SEND News and Update 10.11.21
Date Added: 10/11/2021
Welcome to this edition of the SEND News Bulletin. This week includes information on
• New Local Offer website
• Local Offer launch events
• SEND Forum (formerly Special School Panel)
• PDA Position Statement
• Children's Community Health Hub
• Autism Bedfordshire - Training Dates for Autumn Term
• Parenting Insight Session -SEND
• What's On
• Children's Centres SEND Support Coffee mornings
New Local Offer website
Parents/carers, children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can now browse and scroll through our newly improved Local Offer website.
The Local Offer website is a ‘one stop shop’ for all local SEND advice, guidance, and support services. It has been redesigned and co-produced with SNAP Parent Carer Forum (SNAP PCF), an independent forum of parents and carers of SEND children in Central Bedfordshire, as well as education, health and social care professionals, parents, carers, children and young people with SEND.
As part of the redesign process the Council listened to and incorporated feedback from families and young people to make it more engaging, easier to navigate and to ensure it contains more relevant information.
Website visitors will be signposted to important information including:
• Sources of support, advice and information for children, young people and families, including supporting groups and forums
• arrangements to identify and assess children and young people with SEND, including how an assessment can be requested
• other educational provision for example, leisure activities, sports and arts provision
• information about provision to assist in preparing children and young people for adulthood including post-16 education and training
• arrangements for travel to and from school, post-16 settings and early year providers
• childcare, including suitable provision for disabled children and those with SEND
• health and development needs of children from when they are born through to when they transition into adulthood
• support available to young people in higher education, particularly the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) and the process and timescales for making an application for DSA.
Visit the Local Offer
Local Offer launch events
Thank you to all of the families that joined us at our Local Offer launch events on Wednesday and Saturday. Our SEND team enjoyed meeting you, sharing information about our services, and hearing your views on the new Local Offer website. During the event, guests were treated to live music and a magician, and provided with lots of information about our services.
The website was well received at the launch events, with one parent telling us: “The event was very good, and it was nice to speak to professionals. I like the new website, it is much clearer.” Another added: “The new Local Offer looks much easier to use. The day has been so informative, and I have lots of information to take home.”
SEND Forum (formerly Special School Panel)
As a result of the review of panels across the Local Authority, we are replacing the Special School Panel with the SEND Forum. The forum will be meeting three times between now and January and the process will be reviewed before establishing a permanent process.
The proposal is that from November 2021, the existing Special School panel will be replaced by locality-based working with Special Schools and a new SEND multi-agency placement forum that meets monthly.
The key outcomes for the forum:
• To make decisions where there is complexity of circumstances resulting in the SEND Team being unable to identify a suitable specialist placement in the local area.
• To ensure a placement is secured if a child’s needs does fit criteria of a specialist setting locally but the setting are refusing to provide placement.
• The forum should support and enable decision making, it should not delay or prevent suitable placements being identified for children and young adults.
• The members of this forum should be available outside of formal forum dates should there be urgent decisions required to support the needs of a child/ young adult.
• To provide clear actions/ guidance for the SEND Team to progress in order to secure suitable specialist placements for children/ young adults in a timely way.
The proposed forum members will include a range of professionals.
PDA training update
Following the release of our PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) Position Statement in May 2021, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering workforce training funded through the High Needs Block as part of our early intervention offer in November 2021 delivered by the PDA Society. We will be offering this free training to professionals from schools, education and social care teams working with and supporting children and young people.
Each course delivered by the PDA Society includes general content around:
What is PDA? Exploring demands and their effects Looking at how PDA can feel, and Considering helpful approaches (including collaborative problem solving)
CBC have worked closely with SNAP Parent Carer Forum to ensure that the suggestions put forward by parents around the lack of understanding and support available in the local area regarding PDA were addressed. This included a training package for professionals, and this suggestion has been listened to.
We have worked together as equal partners, each bringing our own expertise and have coproduced, in the first instance, a training package with the objective that professionals and parents would have equal knowledge in how to recognise and support PDA. SNAP Parent Carer Forum have already held some parent training from the PDA Society which was well received, and this is now the initial training package for professionals.
We will continue to develop our training offer for the future and will utilise the feedback from this training and feedback from parents and professionals to provide further training for parents, carers and professionals across Central Bedfordshire.
Review the CBC PDA Position Statement and further support and resources.
Children's Community Health Hub
Autism Bedfordshire - Training Dates for Autumn Term
All training will be delivered via zoom because of the continued uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic during the winter season. This delivery method will be kept under constant review to ensure we deliver our training in the most responsible and safe way – face to face delivery will recommence when circumstances allow.
Autism & Demand Avoidance £50 Thursday 25th November 1 pm - 4 pm
Autism & Mental Health £50 Tuesday 30th November 1 pm - 4 pm
Autism & Sensory Processing £50 Thursday 2nd December 1 pm - 4 pm
Autism & Behaviour £50 Thursday 9th December 1 pm - 4 pm
Book by email [email protected] or via our website's Training & Consultancy page
Parenting Insight Session -SEND
Thursday November 11 2021: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
This is a virtual workshop to support families, the session will provide a basic overview of SEND. The aim of the session is to support families to develop an understanding of SEND needs and support available to them .
The session will be split into 2 parts:
16.30-17.00: Information regarding SEND support- guest speakers from SNAP PCF, SENDIASS and Homestart
17.00-17.30:Time to ask questions
Register here
What's on
More events and workshops that are being held this month are on our What's On Calendar
Children's Centres SEND Support Coffee mornings
SEND session with play activities and opportunity for parents to talk to other parents
7th October from 10:00 – 11:30 am
Leighton Buzzard Children’s Centre
Booking is essential due to Covid restrictions please call 01525 384368. Children welcome.
SEND - Stay, Play & Chat
Every Monday from 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Dunstable Children’s Centre
If you would like to book a space please call 0300 300 8106/0300 300 8104
SEND Support coffee afternoon every second Monday of the month,
1:30 – 2:30 pm
Shefford and Stotfold Children’s Centre
If you would like to book a space please call 0300 300 8112
SEND Support virtual coffee morning every first and third Thursday of the month,
10:00 – 11:00 am
Flitwick Children’s Centre
If you would like to book a space please call 0300 300 8111
SEND Support virtual coffee morning every first and third Friday of the month,
10:30 – 11:30 am
Houghton Regis Children’s Centre
If you would like to book a space please call 0300 300 8115
Super Kids Online – virtual support group for parents or carers with children who have SEND
Sandy Children's Centre - every other Wednesday, 1:00 am – 2:30 pm
Fortnightly catch ups and support online and face-to-face. A chance to speak to professionals from the CDC, Early Years Support Team, Speech and Language plus more.
To book a free place contact Karen on 0300 300 6009 or email [email protected]
Please visit the Local Offer for more information on activities, services, advice and support across Central Bedfordshire for children and young people with SEND or follow us on Facebook
We hope you have found the information in the bulletin helpful. We would love to hear your feedback and what you would like to see in future editions. Please let us know by emailing [email protected]
Do you provide a service or run events for children and young people with SEND and their families?
We would like to offer providers the opportunity to advertise local SEND services and events in our fortnightly SEND news bulletin, on our local offer Facebook page and to be included in the local offer What's On page.
If you would like to be featured then please email details about your service and/or event to [email protected]