SEND Newsletter January 2024
Halit Hulusi
Welcome to the January winter Term 2024 edition of our SEND newsletter!
January sees the launch of the new Enhanced Assess, Plan, Do, Review Pathway (EAPDR). Our core training for the EAPDR was attended by nearly 400 colleagues from schools and the 8 follow-up district training sessions has also seen large numbers of colleagues joining us to ensure that they are well placed to utilise this pre-statutory support to ensure the inclusion of children and young people in their school community. We have now closed our expressions of interest window for applications for SEDIS providers. We’ve had a lot of interest in this exciting new development and the team are looking forward to assessing these applications early in 2024.
The Central SEND team are looking forward to joining groups of SENCos for face-to-face coffee/tea work discussion groups to support with your implementation of the new EAPDR model. A timetable will follow shortly, and we are looking forward to seeing you at one of these sessions. Have a great 2024.
Regards,
Dr. Halit Hulusi | Head of SEND - Staffordshire County Council
Hello, I hope you had a lovely Christmas break. My name is Nadine Young and I am the SEND Operational Lead. Below are our updates for the SEND Assessment and Planning Team.
Annual Reviews
As a follow up to the update in the July 2022 Newsletter I wanted to remind you about the front loading of the annual review process in line with the Devon ruling. The advice and information requesting stage of the review needs to be sought well in advance of the meeting itself. The actual meeting is just a small part of the process. Prior to the review taking place it is imperative to ensure that all services involved with that young person are invited to the review, with good time to facilitate attendance in the diary, and at the very least advice / reports sought, we suggest aiming for 10 weeks before the meeting.
We have liaised recently with health colleagues who have asked that we provide the following reminder to education settings when preparing for an annual review. Engagement of health professionals in Annual review processes is key. Please ensure you check with parents regarding any new or emerging health needs and new teams involved prior to the review. Please check if the c/yp has been discharged from any services and ensure requests for advice are submitted through the EHC HUB. Health professionals will prioritise transition (phase transfer) reviews as well as though identified as urgent reviews. Where a health professional is not able to attend a review but submits a report, please ensure that these are all submitted to the SEND team with the Annual Review paperwork.
2024 Phase Transfers
A major focus for the SEND team as we enter a New Year is the completion of the phase transfers. The teams are continuing to work hard to ensure the pre16 phase transfers are completed by the 15th February and a thank you from me to all settings who have submitted their annual reviews to enable this amendment process to be completed.
SEND Team Contacts
SEND family Practitioner Lead and Keyworker Contacts | Staffordshire Connects
The Educational Psychology Service welcomed new educational psychologists, assistants and trainees in September, and are recruiting new assistants to the teams for the Enhanced Plan Do Review from January onwards. We are looking forward to working with a wide range of schools and settings; It is an exciting time to be an Educational Psychologist in Staffordshire!
Here are some key updates about our projects and developments for 2024:
- Our traded offer will be open in March 2023, and subscription forms will be sent out on 19 February for the deadline on Friday 15 March.
- There will be a Q&A session on Tuesday 23 January via TEAMs that you will be welcome to join should you want to find out more.
Our school non-attendance team have released updated the updated guidance booklets for schools and other professionals. The guidance has been split into two booklets; the first provides information and guidance, including terminology, prevalence, and impact. It also provides a summary of research in this area and good practice, including working collaboratively with families. Booklet two is a guide to apply this information in practice to your setting, which shares activities/frameworks for staff to explore, identify and support any unmet needs.
These new guidance documents were presented at the recent Senior MHL network meetings and received a lot of positive feedback.
We are continuing to grow the number of Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) trained by the EP service. All trained ELSA have accessed a 6-day course delivered by the EP service, covering a range of topics such as attachment and trauma, anxiety, active listening, therapeutic stories, developing social skills. We are currently delivering ongoing supervision to 129 trained ELSAs in small groups of 10. Our next course is fully booked, and we look forward to welcoming more staff to our Staffordshire EP ELSA network.
Following on from our successful Well-being for Education Return pilot, the service will be delivering emotion coaching webinars available to all EY settings, and childminders. There are still places available on the webinars, so please see the attached flyer for details on how your local early years settings and providers can sign up.
We continue to collaborate with a range of services to develop awareness and effective support for children and young people with communication and interaction needs. Most recently this has included joint working on the neurodevelopmental pathways and supervision support for Autism professionals. More development work is underway for the next two terms.
