Welcome to the Spring bank Holiday edition of the SEND and Inclusion newsletter – what a short but jam-packed half term it has been!

We welcomed the arrival of the Green Paper just before the Easter break and have now had chance to digest and share. The article below gives the highlights and we are reassured that the direction of our SEND and Inclusion Strategy mirrors the view of the future reflected in the Paper. Your comments on the proposals are key to influencing the outcome of the consultation so there is a plea from me to respond to those questions where you have a view. Please also encourage parents to attend the roadshows mentioned below and to send in their comments.

The SENCO Development Programme comes in advance of a national programme as we recognise the significance of this role in terms of professional leadership in schools so please sign up if you see yourself leading in this important area!

We are always looking to celebrate the impact good practice has on children and families and I’m delighted to point you to the SENDIAS focus on capturing your examples of how you work with parents and carers. Don’t hesitate to contact them for further information. We want to hear about all the excellent practice which is supporting our children and young people with SEND and/or additional needs and share more widely through Tools for Schools.

We are also introducing ‘An Evidence based Guide to Autism and Bilingualism’: the guide collates current key research and offers practical strategies to support autistic pupils to develop English alongside their home language.

June also marks Traveller History month which represents a real opportunity for an increased understanding and celebration of this community for all our children and young people.

Lastly I’m very much looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to our long awaited SENCO Conference on 16th June and being able to see you in person to express my gratitude for all your endeavours in supporting our children and families!

On 29^th March 2022 the Government published the long-awaited ‘SEND Review: right support, right place, right time’. This is the start of a consultation on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system in England.

The review has identified 3 key challenges facing the SEND and alternative provision system.

1. Navigating the SEND system and alternative provision is not a positive experience for too many children, young people and their families.
2. Outcomes for children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision are consistently worse than their peers across every measure.
3. Despite the continuing and unprecedented investment, the system is not financially sustainable

The Government is now seeking views on the following proposals to reform the SEND and AP system.

• New legislation for a new set of ‘national SEND standards’ with the aim of creating consistent provision, processes and systems across the country. There will be standards on how to identify and assess children’s needs, what sort of provision should be available in each area for different types of need, and how children with SEND should access support in mainstream schools.
• New ‘local SEND partnerships’, to be led by local authorities, to assess the overall needs of children and young people with SEND in their area and plan the provision they need.
• A standardised national template for EHC plans.
• New process for naming a school or college place in a child or young person’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. Local authorities will offer parents a ‘tailored list’ of provision that is appropriate for their child’s needs to enable them to express a preference, rather than parents being able to request any school as at present.
• Emphasis on identifying children’s needs early and putting support in place at an early stage, with the aim of keeping children in mainstream settings and avoiding the need for EHC plans.
• Introduction of a new SENCo National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for school SENCos.
• Plans to ‘streamline’ the redress process, including the introduction of mandatory mediation before families can register a SEND Tribunal appeal, with the aim of reducing the number of Tribunal appeals.
• New National SEND Delivery Board to hold to account all elements of the system for supporting children and young people with SEND.
• Make alternative provision an integral part of the SEND system. Ensure alternative provision is focused on early intervention.

The consultation closes at 11.45pm on 22 July 2022.

You can access the SEND Green Paper here - SEND review: right support, right place, right time - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The consultation itself is hosted on another website, which you can access here - SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time - Department for Education - Citizen Space

Your views are really important to help shape the future SEND and Alternative Provision system.

Claire Prince, Senior SEND & Inclusion Adviser

The SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIAS) offers support to education settings to influence, or further improve, whole school engagement with parent carers who have children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  For more information, and to see how you can be recognised for your good practice in this area, click on the following link, or copy and paste it into your web browser and follow the instructions: https://bit.ly/3MYKgcG

If you would like SENDIAS to speak to your SEND locality group either online or in person about this opportunity, please email the service on: send.ias@westsussex.gov.uk

We are always adding resources and strategies to our Tools for Schools website and would welcome any suggestions from schools. Below are links to some recent additions that you won't want to miss.

Visit our Blog page for articles on:

Autism in Girls: An Internal Presentation  By Cathy Wassell, CEO of Autistic Girls Network Autism 

New guide supports bilingual children with autism  A new resource to support autistic children who are bilingual or are learning English as an additional language

The Special Needs Officers have updated their free training modules on Team Around The School, covering topics such as SEND Funding, Requesting an EHCP and Person-centred Approaches. 

