As we start to experience some signs of spring I would like to welcome you to the February edition of the SEND Newsletter! You will find an array of information to support your practice and signposting for the families you work with.

We’re delighted to introduce our Early Years SEND and Inclusion Consultant, Grace Fairbourne alongside the Early Years e-learning modules to support practitioners working in Early Years. We know how important these years are in providing the foundation for our children’s learning and development and their best start in life!

We are including a range of resources for SENCOs and teachers, produced both locally (West Sussex OAIP) and nationally (NASEN’s SEND Handbook), and information about the services we offer to schools such as the ASCT advisory teacher surgery and PD network.

However, we know that equally important is the support available to families so please also see the articles on the Disability Register, Library resources, Time to Talk Next Steps and the Informal Family Care service. In addition the  ‘Your Mind Matters’ campaign aims to ensure young people, parents and professionals across West Sussex know where to get help with their emotional well-being and mental health.

Lastly,  we have a new date for our long-awaited SENCO Conference at Butlins, Bognor Regis, on 16^th June 2022 and this time we are determined that it will go ahead!

As always, thank you for your invaluable engagement and support in improving the lives of our children and young people.

We know that when children start school and join their Reception class, they come with a wide range of previous experiences. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has broadened that range of previous experiences even further.

Early years teachers tell us that never have they had children in their class with such a vast range of developmental starting points.

In response, we have produced a suite of five new free e-learning modules designed specifically for early years staff. The modules can be accessed individually or as a training course and are presented in e-learning modules, so that staff can access them at a time that suits them. They can be watched and discussed as an early years team, or accessed by staff individually.

All modules are designed to support staff to adapt the curriculum successfully for children with a wide range of developmental needs.

The modules are:

• Curriculum, environment and routines
• Personal, social & emotional development
• Small steps in learning
• Phonological development
• Supporting the development of toilet training skills

The training has been written and presented by professionals who are all experienced early years experts. The training production team are:

• Jessica Bubb – Autism & Social Communication Team - Team Manager, WSCC
• Clare Myall – Senior Educational Psychologist, WSCC
• Nicola Blackwell – Educational Psychologist, WSCC
•  Helen Smith - Associate Adviser, WSCC                                                        
• Gemma Peck – EYFS Advisory Teacher, Virtual School for Care Experienced Children, WSCC
• Grace Fairbourn – Early Years Consultant, WSCC

We would like to introduce you to Grace Fairbourn, our new Early Years Consultant for SEND and Inclusion, who joined us just before Christmas.  Grace worked previously in the PVI sector as Director of Care and Education for a group of Early Years Settings. She is a qualified Early Years Teacher and has achieved the National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-Ordination (NASENC).

With 12 years’ experience in multiple roles in Early Years settings and working as a SENCO, Grace has a vast amount of knowledge in ensuring best outcomes for all children across the sector. Early Years education is her passion, and giving all children, particularly those with SEND, the best start to their education and learning journey and access to the full curriculum is at the heart of all she does. 

As you may be aware, the Early Help Service has been redesigned and went live in January of this year.  There is a poster containing information which can also be printed and displayed in places where parents where see it, as well as a short animation explaining more.  We would encourage you to link to this animation where possible. 

Aims of the Surgery:

• To meet the increasing demand from schools for more immediate/urgent and just in time advice, we would like to offer weekly surgeries for SENCOs/Class Teachers.

Additional Information

• The surgeries will not replace the termly CARMs (Consultation and Review Meetings), they will run alongside.
• Schools can contact their allocated Advisory Teacher to request a 20-minute slot at the next available surgery.
• If you contact your Advisory Teacher asking for advice and support on an urgent matter that has arisen, they may book you onto a surgery slot so that you are able to obtain this advice.
• These slots are to support needs that arise that are out of the ordinary or urgent and will not be allocated weeks in advance.
• There will be no follow up paperwork completed and there will be an expectation that the school will keep notes to inform practice.  

 The Offer

Twenty Minute MICROSOFT TEAMS Consultation with an Advisory Teacher from the ASCT

Thursday Afternoons

 Booking Details

• Please email your allocated Advisory Teacher requesting to book a twenty-minute slot at the Advisory Teacher’s Surgery.
• Please provide them with a brief overview of the case.
• The Advisory Teacher will then send you a link to you allocated Microsoft Teams slot.
• Please join the meeting promptly and be prepared to collaborate to problem solve.

PD Net is a network for professionals supporting learners with a physical disability. It is there to support staff from mainstream and specialist provision whether you are working with one child or many children who have a physical disability.