We are excited to have launched the new EPATT to support the EP Literacy Approach and are pleased that here are over 130 schools signed up and over 700 children registered so far. This is an innovative online assessment and monitoring tool which gives schools comprehensive information about pupils reading skills, what skills to work on in the daily intervention and the progress that they are making on a weekly basis. At the moment it is available on a 6 month basis free of charge to schools with additional free implementation advice and support from the EPS.
For more information please contact epliteracy@staffordshire.gov.uk.
The Virtual School are very excited to share with you the launch of our new Relational and Restorative Practice Training. The training seeks to provide a framework of knowledge and understanding for Early Years Settings to include Nurseries, Playgroups & Childminders. Whilst the training offer will support our looked after children, it will be equally beneficial to previously looked after children and children with a social worker.
The training offer seeks to provide early years settings with greater confidence, strategies and resources that support our children best. The overarching aim is for settings to be able to promote and demonstrate best practice to support the emotional needs and development of our children.
When designing the program, we have tailored delivery, to be accessible in terms of time and timings. Most topics have a delivery time of 2.5hrs. The package of training will run for 12 months. Commencing in November 2023. There will be a variety of face to face and Teams delivery.
Course Titles:
- An Introduction to and meeting the needs of looked after / previously looked after vulnerable children and the Staffordshire Relational, Restorative Matrix.
- An Introduction to Attachment
- An Introduction to Early Years Settings / schools as a safe base for practitioners (Strategies and Skills)
- An Introduction to Emotional Regulation and Executive Functioning
- An Introduction to Social Emotional Development and Putting Theory into Practice in Settings
- Introductory bespoke training on Impact of Early Experience on sensory development
- Emotion Coaching for Early Years Practitioners - Introductory Level – it is a requirement that attendees need to complete the EY Emotion Coaching training being delivered by our EP Team before this course. Our course looks specifically at emotion coaching for children with adverse life experiences.
- An Introduction to trauma and Exploring Trauma Sensitive Approaches
- Introduction to Transition, Endings and Loss. (In Person)
- Self-Care
Training will be delivered by Dr Marnie Aston from Imagine Inclusion. Imagine Inclusion are an inclusive psychology and art therapy service. Dr Marnie Aston is the founder of Imagine Inclusion. She has a passion for promoting mental health and inclusion. Marnie has worked as an Educational Psychologist, is a trained Person-Centred-Planning Facilitator and Art Therapist.
Please find attached the full offer of courses here:
Update for Parent/Early Years Providers
Since September 2023 the chairing of the Early Years Forum is now being undertaken by Family Hub Managers in each district. As well as children already known to forum, we have seen a growing increase in the number of new referrals. We would like to reassure you that whilst we may not be in a position to discuss new referrals straight away, we will prioritise children with the greatest need and discuss all children in a timely manner whilst also managing the demand.
We do however encourage early years settings to access a significant amount of additional support readily available to ensure nursery practitioners can access information, advice, guidance and training for individual children and areas of need.
Please see details below of the resources available and we encourage settings to utilise these resources whilst waiting for a child to either be discussed at forum or to support the early identification of need and begin the graduated response. Graduated response toolkit: guidance for early years settings - Staffordshire County Council
To access the workshop, webinar or training please right click and open the hyperlink.
FREE - EY Area SENCO Team Helpline
To request a helpline call back, email EYSENIS@staffordshire.gov.uk with the subject ‘Tuesday helpline’ and a brief summary of your query and contact details. You can email at any time and requests are collated for the next helpline date. Each Tuesday, a member of the team will operate the helpline. Note:-if Tuesdays are not a suitable time to call back, please note this in your email and as far as reasonably possible we will try to accommodate your request.
To make a request for Consultation, download the request form here Staffordshire Connects | EY SENIS Team. Instructions and guidance are included on the form.
Please note: the EYSENIS team to not have a direct phone number and are contactable via email EYSENIS@staffordshire.gov.uk
FREE - Emotion Coaching for EY
Emotion coaching is an approach used to support children in recognising what they are feeling. Join us for a series of two online webinars to explore how to use emotion coaching in an EY setting. Settings who have taken part in Emotion Coaching have fed back that it was ‘fascinating’ and it ‘made a real difference to our children’.
For more details and dates of two webinars, depending on your district, and book your place using the booking form.