We asked young people with SEND what their ‘golden rules’ would be for good communication across services - see what they said in  Pupil Voice Tips which is found on Examples of Ways to Gather Child or Young Person's Views.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) is a broad umbrella term used to describe a group of children and young people who have severe difficulty in attending school due to emotional factors. This often results in the child or young person having prolonged absences from school. The Educational Psychology Service has uploaded an EBSA Training Booking Details for 22/23 on the EBSA pages of Tools for Schools.

The Early Years Transition Events are taking place between 16 and 27 May.

These events are aimed at supporting Early Years settings and schools to share information so that schools and settings can plan for the transition of children starting school in September '22. For more information about the events, the dates and to see the schools attending, please look at the information on our Transition Event webpage. If you have not yet booked, please book onto the appropriate event(s) to allow you to meet with schools where children in your setting will be attending.

This year at the Transition Events, the Early Years and Childcare Advisors (EYCAs) will be collecting the Transition event record  completed by the settings to be shared with the schools.  We will use this information to identify children who will have a supported transition, and also children with a Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) background who may need some additional support.

The information will not be used for any other purpose and the records collected will be destroyed after this information has been collated. It would be helpful if you can leave a copy with the EYCA at the event(s) you attend before you leave, or the EYCA may ask to take a photo of the information we need.

Useful resources

The Transition guidance has been updated this year, including some changes to the paperwork to be used. Please make sure you are using the most up to date information from our website.

Follow this link for information around Supported Transitions for SEND 

On 31^st March, West Sussex Library Service took over the running of the disability register for West Sussex from Amaze, who had done an Amaze-ing job of preparing and transferring data from families.

The new register is now called simply West Sussex Disability Register (0-25) and a new online registration form is almost ready to be launched.

The new form will be easier to complete and anyone who is unable to access it online can visit their local library to ask for help. The SEND Participation Team has also enabled children and young people to be involved, by producing some great artwork and sharing their views on the feel of the form.  You can find out about other participation events and projects for young people and see the amazing artwork young people produced here on the  Your Voice engagement hub

The form can be completed by a parent carer or a young person can choose to fill it in themselves. The information collected will help to provide good quality information about the needs of children, young people and families in our communities, to help ensure that support and services that make a difference can be offered.

Contact us with any queries on disabilityregister@westsussex.gov.uk.

The SEND and Inclusion Advisory Team are launching an exciting new SENCo Development Programme.

The programme will start in September 2022 and will comprise seven sessions to be delivered throughout the 2022-23 academic year. This package of training and support has been created especially for SENCos and Inclusion Leaders, to build and enhance their professional skills and maximise outcomes for pupils with SEND.

The programme will include a blend of face-to-face and online sessions, enhanced by e-learning, guest speakers, professional reading, and reflection. Throughout the year delegates will have the opportunity to develop peer networks of support.

Further information can be found on the SEND & Inclusion Advisers pages on West Sussex Services for Schools. Bookings will go live after half-term, but colleagues can register their interest with their area SEND and Inclusion Adviser now. Contact details can be found below.

North – Claire Prince   claire.prince@westsussex.gov.uk

Mid – Gemma Humphrey  gemma.humphrey@westsussex.gov.uk

South – Rachel McDonald-Taylor  rachel.mcdonald-taylor@westsussex.gov.uk

West – Louise Burgess  louise.burgess@westsussex.gov.uk

There's still time to book on to the West Sussex SENCO Conference on 16 June 2022 at Butlins, Bognor, via West Sussex Services for Schools.  Tickets will cost £100 to include workshops, lunch and refreshments.

The conference theme is “Working together to make SEND everyone’s business, with a focus on emotional health and wellbeing”, with keynote speeches from Andrew Wright, from Action Your Potential, and Amelie Thompson, Regional SEND Lead, from Whole School SEND.

There will also be a choice of two out of five workshops to attend (pre-booking essential).

