Somerset Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) Newsletter Your SEND reforms checklist Expectations for all schools in 2014 -2015 Review your SEN policy, with governors and staff, parents and young people Publish your information (report) on provision as set out in the SEND Regulations 2014 Explain the SEND reforms and how changes will be introduced to parents and young people Review and update – if required - your process for early identification and assessment (graduated approach) Review your pupils on School Action and School Action Plus – engaging pupils and parents in decision-making, clarifying additional support needed and expected impact Review how you support pupils with their transition to post- 16 education and preparations for adult life Review – and update if required – your procedures for effective engagement, so that children young people and parents are involved in decision-making /home/website/convert/temp/convert_html/5ab77fe77f8b9a684c8b92ee/document.docx Issue 4 – Summer 2015 Learnin g Support
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Somerset Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO)
Newsletter
Your SEND reforms checklist
Expectations for all schools in 2014 -2015
Review your SEN policy, with governors and staff, parents and young people
Publish your information (report) on provision as set out in the SEND Regulations 2014
Explain the SEND reforms and how changes will be introduced to parents and young people
Review and update – if required - your process for early identification and assessment (graduated approach)
Review your pupils on School Action and School Action Plus – engaging pupils and parents in decision-making, clarifying additional support needed and expected impact
Review how you support pupils with their transition to post-16 education and preparations for adult life
Review – and update if required – your procedures for effective engagement, so that children young people and parents are involved in decision-making
Engage with your local authority on the development, monitoring and review of the Local Offer and its process for transferring Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans
Ensure you have arrangements in place to support pupils with medical conditions
Ensure that your SENCO (probably you!) has the right qualifications or is working towards them
Ensure that your school has clarified how the SENCO can help to determine the strategic development of SEN policy and provision
Provide training for your staff on the new SEND framework and its implications - being clear about roles, accountability for pupil progress and development (support and challenge)
Ensure that your school has a governor with lead responsibility for SEN
Common Assessment Framework
(CAF)
Following concerns expressed by SENCOs that other agencies are expecting schools to instigate CAFs, please see the following advice from Philippa Small, CAF Coordinator:
With regards to other agencies expecting SENCOs to pick up all CAFs for school aged children, you are absolutely right it is the agency that discovers the need that should be completing the CAF. They should be including the SENCO in the CAF/TAC process. It will then be at the first TAC meeting that a lead professional is allocated.
Please do let me know if you have any agencies who are repeatedly asking SENCOs to complete CAFs, I can do my best to support them to complete the CAF themselves.
New SEN forms
All settings have been sent copies of the most recent SEN forms. These are now available on SIMS and can also be found using the following links. The covering letter is PDF and the forms are in Word to enable you to expand the boxes.
From left to right; Ellen (Young Person’s Champion), Jemma (Engagement and Participation Officer) and Shane (Young Person’s Champion)
As a new team within Somerset County Council, we will develop links with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families in Somerset. We will ensure full participation of children and young people in planning and decision making to help implement the new SEND Reforms as outlined in the Children and Families Act 2014.
We will look to create a County Wide Young People’s Forum to ensure that young people in Somerset are engaged and participating in decision making. We aim to set up a “talk to me” group of young people who are able to give their thoughts and views on subjects over phone, email or online. For example, talk about their experiences of services they have received, what they have liked and give suggestions for how services can be improved. Further to that, we aim to set up a group of members who are taking a more active role; this will include attending meetings and relevant events. Training and on-going support will be provided.
Watch this space. We are working towards a plan for how the forum will run. If you know of any children and young people who would be interested in this opportunity please contact us to express an interest on the details below.
The Young People’s Champions can be available to attend meetings, present at events and support consultations for example. Please get in touch if you have any requests.
As many of you will be aware Sue Simpson who was responsible for training, assessment and moderation of ‘P’ Scale information retired some time ago. Following requests from SENCOs for updated ‘P’ Scale assessment training, to support good target setting and learning outcomes for our most vulnerable pupils the Learning Support Service have been working with Selworthy School to fill this gap.
Updated ‘P’ Scale information is available for schools to download at;https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/p-scales-attainment-targets-for-pupils-with-senAlthough these are updated, there is very little change from the original version.
Selworthy School have recently worked very hard to create accessible materials to support the pupils’ learning journey using these materials. In response to the request for training, Caroline Oestrich from Selworthy School attended the Taunton area SENCO group to explain how these materials are organised. LSS are now working with Selworthy to follow this up with a morning’s training at The Holway Centre in June for SENCOs and class teachers with pupils on ‘P’ Scales. This will disseminate some of the materials and show colleagues how they can be used in their own settings. Due to popular demand, this training is already full, but we are hoping to roll it out to other parts of the county from the autumn term, flyers to follow!!
MENDIP MACSAC
The MACSAC is a termly meeting of multi-professionals set up to discuss the needs of children with autism and communication needs who are in crisis, for whatever reason. MACSACs have been successfully running in all four areas of the county for over ten years.
We are constantly looking at the meeting format and how it might work better. To that end, we are now looking for a SENCO who might be interested in attending the agenda part of the meeting, where we discuss area matters, support and changes. This generally lasts for just over an hour.
If you are interested in finding out more then please email Mo Austin.
New documents
The following new documents from LSS are now available on the support services website: www.somerseteducationsupportservices.co.uk
Initial Identification of Literacy Difficulties and Dyslexia: Guidance and Tracking
For those of you unable to attend the training on Person Centred Approaches at Haynes last month the training provided an invaluable insight into increasing our partnership with parents as well as developing opportunities to support our young people in a meaningful way. The day focused on the premise of the family and young people as the expert and the value of joined up thinking and collaborative practise. It challenged us to think carefully about what good practise really looks like and a shift in focus onto learner’s strengths, coming away from a deficit model when thinking about aspirations and outcomes.
