to the first edition of the Stoke-on-Trent Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Newsletter. We hope our regular publication will help to keep you updated on what is going on in the city for children and young people with SEND.
Our newsletter will be published termly. Our next edition will come out in February and the third edition in May.
Please send us your feedback about what you would like to see in future editions. Let us know how we can improve our newsletter to make it more useful. If you have a story you would like to contribute for our next edition, please let us know at localoffer@stoke.gov.uk.
A message from Delyth Mathieson our Assistant Director - Education and Family Support
Welcome to our new SEND newsletter at the end of a long and very busy term. There have been lots of Christmas activities in schools that can be lots of fun, but can also be particularly challenging for some of our children and young people with SEND. As always, planning and preparation is key, ensuring there are no surprises and the children know exactly what, when and how things are happening. So thank you for all your hard work this term to ensure that is in place for our young people and for the support you have given them to thrive in your schools. It has been great to work with so many of you in boards, in visits to schools and particularly through the SEND meetings.
I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing festive break.
The Local Offer
The Stoke-on-Trent SEND Local Offer refers to all the services available to children and young people in the city with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities, from birth to the age of 25.
It includes education, health and social care, as well as support for families.
The easiest way to find out about Stoke-on-Trent's Local Offer is through the website by clicking the link below:
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Our Local Offer is coproduced.You can read our Co-production Charter by clicking the link below:
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How can you help us shape Stoke-on-Trent’s Local Offer?
We are currently meeting with groups in the community to hear their ideas and ask for their input on ours.
If you work with a group of SEND young people or their parents and carers, and you would like to help, please email us at localoffer@stoke.gov.uk to arrange.
Annual reviews
When a child or young person has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) it must be reviewed every 12 months to monitor their progress and see if any changes need to be made to the plan. Where the child is under five, this needs to be done every six months.
In line with the Code of Practice the Local Authority requires schools and settings to convene and hold annual reviews. The school must arrange the Annual Review and make sure that any Health and Social Care colleagues who should be there are invited.
The LA SENMAS Team regularly remind schools and other settings of annual review dates.
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Stoke-on-Trent Educational Psychology Service
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As part of the SEND Inclusion Strategy Refresh, we asked for contributions and feedback from parents, children and young people, SENCos, SEND professionals and stakeholders regarding their views and priorities on the subject of inclusion. The contributions and feedback have been invaluable and we would like to thank everyone who took part in the focus groups and surveys. We have been able to hear your voices and this has helped us to identify the key themes to include within the refresh strategy.
As part of the SEND Inclusion Strategy Refresh, we asked for contributions and feedback from parents, children and young people, SENCos, SEND professionals and stakeholders regarding their views and priorities on the subject of inclusion. The contributions and feedback have been invaluable and we would like to thank everyone who took part in the focus groups and surveys. We have been able to hear your voices and this has helped us to identify the key themes to include within the refresh strategy.
The image below outlines the common themes that were identified across all participant groups.
We were particularly struck by the insightful comments of our children and young people. We hope that all who took part feel that they have had a role to play in shaping future policy and development.
National Inclusion Week was embraced across schools and education settings and we were pleased to be part of the team that developed resources for schools to share in assemblies and lessons.
It was wonderful to see the creative ways children and young people found to answer the question ‘What does inclusion mean to me?’. We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the pupils and staff who contributed throughout the week.
Please follow our social media page on X/Twitter: @SoTEduPsy in order to be notified of any upcoming events or information.
The SHINE award
The SHINE award has been launched this year. SHINE stands for “Stoke-on-Trent’s Hallmark for Inclusive Learning Environments”
The SHINE award project came about as the Early years Inclusive Learning Service data showed a rapidly increasing number of children with additional needs and the data also highlighted that many more nurseries were identifying and supporting children with additional needs.
The project started with an initial pilot involving 4 local nurseries who worked with the EYIS team, parents and other multi-agency professionals to decide the criteria and processes to support the awards. It was agreed that the award would not involve additional work for settings but would be based on evidence of excellent inclusive practice.
The four pilot nurseries are Rosy Cheeks nurseries in Bentilee and Tunstall, The Crescent Preschool (Meir) and Tiny Toez Nursery in East Valley (Sneyd Green)
There are two main aims for the award:
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Recognising and celebrating providers that demonstrate excellent inclusive practice in supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEND) and their families.
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SHINE will also aim to raise the profile of award winners with families looking for inclusive settings.
Any private or voluntary nursery, preschool or childminder in Stoke on Trent can apply for the award. Applicants must have an OFSTED rating of Good or Outstanding and the award must be reapplied for after two years.
The award has now been launched across the city and several other nurseries have applied to work towards achieving the award.
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The EasyPeasy app has launched in Stoke-on-Trent and families can enjoy two years of free access to the app.
