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SEND News
This newsletter is about changes and developments to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Sheffield. It is for professionals, parents, carers, and anyone with an interest in SEND in Sheffield.
This issue is a bumper one as it’s the start of the new academic year, so lots to talk about. Firstly, to wish everyone all the very best for the new school year. Please encourage others to sign up to this newsletter.
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Attendance matters
One of the most important things for a child is to make sure they attend school, college, or nursery regularly and on time. This is especially important given the disruption and lost learning they have faced during the pandemic.
Professionals will be aware that, from the start of the year, face to face school attendance is once again mandatory for all pupils of statutory school age. Pupils are expected in school on time every day unless they have been asked by their school or the Government to isolate or quarantine in line with Government and Public Health Guidelines.
There are many reasons why children don’t go to school, but we want to make sure that we can help to address this. In June 2020 we asked young people and their families why attendance may be poor. They told us that the main issues were:
- Bullying
- Being anxious
- Needing more support
- Wanting a curriculum that is diverse and interesting to them
- Issues about communication with school
- Being excluded from going to school through fixed term exclusions and reduced timetables.
Sheffield City Council has recently launched the Our Sheffield one-year plan 2021/22. As part of this, we will be working hard to address the issues and improve attendance in early years, schools, and post-16 settings.
Parents and carers:
If your child is anxious about the new school year, it is important to talk to them about this. Talk to their school about their anxiety so the school can help them.
This newsletter contains information about some of the support available.
Top tips
- Talk to your child about school and encourage them to attend.
- Take a positive interest in your child's work, including homework.
- Help your child get into a good night-time, sleep time, and morning routine. Learn more.
- Contact school on the first day your child is absent. Tell them about any concerns and, if your child does not want to attend, why this is.
- Stay in good contact with your child’s school. Attend parents’ evenings and ask for other times to talk about your child if needed.
- Book holidays in the school holidays and not term time.
- If your child is ill, help them to return to school as soon as possible. See NHS advice.
- Book medical appointments after school or during the school holidays wherever possible. If it’s an emergency appointment, make sure your child attends school before and after their appointment.
Read our attendance guidance.
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Mental health support in schools
Healthy Minds is a whole school approach to supporting children and young people’s emotional wellbeing. It has been developed between CAMHS and with Sheffield schools. Most schools in Sheffield have received Healthy Minds training.
Sheffield has now received NHSE and DfE funding to pilot a Mental Health Support Team, to work with forty schools. It is hoped that this will be extended over the next three years.
Mental Health Support Teams:
- Deliver evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health needs (e.g., guided self-help or parent-led CBT for anxiety / low mood).
- Support Senior Mental Health Leads in schools and educational settings to develop their whole-school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing.
- Provide timely advice to staff and liaise with external specialist services so that children and young people can get the right support and remain in education.
- Are part of the CAMHS Healthy Minds team.
Parents and carers:
Talk to your child’s school if you are worried about their mental health. Find out more about other support.
SENCOs, schools and colleges:
The Government’s Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health recommends that all schools and colleges have a designated lead for mental health by 2025. Healthy Minds is an approved DfE Senior Mental Health Lead training provider.
Further information will be shared.
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Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day is on Friday 15 October. Find out how to get involved. Look out for #DevLangDis on social media.
SENCOs and schools:
Watch out for DLD training run by the Speech and Language Therapy Service. Details will be shared in advance.
Book a 30 minute virtual consultation with a therapist from SALT’s Complex and Additional Needs Team.
- The new consultations are for primary school staff to discuss children on the SALT caseload.
- Parents are welcome to join alongside school staff. But it is not possible to offer sessions just for parents at this stage.
- Consultations run on Wednesday afternoons.
Find out more.
Parents and carers:
Find out about speech and language support for children aged 0-5.
Watch videos from Sheffield’s Speech and Language Therapy Service.
If your child is at primary school, has complex needs, and is on the Speech and Language Therapy caseload, you may be able to join school staff in a virtual consultation with a speech and language therapist.
More details above. Please contact your school for further information.
Early Years Professionals:
Free training is provided to people who work with young children as part of ‘Speak Up for Sheffield’. This supports the development of children’s speech, language and communication. It is part of the wider South Yorkshire Futures project.
Training is online with twilight and daytime options. A Language Champion course is also available for people who want to learn more.
Contact EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk to find out more and book places.
Find out more about the speech and language support for children aged 0-5 in Sheffield.
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Sensory needs support
The Sensory Service is a new team based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre, supporting children with sensory needs that are impacting on daily life.
It has created a virtual therapy area with information, ideas, and strategies to help parents and carers make sense of their child’s sensory needs and know how to help.
Parents and carers:
Visit the Sheffield Sensory Service - Virtual Therapy Area.
If you have accessed the resources and still have questions, you can ask the team for advice by completing an online form.
SENCOs:
The team will deliver an online training package for schools and other supporting services. More details will be published.
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Support with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD)
A new Virtual Therapy Area has been created for families of children and young people referred to the Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) team.
