...to the spring edition of the Stoke-on-Trent Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Families' 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. 

Please share the information in this bulletin with your school's parents and carers.

SENCO Champions to form part of new group

The SEN Monitoring and Assessment Team have been working with SENCOs across the city to form a SENCO Champion Group. The SENCO Champions are from local schools throughout the city and aim to support inclusivity across our schools, colleges and nursery settings to ensure that we best meet the needs of all SEN Children and young people.

SENCOs have been invited to join from a variety of settings, including Early Years and Post 16 education providers. This group will be working alongside Local Authority representatives to improve practice and offer support and guidance. An updated SEND contact will be sent to all schools so that you may identify the champions in your area.

New tool developed for babies to assess communication skills 

The MPFT Speech and Language Therapy team has developed a communication screen for babies at 12 months old. This is following a request from both Stoke and Staffordshire Local Authorities’ Early Years teams for support with screening children’s communication skills at a younger age.

The tool is a simple observation tool with key evidence based milestones that indicate whether communication is following a typical pattern or not. It includes examples of how and what to observe along with activities to try if the milestone is not observed. 

The early years teams are gradually rolling this out across Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire. The tool has been developed in partnership with MPFT 0-19 representatives and both LA Early Years team representatives. An 18 month screen will follow later this year. Further information is available below:

SEND Services team recognised as Emotion Coaching accredited

All of the SEND Services team are trained in using Emotion Coaching as a relational approach to supporting the emotional regulation of children and young people. The team have developed resources to support the use of Emotion Coaching, delivered training to school staff across the city and practitioners model the approach when working directly with children and young people. Recently, we applied to be recognised as an Emotion Coaching UK accredited organisation, and we are delighted to have achieved this. We are now exploring ways to expand our offer further to include parents and carers.

New SEND lead at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare 

Deb Boughey is in post now as SEND Lead for North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare and we have a SEND Champions network across the CAMHS and Autism Teams, who will be SEND experts and promoting best practice within their teams. We are also developing a new SEND Training Matrix in the New Year to upskill all staff across the trust in everything SEND. This will include what good quality advice looks like when contributing to EHCPs from a CAMHS SEMH perspective.

ICB looking to create Down's Syndrome Forum

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board are looking for adults with Down’s Syndrome to create a ‘Down’s Syndrome Forum’, where they can talk about experiences of health, social care, housing and employment, and find out what can be improved.

The first meeting is planned for the end of March and from then on, the group will meet a couple of times a year in person. The ICB will reimburse travel expenses and provide refreshments at every session.

Further details about the forum are on the ICS Down's Syndrome webpage:

.The form to register to join the group is on the website and can be found below:

National Deaf Children's Society update

Events are running throughout the year and include Glue Ear, Mild and Unilateral sessions and Early Learning. Links to events are below:

Also, new for 2025 is ‘First Sign’s, First Stories’, which starts in February.  The sessions are aiming to be fun and interactive and there may be a few famous characters along the way!

Fegg Hayes Futures sessions

Fegg Hayes Futures is a small charity that operates out of The Hub in the heart of Fegg Hayes. They offer a diverse range of sessions and work with a large number of health, social care and creative organisations. 

This includes currently setting up 'Wellbeing Wednesday' sessions and working with Creative Foundations to run 'Positive Me' workshops throughout February. They also offer work experience and volunteering opportunities for students from Regent College or anyone who may experience barriers to placements in other settings.

If you would like to access any sessions or are interested in volunteering, please contact Laura or Andrea on 01782 761134 or email laura@fegghayes.org.uk 

Reminder for SEND travel assistance

Please remind families of young people currently in Year 11 or in Post 16 education, who currently:

• Receive SEND travel assistance (either through commissioned transport or a Personal Transport Budget (PTB))
• Or will be looking to receive SEND travel assistance for the 2025-2026 academic year

They will need to apply or reapply for SEND Travel Assistance, as all young people in Post 16 provision must apply for SEND Travel Assistance annually.

Applications for the 2025-2026 academic year will open on 03 March 2025 and families are urged to apply as soon as placement is confirmed. The link will be on the SEND Local Offer website below.

SENMAS Reminder for EHC Plans 

In line with the SEND legislation, the first review for a EHC plan MUST be held within 12 months of the date of the finalised plan, and then within 12 months of any previous review (unless under the age of 5 in which case every 6 months). Completed review paperwork within 2 weeks of the meeting taking place should be sent to SENMAS@stoke.gov.uk.

Please ensure that you plan annual review meetings throughout the year for pupils in your setting, giving plenty of time to complete and return paperwork on time.

Playwise workshop held to support children's play Play is an essential part of every child’s life - it is vital for the enjoyment of childhood as well as learning and getting to know the world around them. This is why the Occupational Therapy service decided to develop a face-to-face workshop targeted at Early Years staff within the education setting to support innovative practice developing children’s play skills) within classrooms.  The Playwise workshop was held at Hazel Trees, Stoke on Trent with Education staff from across both Stoke and Staffordshire educational establishment and targeted at staff working with children aged 0-5 years. Feedback from the education cohort who attended the session was extremely positive and a request was made for the session to be held again.  The Children’s Occupational Therapy Team would like to thank Hazel Trees Children’s Centre for their support with this day and the education staff who attended for making it a very positive and thought-provoking session. Further sessions will be advertised soon, if you are interested in a Playwise sessions for your school/nursery please contact childrensOT@mpft.nhs.uk for costings.