It is aimed at families with children from 0-5 years and provides hints, tips, videos and activities that families can do with their children.
The app has been really well received by both parents and children in the area.
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These are the areas that families from Stoke-on-Trent have been looking at.
Families can download the EasyPeasy app on the App Store or the Google Play Store.
Please note: The app will ask for a postal code and will then grant free access for all Stoke-on-Trent postal codes.
If you would any digital copies of promotional materials please email; clare.clohesy@stoke.gov.uk.
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News from Newfriars College
Hear all about life as one of Vocational Pathway learners at Newfriars College; the Pathway preparing young people for employment, self-employment, further study, volunteering and the skills to live as independent a life as possible:
“At Newfriars College, we do so much to prepare for adulthood”, says David, age 17, from Sneyd Green. “We do qualifications like our GCSEs in English, Maths and Food Preparation and Nutrition, as well as Employability skills - looking for a job, researching different jobs and seeing how much you can earn.”
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Austyn, age 16, from Sandyford, agrees. “We are really learning about being an adult. We do travel training, budgeting, learning how to cook things, such as basic meals, and how to keep healthy. We also get the chance to do work experience. I go to the Indi Club on a Thursday to help with the eBay shop, which I love.”
Megan, age 17, from Heron Cross, said: “We are always doing things in the community. We also have Enterprise projects which are really useful to teach us about budgeting and teamwork. I study Health and Social Care, which is all about caring for babies. I think this is great because I hope to be a mum one day.”
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“There are so many things I love about Stoke,” says Will, from Blurton. “Port Vale football club are great because they bring everyone together as a community, especially the foundation, which supports people with disabilities. I also love the rainbow building in the city centre, and the museums because they’ve got the spitfire and lots of information about the Potteries industry.” |
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“I am proud to be from Stoke,” says Jofre, from Longton. “There is lots of history and culture and signs of industry. We also have Bet 365, which employs a lot of people and is good for the city. I think people are really friendly too.” |
Newfriars College runs its own training café and shop in Newcastle-Under-Lyme: Community Junction. Run by staff and students from the College, our café and shop are open to the public and our students are learning invaluable employability and preparation for adulthood skills.
Claire - I love working at Community Junction, I've made new friends and am more independent now.
Emily - I am more confident talking to others and I love working in the shop. The staff are great!
Sophie - I've learned lots of new skills and working here will help me to get a job.
Autism
The Autism Service has delays in being able to see and diagnose children because the number being referred is getting higher every month. Please know that we are investing in the service and planning changes to how we do things to help cut waiting times. Our changes will include a pre-diagnostic tool for professionals as well as support for parents and the children and young people following a diagnosis.
Referrals to the Autism Service should come from schools who know the children well and who will be able to complete a good quality profile of the child to help in decision making. GPs are not able to fast-track the process and do not have the information needed about the child, so it is always best that schools make the referral. Schools can contact the service on 01782 408 399 to discuss potential referrals or to have further conversations if the service have declined to carry out an assessment.
Please be aware that not all independent assessors are providing high quality assessments. They may not lead to a valid diagnosis and this may cause problems in the future.
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Emotional Wellbeing
All referrals should be made via the central referral process Combined Wellbeing. School’s mental health lead can be consulted first or strategies from the MHSP (mental health service professional) if the school has one working with them should be embedded first. Parents and children and young people can self-refer.
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Speech and language therapists
We have an excellent service in Stoke on Trent available with minimal waits – schools can contact the LA ILS or the NHS team leader Paula Simpson to discuss their needs PaulaA.Simpson@mpft.nhs.uk. Independent speech therapists may not provide such a high-quality service.
Please let us know what health stories you would like to see included in future bulletins – service updates, hot topics?
You can contact us with your ideas at:
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 Short Breaks
Our children with disabilities (CWD) social work team consists of Social Workers, Social Work Assistants and Short Break Workers who support children with disabilities and their families who need social work support.
We work closely in a multi-agency team with a wide range of partners including SENMAS (special educational needs monitoring and assessment service) to ensure children and young people’s social, health and education needs are met. One of the ways we have done this is by having joint meetings between the CWD team and SENMAS Service to improve communication, improve understanding each other’s role and look at the two services as a whole. We look at strategies to support our families and improve their experience by making sure we work effectively together.
Within the service we recognise the difficulties that families are under at this time due to the rising cost of living and the impact that this is having on families. One of the ways that we have tried to support with this is updating the CWD resource list each month and sharing these with families and professionals so that families are signposted to universal services that they are able to access immediately. You can find this information on the Local Offer site by clicking the link below:
We work closely with Action for Children who provide a range of short breaks for children with additional needs in Stoke where children can take part in fun activities and parents can have a break from caring. The details can be found here Check out the latest brochure.Action for Children
The team also work closely with PEGiS so we continually understand the experience of our parents.
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