March E-Bulletin

Farewell to Alison

Alison Baggs has been part of the Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) since 2013.  Her role of Co-production Officer has evolved and there will be a change in her day to day work which involves a move away from the IASS.  Alison will be based at the Civic Centre under new line-management from the Local Authority.

Alison has been a wonderful member of the IASS team and will be hugely missed.  She will continue to be an invaluable part of the journey towards embedding co-production across Wolverhampton and improve how families are heard and understood in the shaping and development of local Special Educational Needs and Disability services.   We will miss her bubbly, sunny personality but we know she will continue to be fantastic in her role which she carries out with commitment and passion. The whole IASS team wishes Alison well for the future.

A message from Alison:

“I shall really miss working within the IASS.  It’s been a wonderful five years and I shall miss the team hugely. They are all brilliant and do a fantastic job.  My time here began after registering with the service for advice and support about my daughters’ additional needs.  I was invited to one of their events where they talked about resurrecting a parent carer forum, within a few months I found myself Chair of Voice4Parents! In 2013 I joined the team as Parent Participation Assistant supporting Voice4Parents with its administration and development work.  Over the years the forum has gone from strength to strength and continues to do an amazing job in representing the wider views of parents and carers across the city. As the forum has evolved, so too has my role.   It’s become far more than engaging and consulting with parents and carers, it’s about parents, carers, children and young people being equal partners in shaping and implementing services to ensure they are meeting needs and are what families want.  The move will help to embed this culture and ensure that families, the local authority and health partners are all working together to deliver on the outcomes of Wolverhampton’s Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy.”

Common Ground Project

Common Ground is a new youth project based in Wolverhampton led by Changing Our Lives. The project is aimed at reducing lonliness and social isolation, connecting young people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disbilities with their non-disabled peers. Find out more here