SENCO good practice news Winter 2012 Contents page Free training opportunities 2 Free resources 6 Welcome to Contact a Family s SEND Information project newsletter We have been out and about meeting SENCOs and trainee SENCOs across England and have enjoyed receiving feedback on our work: Thank you ever so much for coming along to the secondary SENCO day. The SENCOs found it really valuable. They were particularly impressed by the fact that you have access to so many interpreters and that your resources are available in so many languages. If you haven t already heard about the project or received your free resource packs, there is still time to arrange visits to your SENCO forum/network meeting before 31 March 2013. Email us to find out more at SENDinfo@cafamily.org.uk In this edition of our newsletter, we re focusing on new resources, free training opportunities and advice other organisations have on offer for professionals and parents of disabled children. 1
Free training opportunities Early Support training and resources for professionals supporting disabled children and young people from 0 19 Early Support is a way of working that aims to ensure that services for disabled children and young people and their families have a single point of contact and continuity through key working. A range of free training is available until September 2013, including: how to use the Early support developmental journals two-day Key Working training. Bookings for training can be made through the website first come, first served! Attendance at will give participants the opportunity to attend further capacity-building training, so that learning can be cascaded through settings and schools. Information about all these resources and training opportunities can be found at www.ncb.org.uk/earlysupport Voice for Life - New events in 2012/13 Afasic, in partnership with The Communication Trust, are offering free events for parents, professionals and young people called the Voice for Life at: Haydock Park, Merseyside, Thursday 7th February 2013 North London March 2013 (Venue and date tbc) Events include workshops about speech, language and communication needs for parents/carers and professionals facilitated by The Communication Trust members and local agencies, activities for school groups and information stands. For more information, please contact Tony Curtis: tonyc@afasicengland.org.uk Transforming autism education: a national integrated programme from the Autism Education Trust and the University of Birmingham In 2011, the Autism Education Trust was awarded a grant for a two-year, national programme from the Department for Education. Intended for school and local authority leaders who coordinate and lead continuing professional development, the programme focuses on building skills in the school work force to meet the needs of children and young people with autism. All the materials having been developed by the Autism Centre for Education Research team (ACER) at University of Birmingham. and the training programme is being delivered through 2
n seven training hubs across England. Two, free one-day events will be held in London on 7 February and University of Birmingham 7 March. Places will be allocated on a first-comefirst-served basis. For more details and to book your place visit www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk Challenging Behaviour Foundation training The Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) are running training to enable an effective partnership between everyone educating and caring for a child or young person, including their family, to reduce the severity and frequency of challenging behaviour. CBF workshops are designed for families or professionals caring for children with severe learning disabilities (or moderate learning disabilities and autism) who display behaviour described as challenging. CBF are currently offering free training workshops to the first 25 schools who book training to be delivered by the end of March 2013. The workshops are available for staff and families caring for children and young people with severe learning disabilities using a school-based holistic training model piloted in Kent. Families, short break staff or other groups interested in receiving free training are encouraged to engage with their local special needs schools in order to access this training opportunity. Email training@thecbf.org.uk and ask for a School Information Pack. CBF are also able to offer some free/subsidised training workshops to carer groups and other organisations. Please contact CBF for further information. New resources Contact a Family s latest guides for families with disabled children and professionals working with them include: Checklist for parents Disabled children s services Money when your child reaches 16 years of age Connected magazine All out guides can be downloaded for free from our website: www.cafamily.org.uk/resourcelibrary Parents can call our freephone helpline on 0808 808 3555 and ask for a free copy of any of our guides. 3
