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Well quite a lot has happened since the last bulletin! Obviously the contents of this bulletin revolve around the current situation, and support available in dealing with the situation around COVID-19 - we hope it is helpful to you at what is a very distressing time.
It's a time which has led to a huge number of changes across all areas of our lives, and with that comes a number of challenges. We hope that everyone can continue to work together to ensure that children and young people with SEND and their families feel supported through this unique circumstance.
SEND IASS will continue to offer impartial information advice and support, and we're trying to update our information as soon as we can. Please check out the website or follow us on social media for latest news. We are also still contactable through our usual office number and email. More information.
Hopefully, the situation will improve as soon as possible, and until then, I hope that we can all look after each other and keep smiling!
Chris Firth, Manager SENDIASS
If you are trying to find out what might be happening to various Council services during this crisis, including information on schools, please visit their website.
It also includes information about what to do if you are:
- Feeling ill
- having difficulty getting food supplies
- looking for ideas to stay happy at home
- trying to stay connected to your local community
The Family Hubs can help you find and get help from different services in the area and will be able to give you information, advice and support.
These four family hubs were open at the time of writing this bulletin:
Harmony (Hillfields)
Clifton Street
CV1 5GR
024 7697 8030
HarmonyFamilyhub@coventry.gov.uk
Mosaic (Tile Hill)
Jardine Crescent
CV4 9PL
024 7697 8160
MosaicFamilyhub@coventry.gov.uk
Wood Side (Willenhall)
Upper Ride
Willenhall Wood
CV3 3GL
024 7697 8090
WoodSidefamilyHub@coventry.gov.uk
Park Edge (Bell Green)
Roseberry Avenue
CV2 1NE
024 7697 7880
ParkEdgeFamilyHub@coventry.gov.uk
If you need additional support during COVID-19 please contact your nearest Hub directly to find out if there is anything they can do to help.
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Coventry's SEND support services are still offering support to educational settings during the current situation, albeit in slightly different ways.
They are also compiling resources for families to use with children whilst they are at home.
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Coventry Mental Health Service has produced an information booklet for all providers and members of the public during the COVID-19 outbreak. The booklet is available to download and share.
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Mental health is something that affects us all and it can be really hard to know where to go for advice and support, a listening ear and professional help that's available immediately without long waiting lists. Mental Health Matters is a national charity that is passionate about supporting people with mental health and emotional welfare needs.
In Coventry we have a brand new Safe Haven. This is a safe place where people can access immediate support if they are feeling distressed, frightened, overwhelmed, feel like things are getting too much for them, perhaps feel suicidal or thoughts of hurting themselves, maybe they're isolated or are in crisis.
The Safe Haven is available to anyone aged 18 or over who will also have access to a 24-hour telephone emotional support line staffed by trained counsellors, with no formal referral or appointment needed.
Due to COVID-19 they are currently only able to provide telephone, text and email support. Telephone: 07921 876 065 for a list of several temporary contact numbers or email coventrysafehaven.mhm@nhs.net. This service is available every day, 6pm - 11pm.
The Dimensions Team has now rolled out the latest version of "Dimensions of Health and Wellbeing".
They have a short questionnaire, to explore where parents/carers and professionals get information from when they are concerned about a child’s wellbeing. This information will be used to improve the Dimensions tool and it's roll out. It should take about five minutes.
Find out more
You can also find out more self-help for children’s mental health at cwrise.com.
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The situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) is rapidly changing. The CDC have been asked to regularly update government advice on how to stay healthy and safe during this time.
They have gathered a list of resources and guidance about coronavirus to share with parent carers, children & young people and education, health and social care practitioners. This page will be kept under review and new resources added to the categories as they become available.
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Contact for families with disabled children are a charity for families with disabled children. They support families with the best possible guidance and information and bring families together to support each other.
With so much out there about COVID-19 (coronavirus) and confusion about the virus and it's impact on families with disabled children they offer you somewhere to go where all the most important information you need is in one place.