The message was clear. If we change the type of conversations we are having the outcome of all of our hard work can be a focus on what is important for a young person. Developing outcomes and the use of one page profiles highlighted the need for joined up thinking and careful planning to enable the right questions to be asked to ensure that outcomes highlight what is important to the young person. That way an outcome will be personal, measurable and specific and will benefit and make a significant difference. Ownership is crucial!
We heard from both a parent and young person and learnt how it feels to be part of our system and the positive impact that quality person centred thinking has in working toward common goals and achieving the very best so that the process of support is meaningful and successful.
Lastly we were asked to reflect on the challenges that may inevitably need overcoming to achieve good quality person centred practise in our varied settings whilst considering our own practise and changes that we might consider implementing. Whilst there were acknowledged barriers to creating a person centred ethos in school it was generally agreed these most were not insurmountable! Working in partnership makes for successful learners.
Would you like to learn more about person centred (PCP) approaches?
Available to book until September 20151 or 2 hour sessions* that will take your staff through the key principles of PCP and how effective it can be for individuals and their families if used by their schools & colleges, health & social care services and specialist professionals.*These can be delivered Mornings, afternoons, early evening or as a weekend session
Delivered by a local family carer of 2 young adult sons with autism and learning disabilities, Rachel Mason uses hindsight from the lived experience of those first 25yrs as well as her formal training in PCP, PCReviews, care and support planning and differentiated resource making - to explain how life changing this approach has been to her whole family since having access to Person centred tools & resources.
"As a Parent, I became more focused about what we wanted as a family from the services around us. I was able to give the school and respite venue useful information about my sons that they used to engage them on a more personalised level. It gave a new meaning to coordinated services as the support being delivered became more meaningful and purposeful to our family. At last we were working in
partnership with the services around us, we were achieving outcomes that were making a real positive impact on our daily lives, we began to make unprecedented progress."
If you would like to hear more about this offer and how you could successfully achieve a better way of working with the young people and their families you are currently supporting
The Somerset Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEN&D) training and support team have been appointed to work with children, young people and parent carers to support the workforce including those working in Schools.
We can support you, your school and your parent carers by;
Offering twilight training sessions on person centred planning, aspirations and outcomes and information and support on what
is out there for children and young people with a SEN&D - this is available on a first come first served basis
Sharing a Somerset specific leaflet on the SEN&D changes called ‘Changes to Special Educational Needs and Disability Support for Children and Young People. A handy guide for parent and practitioners’ – a useful tool to share with your teachers and parents
Signing up to our half-termly SEN&D Newsletter which shares best practice happening in Somerset, news, training, events and resources
How you can contact us and find out more:
We are keen to support schools and parent carers and would welcome the opportunity to work with you. To find out more on any of the above, sign up for our newsletter or request SEN&D leaflets for your school:
For useful resources visit: http://bit.ly/SomersetSEND
How you can support us and celebrate your good practice:
We know there is excellent work going on in our Somerset schools and we are keen to share this with others. If you have examples of partnership working; engaging with parent carers
Somerset Local Offer is developing and the latest big changes in response to feedback include an improved keyword and geographical search.
Searching Somerset Local Offer
People searching the website can now ‘View Services’ and ‘View Information’ under 2 separate buttons appearing directly below the ‘Go’ button.
Remember if you have a zero return displayed under ‘View Services’ to press ‘View Information’, to check for relevant information.
Feedback on Somerset Local Offer
We have introduced a short feedback pop up questionnaire for you to easily feedback your views while you are using Somerset Local Offer, just click on the pink feedback button that appears in the middle of the right hand side of every page displayed on Somerset local Offer.
We have developed a user friendly feedback form for people wishing to print copies for events, these need to be returned to Local Offer direct or via a member of the SEND Training Team
The feedback form can be accessed using the link: Feedback form and
The local authority and its partners welcome and value feedback on their services. In particular we want to hear from you where you think the Local Offer is not being met.
We invite feedback on the accessibility, content and development/review process for this site. This will used to inform our service managers. It will help the local authority identify gaps either in service provision, or in the quality of services and will help target resources to where they are most needed.
You can also continue to send feedback directly to the services you are in contact with.
We will be publishing feedback and action taken in response regularly. This will be accessible from Local Offer. Feedback will be published in an anonymous form.
Updating service cards on Somerset Local Offer
Service providers have been telling us that they have had problems trying to edit/update their service’s details on Somerset Local Offer.
If you have a problem adding or updating your service’s details on Local Offer please email [email protected] in the first instance, stating where known the email address you registered with.
In some cases we can resolve issues locally and in other cases we may need to direct you on to our website provider Future Gov.
SENCO Induction ConferenceThursday 17th September 2015
A day’s conference for SENCOs who are new to post since October 2014. Flyers will be sent to schools in June. If you will no longer be the SENCO at your school please pass this date to the school’s new SENCO.
Autumn term SENCO ConferenceMonday 19th & Tuesday 20th October 2015
Key note speaker Gareth Morewood will talk about ensuring smooth transitions for young people transferring between different phases as well as other SEN issues.
Gareth is a SENCO in a school consistently rated outstanding by OFSTED and in July 2013 was appointed Vice-Chair of the DfE-hosted ‘senco-forum’ Advisory Group. Gareth has also been designated a Specialist Leader of Education. He will be familiar to many SENCOs through his articles in various SEN publications and his website: gdmorewood.com.
