Wolves IASS: June 2022 E- Bulletin

SEN Support

15^th June 2022 at 1.30- 2.30pm
Book your free place here

The event will detail how education providers should use a  graduated approach of "Assess, Plan, Do and Review" to identify and support children and young people who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

EHCP Taster Session

28^th June 2022 at 10.00- 11.00am 
Book your free place here 

The session will cover:
- What an Education, Health and Care Plan is
- The EHC needs assessment process and how to request
- What is included in an EHCP.
- What happens during and after the assessment process

Consultation Extended on Accessible Green Paper 

The Government has extended public consultation on its proposals on the future of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) system and the Department for Education has published accessible versions of the SEND Review green paper including:

• a full British Sign Language version to support those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment
• an easy-read version to support those with learning disabilities
• a guide to help children and young people with SEND or those in alternative provision to understand the green paper and respond to the consultation

All resources are available here. 

The department is committed to ensuring the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper and consultation process is fully accessible.    

The consultation period has been extended by 3 weeks, to 22 July 2022, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to take part in the consultation. The IASS encourages you to have your say here. 

Special Educational Needs
system survey

Ambitious about Autism wants to hear directly from autistic young people (aged 16 or over) and parents, carers or relatives of autistic children and young people about how the SEND system is currently working, and what is needed to improve it. 

They have created a survey to gather your views and will share their findings with the Government’s SEND Review team. 

Complete the survey.

By taking part you could also be in with a chance to win a £50 shopping voucher.

Wolverhampton IASS
Youth Advisory Board 

We are asking for a small group of young people who have special educational needs or a disability (SEND) to help us develop our service to ensure we are reaching out to young people with SEND in the community. The reason for this is so that young people become more engaged with the service and are better informed about their education, health and social care matters and the relevant law. Most of all we want to ensure they feel included and heard when decisions are being made.

The group will be fun and interactive but most of all will be steered by the young people attending. There will be the opportunity to meet new people and share your skills and ideas.

We are very excited about this project because we will be seeking young people's guidance and advice on our website, information resources and how we deal with enquiries and offer support. 

So, if you are a young person, have a son or daughter who you think would be interested, or you are a professional who is working with a young person who would like to help us, please give Lisa a call, to have an informal chat, or you can email. All the details are below, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Contact Lisa Colton:
call 01902 556945 /
Email lisa.colton@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Meet the IASS Team

The Walsall and Wolverhampton Parent Support group welcomes all Parents, Guardians & Carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. 

Our IASS Caseworker's Julie and Sam will be attending their upcoming coffee morning at Low Hill Community Centre, Bushbury on 21st June at 9.30am to 11.30am to meet and answer any questions you may have. 

For more information on the support group click here. 

Speech and Language
virtual learning 

Contact for Disabled Children is hosting four free virtual training events for parents and carers discover how to support their child with speech and language difficulties. 

The workshops will discuss the communication chain, support strategies, your role and provide additional resources. 

The sessions are designed to support language development of disabled children aged 4 to 16 years old. Book your place via the below link: 

Primary school
8 June: http://bit.ly/3EiOQ2c
30 June: http://bit.ly/3rxlyHM

Secondary school
14 June: http://bit.ly/3OiSv4w
23 June: http://bit.ly/3M7PrX9  

How I cope:
A young person’s guide

The last few years have been challenging for lots of young people.

How I cope: a young person’s guide is a new resource created by young people for young people about how young people cope and like to receive support. It was developed by the NIHR Children and Families Policy Research Unit (CPRU), the HeadStart Learning Team, and the HeadStart National Young People’s Group.

Started in 2016, HeadStart is a six-year, £67.4 million National Lottery funded programme set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. HeadStart aims to explore and test new ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 10-16 and prevent serious mental health issues from developing.

The HeadStart Learning Team leads the national evaluation of HeadStart. Researchers in the HeadStart Learning Team interviewed over 70 young people in 2017-19 about their experiences of coping and receiving support in difficult times. The young people interviewed were all attending schools in areas delivering the HeadStart programme. The HeadStart Learning Team analysed the interviews and developed themes to capture the different types of coping strategies and sources of support that young people described.

The HeadStart National Young People’s Group provides feedback on and helps to develop HeadStart research. In 2021, the HeadStart Learning Team presented the themes from their interviews to the HeadStart National Young People’s Group. The group helped name and describe each theme. The group also helped to decide how best to present the themes to other young people. Supported by CPRU, this led to the creation of a guide for young people called: How I cope: a young person's guide.

Support from Warmer Homes
West Midlands

Is your household currently struggling with the fuel crisis and having difficulty managing your energy bills?

Warmer Homes West Midlands offer friendly, impartial charity energy advisors on hand to respond to any energy issue, big or small.