It is free to join, is a DfE approved partner and offers a variety of free resources.

The Level 1 free online training offers a good overview for staff and they have now developed a more in depth Level 2 training for Support Staff (chargeable). There’s also a helpful forum for getting advice from other members and a SEF tool for helping with standards and accessibility planning.

If you would like to speak to someone who uses PD Net, Katie Scott from Barnham Primary is happy to answer your questions!

The SEND Commissioning Team is pleased to be working with the Library Service to provide the new look Disability Register for SEND families in West Sussex, previously managed by Amaze and linked to the Compass Card.  

Parents, carers and young people who sign up to the register and share their information will be helping the County Council and other local agencies to have a better understanding of the needs of local children, young people and their families.

By including your details on the register, you will be contributing to the planning of education, health, social care and leisure services for children and young people with SEND.

Compass Card holders will receive further information in the coming weeks about automatically transferring their details.  New members will be able to join from April onwards.

The new scheme will continue to provide regular newsletters and updates to families, giving information about activities and services in libraries and around West Sussex as well as an incentive for joining or renewing.

To find out more about what your local library has to offer, or to see what you can access online 24/7, visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/libraries.

The library has much more than traditional books to help share stories with everyone – no matter what their needs. Our range of resources includes multi-sensory stories, such as ‘The Little Seed’ pictured here, giant print and braille books, tactile books, and books with signing.

We have stories on CD and larger libraries also offer ‘Playaway’ audiobooks – these MP3 players are pre-loaded with stories for children & young people.  They are free to borrow, all you need is a battery and some earphones.

A collection of sensory stories, created by Bag Books, are available to reserve and borrow to share at home. While these stories are enjoyed by all, they are particularly suited to children with a wide range of additional needs and disabilities. View the collection on our catalogue.

Library staff have recorded some DIY sensory stories for you to try at home, which include a list of props you can gather from around the home and use to enhance the story. You can watch them on our Story Magic Youtube playlist

Your Mind Matters is a county council led campaign which aims to ensure young people, parents and professionals across West Sussex know where to get help with their emotional well-being and mental health, both in general and in times of crisis.

The campaign brings together partners including local authorities, NHS providers, charitable sector, community groups and police. It is a collaboration with Foundations For Our Future, which is part way through a two year programme to bring about significant improvement.

Children can often live with grandparents, aunts or uncles or older siblings for periods within their childhood for a variety of reasons.  These could include parental bereavement, imprisonment, drug or alcohol dependency and parental mental and physical health.  

The Informal Family Care service, part of Children’s services in West Sussex, supports family members who have taken on care of a child as part of a family arrangement.  This service is for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings who are full time carers of children and young people from 0-18 years of age.

We support families in a variety of ways and tailor our support to the priorities for the carers.  Our focus is to work with families to strengthen caring arrangements by providing direct work, groups, and drop-ins (Covid 19 government guidance permitting). 

Our direct work is available to all families who have social work involvement or early help involvement, whilst groups and drop ins are available to all kinship families.

Our work includes:

• An initial discussion with the family to ensure involvement is tailored to the individual needs of the family. When other professionals are involved, we would also contact them to ensure our work will dovetail in to and contribute to existing plans. We work alongside Children’s Services, Adult Services, CAMHS, Mental Health services, Family Centres, Early Help and more.
• Giving advice, support, and information around relevant issues to carer such as benefits, finances, housing, practical issues, education issues, contact issues and family mediation.
• Therapeutic parenting support for children who present with behaviour concerns, particularly when this is linked to trauma, early years disruptions and attachment difficulties. 
• Information around permanence options for the child’s long-term care, including Child Arrangement Orders or Special Guardianship Orders. These can be beneficial to consider when the carer needs shared parental responsibility with the parent to make decisions around the child’s care.
• Groups specifically for Kinship Carers (COVID PERMITTING).  Courses include an introduction to attachment and Trauma, the Teenage Brain, emotional regulation, anger management and a tailored group around general kinship issues.
• Signposting to relevant national, county-wide, and local community support for kinship carers.
• Assisting to identify universal or targeted services that could support you and the child or young person.  We can make referrals to agencies or grant bodies or support a family to make self-referrals where possible.
• Monthly Drop Ins (COVID PERMITTING) across the county, providing opportunities to meet other family carers, building a peer support network, and talking through any concerns.
• Offering consultations to professionals to provide advice and information around supporting a kinship arrangement and to discuss if a referral would be suitable for additional input.

