Welcome
Welcome to the second March newsletter. Within this edition you will find an update on the success of the SEND Transformation Pilot Project success, Quality Assurance and follow up information on the Short Breaks survey.
There is also information on a free webinars to help parents and carers of teenagers or pre-teens and Babcock are running various topic based workshops, available for parents/carers.
Over the past six months, we have been working with senior managers across the partnerships to develop an in-depth understanding of how the new SEND model will work in practice.
Whilst the major transformation work is being developed, a number of collaborative schools grant funded outreach projects have been running.
These projects provide schools with onsite temporary support for a child along with guidance and training to help school staff continue to the support at the end of the project. We have received some really good feedback on the impact of these projects from pupils, their parents, and staff.
“Her overall moods when she comes home from school are so much better than they used to be. She doesn’t always focus on only the negative things that have happened during the day and will tell me of both good and bad things that have happened, she seems to be more confident and enjoys telling us what she has learnt” - Primary Parent.
The good news is that the impact these projects are having in such a short period of time has enabled us to secure funding to allow us to continue with and expand on this work through the SEND Transformation Programme.
A referral was made to the Reaching for Independence team for Dan a few months ago. During the goal planning meeting with his enabler, Dan was really clear, he wanted a job within construction. He was not very positive about opportunities due to previously failing the CSCS exam 5 times. The enabler worked with Dan to explore learning methods and barriers. Dan said that the classroom type environment felt too fast for him and he didn't know how to ask for more help.
Dan and his enabler began training together weekly, they would work through 3 to 4 sections of the CSCS work book and test themselves each week. He found the one to one support really helpful. Just before Christmas, Dan booked his final exam. He worked through some coping skills about dealing with the exam environment with his enabler. Dan said he found this helpful. Dan passed the exam and received his CSCS card a few weeks later. Dan found a vacancy for a labourer at a local site. His enabler supported him with interview preparation and the application process. Dan got the job.
Dan is part of the Ability not Disability Employment project run by Devon County Council, this means Dan can expect a support, which includes 1-1 support to go to work and help Dan get settled into his role, Cosmic offer assistive technology training, the Employer Hub offer the employer Disability Friendly training and he can carry out any relevant courses that would benefit his role through Learn Devon finally he can have up to the first 3 months of his wages and training paid out of the project giving Dan the best possibility of ongoing success in his new role. Well done Dan.
The mental health pathway work is a project, including a number of stakeholders from Health and Social Care across Devon, is working to improve the transition of care from children to adult services for young people with mental health needs. As part of this project a number of new roles have been recruited to and a robust pathway is being developed to ensure young people with SEND experience a supported and smooth move between services as they prepare for and move into adulthood. |
Feedback on Short Breaks Survey
 As part of our project to review our short breaks offer for disabled children and young people and their families, and to build on some of the conversations we had with families before the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked you to tell us how you feel about our current offer so we can make it even better.
Following the survey, we know we need to improve the information available to families about activities, and so will be spending time to review what information we have available for families to help them find the activities they’re looking for, with a view to making it even better. You can read all the feedback from the survey here.
For more information please see Devon's SEND Local Offer
An online series of free webinars starting next month aim to help parents and carers understand and support their teenagers to navigate the challenges they might face as they grow up in today’s world.
‘Let’s Talk Teenagers’ is a three part webinar for parents and carers of teenagers or pre-teens. The sessions cover different subject areas starting with communities and family life (March 8) and followed by respectful relationships (March 15) and building stronger families (March 22), all at 7pm.
Click here for more information on the Local Offer. Click here to find out more about each session and book your free place.
Find a link to the poster here.
Babcock are running various topic based workshops, available for parents/carers to choose from based on the priority needs for their child/young person and desired knowledge and further understanding in these topic areas:
 Apply direct by email to: LDP-LearnerSupport@babcockinternational.com
to secure a place on any of the above topic-based workshops. Babcock will confirm your booking request and provide you with a direct link to the event. They will be delivered online ‘live’ via the ClickMeet platform.
There has been some progress on agreement about what a good EHCP is and how we can ensure it is fit for purpose. In order to improve how the of the quality of the EHCP is monitored, across all partners, the use of a system wide tool has been agreed.
The SEN Operational Delivery Group considered how the use of this tool could be managed and developed. They also wanted to provide training opportunities for staff working on EHCPs and proposed the use of Invision to do this.
The Local Area SEND Partnership Board agreed this direction of travel in December 2021 and the procurement process to put the tool in place is underway. Parents can also be part of this project and the use of this tool can provide benchmarking against other LAs. |