FREE - Trauma and Attachment Training
Staffordshire Virtual School in collaboration with Imagine Inclusion Ltd. are excited to share the launch of new free Relational and Restorative Practice Training. The training offer seeks to provide EY settings with greater confidence, strategies and resources that support our children best. The overarching aim is for settings to be able to promote and demonstrate best practice to support the emotional needs and development of our children.
Relational and Restorative Practice training courses are being held regularly, there will be a variety of face to face and Teams delivery.
FREE - Dingley’s Promise- Early Years Inclusion Programme
Staffordshire County Council have been successful in securing a place on the Dingley’s Promise Early Years Inclusion Programme. Dingley’s Promise are a charity that supports children in the early years with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to achieve their full potential.
The aim of the programme is to increase the number of young children with SEND accessing early years and childcare places through a comprehensive and extensive training offer.
Training is available to all Staffordshire County Council Early Years Settings and all professionals across Staffordshire who work with children aged from birth to five, to support children with additional need. Training programme is there to empower early years practitioners to deliver inclusive practices by upskilling through training and shared information/learning resources. All courses are a mix of workbook, videos and activities and training that can be completed at your own pace. We have had positive feedback from practitioners and hope to continue to see more settings accessing the training package.
Autism Inclusion Team
The NAS (National Autistic Society) Teen Life Programme is a 6-session programme for parents/carers of young people (10-16) on the autistic spectrum funded in Staffordshire by the NHSE as part of the Autism in Schools Pilot. ‘Teen Life’ aims to empower parents and supporting professionals to understand more about how autism is experienced by autistic teenagers. It discusses useful strategies and shares ideas of how to support the autistic teenager through their teenager years.
Six families have taken part in the programme this term and their feedback illustrates how valuable the training is for families. The ability to discuss and share their experiences with other parents is beneficial and the sessions allow for parents to self-reflect and try new strategies and ideas in the home setting.
In January 2024 we are delivering the NAS Early Bird plus programme, working with parents/carers and professionals of autistic children aged 4-9. We are hoping to deliver these courses annually funding permitting.
The Autism Inclusion Team offer a wide variety of well-respected training to school staff and have, over the past year, extended this to the wider community. Autism Awareness training has been delivered to library staff, social workers, virtual school staff, police officers, staff working within children’s homes and taxi drivers with many more training sessions planned. We have also held an AIT training day for parents which proved very popular and will be repeated next summer.
Further information on our training offer can be found within the school e-bag or alternatively you can email: sss.service@staffordshire.gov.uk
Kate Prinold | Autism Inclusion Team Lead
The Deaf/Hearing Inclusion Team
The Team continues to support children and young people from across the county in the Early Years and as they move into education settings. We currently run Early Years Parent Groups for families of children who are supported by our service. These run throughout the year and take place in the North, East and central/ South areas. Each term we also run a family sign course. This runs for about ten weeks, and through the year, we run one in each of the above areas.
If you would like to know anything more about these groups or our service, please email: sss.service@staffordshire.gov.uk
Moira Cooper | Deaf/ Hearing Inclusion Team Lead
The Vision Inclusion Team
The Team have been very grateful for the continued support of Talking Newspapers who have generously agreed to fund some specialist equipment for the children we support, as well as donating towards our recent outdoor education residential weekend to Chasewater Country Park.
In preparation for the upcoming festivities, we have had a very successful trip to see Santa on Foxfield Steam Railway and are very much looking forward to our Christmas party. Vision Impairment is a low incidence area of SEND need and it is vital that youngsters can have the opportunity to meet peers who experience the world in a similar way to what they do, reducing the feeling of isolation. Our activities also give families the chance to meet and develop their own support networks.
Many thanks for continuing to encourage the youngsters within your settings to attend these extra-curricular events and activities.
Donna McNaughton | Vision Inclusion Team Lead.
MPFT Children and Young People’s Autism Service updates and referrals to help streamline assessment process.
Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust’s Children and Young People’s Autism Service in Southern Staffordshire is refining its referral process as part of its commitment to continuous improvement.
From 1 January 2024, the service is requesting that all assessment referrals be accompanied by a completed Teacher Liaison Form; this is being introduced to streamline communication and ensure a collaborative approach to assessment.
The Teacher Liaison Form serves as a valuable resource in gathering information about the young person’s experiences within an educational setting. This collaboration between the team and educators is crucial in obtaining a holistic understanding of the young person’s needs, strengths, and challenges which are considered within an autism assessment.
