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Latest Issue: June 2023

Improving the lives of children with special educational needs and disabilities in the Dudley borough.

Keeping stakeholders, parents and carers informed about Dudley’s
SEND Improvement Programme.

Sal Thirlway, Service Director of Education, SEND & Family Solutions

This month I had the privilege of being invited to present the Children’s Services award at the We Love Carers annual Carers Awards ceremony.  The award was won by Crossroads, who support carers including the delivery of Young Carers support activity across the borough.  

We are also progressing our proposals for the introduction of 5 locality Early Years Inclusion Hubs, with a public consultation that went live on the 5^th of June and will run to the 30^th.  Lots of opportunities for parents and carers, schools and settings and also staff to have their say about the proposals to develop more locally based and inclusive arrangements for young children.

Please see the below article

We are currently preparing for our 12 month review of our SEND Accelerated Progress Plan (APP), and hope to share with DfE and NHSE colleagues on the 28^th June, the impact of the work that has been undertaken across the local area on moving forward the improvements that were remaining following the last Local Area SEND Revisit.  Being able to give the confidence that we have sufficiently progressed will enable us to move on from the APP, but continue our improvement and development journey for SEND.

Consultation on the proposal to develop a township model of Early Years Inclusion Hubs for Children with SEND

Parents, carers and stakeholders in Dudley borough are being invited to take part in a consultation on educational hubs for early years children with special educational needs and disabilities

As part of a commitment to support more Dudley children with the right provision at the right time; the Council is consulting on a proposal to change its current model of specialist nursery provision from a single setting, Leapfrog at Netherton Park Nursery School, to a locality model. This will be achieved by establishing an Early Years Inclusion Hub in each of the borough’s five townships.

All responses must be received by midnight 30 June 2023

WeLoveCarers celebrate carers across the borough

WeLoveCarers Charity celebrated Carers Week by holding its annual Carers Awards Ceremony on the 8^th of June 2023 at The Halesowen Town Hall. 

The Mayor of Dudley and Mayor Consort, Cllr Andrea Goddard and Cllr James Clinton attended with local dignitaries and unpaid carers to honour their peers and supporting professionals who have gone above and beyond in their roles.

The evening was dedicated to all unpaid Carers who the charity believe are unsung heroes in society, providing an important role in providing care for those with disabilities.   Award winners were presented with unique hand-crafted glassware crafted by the Glasshouse College.

The charity’s base at Mary Stevens Centre, Stourbridge is open to anyone needing advice, information, and support if they are caring for someone.  They can drop into the centre, telephone 01384 396626 or email hello@welovecarers.org.

Winners:

Stepping Up in the Community Award: Friends of Wollescote Park

Exceptional Carer Award: Ivor Waite

Carers Service Award for Adults: Dudley Carers Hub

Carers Service Award for Childrens Services: Dudley Young Carers

Carers Awareness Award: Lewis Wastell

Carer above and beyond Award: Jennifer Masterman

Professional above and beyond Award: Tracey Dalloway

Young Carer Award: Aleigha Griffin & Millie Thomas

General Practitioner Award: Pedmore Medical Practice

Mayor Carer Recognition Award: Jacqueline Passmore

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SEND Sessions at DBLeisure

Planet Play

Planet Play SEND sessions are available at Duncan Edward's leisure centre on Wednesdays 6pm - 7pm (all year round) and at Halesowen Leisure Centre on Mondays 4.30pm - 6.00pm (all year round).

Both sessions are suitable for children under 11 years of age with disabilities, special educational needs, ASD and their siblings.

Disability Swimming Sessions

Disability swimming sessions are availability at all three of our leisure centres, and are inclusive of all disabilities. In the school holidays these sessions are free as part of the free swimming initiative. During term-term there is a charge for these sessions.

Times and Locations:

• Duncan Edward’s Leisure Centre
  • Term-time: Saturday 1.15pm - 2.15pm*  
  • School holidays: Wednesday 3.10pm - 5pm
• Halesowen Leisure Centre
  • Term-time: Saturday 2.30pm - 3.45pm
  • School holidays: Saturday 2.30pm - 3.45pm
• Crystal Leisure Centre
  • Term-time: Thursday 6pm - 8pm
  • School holidays: Friday 2pm - 4pm

* Please note that there is a charge for this session during both term time and the school holidays

Nearly £4m to be spent creating family hubs in borough

The Dudley Family Hub Network will include building-based, outreach and online support offers, and will see the borough’s five existing family centres become family hubs.

