 All the latest news on Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities (SEND) for parent carers, services, professionals and those interested in finding out more.
From the Editor...
Welcome to the new-look edition of March's SEND Newsletter. It has been displayed in a different format, to make it easier for you to find what you may be interested in or looking to read. Let us know what you think and if you would like to feature in the next SEND Newsletter in May 2017, whether it’s information for other parent carers or staff, important updates related to SEND or an event you would like to share details of, please contact me.
sarah.dimmock@westsussex.gov.uk
Tesco trialling a 'quiet hour' to help autistic customers do their shopping
 'The often busy, loud and unpredictable environment of supermarkets can be disorientating and overwhelming,' says National Autistic Society spokesperson. Read more here.
World Autism Awareness Day is on 2nd April this year. People can test their knowledge about autism by taking a quick quiz. Online resources and information can be seen on the Understanding Autism Campaigns webpage.
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Inclusion and Provision
The Government has announced a High
Needs Strategic Planning fund to support Local Authorities to review their SEND
provision and West Sussex has been allocated £334,000 which will be used to support implementation. We have also been
successful in getting funding from WSCC’s Transformation Fund. This money will
support a small team of an educational psychologist, special needs officers,
advisory teacher and project support. The team will focus on reviewing
placements in non-maintained & independent special schools, training and support for West Sussex schools and introducing
costed provision maps to make best use of SEND funding.
- The recently completed review of
Special Support Centres (units for children with particular types of need,
attached to mainstream schools) has identified where we have unused places
and options for expanding or changing the remit of Centres where there is the
need. We will be considering how to take forward the review's recommendations. The SEND strategy can be seen here.
- Schools – Save the date: on 27 April
2017 we
are hosting a conference for mainstream schools with
information and guidance for SEND inclusion best practice.
The
SEND Pathways to Adulthood Strategy, which links to the
SEND Strategy, has been finalised and can be found on the Local Offer. The
group which has been working on its development will now finalise the action
plan and start to implement the strategy. For more information about any of the above, contact Jon Philpot on 0330 222 2564.
Support coming to speed up Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) process
The Government has announced details of the SEND reform grant for 2017-18, which for West Sussex is £532k, an increase of £56k on this year. This has enabled us to extend the contracts of staff who are supporting the implementation until end of March 2018. This includes staff within the SEN Assessment Team working to transfer statements of SEN to EHCPs. This process needs to be completed by March 2018 but unfortunately is behind schedule. We are now recruiting additional staff so we can get back on track with this and apologise to those who are currently experiencing delays. We are pleased that the percentage of EHC Needs Assessments being completed in the 20 week timescale is continuing to increase.
In the last newsletter I mentioned that schools are now able to submit annual review documentation online. We have received positive feedback about this and some schools have suggested ways of making the process simpler, so we are amending it as a result.
SEND Inspection Update Guidance Reminder
Inspectors will be in our area for one week - they will visit education settings and meet with children, parents, teachers, leaders and governors. There will also be focus groups and we are briefing those who may be involved in these. The phone call giving us five days’ notice of the inspection could arrive any Monday during term time! Guidance for education settings and other partners can be found here.
The focus of the inspection is on how effectively we identify, meet the needs and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and will look at how the local area as a whole meets its responsibilities. We have developed a self-evaluation framework to ensure we will have a good understanding of our effectiveness. There will be a focus on children & young people who are at SEN Support, as well as those with Education Health & Care Plans, so we are making sure this is fully addressed.
If you would like more information about any of the above, contact Jon Philpot, Principal Manager (SEN & Inclusion) jon.philpot@westsussex.gov.uk.
Local Offer Webinars
Person Centred Planning
The Local Offer have written a newsletter around the Person Centred Planning work, to promote the toolkits and guides they have produced. They are great tools for many people. Check it out!
Your Chance to Win £50 in Love2shop Gift Vouchers!
 10 months after the official launch of Compass Card West Sussex, Amaze wants to know what people think of the card and if they haven’t applied for one yet, what’s getting in the way. The Sussex charity has just launched two Compass Card West Sussex surveys, one for parent carers and one for young people and will use the results to help shape the way forward for the Compass Card. The surveys take only a few moments to complete and everyone who fills one in by Monday 10 March 2017 will be entered into a draw for £50 worth of Love2shop gift vouchers. For more information, visit the Local Offer.
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SEND Youth Voice Champion and Key Dates
 Our first SEND Youth Voice Champion, Joshua has been looking at the SEND Pathway to Adulthood Strategy and giving his feedback. Josh is a student at Chichester College and is keen to spread the word about SEND Youth Voice.
Email rachel.sadler@westsussex.gov.uk if you know a young person who would like to become a voice champion.
The next SEND Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award forums for DofE Award Centre coordinators and leaders are: 23 March, Manor Green College, Crawley 4 - 6pm and 28 March, Oak Grove College, Worthing 4 - 6pm. This will be informal with time for discussion.
For networking and coffee, please book your place by contacting the DofE office d.of.e.award.youth@westsussex.gov.uk.
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What do Young People think about their Annual Reviews and Preparing for Adulthood?
Rachel Sadler, Youth Support Worker (SEND Participation) is gathering some feedback from young people about their experiences of getting
involved in review meetings and making plans for their future. She would love to
hear from any 16-25 year olds about what helps them get their
voice heard and what they feel gets in the way. Please contact Rachel at rachel.sadler@westsussex.gov.uk. She is happy to visit you to run a session on this at your school, college or
group and can also provide some resources to facilitate discussion with young people. Please send in any videos or artwork expressing young
peoples’ views by 2 March 2017. Their views will then
be made into a short film to feed into a PCP Path co-produced by parent
carers and professionals.
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