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Welcome to the latest edition of Shropshire's SEND newsletter, co-produced by Shropshire Council, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group and PACC.
The newsletter aims to provide easy access to key information for SEND families, as well as an opportunity for parent carers to hear from each other about their experiences.
Please do continue to provide feedback on this newsletter, we want this to work for you and we are keen to hear what you think of it. You can email us at Local.Offer@Shropshire.gov.uk
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The school summer holidays, in fact any school holiday, can be a challenge. Keeping the children occupied while juggling a hundred and one other priorities can be the situation many families face, and with not much support or help from others.
On top of that, there’s preparing for the start of a new school year, and the anxieties and mixed emotions this can cause many children and young people, as well as their parent carers.
In their latest blog 'When you need a holiday after the holidays' PACC talk about the challenges and some of the support available.
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The Autism and School project is coming to Shropshire and aims to look at how schools can provide positive environments for students with Autism.
It will involve whole school change, improving communication, responding to sensory issues, and considering how reasonable adjustments could be put in place to meet the needs of Autistic pupils.
PACC are leading on developing school based mini SEND forums and ensuring that the voices of children and young people and their parent carers inform how the project is delivered in Shropshire. Find out more about how you can have your say and get involved.
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The type of support that children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) may receive will vary widely, as the types of SEN that they may have are very different.
However, two broad levels of support are in place: SEN support, and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP). We look in more detail at SEN Support and how the Graduated Approach helps to identify the right support for each child.
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Children who are supported by the Disabled Children’s team and who have been assessed as needing over night short breaks access Bradbury House. Action for Children are commissioned by Shropshire Council to provide the overnight short breaks at Bradbury House. They update us on their overnight provision.
"Bradbury House has continued to offer overnight short break respite for children, young people and their families throughout the pandemic. Bradbury House has been praised by a number of organizations including Ofsted for their efforts in maintaining numbers and ensuring everyone receives their much-deserved respite. Bradbury House currently supports up to 5 young people at any one time, we are still cautious about the ever-changing variants, and we want to ensure the health and safety of everyone who attends, visits and works at the service.
The young people have enjoyed a number of activities during their stays, these include relaxing pamper nights, getting messy in our much loved and popular mud garden, cheering on England in the Euros and more recently celebrating the Olympics, our young people have taken part in their very own "Bradbury House Olympics" where they have received medals for a number of achievements such as "Being Kind to Others", Making Everyone Smile", "Brushing Their Teeth" and "Being a Fantastic Cook".
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Autism West Midlands are delighted to bring you their second on-line conference. After the success of last year’s October event, they have arranged another two days of talks from expert speakers on a range of topics which will be of interest to parents, autistic adults and professionals across the West Midlands and beyond. Tickets cost £20 and will enable delegates to listen live across the two days or catch up with the recordings alter. The speakers and topics are:
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What makes a positive difference to the lives of autistic children and adults and their families – Dr Glenys Jones, University of Birmingham
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Anxiety and autism - adapting therapeutic strategies and when to seek help - Dr Harvinder Tagger, Clinical Psychologist & Psychological Therapies Lead – Solar (Solihull)
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Autism and sexualised behaviour, strategies to help - Shereen Khan, Barnardo’s - Autism Services
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Autistic understanding and acceptance: a personal insight - Tigger Pritchard, Expert by Experience
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Behaviours of concern, thinking out of the box - Lee Burden, Senior trainer / behavioural specialist, Autism West Midlands
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Benefits of parent-to-parent support – Walsall & Wolverhampton Parent Support Group, Experts by Experience
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Good autism support in mainstream schools, what does it look like? – Johanna Condon, Autism Strategic Lead, SEND and Wellbeing, Birmingham City Council
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Pathological Demand Avoidance - Tigger Pritchard, Expert by Experience
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The value of peer support to autistic parents – Autistic Parents UK, Experts by Experience
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A woman’s collective; discussing life as autistic women - members of AWM’s Women’s Discussion Group, Experts by Experience
For more information and to purchase a ticket visit their events listing
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Achievements of young people completing their Supported Internship during a world pandemic is to be admired. To say they have demonstrated resilience, flexibility and determination is an understatement.
Enable work in partnership with Shrewsbury College Group, County Training (Hereford, Ludlow and North Shropshire College) and Bettws Lifehouse to support young people with EHCPs to complete the workplace element of their Supported Internship course.
You can read more about the successes young people had during their supported internship
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“Josh is very reliable and is carrying out tasks carefully and thoroughly. It’s great having Josh working with me; it’s given me the time to concentrate on other work.” Jane Edwards |
Jordan works hard racking tyres away, pumping air into them and making sure they are in the correct locations and in size order amongst other tasks - National Tyres and Autocare |
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“Luke is enthusiastic, keen, eager and polite”
Wicked Car & Van Hire
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This summer, with funding from the Pears Foundation, Actio were able to offer a summer family programme, to support SEND families to return to community activities, after the challenges of the pandemic. The programme worked with a range of providers already delivering activities in the community and aimed to offer fun family sessions throughout the summer. As an Actio programme the sessions were open to any young person with SEND who was registered with either All In (0-18) or Actio (0-25).
Overall, there was a very good take up of the sessions and Actio had some great feedback, some of which is shared below. Thank you to all the providers who worked with Actio to deliver the programme and made families feel so welcome. Remember these providers continue to offer activities throughout the year and are available for individual bookings in most cases. To find out more about Actio please visit the website www.actio.org.uk
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“A surprisingly perfect family afternoon of archery, axe-throwing and cow-spotting whilst making some new SEN friends, with the lovely people at Babbinswood Farm” |
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“ACTIO has been amazing for Oliver at nearly 20 it's hard to find things to do, he has had lovely time canoeing with Jamie and team @ Drummonds, Hawk experience at Battlefield falconry with Mark and Dinky Donkeys with Ceri.
All the owners of the experiences had been very welcoming and patient.
Thank you Actio!
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“I can’t thank you enough for these activities. To be able to go out and feel relaxed and enjoy some really lovely things has been amazing, especially after such a difficult 18 months.
Thank you, thank you, thank you”
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The Shropshire SEND Local Offer is a single place for information, services, and resources for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and / or disabilities, their families, and the practitioners who support them. It's been designed with a family’s needs at the heart of the process. We'd be grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to complete an online survey to provide us with feedback on the SEND Local Offer.
The survey results will help us to understand if the information is accessible, what you like/dislike, and if there are any gaps that need addressing. We value all comments and will share with you feedback we have received, and how we have responded to the comments made to improve your Local Offer. Click here to complete the survey Thank you for your time.
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