1. Standard broken gas boilers replaced for free – Home-owners qualify if they receive certain benefits or are on a lower household income.
2. Prepayment meter vouchers – for those in need of help and receiving certain benefits or on a low income,  asylum seekers, refugees, migrants
3. Support resolving billing issues and fuel debt.  Three-way calls with suppliers to help resolve the issue.
4. Home Energy Check visit – They can visit your homes to provide support in person, and fit free small energy-saving measures (like power down plugs, LED lightbulbs, reflective radiator foils, and draughtproofing) which can add up to a big energy saving.
5. Warm Home Discount – help claim £140 supplier reduction from your energy bill
6. Crisis fund – small flexible grant to help overcome barriers to keeping warm in winter.  Could be used for a boiler service, small repair or to help with fuel debt- whatever is needed most. Available to those in crisis receiving certain benefits and/or on a low income.
7. Grants for energy efficiency improvements.  We can help access grants for heating and insulation.  If we can’t help straight away, we’ll register their interest and call them back if funding becomes available.  With the government’s planned role of energy efficiency upgrades over the coming years, we hope to help many householders benefit.
8. Income maximisation, including benefits checks.

For more information, referrals, and self-referrals please
call 0800 1968 298 or email warmerhomesWM@mea.org.uk

Wolverhampton Libraries

Baby Storytime Sessions 

Wolverhampton Libraries Baby book and rhyme times are a perfect way to introduce your child to the magic of books whilst meeting other families in your local community.

Visit your local library to take part: 

Central Children's Library-
Tuesdays from 10.30am to 11.30am 
and Saturdays from 12.15pm to 1pm

Bilston Library-
Wednesdays from 11am to 12pm

Warstones Library-
Tuesdays from 2.30pm to 3pm

Wednesfield Library-
Wednesdays from 11.30am to 12pm

Penn Library- 
Saturday from 2.15pm to 3.15pm

Wolverhampton adult

Autism support group 

A new Wolverhampton support group has launched for individuals aged 18+ on the autism spectrum or with Asperger's Syndrome, or anyone caring for or living with someone with the condition.

The group gives an opportunity for adults to meet up each month in a friendly, supportive environment to share experiences and useful information, take part in activities and hopefully feel more a part of the community.

Group meetings can involve arranged speakers, group discussion and activities out in the community. They meet the third Thursday of each month 10.30am-12.30pm at Wednesfield Community Centre (next door to the Wednesfield Library).

For further information contact: David Harris- Group Administrator on 07542 140058.

Make your voice heard!

Are you a disabled young person who has had a social care assessment in England? Then the National Children's Bureau needs to hear from you for their Living Assessments Project.

Living Assessments is a project between the University of Cambridge, the University of Kent and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB). The project looks at these questions:

• How decisions are made about giving social care support to young people and families
• What difference that support makes and
• What it is like to have those types of assessments?

They are looking for more young people aged 11-25 years to join their Disabled Young People’s ‘Experts by Experience’ group. This group meets about once every 10 weeks for 90 minutes.

If you join this group you will come to meetings (either by Zoom or in person) to talk about how the researchers do their work, what they find out and how they will tell people about what they find. You might also like to take part in data analysis, help write about the findings or talk about them at conferences or events. 

If you join this group you will get a £20 voucher for each meeting that you come to. You will also get help, support and training, references for your CV or for when you are looking for a job, and have a chance to take part in team building activities and events (to be decided by you!). All travel, accommodation and food will be paid for by NCB. If you need someone to come with you to meetings or to help you travel NCB will pay for those too. Anyone who has communication challenges, SEN or who is lacking confidence will also get support. NCB will work with you to ensure you have the support you need to take part.

Please visit the NCB website to find out more and apply online here

Please contact Teresa Geraghty if you have any questions: 
tgeraghty@ncb.org.uk or 07432 739865

Emotionally Based School Non- Attendance 
(EBSNA)

Post Covid- 19 has seen a dramatic rise in pupils experiencing mental health difficulties, including school related anxiety or refusal, abbreviated as EBSNA. 

Reasons for the absence may be rooted in negative feelings or experiences within the setting, such as anxiety, bullying and bereavement. 

Young Minds School anxiety and refusal guide gives parents and carers a detailed insight into the cause of the anxieties, how you can help and further support available.

Visit the full article here. 

Cerebra Sleep Support Service

When a child is not sleeping, it can affect the whole family.

Cerebra provide a sleep support service, as well as guides, top tips and virtual webinars. They offer one to one support and a telephone support with their specialist sleep practitioners.

Click here to access support. 

Share your news

We aim to share uplifting stories and good news events from around our wonderful Wolverhampton area! 

If you run services or activities for children with a Special Educational Need or Disability or support their families, we would love to hear from you! 

Also, if you have a happy news story or wish to celebrate the great work of an organisation, please email ias.service@wolverhampton.gov.uk. Please attach a photo or videos and a short blurb to feature. 

We send out the e-bulletin monthly around the first Monday of the month, so we would appreciate this being sent to us by the middle of the previous week.

Our next e-bulletin will be shared on 4th July so please send any inserts by 29th June.