New translations of How Contact a Family can help We re working on translating our general leaflet, How Contact a Family can help into more community languages. This leaflet is already available in Arabic, Urdu, Cantonese and Punjabi. A new Spanish version of How Contact a Family can help is ready on our website and a Polish translation will be on our website in February 2013. All our guides can be downloaded for free from our website. Parents can call our freephone helpline on 0808 808 3555 and ask for a free copy of any of our guides. World Stories World Stories is a growing collection of traditional and new stories representing the 21 most commonly spoken languages by children across the UK. Produced by KidsOut the stories can be read, listened to and downloaded in English and their original language. With the support of writers, storytellers, translators, broadcasters and actors, new stories, recordings and translations are being added to the collection every week. There is a story map to support children s learning and a dedicated 'Your World' area to showcase and celebrate their writing and art work. Visit the website www.worldstories.org.uk Safer Internet Day 2013: Inspiring teaching resources Safer Internet Day School Packs are now live on the UK Safer Internet Centre website. The primary school and secondary school packs consist of five quick classroom activities, one fully supported lesson plan with curriculum links and staff guidance, and a poster to start discussion and promote Safer Internet Day. These packs provide lots of great ideas to encourage schools to get involved with Safer Internet Day 2013. Find out more at ww.saferinternet.org.uk New resource for teachers on how genes affect us One in 25 children is born with a genetic disorder that s more than 30,000 children each year. Many of these disorders are extremely complex and a new range of educational films may help children and young people to understand them better. The films on the Genes Are Us website come with free resources for teachers for all age groups, from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4, to help facilitate discussions and learning about genetic disorders and how they affect people. Visit the Genes Are Us website at www.genesareus.org 4
Elephant's Tea Party Primary schools in the UK are being invited to sign up for a new awareness campaign to help pupils to cope with bereavement. Developed by Child Bereavement UK, Elephant s Tea Party is a new annual event to help teachers give children the emotional literacy and life skills needed to equip them for bereavement, now or in later life. By using creative exercises, lesson plans and fun activities, the aim of the campaign is to give school staff the resources to help pupils explore the subject of bereavement in an age-appropriate and accessible way. There is also the option to hold a tea party fundraising event. The first Elephant s Tea Party will take place in June 2013, and primary schools are asked to sign up now so they can allocate time in their calendar and lesson plans. Schools that sign up will be sent an activity pack and can download further resources from the website. For more information, go to www.elephantsteaparty.co.uk I CAN Help offers parents and practitioners a free call from a Speech and Language Therapist I CAN will help explain any aspect of children's talking and communication development that you may be concerned about. I CAN will talk you through ages and stages and what you can do to help your child and get the right support, giving useful tips, resources, relevant activities and signposting to helpful organisations. As this service does not include meeting and assessing children, I CAN are unable to provide specific advice about a child or the level of provision they should have. Call 020 7843 2544 to arrange a free call from an I CAN speech and language therapist or email enquiries@ican.org.uk Call-back times will be booked at least two days ahead and will last up to 30mins. Brook launches sexual behaviours traffic light tool for professionals working with young people Young people s sexual health charity Brook has a launched an online sexual behaviours traffic light tool for professionals working with young people. The tool uses a traffic light system of red, amber and green to provide a simple guide to distinguishing between healthy and harmful behaviours. The tool is an aid to decision making and can help professionals in their work to support young people to stay safe and healthy. The traffic lights tool is available free online at www.brook.org.uk/traffic-lights and the website also includes interactive training around scenarios. Please note that this resource has been designed to help professionals think through their decisions and does not replace organisational procedures or assessment frameworks. 5
We aim to reach SENCOs in England and support them in their role of providing information on noneducation issues for families that have a child with special education needs or a disability. Contact a family can help find what you need to support families. This can include information on benefits, equipment for the school or at home, details of local and national support groups and lots more. Our information service for SENCOs can research and answer your questions on information and services for families. Email: SENDinfo@cafamily.org.uk Our freephone helpline is a one stop shop giving advice on all aspects of caring for a disabled child, with access to interpreters in over 170 languages. Our linking service can put parents in touch with each other for mutual support. Development Officers North West England Debbie Armstrong 0781 080 4697 debbie.armstrong@cafamily.org.uk North East, North West England and Yorkshire Siobhan O Connor 01482 341 268 siobhan.oconnor@cafamily.org.uk Midlands and East England Liz Reynolds 0121 709 2528 elizabeth.reynolds@cafamily.org.uk London and South East England Claire Harding 020 7608 8785 claire.harding@cafamily.org.uk South West England Susan Gorse 07544 316 732 Susan.gorse@cafamily.org.uk For more information on our events and resources for SENCOs in England, just phone or email your regional development officer. 6