The form can be accessed and downloaded from the service’s web page. It can also be obtained directly from the service by emailing cypautismservice@mpft.nhs.uk or by calling 0300 303 0691 (9am-5pm, Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays). Once completed, please ensure the form is submitted along with the referral documentation.
By enhancing its referral process in this way, the service is aiming to facilitate a more efficient and thorough evaluation, leading to more tailored assessment and support strategies. Please contact the team in the ways outlined above if you have any questions.
Training Delivery
Speech and Language Therapy
The Speech and Language Therapy service has delivered a number of online training sessions. These have been very well attended and evaluated and recordings of the sessions are being made available to be shared. The training is supporting the wider partnership in identification of speech language and communication needs and to deliver a graduated approach to supporting those needs.
Identification of speech and language needs and the staged pathway for Early Years staff – part funded by the Early Outcomes Fund. Attendees are invited to a follow up drop-in session in January 2024.
Plans are being developed for a train the trainer model of speech language and communication training provision in 2024.
31 nurseries were represented at the Early Access and Childhood training initiative covering Baby Brain development in the first 18 months of life.
Speech Language and Communication Staged pathway training was delivered for the Local Authority Hearing Impairment team.
Two training sessions were delivered to the MPFT Family Health and Wellbeing Service (0-19): Speech Language and Communication Staged pathway training and Communicating with Confidence.
Occupational Therapy
The Occupational Therapy service delivered a face-to-face workshop on Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) with 20 participants from across Staffordshire - with excellent feedback from participants.
They also carried out a very well received online session covering the Playwise resource.
Special School Nurses Update
The MPFT Staffordshire Special School Nursing team consists of nurses and health care support workers who work in hubs offering support to Children and Young People attending Staffordshire Special Schools and their families.
The team hubs can now be contacted as follows:
The team also has two Continence Link Nurses, Amber and Sarah, who work alongside team members and the specialist pelvic health team. Amber covers North Staffordshire Special schools and Sarah covers South Staffordshire Special schools. They offer support in Assessing continence needs, toilet training, bed wetting advice, referral to other services. Their contact details are:
- Amber on 07811487332
- Sarah on 07811487432.
This summer The Special Needs School Nursing Team participated in a Charity Fund Raising Challenge to cover 10 miles over the 6 weeks holiday. Team members participated in walking, running or cycling and covered a total of 253 miles raising total of £500 for Young Minds.
You can also contact the Special School Nursing team all year round via the team email:
specialschools.staffs@mpft.nhs.uk
Further information about the service can be found on the MPFT website.
Now is the time to investigate future learning opportunities particularly students’ year 9 upwards. It is easy to sit back and be satisfied that education placements are clear for next September but can be more daunting to think further ahead.
Many of the local FE colleges will be holding Open Days that give young people and their parents/carers the opportunity to find out more about the pathways available in their local area. Below are links to the local college open days.
Burton and South Derbyshire College Open Evening - Monday 29 January 2024
Burton and South Derbyshire College also have an EHCP Support Event on Tuesday 23 January 15:00-19:00 providing an opportunity to visit the college and speak to members of the Additional Learning Support Team.
- Additional events will also be held, specifically for those young people in years 10 and 11 with EHC plans, in order to offer advice on their options. Places can be booked with this link: BSDC EHCP Support Event
Young people with SEND have more opportunities that are not always known. For example, there are very structured pathways to prepare young people for employment, such as Supported Internships. These are only open to those with an EHCP post 16. Organised by an education provider young people undertake work placements for up to 12 months with the support of a trained job coach. The aim is to be able to take up employment after the 12 months of skills development on the job.
Newfriars College is one Supported Internship provider getting young people ready for work via two employers: University Hospital North Midlands and Tesco and are currently actively seeking applications from young people with an EHCP ready to make the step from education to employment, please find more information here:
There are also Supported Internships run by MENCAP who offer opportunities with a range of employers and locations across the county: Supported internships | Mencap
It is never too early to think ahead and identify suitable pathways to enable the talents of our young people with SEND to be built upon.
We have recruited some new Specialist Notetakers, Communication Support Workers and interpreters to help with the workload.
In addition, two of our qualified BSL interpreters have started a two-year MSc course in Counselling and Psychotherapy with a view to being able to be able to expand our services to provide direct access to counselling and mental health support services for deaf people in Staffordshire in future.
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