The workshops on offer are:

• Understanding and Supporting LGBT+ Children & Young People. Led by Allsorts
• Promoting Equality and Tackling Racism. Led by EMTAS
• Introducing the Individual Support Plan (ISP), a graduated response template. Led by Maryanne Woodland, Educational Psychologist, WSCC
• Journey to adulthood, focusing on transition points across education, health and social care from the earliest stages. Led by WSCC SEND & Inclusion Advisors, Natalie McNeill, Designated Social Care Officer and Rachael Lee, Designated Clinical Officer

• What to do when a child or young person self-harms. Led by WSCC Safeguarding in Education
• Unfortunately, we have had to cancel one of our workshops – “A Guide to the Child Development Offer for Early Years”, as the Mid Sussex Child Development Services no longer have capacity to run it.  Apologies to those of you who have booked on to this, we will be in touch to book your alternative workshop.

We are really looking forward to seeing many of you in person for what promises to be a busy but inspiring event!

An Evidence-Based Guide to Autism and Bilingualism was officially launched at Chichester University on Friday, 18 March 2022 and is now available online for schools, professionals and families in West Sussex and beyond.

The guide has been developed in collaboration with colleagues from West Sussex autism social communication team, the ethnic minority and traveller service, the University of Chichester and the local NHS trust.

The guide collates current key research and offers practical strategies to support autistic pupils to develop English alongside their home language(s). The guide recognises the ways in which the languages spoken at home and at school are fundamental to the child’s learning and social development and dispels the misconception that, because autistic children and young people have difficulties processing language, they should stick to only one language, English.

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of bilingual children on the autism spectrum. Department for Education figures show there are now over 20,000 children in England with autism who have a first language other than English, a rise has also been seen in West Sussex. The publication of ‘An Evidence-Based Guide to Autism and Bilingualism’ is therefore very timely. 

June marks another Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month in the UK.  This national month of celebration will be marked by Traveller communities and organisations and we hope that West Sussex schools will take this opportunity to learn more about Traveller history and different ways of life.

Please find below a link to the new 2022 Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month newsletter from EMTAS:  

https://schools.westsussex.gov.uk/Article/99929

This year’s newsletter includes:

• Are Showmen getting a 'fair' education? News, resources & information centred on people from Showmen & fairground communities
• A spotlight on Romani Gypsy storyteller and author, Richard O'Neill
• ‘What Makes a Home?’ - the national focus for GRT History Month 2022
• Information on the 'Crystal's Vardo' theatrical production from Friends, Families & Travellers
• A call for compulsory inclusion of Roma & Sinti history in national curriculum

Following the successful launch of the quality assurance framework for independent alternative providers, we are having an event to meet them.

The providers offer many and varied opportunities to complement school provision for those in need of some alternative or additional input.

The provisions range from farms to online tuition, from bushcraft to music workshops.

Come and hear more about their offer and discuss your pupils' needs with providers in person at the showcase event:

30^th June at Chichester College.

If you would like to attend, please let Kate Watson know stating whether you will coming to the morning or afternoon session.

To support and guide the ongoing work schools and frontline practitioners undertake with young people, a series of Wellbeing and Safety Plans and accompanying guidance documents have been created. These have been produced by the Educational Psychology Service and Safeguarding in Education Team, in conjunction with other relevant safeguarding and wellbeing services and schools.

It is hoped undertaking these plans with children and young people will further promote wellbeing, increase feelings of self-worth in the young person and emphasise balanced thinking, strength-building, active coping, and resilience while maintaining their safety.

These plans are supplementary to services and support already in place and are not designed to replace an assessment by an appropriate mental health professional, accessing appropriate support, statutory guidance, or your organisation's own safeguarding policies and procedures. 

Every maintained secondary school and academy and college will soon be sent guidance documents and printed versions of the plans. In the meantime, you can access them on West Sussex Services for Schools.

Selective Mutism is an anxiety-based condition in which children are unable to speak in specific situations. The child or young person may be chatty and confident at home, or in comfortable situations (sometimes described as ‘talking nineteen to the dozen’!) but communication may reduce dramatically, or even become non-existent in situations they perceive as more demanding or unsafe.

The swing between the two states can be striking; the reduction in communication can even include gestures and facial expressions, which can sometimes lead to the child being perceived as ‘distant’, ‘aloof’, ‘stubborn’ or ‘just shy’. Sometimes, the circle of ‘safe’ people for the child to speak to can be as narrow as one person in the immediate family, feeling too anxious to speak to even wider family such as grandparents.

