individuals' achievements and accomplishments outside of formally accredited qualifications by using digital badges.
These badges are designed in partnership with local organisations to connect people to training and work-related opportunities as well as addressing workplace skills gaps.
Digital badges recognise skills that individuals achieve and accomplish, and include those outside of formally accredited qualifications. Working with local organisations, digital badges can be created to showcase certain skills that are required. Through this page, people can be connected to training and work-related opportunities.
We are encouraging organisations, whether an educational setting, employer, charity or club to pledge and recognise digital badges or even help create them. To find out more, visit the SkillsHouse Cities of Learning website.
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AWARE World Autism Acceptance Day 2023
Thursday 30 March 2023 - 10am to 2pm
McCall Suite, Bradford BD8 7DY
AWARE will be holding a World Autism Acceptance Event (WAAD) at Bradford City AFC on Thursday 30 March (10am - 2pm).
The day is a drop-in event (tickets required) for families with autistic children or young people (no diagnosis needed).
This is an unmissable chance to meet a whole host of services including, but not limited to, education and health care, speech and language, social care, sports and activity clubs and much, much more!
You can attend the event any time that suits you between 10am and 1.30pm (the event closes at 2pm). You are more than welcome to bring children with you - the plan is to have a sensory/chill out room that they can access if needed.
We have Urdu and Bengali speakers available. There is free parking available on site and the surrounding roads.
More information & bookings
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