DCD, also referred to as dyspraxia, affects people’s physical co-ordination. Children referred to the team often find everyday tasks such as dressing, brushing teeth, tying shoelaces, and using a knife and fork very difficult.
Parents and carers:
If your child is referred to the DCD team, you will be sent the link to the new Virtual Therapy Area.
Once you have used the resources, you can request further support and advice from the DCD team if needed.
Some videos are available to all children, not just those with a DCD referral. Visit the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation YouTube channel for:
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Support for young children with neurodisabilities
A resource pack was created for Early Years professionals to help them identify, support, and signpost families of young children with neurodisabilities in Sheffield.
It was co-produced by Sheffield Parent Carer Forum, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group.
Parents and carers:
Some parents have told us the resource pack is useful, even though it was not specifically designed for families. See pack for details of support services, referrals, and useful links.
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SENDSARS update
The SEND Statutory Assessment and Review Service (SENDSARS) deals with requests for Education, Health, and Care (EHC) statutory assessments, produces EHC Plans, and monitors and supports annual reviews.
We wanted to give an update at the start of the new school year and highlight what we are doing to make sure children, families, and schools, colleges, and nurseries get a better, more customer-focussed response from us.
Compliance
Our compliance rates are improving again. We saw a decline over lockdown and through the pandemic, but this is now being rectified. The team are working hard to ensure 20-week EHC Needs Assessment statutory timescales are followed. We understand delays cause distress and upset for families.
Over the summer we focussed on annual reviews and amendments to complete all phase transfers and make sure all children have an identified placement from September 2021.
Specialist placements
We have increased our special school places by 114 this year. A further 40 integrated resource places are being developed by September 2022. This is on top of last year’s increases of 30 integrated resource and 100 special school places.
The new special school (Discovery Academy), that was due to be open this year, will now open in September 2022. Delays at a national level have prevented the school from opening this year. (See below for more information about the school). A second new special school is also planned for September 2023/24.
We will continue to focus on providing sufficient places. But, like other areas across the county, we are facing significantly increasing demand, and this is putting substantial pressure on places available.
Communication
We are taking steps to improve how we communicate.
We have listened to feedback and are aware that sometimes it feels that we are not easy to communicate with. We have recently carried out significant recruitment activity and have more planned. This will allow us to make more improvements.
Increasing capacity will allow us to have a more timely response to families. This will include, over time, being able to reinstate family focused, person-centred meetings within the EHC needs assessment.
We hope families, SENCOs, schools, and services soon notice the positive impact of the increase in staffing.
Contact us
Please contact us if you would like to discuss any issues.
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Discovery Academy update
Discovery Academy is one of two new special schools being developed in Sheffield. Construction is well underway on site, on the Norfolk Park Estate, close to the city centre.
The school will be for pupils aged 7 to 16, who have mild to moderate developmental delays and co-existing communication and interaction needs (i.e. Autism Spectrum Condition) and/or social, emotional and mental health needs.
It will open in September 2022. School places will be for pupils with EHC Plans and allocated through the local authority’s SEND Assessment and Review Service (SENDSARS).
Discovery Academy will be run by Nexus Multi Academy Trust, which already has nine special schools and a mainstream primary school across South Yorkshire.
Visit the Discovery Academy website for the school prospectus, curriculum details and where to go if you have a question or want to know more.
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Post-16 High Needs Curriculum Offer
A Post-16 High Needs curriculum offer has been developed to support students with high needs in Sheffield.
The offer sets out the post-16 education opportunities for students with high needs, and the follow-on progression routes.
Courses have been reviewed to make sure they all provide young people with a set of skills and attributes to help prepare them for adult life. They all incorporate:
- The ‘Employability Skills Framework’ (listening, speaking, problem solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork).
- Seven core curriculum ‘Building Blocks’ (communication and functional skills, my personal living skills, helping me to work, staying well and healthy, being in my community, planning for my future and developing my interests).
The offer has been developed by Sheffield City Council, post-16 providers, young people, and parents/carers. It will be updated as we continue to work with young people and their families.
Parents and carers:
Please use the offer to help you and your child plan their next steps.
SENCOs, teachers and pastoral support:
Please use the offer to help your students and families with planning for post-16.
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Parenting support
See Sheffield Parenting’s ‘What’s On Guide’ for parenting groups and programmes. This includes specially designed programmes for parents and carers of children with SEND.
Find out about local parent support groups.
SENCO resources and training
For SENCOs and professionals:
Book your place at the SENCO briefings and training this year. Training includes:
- SENCO Train the Staff: Planning and Writing outcomes
- Birmingham Toolkit
- Developmental Language Disorder
- Training from the Educational Psychology Service
Locally-developed resources for SENCOs and other professionals are available on the Learn Sheffield website.
This includes 2021 update - Summary of Council-run education and social care services, and health services and how to access them.
Useful links
Lots of resources have been put online over the last 18 months to help families and professionals support children and young people with SEND.
Please continue to use them. Tell us what you think about the locally developed materials.
Useful links
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