Over the next 12 months we are running 3 events to bring together parent carers and practitioners in Somerset to talk about SEND and Inclusion. You can book a space via the links below.
The event will have 8 themed tabled to discuss some of the key areas that we are hearing about from families. The are confirmed so far include:
Somerset’s SEND Local Offer
Using learning support assistants (TA) as direct payment workers
Somerset Connect
The Compliments, Comments and complaints services
Process of Education, Health and Care assesments
Support available for parent carers
Funding for education including banding
The day will also feature a range of information stalls from local providers who work with families, so come along and find out what you can access.
There will also be a question and answer session with leaders in Somerset where you can pose questions on SEND and Inclusion matters (please note this will be themes not individual cases).
The 8 discussion areas will be replicated in an online event between 7-9. More details to follow.
We have teamed up with the Community Inclusion & Activity Team to bring you a day of fun for the whole family.
There will be information stands from lots of the activity providers and group along with activities for the children. The aim of the day is for families to come along and have fun in an inclusive environment.
Somerset Council are asking for parents and caregivers to provide feedback about Transform, a new data platform which holds information about children and families in Somerset. We have provided some information about the platform below, including links to the councils privacy policy.
You can find out more by reading this and complete the survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Transform is a data platform which holds information about a child and their family which different professionals can access.
The Transform platform holds information about individual children and young people, including their; name and address, family, education (attendance, EHCPs and so on), safeguarding notifications, health, police involvement, housing provider, and professional involvement (for example, support from social workers).
The platform also holds information about family members, including: employment status, police involvement, health, substance misuse, education status of any other children, housing provider (if in Social Housing), and domestic abuse.
The purpose of Transform: The information on Transform helps professionals understand a child and their family’s situation and provide appropriate support. It also supports safeguarding, as professionals can use it to identify children who are at risk of or experiencing exploitation, neglect, abuse, and children who go missing from home.
The data sources and access of Transform: Transform uses information from existing sources that are already used by Children’s Services and their partners who support family help in Somerset. Transform is accessed by internal services within Somerset Council including Children’s Services, Adult Services and Public Health services. It is also accessed by some trusted external partners.
The information sharing and security of Transform: Transform shares personal and sensitive information with other organisations only when there is a need to provide help or ensure safety. The information is kept secure and the families are informed about what will be shared and with whom, by a privacy notice on either the Somerset Council website or the partnership website.
The decision-making process of Transform: Transform is used by professionals to assess risk and to provide appropriate support to families, but the platform itself does not use any automated decision-making or profiling processes. All decisions made rely on human input from the professionals who use the system.
If you have further questions or concerns, you can contact Transform@somerset.gov.uk for more information.
This workshop will provide an overview of the SCERTS® (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support), a comprehensive, multidisciplinary educational approach designed for autistic children and young people. The ethos of SCERTS emphasizes the presence of positive, supportive and trustworthy relationships as the foundation of an effective educational programming. When we, as interactive partners, modify our interactive style and the environment, we can help our neurodivergent learners feel safe, connected, and actively engaged.
This workshop will begin with a review of neurodevelopment and the critical role of the interactive partner in providing transactional support for children at different developmental stages. The core developmental domains of SCERTS will be introduced along with the empirical evidence of the model.
Emily Rubin, MS, CCC-SLP is the Director of Communication Crossroads in Atlanta, GA, a private practice specialized in providing professional learning focused on helping families, caregivers, and educators create positive learning environments focused on relationships and an appreciation of the neurodiversity of children. She is a co-author of the SCERTS Model and a a speech-language pathologist who is passionate about the relationship between social emotional engagement and the development of language, learning, and well-being. She lectures internationally and provides ongoing technical assistance to school systems and other agencies that care for children and their families.
Saturday 7 October 2023, 10.30 to 12.30 Taunton Library Meeting Room
Somerset Dyslexia Association, supported by Somerset Parent Carer Forum CIC, are offering a morning of dyslexia information to parents and carers. Teachers, Learning Support Assistants and others are also welcome.
