Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Changes…..what changes? From PPS to SENDIAS Service Maggie Potter Head of Service

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Providing impartial information & free, confidential advice and support to families about SEND since 1989 Local parents and professionals working in partnership Local knowledge and networks Local impact, local outcomes

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Children & Families Act 2014: S19 A local authority in England must have regard to: The views, wishes and feelings of the child, young person or parent The importance of the child, parent, or the young person, participating as fully as possible in decisions The importance of providing children, parents and young people the information and support necessary to make this participation possible The need to support development of the child or young person and to help him or her to achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Supportive Parents has three primary goals To provide parents & professionals with information and training so that they are well-informed and have increased understanding of the SEN process To provide parents, children & young people with support so that they become confident of their expertise about their/their child’s needs, enabling them to work more effectively in partnership with education settings and with the Local Authority To encourage parents, children & young people and professionals to work more closely together in the interests of improving outcomes for children with special educational needs

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire. Parents’ comments: "Thank you so much for just listening this evening." “I would like to also take time out, in thanking for all the one-to-one support, telephone support, letter writing, proof reading of reports, and all correspondence. I would not have gained the confidence, without the support and encouragement from your organisation.” “I just wanted to say thank you very much for your support today. Your input has made a big difference. I feel happier that there is a plan now to try to improve things for us. My whole family are very grateful to you for supporting me through this.” “Thank you so much for taking the time to read it through (it was very long) and get back to me with your thoughts, I really appreciate it.” All quotes taken from Supportive Parents’ Annual Report 2013

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire SEN Code of Practice S2.1: Local authorities must arrange for children with SEN or disabilities…and their parents, and young people with SEN or disabilities for whom they are responsible, to be provided with information and advice about matters relating to their SEN or disabilities, including matters relating to health and social care. This must include information, advice and support on the take-up and management of Personal Budgets.

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire SEN Code of Practice S2.4: Information, advice and support should be provided through a dedicated and easily identifiable service. Local authorities have established Parent Partnership Services to provide information, advice and support to parents in relation to SEN… Local authorities should build on these existing Parent Partnership Services

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire. Supportive Parents is committed to providing impartial information, advice and support and we are actively looking at ways in which we can extend our services to cover health, social care and Our service is not time-limited and can support parents, children and young people at any stage, including SEN support or the appeals process. We offer Independent Support

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire. Independent Support is a government-funded programme until March 2016 providing additional support to young people and parents during the implementation of key components of the C&F Act Since September 2014 our Service is available to help all young people with SEND (aged 16-25) and parents & children with SEND who are going through the assessment and planning process for an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, or transferring a statement of SEN or a learning disability assessment into an EHC plan.

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Supportive Parents (SENDIAS) provides Impartial, accurate information on SEN procedures as set out in SEND legislation, regs and CoP Information, advice and support via telephone helpline - Newsletter, website, Twitter and Facebook - IAS service( via our helpline and Local Coordinators): face to face support with paperwork and at meetings - Parent support groups, including facilitation - Networking with and signposting parents to other services and voluntary organisations, local and national

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Professional Comments: “Just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and your team for what you do. During a long conversation with a mum on Monday regarding her son’s anger, I signposted her to yourself. I saw her briefly yesterday at a parenting course that she was starting and she was just buzzing after chatting with you in the morning. What a different lady to the one I spoke with the day before, she had been so uplifted and empowered. Thank you for being there to sign-post parents to.”

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Supportive Parents (SENDIAS) provides Training -On effective relationships and communication, to teachers, governors and other practitioners, including voluntary orgs and parent support groups -To parents and carers, on working in partnership with professionals & the SEN process -To recruit, train and update our staff. All our staff have completed accredited legal training on the new legislation, or IS training

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Professional comment: “I am writing to you to say again how thankful we are to you for coming to speak during out adoption week. I have just completed the evaluations and many of the parents who came on the day have told us that they felt this to be invaluable advice and felt much more able to access the service afterwards. One adopter quoted ‘I now feel much more confident about the new term starting as I know, if I need it, support is available.’ Thank you again from all of us at the adoption team and from our adopters who were able to benefit from your talk.”

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Supportive Parents (SENDIAS) provides Consultation -Ensure that parents’ views are heard and understood, and inform and influence the development of local SEND policy and practice. (We offer support and facilitation to our local Parent Carer Participation Forums) -Input to service providers on information leaflets and other publications, policies and practice guidance - Regular feedback to LAs on the effectiveness of services

Special Educational Needs & Disability Working positively with parents, children & young people Providing Information, Advice & Support for parents, children and young people about Special Educational Needs and Disability in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Consultations and strategic work: in the last year it has been a priority to respond to and support parents to respond to consultations on the Children and Families Bill as it progresses through parliament and to keep abreast of future developments. One of the ways we achieve this is through our close links and working relationship with the Parent Carer Forums in each of our Local Authorities. Local Coordinators also work closely with each Local Authority to support strategic planning and implementation of SEND reforms, including development of processes and procedures related to EHC plans and personal budgets, the Local Offer and person-centred approaches. We also sit on regional advisory groups on disagreement resolution (mediation) and the SEND Tribunal. Annual Report 2013