If you would like to make a referral, please contact us: Informalfamilycare@westsussex.gov.uk

If a family holds a Special guardianship order and needs support, please contact specialguardianshipsupport@westsussex.gov.uk

To discuss a family or to make further enquiries please contact the team:  Lisa Veness – (mobile) 07718807476 or Pam Herrington – (mobile) 07889203515

We have taken the decision to postpone the SENCO Conference, which was due to be held on 31 March, until the summer, when we hope that the challenges posed by COVID will have receded.  The new date is 16 June 2022, and it will be held at Butlins, Bognor Regis. 

Places will be purchased via West Sussex Services for Schools and we will write to schools when bookings are open.  Tickets will cost £100 to include workshops and refreshments through the day.

We've worked with schools to plan the conference and our theme is 

"Working together to make SEND everyone’s business, with a focus on emotional health and well-being". 

We are delighted to have two keynote speakers: 

Andrew Wright from Action Your Potential, who will talk on well-being, improving mental health and mind management;

Amelie Thompson, NASEN, Regional SEND Lead Whole School SEND, who will talk on working together to make SEND everyone's business, with an emphasis on SEN Support.

We will also be offering SENCOs a choice of two workshops and are busy finalising the details of these - look out for more information in the next newsletter!

The Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP) guide has proved popular with schools, with several purchasing copies for all members of staff.  We are pleased to announce that we now have replenished our stock and further copies are available to buy for £2 per guide.

Electronic copies of the OAIP and the Inclusion Framework can be downloaded from the Tools for Schools website. If you would like to purchase additional printed copies please email toolsforschools@westsussex.gov.uk - copies of the OAIP are £2 and Inclusion Framework, £1.

Whole School SEND’s newest resource – Teacher Handbook: SEND Embedding inclusive practice – is now available on SEND Gateway Home Page | SendGateway.

With contributions from specialists across the sector, the handbook is a comprehensive resource for teachers to use over time as they put inclusion at the heart of their practice.

 It brings together practical examples of high quality teaching - placing focus on removing barriers to learning, getting to know and understand individual learners, and bringing to life the graduated approach.

Each of the six sections - which are intended to be used as required rather than read in sequence - offer a wealth of ideas and information about the following key areas:

• Understanding your role
• Knowledge of the Learner
• Creating an inclusive environment
• Planning inclusive lessons
• Subject-specific guidance
• Graduated approach
• Strategies to scaffold learning
• Teacher wellbeing

A new ITT resource pack is also now available. Offering a varied suite of materials that ITT providers can use in their programmes to help new teachers develop their understanding, it both supports the ITT framework and complements the new handbook.

There are still a few places remaining on the next three-day training session on the  Therapeutic Thinking approach advocated by Angela Wadham.

This training is currently being rolled out by West Sussex County Council as part of the SEND and Inclusion strategy.

 The dates for the next three-day training sessions are:

• 1^st March – 3^rd March 2022
• 3^rd May – 5^th May 2022

So far, 102 staff from 50 schools have undertaken the three-day training, which enables them to deliver in-school training so that therapeutic thinking approaches can be developed and embedded in their settings.  Maidenbower Junior School is one of these schools and is featured in a Celebrating Inclusion case study on Tools for Schools.  Head teacher Elaine Jenkins says:

‘it is too early for data to show impact, however case studies of certain pupils show a reduction in anxiety levels and improved behaviour.  It is work in progress…’

While teachers report that:

• ‘I now spend time thinking about and talking to individual children more to help them identify potential triggers and verbalise their thoughts and feelings.’
• ‘I think they feel that I listen to them more.’
• ‘Our children have been taught the language of equality from ourselves, from their families and from society in general. This approach is more about equity – a hard concept for the children to understand, nevertheless it has been a good opportunity to show myself modelling this to them all. I find I have become more flexible and I can spot when a child needs support through a more individualised approach.’
• ‘My classroom is calmer. I would also say that anxiety levels have dropped simply because the sun and cloud visuals have gone.’

The Therapeutic Thinking approach is a whole school ethos characterised by an inclusive culture, underpinned by best practice, policy and plans.  Therapeutic Thinking uses a range of resources to analyse an individual’s behaviour in order to better understand the child / young person’s needs.  This analysis then assists in better planning for the child, their class and the wider school or setting, to prevent difficult or dangerous situations from occurring.

For further information please contact kate.southgate@westsussex.gov.uk, Associate Advisor, Learning and Behaviour Advisory Team