If a child doesn’t speak at home or at school, or stops speaking suddenly, this is unlikely to be selective mutism, and should be referred to SALT. There is no current pathway (at the time of writing) for children with Selective Mutism within SALT. This is due to the anxiety-based nature of the condition, so it is felt support to manage anxiety will be more beneficial than Speech and Language specific intervention.

Some children with Selective Mutism are able to communicate with some people outside their ‘safe zone’ when they deem it necessary, such as answering a direct question from a teacher. This does not mean that they are not selectively mute, but that their compliance and fear of breaking rules have made the thought of not responding more frightening than their fear of speaking aloud. The responses will tend to be minimal, and only when completely necessary. Children with selective mutism are generally predictable and consistent in their responses to differing situations. These children can be described as experiencing ‘low profile’ selective mutism, as opposed to those with ‘high profile’ selective mutism, who are unable to respond at all to those outside their safe circle.

Because Selective Mutism is an anxiety-based condition, children are unlikely to ‘just grow out of it’. It can be thought of as a phobia, so children are likely to develop their own coping strategies which can sometimes be less helpful (e.g. complete avoidance of situations perceived as stressful, sometimes leading to Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)). Most schools are likely to have at least one selectively mute child on roll, so developing a plan of support is likely to be useful!

As always, best practice is to follow the APDR cycle:

Assess: Where is the child comfortable speaking? Who are they comfortable speaking to? What are the maintaining factors currently in place? (e.g. pressure to speak, disapproval/punishment, removing the need to speak, parental anxiety, assignation of silent ‘role’, no need to change, expectation to change without appropriate understanding and intervention)

Plan: how can the maintaining factors be removed, and the comfort factors increased? Set appropriate levels of challenge to widen the child’s ‘safe’ circle, e.g. silent participation alongside others; playing nonverbal games: Guess Who, snap; tolerating voice being heard by bystander, either in person or via technology.

Do: Talk to the child about their selective mutism and anxiety, and share the plan to help. Consistently implement planned strategies and support, for at least 10 sessions.

Review: Set a time to review impact and identify ways forward. What has been working, what hasn’t worked so well?

Autistic children are more likely to develop selective mutism than neurotypical children, perhaps as a result of the higher levels of anxiety and sensory processing differences they may experience. If a selectively mute child in your school also has communication challenges, consider adding them to your next Consultation and Review Meeting (CARM) to discuss with your Autism and Social Communication Team advisory teacher. We can help you plan interventions, review progress and suggest additional support strategies to try.

Children may enjoy games such as Guess Who, or Top Trumps, which can be played nonverbally, or with minimal verbal interaction. Walkie-talkies can be a surprising hit for increasing the distance over which they are willing to speak and sometimes the number of recipients they are happy to speak to.  Apps and toys which record the child’s voice, such as Chatterpix (available for both android and Apple devices) or Talking Tins can also be used to help the child to get used to hearing their voice in more public situations. Books such as The Loudest Roar, by Clair Maskell, or Halibut Jackson by David Lucas can be a useful starting point for discussion with children. Older readers may prefer the Alvin Ho series, by Lenore Look and LeUyen Pham, or A Quiet Kind of Thunder, a young adult book written by Sara Barnard.

One recommended resource is The Selective Mutism Resource Manual, which includes a number of practical suggestions and therapeutic activities, as well as resources to share with families and other professionals.

Further information for schools and parent can be found here, at SMIRA, the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association.

West Sussex Parent Carer Forum (WSPCF) is run by parent carers for parent carers of children and young people with SEND (0 - 25 yrs) and their families.

Recognised by the Department of Education (DfE), the Forum provides advice, information, free workshops, events, training and signposting to local support groups across West Sussex.

WSPCF is a positive, motivating and friendly Forum with an active, supportive Facebook page.

Why not attend one of WSPCF's upcoming SEND Green Paper Roadshows?

 Come and discover what the SEND Review is all about and share your important opinions with the members of the WSPCF team.They will be gathering your views and presenting them as a collective voice. Alternatively, if you wish to present your views privately, they will direct you accordingly.

 This is your chance to have your say, get your experiences heard and influence change in the SEND system!

 Head over to WSPCF Facebook page for more information. To book your free place on a range of excellent events, please ensure you sign up to the Forum's mailing list. You can do this via the blue Sign Up button on its Facebook page.