 ...to the summer edition of the Stoke-on-Trent Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Professionals' 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.
SEND Local Offer Annual Report
Our Local Offer Annual Report is now available to read on our website. Take a look and see how it has developed over the past year:
Also, please have your say and help us improve our Local Offer website by completing this new, short survey. It should only take a couple of minutes to complete and will be really useful in guiding us on how we can make the website easier for you to use.
Meet Jenny Haines - DSCO for Stoke-on-Trent
My name is Jenny Haines, and I am the Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO) for Stoke-on-Trent. I also serve as the Head of the Children's Disability Team. With 21 years of experience working in Stoke and 9 years as a Manager within the CWD Team, I bring a wealth of knowledge and dedication to my role.
I am deeply committed to SEND and I am passionate about communication and coproduction with families, emphasising the importance of inclusion.
In my role, I advocate for children with SEND across social care services for disabled children, young people, and adults. This includes identifying needs early and developing pathways for those not currently known to social care. I am actively involved in the EHC needs assessment and planning process, providing information, advice, and support for the local offer.
I ensure that social care services are accurately reflected in the local offer and incorporate updates from professionals and parents and I am also involved in joint commissioning services to identify the best services for our children.
You will often find me at PEGIS events, coffee mornings, and SEND Community Lounges.
If you need to contact me at anytime, my contact numbers are 01782 231247 and 07767179546 or email: jenny.haines@stoke.gov.uk
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Sensory Processing Needs Toolkit
Sensory process is the cycle that we receive, process and respond to sensory input all of the time. This sensory information helps us explore and understand our surroundings. Sensory processing needs are the differences in how a person’s brain receives and processes any sensory information and can have an impact on how they are able to interact within their environment. Challenges can come at any stage of the sensory process.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Staffordshire County Council, healthcare providers, and healthcare commissioners across the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System have come together to produce the Sensory Processing Needs Toolkit.
The Sensory Processing Needs Toolkit is a school facing resource and provides a Graduated Approach to sensory processing support to children and young people within an educational setting. It is intended to be used by teachers to support children and young people and offers information on supportive strategies to consider, how to conduct an environmental audit and suggestions for regulating activities, so that children can take part in daily activities in school.
It can be used with all children and young people, including those with autism and social and emotional mental needs as it uses a general lens to look at sensory processing needs, rather than through condition specific lens.
Aiming High Programme
Our new Aiming High programme was launched on the 1st April 2025, with lots of new providers on board offering a wide range of activities each month to choose from. It is a programme of fun activities and short breaks for children and young people with Special Educational Need/Disability (SEND) and their families who live in Stoke-on-Trent. An Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) is not needed to take part in these activities.
The programme enables children of the same age to spend time together, whilst at the same time giving a break to families for their caring role. The aim of the programme is to build independence and provide new experiences.
Activities can be booked a month in advance, so please do let others know and direct them to the booking system below:
YMCA Go
YMCA Go is a fully accessible youth scheme run by the YMCA North Staffordshire where they do activities in the park, youth clubs and trips.
Also, there will be accessible workshops throughout their new building on site in Hanley. This includes cooking, art and lots more, as well as trips to places such as the beach, wildlife parks, museums and more.
If you know someone they may benefit, direct them to the YMCA Go website to learn more:
Reminder - SEND Travel Assistance Applications
We are pleased to announce that we have successfully launched our new citizen portal for SEND travel assistance applications. This is in response to the feedback we have received from parents and professionals about our previous application system.
The new transport citizen portal is much more comprehensive than the previous application process and allows us to hold much more detailed information when parents apply for SEND travel assistance. We have begun organising SEND travel assistance for the 25-26 academic year and require applications for those young people currently in Year 11 or in post 16/19 education, who currently receive SEND travel assistance (either through commissioned transport or a Personal Transport Budget (PTB)) or those looking to receive SEND travel assistance for the 2025-2026 academic year.
We would be extremely grateful if professionals could liaise with parents/carers around applying for SEND travel assistance as soon as post 16/19 placements have been confirmed. This will allow ourselves the opportunity to prepare our logistics in plenty of time for the new academic year.
We would ask that the following link for SEND travel assistance applications is shared with all parents/carers:
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