Claire Harvey, Head of Education at Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, will:
describe dyslexia and its impact
provide hand-on activities to help you support your child at home with reading, comprehension, writing and spelling
offer tips to boost self-esteem
Tickets are £10 per person. If payment is a barrier, please phone SPCF on 01458 259384.
To find out more and book visit our workshops and information page here.
Somerset Council are looking for people aged 18+ to help them design Technology Enabled Care (TEC) services in Somerset. Involving people in the design of services is often called co-design. Technology Enabled Care (TEC) can be used to help people live longer, healthier and more independent lives. This could include helping manage health conditions, reducing the risk of falls or making daily living tasks easier. You can take part in the co-design sessions in person or online. You will get to try different types of technology and talk to us about how people could use these services in the future. We particularly want to hear from you if you currently use care services or if you support someone who does (carers). For those taking part in person, refreshments will be provided along with reasonable travel expenses. The co-design sessions will be held at our Independent Living Centres which are fully accessible with free parking close to the venues. Please let us know if you have any particular requirements we need to consider so you can attend. You will play a key part in designing the TEC service and how it will be used in Somerset. We will listen to your views and ideas, and make sure that your experience of being involved is clear, interesting and respectful.
Join us at Kilve Court Bridgwater for an inclusive activity session. This is open to any child with additional needs up to the age of 18. Siblings are welcome to attend.
We ask that parents stay with their children during the session as they remain your responsibility.
The activity is subsidised by funding from the CIA team (part of Somerset Council) so will be reduced to £6 per child.
To reserve your space click here. We will then contact you to collect the details of the children attending.
The Department for Education has announced that the school opening has now been pushed back to Sept 2024 (2 year delay). The Multi Academy Trust which was due to run the school has had several of its school inspected as inadequate and the DFE are now looking for an alternative trust.
We are obviously very frustrated to hear about the delay in opening the new school at Ash and are concerned about the impact on our local children due to this. It is disappointing that the communication from the DFE to parents around the school is lacking. Parents were consulted at the start of the process but have not been kept informed of the plans and subsequent delays by the DFE.
We understand that students will continue to be or will be placed in mainstream schools but many of these schools are struggling to meet needs. We can see this from the increase in suspensions and exclusions we are seeing. The rates are the highest we have since we started in 2014.
We think there are bigger questions to be asked around the number of schools who are now going into requires improvement or inadequate following inspections and the impact this is having on finding suitable education. The combination of this and increased suspensions is impacting on families, and it is not unusual for us to hear that parents are having to give up work due to unstable education provision.
As a forum we have taken part in a radio interview to raise aware of this issue which you can listen to here (2 hours and 10 minutes in).
We will continue to raise these issues locally and nationally through the work of the NNPCF. We will provide you with updates as soon as we have any new information.
The Community Inclusion and Activity Team and the Somerset Parent Carer Forum are holding a Family Fun Day on the 8th July at Brookside Academy. It’ll be a fun opportunity to meet Providers of inclusive activities, including meeting guinea pigs, trying out cricket, circus skills and much more! Lets hope the sun shines for us!
There is no need to prebook, just turn up on the day. If you have not been to one before and would like to talk to someone about the day so you can plan for your child then pop us a message via Facebook, text us on 07543 680365 or give us a call on 01458 259384.
Ocean Adventures, Cheddar. Friday 9th June @ 4-6pm
Join us at Ocean Adventure for an inclusive play session. This is open to any child with additional needs up to the age of 18. Siblings are welcome to attend.
We ask that parents stay with their children during the session as they remain your responsibility.
Free drinks will be available for the children attending and the cafe will be open to purchase drinks for adults.
The activity is subsidised by funding from the CIA team (part of Somerset Council) so will be reduced to £6 per child.
To reserve your space click here. We will then contact you to collect the details of the children attending.
