Welcome
Welcome to the first SEND update of the new year! I hope you enjoyed a much needed rest over the Christmas holidays and the start to the new term has gone smoothly.
As announced at the end of last term, our new team of SEND advisory teachers have now started. James (South Hams and Teignbridge), Melissa (North), Hannah (East) and Louise (Exeter, Mid, West) are keen to get out to as many schools as possible this term to meet with you, find out more about your school and key priorities around SEND and begin to consider how they can support you to develop and strengthen a whole school approach to SEND. Hopefully you have received an email from them to arrange an initial meeting if you are a LA school. If you are part of a MAT, this support will come through the SEND/Inclusion lead initially. There has already been an overwhelmingly positive response to this offer of support, and we are really looking forward to working with schools and developing this wider offer of support over the next few terms.
Please remember to book onto this term’s SEND network meetings. These are free events for all LA and MAT schools, so do come along to hear from different teams and services and share good practice with each other. I know how much this time away from the busyness of your settings is valued by so many, as is the opportunity to chat and network with colleagues from other schools and services.
As always, please do get in touch if you need any support around SEND in your setting (hannah.chamings@devon.gov.uk) or contact your SEND advisory teacher.
Join us for our annual SEND conference at Sandy Park, Exeter for a day of informative and inspiring talks and networking opportunities, which will explore how we can all build and strengthen a collaborative approach to leading, supporting and transforming SEND provision for our children and young people, and their families, across Devon.
We are thrilled to have two fantastic keynote speakers Natalie Packer, author of A Teachers Guide to SEND and The Perfect SENDCo, and Mikey from Mikey’s Wish Foundation.
As an incentive to book early, you can bring your head teacher for half price!
If you have been able to attend any of the recent training sessions led by Dr Val Brooks on language and trauma, you will be aware that there is an increasing body of evidence of the importance of spoken narrative or story telling skills as a foundation not only for written language skills, but also for understanding of self and all of the skills that support emotional regulation. If you would like to find out more about narrative, this recent podcast on storytelling from The DLD Project may be of interest. You can find further information and resources for supporting narrative skills at all ages and stages here, including activity ideas, resource ideas to share with families and links to supporting reading comprehension.
Communication and Interaction training opportunities
Communication and Interaction - Practical Strategies Workshops - 6 sessions for Primary Learning Support Staff
A series of six 1 hour workshops to develop and enhance the skills, knowledge and understanding of primary school learning support staff who are supporting children with C&I needs.
Good autism practice for Schools - 4 modules
A solid understanding of autism combined with practical strategies and resources for all practitioners working directly with autistic pupils in mainstream and specialist schools to develop their practice.
Where: online
When: 31/1/2024, 7/2/2024, 21/2/2024, 28/2/2024 - 15.30-17.00
A British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE is set to be launched in 2025, the government has announced, which is great news.
Start to learn BSL with our course, introduction to BSL. Aimed at families, carers and professionals working with and supporting young deaf children to ensure they have a successful inclusion in a deaf friendly school.
By the end of this course you will have learnt 60 every day signs, short sentences in BSL and conversational skills. There is also a section on fingerspelling, signed nursery rhymes, tips and a story signed in BSL.
For further support around what it is like to be deaf and how deafness can impact on listening, spoken and communication skills, as well as social development, find our Language and Listening in the EYFS online course here.
We are delighted that the Educational Psychology (EP) service is returning to early intervention work with targeted schools this term. Schools with high inclusion needs were contacted in the autumn term and we will be holding School Review Consultations this term.
Following school’s feedback, the EP service will be using a Psychology Works consultation approach to early intervention work.
You can read more about the gradual return of our EP service to schools here
and the Psychology Works consultation package - Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
Thank you to everyone who completed the ‘Cognition and Learning’ survey before Christmas. We are currently analysing data relating to 148 schools in Devon, to inform our next steps in this area. 43% of respondents are already aware of our free online resources Devon psychology in action guides - Support for schools and settings which is a great starting point.
Click below for details about FREE Devon School Games events hosted by Active Devon and the Devon School Games Organisers. These fun events offer opportunities for children and young people with SEND in schools across Devon, to attend and participate in football, gymnastics, cricket and much more.
There are now more junior inclusive clubs than ever before across Devon for children with special needs and disabilities to participate at. More information on each club is given below. If there is not a club listed below in your area please contact Devon FA as they are working to create new children’s clubs. You can contact Ashley Harris, Devon FA Disability Development Officer, on 01626 323560 or email ashley.harris@devonfa.com
Mental health and well-being amongst the youngest members of our population continues to be a growing issue year on year with the latest figures suggesting that as many as ‘1 in 6 children is likely to have a mental health problem’ (The Children’s Society).
Stormbreak® is a registered charity in England and Wales that provides training programmes for trusted adults in schools and other settings to help support children’s mental health and wellbeing through movement. It can be utilised in universal and targeted contexts and help schools to change the way that schools, families, and communities promote movement to support the development of mental health.
In partnership with Active Devon, Stormbreak are running their Stormbreak Surge programme for primary schools across Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay.
Sign up to the online info session on Thursday 22nd February, 4pm-5pm here
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