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Our next Virtual Drop In is on Wednesday 10th February, 10am-12 noon. See here for local services taking part who will be on call during this time to help.
At other times, you’re invited to contact Ali on the Local Offer team. Whatever the question – whether it’s about carers issues, benefits and grants, emotional wellbeing or coronavirus information - she will do her best to signpost you, wherever you are in the city. Email Ali at ali.davenport@manchester.gov.uk or call/text 07971 587963. She usually works all day Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, and will get in touch as soon as she can.
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Life During Lockdown
In September 2020, we tasked Greater Manchester Youth Network and the SEND Changemakers youth leadership group with devising a questionnaire for schools. The Changemakers met and planned the set of questions that they felt would give a picture of young people’s feelings and experiences during the first COVID-19 lockdown. These were then adapted to be used alongside visual imagery on an online survey which went live during October and attracted an amazing 367 responses from young people. You can see the results here.
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Your Say On Summer
Last summer, we worked with parents to co-produce a series of activities in the summer holidays, including boating, Tree Top Trek, inclusive cycling, play spaces, ceramics, and gardening. On the Local Offer website, you can see videos from Luca, Geraldine and Jodie sharing their thoughts about activities and life during the pandemic. We’d love to hear from you about your experiences.
Geraldine and Jodie are Manchester Parent Champions and they talk about the Champions’ Facebook group and how vital it is as a place to support each other and share information. Parent carers in the city of Manchester are encouraged to join - take a look here.
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Back To School Findings
Last year, the Disabled Children’s Partnership surveyed parent carers about the impact of the pandemic, producing the Left In Lockdown report. During the autumn term, they followed this up with an on-line poll asking parent carers how the full re-opening of schools had gone for their disabled children and whether other support such as therapies and social care had been reinstated post lockdown. More than 3,400 parents completed the poll, and the results are in this report.
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Your Views on Council Cuts
The impact of COVID-19 plus a growing population and inflation leaves a £50m hole in Manchester City Council’s Council’s budget for 2021/22. There are tough options for cuts and savings. The Council are considering ones that protect front-line services where possible and take into account what will be needed to recover from the pandemic. This means most savings are on behind-the-scenes roles that support services. Have your say on the options - the consultation runs until 21st February.
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The government guidance around children who can attend school during lockdown includes children who have difficulty accessing remote learning. Children without devices at home should be classed as vulnerable and offered a place in school if they want it. Please contact your school for more information. Here is the recently updated guidance (January 12th 2021) for local authorities, academy trusts and schools on devices and remote education.
See our Grants & Funding page for information on organisations that provide or offer grants for educational resources. This includes Manchester's Mynshull’s Educational Foundation and the Free Computer In Every Home programme.
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Here is recently updated government guidance (January 13th 2021) on free school meals during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Department for Education has updated the summaries of the material that schools should publish online, including SEN Information Reports, equality objectives, and contact details of SENCOs. To view the relevant links to DfE summaries, click here for maintained schools and here for academies/free schools.
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Working With Your Child During Lockdown
Thursday 11th February, 1-2.30pm
This free session, co-produced by Manchester Parent Carer Forum with Abigail and Audrey from One Education, will give information and tips about how to work with your child during the lockdown. It will tackle self-preservation, routines, supporting learning, motivation and praise, and managing behavioural challenges. See here for more information and to book your place.
Keeping Children Safe Online During COVID-19
Thursday 25th February, 6-7pm
Manchester Parent Carer Forum are delighted to welcome back leading online safety organisation Digital Awareness UK to deliver a free online safety webinar for parent carers. It will cover popular online apps and digital well-being trends, issues for you to be aware of, and the practical steps you can take to protect your young people from online risks and to encourage happy and healthy tech habits. Book here.
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Free online workshops coming up from Carers Manchester:
- Welfare & Benefits, Wednesday 10th February, 10.30am-12.30pm
- Moving & Handling, Monday 15th February, 1.30pm-3.30pm
- Worry v Problem Solving, Tuesday 16th February, 10.30am-12.30pm
They are all on Zoom. If you’re not familiar with it, they will send you instructions when you sign up for the courses.
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Greater Manchester Autism Consortium are offering their Managing Anger and Sensory seminars online. Their Parent Seminar Facilitators have created narrated videos, splitting the seminars into sections to make it easier to dip in and out. There are also PDFs of the booklets available on the site. When you have completed a seminar, there is the opportunity to discuss it in a Webinar with a small group of parents. They are also offering more informal parent drop ins with their Parent Seminar Facilitators. For both the webinars and the drop ins, get in touch with Abigail on abigail.gibson@nas.org.uk.
The Council for Disabled Children is pleased to announce two new e-learning modules as part of the Expert Parent Programme – ‘Planning for an Uncertain Future’ and ‘Supported Decision-making & the Mental Capacity Act (2005)’. They have been developed as part of the new Complex Health Needs element of the programme, which is funded by Together for Short Lives. They’re aimed at the parent carers of children and young people who don’t have the capacity to make significant decisions for themselves, but the seminars are available to all, including any professionals supporting these families. They can be freely accessed here.
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Here is government guidance on protective measures for holiday and after-school clubs, and other out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – updated January 8th 2021.
This moving video – If You Could Save Someone’s Life – brings together British celebrities to dispel COVID-19 vaccine myths amongst Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
All Ability cycling sessions are still running at Wythenshawe Park and Longford Park, Stretford. Due to current government guidelines, the activity is only available to families where there is a disability. Sessions have limited numbers and need to be booked in advance online. They start on the hour and are for 45 minutes at £3.00 per person. Simply Cycling also offer one to one rides out at £20 per person. See the website for more information.
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The online virtual exhibition Kidz to Adultz offers parents, carers and professionals an online platform to receive advice, information and services on the latest products, equipment and services from organisations across the UK. It takes place during the week beginning 1st March and anyone can register for free.
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Manchester Deaf Centre is looking for young people interested in taking part in their youth groups. These are aimed at young people who are D/deaf, hard of hearing, children of D/deaf adults or children who have D/deaf sibling(s). The Centre wants to find out if young people would prefer to attend online via Zoom or face to face in a COVID-safe way at Manchester Deaf Centre. The contact is Rachel Officer, Children & Young People’s Youth Leader, rachelofficer@manchesterdeafcentre.com.
Here is the latest newsletter from Manchester Deaf Centre. To subscribe, use the link on the top left.
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