As we come to the end of the Autumn Term here is an update on our activities this half-term and what’s to come next half-term.
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you to everyone who has contributed and fed back this half-term. Particularly thanks go to families who helped with the following:
SEND Local Offer Website
With the WBC Local Offer Coordinator we looked at schools information on the SEND Local Offer website, investigated how parents find information about schools and what improvements can be made to the website to make sure the right information is there and that its easy to find and understand. Further work is now planned to update the website with better information. In addition feedback from our Annual SEND Survey is being used to help a bigger project to improve the navigation of the website.
Helping Early Strategy
The feedback provided by parent carers about their journey and experiences in accessing help was shared at the first of 3 Helping Early Strategy workshops run by WBC. We have been asked to share the following message from Lorna Jacques, who is leading this work for WBC:
Thank you to those families for sharing your experience of help recently. It was really helpful to read, and I shared the overview of it at the workshop we had on the 4th December.
What came out really clearly through the feedback we got from parents was the delay before any real conversation or support when first seeking help, and the impact of these delays at the start. Also, that what worked the most for parents and children was a worker who was consistent, who helped with some meetings with schools/others, and who showed real care and ongoing support.
We are going to have two more workshops in January, looking at:
- What support can we move to an earlier point?
- How can we (professionals) work better together?
There have been some ideas on the back of our first workshop about whether early help workers could be better linked with schools (like being based there sometimes, or having a 'link' worker - to reduce waiting times, to make things more conversational rather than referrals and then just being stuck on a referral waiting list etc). Also, conversations about how we can have more peer support groups and more people with the role of providing help for people wanting to know what support is out there, and how to access it. The Helping Early Strategy in Wokingham should be agreed by end of March 2025.
If you have any feedback or ideas that could help with the Helping Early Strategy including what would have made 'getting help earlier' easier for you, please let us know by emailing info@sendvoiceswokingham.org.uk. We will take this feedback to the next workshop on the 13th January.
Lorna is also keed to have verbal recorded feedback of families experience of trying to get help, so that she can share these at the workshop. If anyone would be willing to share a voicenote of their experience, please get in touch and we can organise this.
ADHD & Autism Referral Pathways
We have formally fed back families concerns over the new ADHD & Autism referral pathways to health partners at BHFT (Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust) and the BOB ICB (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Integrated Care Board). Workshops are being planned for early next year for the 3 local parent carer forums, local authorities and Health to discuss and starting thinking about next steps for supporting the needs of children and young people’s who may be neurodiverse and / or have received an autism or ADHD diagnosis.
We will keep you informed of how you can feed into all these workstreams as the projects progress.
Termly Feedback from Families
Thank you to all the families who have fed back their experiences over the last term. This has been collated and the Autumn Term 24 Feedback from Families will be shared with the Wokingham Area SEND Assurance Board which meets again in January.
We contine to raise the ongoing issues with SEND team communications, which we know is one of families main concerns currently. Jamie Conran has confirmed that there are a number of new team members joining the SEND Team in January. As soon as there is an updated organisation chart we will share this with you.
Annual Report 2023/24
We are pleased to share our first annual report as a charity. The report is for 2023-2024 and includes the financial statement for Jan 2023 - March 24. You can read the full report here: SEND Voices Wokingham Annual Report 2023-24
What else have we been up to?
Some of the main activities this half term include:
- Continuing to raise issues with SEND Team communication via the Operational Meeting, the SEND Assurance Board and with Emma Cockerell (WBC Director Children's Services) and Ming Zhang (Assistant Director Education & SEND)
- Attended the Wokingham Area SEND Strategic Parntership Board, SEND Assurance Board and SEND Early Years Partnership group as well as the WBC Children's Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee where we presented the finding of our Annual SEND Survey. A response to the survey from the Area Partnership (Education Health & Social Care) will be shared with parents and also presented to the next Overview & Scrutiny Committee in January '25.
- Attended the Local Offer and Post-16 working groups as well as the Short Breaks Steering group.
- Hosted our daytime and evening Drop-in & Chat session. Please keep an eye on our website for details of next half-term's sessions.
- Hosted SENDIASS training session on SEND Support & Communications and Preparing for Adulthood.
- Co-ordinated the SEND Drop-in's with Janie Conran and Sally Furness.
- Attended the SENDIASS drop-ins to provide a cuppa and chat with parents attending.