They will keep adding to their website pages as and when the situation changes, so please keep checking back with the Contact for families with disabled children website for additional information and resources that could be useful to you and your family.
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"Doctors of the World" have produced the latest Government advice and guidelines for COVID-19 in 43 languages.
The complete list: English, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Czech, Dari, Estonian, Farsi, French, German. Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Kiswahili, Krio, Kurdish Sorani, Lithuanian, Oromo, Malayalam, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Sindhi, Slovak, Spanish, Somali, Tamil, Tigrinya, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Wolof, Yiddish.
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Links to information you might find useful when homeschooling due to COVID-19 pandemic
The Department for Education has brought together an initial list of online education resources to help children to learn at home.
Coronavirus (COVID 19): list of online education resources for home education
There are specific resources for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities(SEND) resources developed with a focus on accessibility.
Other useful sites are:
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BBC Bitesize - Help with free videos, step-by-step guides, activities and quizzes by level and subject.
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Chatterbooks - Free resources and to sign up to the Chatterbooks network (suitable for children from 4 up to 12)
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CBeebies Something Special - Lots of help and resources for children with additional needs
Finance
Below we have selected a few useful websites we think may be of interest:
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Coventry Independent Advice Service
Coventry Independent Advice Service is a charity offering free advice, information and support to Coventry residents.
Our service is confidential and our skilled advisers can help you with things like:
- Identifying entitlement to benefits and helping you make claims
- Helping you to sort out debt or other money problems
- Challenging decisions on benefit claims
Home is supposed to be the safest place for us all right now, but if you are experiencing domestic abuse then the advice to stay at home could be frightening. If someone is in immediate danger and their life is threatened, they should dial the Police on 999.
Coventry Haven - ensure safety and empowerment for women and children who are subjected to Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) in any form. They offer a range of services including a SafeToTalk Helpline 0800 111 4998 or 02476 444077 (Monday to Friday 9am-4.30pm)
National Domestic Abuse Line (REFUGE) - Refuge supports women, children and men experiencing domestic violence with a range of services including a 24-hour helpline 0808 2000 247.
Wellbeing
Young Minds - a national charity which supports children and young people with mental health and well being. They have specific resources for young people around COVID-19, and also offer support to parents.
Childline - Childline is available to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. You can talk about anything. Whether it’s something big or small, they have trained counsellors to support you. The helpline is 0800 1111 and is available between 9am to midnight every day.
Samaritans - Coventry & District Samaritans is an independent charity, run entirely by unpaid volunteers. They provide a free 24-hour helpline for people who are upset, troubled or who are feeling suicidal.add links and description. Call 116 123 at any time of the day or night or email jo@samaritans.org.
In addition to their normal services Samaritans has set up a confidential support line for NHS workers and volunteers in England. This operates from 7am to 11pm every day. NHS staff can, of course, still use the 24 hour helpline if they prefer.
Do you know about Browsealoud?
Browsealoud enables hundreds of web pages (and downloadable documents held within them) on the Coventry City Council website to be more accessible for all in a range of different ways.
These include; translating into over 100 languages; speakaloud (which enables you to listen to pages/documents in either English or a range of languages); a range of viewing options; you can even make an MP3 to listen to!
For more information, go to www.coventry.gov.uk/translate.
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Are you involved with a parents group? If so, why not tell us about it so more parents can join in?
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Coventry's One Voice Parent Group is part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums and helps support the views of parents/carers on issues involving SEND.
To register an interest, please contact onevoicegroup@btinternet.com or call/text 07874 242733.
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The Coventry Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Local Offer brings together information for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families.
The SEND Local Offer will cover services available to the public across education, health and social care:
Education: such as nurseries, playgroups, schools and colleges as well as support services like Educational Psychology and SEN services.
Health: children's and adult services including GPs, therapists and hospital services
Social care: such as short break services and children's and adult disability services.
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If you have any comments or wish to contribute something to the next bulletin, please let us know by contacting us sendnews@coventry.gov.uk
Alternatively, you can keep up to date through SEND IASS's;
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