Dudley is one of 75 local authority areas across the country to receive funding and will get more than £3.7 million to provide services for the next three years.

The network will aim to provide a welcoming experience and one-stop shop offering advice and support for all families with children up to the age of 19, or 25 if the child has special educational needs or disabilities. 

Events and Workshops 

Dudley Special Educational Needs & Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) will be hosting a number of workshops and sessions during Summer Term 2023. All sessions are delivered on Teams.

Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND

The DBV programme has been commissioned by the Department for Education to support 55 Local Authorities’ (LAs) across England to identify the highest impact changes that each LA involved can make to better support their local children with SEND.  The programme places children and young people with SEND at the centre of the approach and decision making.

In addition to supporting LAs the outputs of the programme across all 55 LAs will enable the DfE to build a strong and objective evidence base which can be used to influence future national policy.

In September 2022 Dudley LA was invited to participate in the DBV programme, and the DfE commissioned Newton* to work with us to identify an implementation plan that builds on existing initiatives and addresses the underlying challenges in each LA’s high needs systems.

With Newton we have completed the diagnostic analysis which has supported leaders to better understand the pressures and areas for improvement which will form the basis of our implementation plan moving forward. In March this year we received notification that our grant application was successful and are now ready to move to the implementation phase. We will continue to involve all stakeholders as we progress with this important work.  

*Newton specialises in operational improvements and have extensive experience in working with public sector systems. They are experienced in working with front line teams to understand challenges and create bespoke solutions.

Local Offer

There have been several updates to our Local Offer recently all visible in our SEND news. Our short breaks and respite area found in ‘I am a parent’ section under Short breaks and respite, you will see the Active Zone Activities document that has been uploaded in the past week showing Disability Sports for Children delivered by a coaching company that is completely free (funded by Dudley Council).

Our Young Person section has had an additional icon labelled Free Leisure Centres Membership found in Health and Wellbeing under I am a Young Person. This gives looked after children and care leavers the options to partake in a variety of activities for free. Also, within the health and wellbeing section for Young People, we have uploaded details and information for an online counselling support for young people aged 10-18 years that is available. Kooth services can be found on the SEND news updates or under the I am a young person section in Health and Wellbeing. Whether this is something that is needed right now or in the future, it is a great service to be aware of and how to find and gain access to this.

Dudley’s community voluntary service newsletter can also be found in SEND news feed for the latest information about Dudley community, funding and events.

We have included a link and video to learn more about the safe places which are locations that anyone can go to and feel safe when out in the local community.

Money on My Mind

We have added a leaflet to the Local Offer under Advice. If you are worrying about money, looking for some advice and how to get help if you are struggling to make ends meet right now. 

We have now added a category for Mental health and money to offer support and advice around the new breathing space legislation. There’s a link to their website for more information and how to join the webinars to help explain the new breathing space legislation and how it can benefit people experiencing a mental health crisis and debt problems. 

There has also been a link added onto the SEND news feed for those who may be eligible for social tariffs for broadband and phone packages.

Get help with savings if you’re on a low income by clicking on the link in the News feed to read about the help to save savings account.

There is a reminder in SEND news for tax-free childcare for families and the information about how this works and how to register.

New how-to guide to help families access trust funds of disabled young adults

The Ministry of Justice has  published a toolkit to help parents and carers better understand their rights and what they need to do under the Mental Capacity Act to manage the finances of their child – should they lose the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

Funds saved in bank accounts, such as Child Trust Funds and Junior ISAs, can help families provide care for their child or be used to buy specialist equipment to support their needs.

The Mental Capacity Act applies to anyone over 16 years old in England and Wales who lacks the capacity to make some or all of their own decisions. This law is in place to empower and support adults with learning difficulties or severe disabilities to make their own decisions about their property or finances where they can.

The toolkit will ensure parents in this situation understand fully the principles of the Act and the steps they need to take to help them plan better and tackle barriers in accessing these funds.

Spread the word about the SEND bulletin!

If someone you know is interested in receiving this communication, please share the following link so as they can sign up to receive the latest SEND-related news and events: 

https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKDUDLEYMBC/signup/31736

More information:

Visit the Local Offer website to learn more about the services available in the borough. To find out more about the SEND Improvement Programme, please visit Dudley's Health and Wellbeing Board. 

Useful contacts:

• Acting Head of SEND –Sue Powell susan.powell@dudley.gov.uk
• Interim Head of CDT – Claire Joyce claire.joyce@dudley.gov.uk
• Interim SEND Manager - Samantha Edwards samantha.edwards@dudley.gov.uk