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What's New
A Transition Guide: For Parents and Carers of Young People with Additional Needs New
All young people face big changes when they leave school and need to make plans for their future, so it is never too early to start planning for life after school. This guide produced by Hertfordshire's Youth Connexsions team, aims to help young people with additional needs navigate their way through transition as they move from childhood to adulthood. For more information:
HAND Newsletter for Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with Additional Needs
The Spring term edition of HAND News, our online newsletter for parents and carers of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities is now published. It contains information and news about activities, support groups, courses and much more.
Good Practice Resource - Effective integration of pupils with disabilities and complex needs into mainstream school: St John Bosco Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School
This example explains how St John Bosco School has successfully established a caring, inclusive learning environment where all types of difference are celebrated. The school is proactive in accessing specialist provision to support pupils with disabilities and complex needs through dual placement partnerships with local special schools. As part of the PSHE programme pupils address ways they can ensure everyone, regardless of their background, needs or abilities can be supported to thrive and succeed.
Teachers and SEN Staff Funding - National Scholarship Fund
Teachers and special educational needs (SEN) support staff will be able to bid for funds from the scheme worth up to £2 million to deepen their subject knowledge and develop their skills. For the third year running, teachers can bid for up to £3500. For the second year, SEN staff can bid for up to £2000. The application window, which opens for three weeks from 8 April, will offer funding to teachers in the four priority subjects of English, mathematics, science and SEN.
Young Person’s Preparing for Adulthood Transition Plan 14+
The Department for Education, SEND Support and Aspirations Green Paper put forward proposals for a Single 0-25 Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC) to replace the statement and Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) (Section 139A). They have asked a number of local authorities to test out how this might be taken forward. Hertfordshire is a pathfinder site for Preparing for Adulthood and the Raising Participation Age Work strands to test out these proposals.
Hertfordshire adopted a multi agency approach to transition planning by using the Learning for Living and Work Framework (LfLW) to ensure that the process is a more consistent, person centred and holistic experience for young people and their families. It was introduced and endorsed by Justin Donovan, Chief Education Officer, as the Hertfordshire Transition Plan for all young people with a statement of SEND.
The LfLW Framework has been evaluated and revised to align with the SEND proposals.
DfE 3 Jan 2013: Early intervention is key for SEND
Children who have speech, language and communication needs should be helped as soon as possible, according to ‘The Better Communication Research Programme’
Ofsted 8 November 2012: Raising Aspirations for Disabled Students Post 16 - New Bridge School
This good practice resource highlights how New Bridge School Learning Centre successfully raises the aspirations of disabled students and their families by offering an excellent range of Key Stage 4 and sixth form pathways that caters for a variety of special educational needs.
DfE 18 October 2012: Children with Special Educational Needs - An analysis - 2012
This publication includes new information on pupils with Special Educational Needs alongside further interpretation of existing findings.
 Good Practice Case Study: Woodfield School
ICT in a Special School – the 3rd Millennium Learning Award
Woodfield School in Hemel Hempstead is a school for children and young people with severe learning difficulties. It has 64 pupils on roll, aged between 3 and 19.
The school first achieved the ICT Mark in 2005 and in 2012 took part in the pilot phase of the NAACE 3rd Millennium Learning Award, which they were successful in achieving in the summer term. This award “celebrates schools' achievements in creating an environment and curriculum that stimulate more and better learning, making full use of the opportunities presented by technology”.
DfE 3 September 2012: Proposals to Reform Provision for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs
This is a written ministerial statement given by Minister for Children and Families Sarah Teather on 3 September 2012. She announces publication of draft provisions to improve the support provided to children and young people with special educational needs, and to their parents.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Pathfinder - Update September 2012
In Spring 2012, we held a series of workshops to give parents and carers of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) the opportunity to say what they thought about the services they currently receive for their children and tell us what they would change. To see what parents said and what we are doing about it, please follow the link below to the to the SEND You Said We Did pdf.
SEN Pathfinder Newsletter May 2013
“If only this could have happened years ago.” This was the response of a parent to Hertfordshire County Council’s SEND pathfinder - a transformational programme to improve services for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Hertfordshire has been part of the national special educational needs and disability (SEND) pathfinder programme over the last year and has recently been awarded ‘pathfinder champion’ status for the east of England. As part of this role we will share our learning and provide advice to non-pathfinder areas to help them implement the SEND reforms laid out in the Children and Families Bill.
Since May 2012, we have been working with 35 families to trial a single Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan which is now being rolled-out (by geographical area) and offered to all new families who request a statement of special educational needs. We hope to have completed 260 plans by the end of 2014.
The pathfinder is also trialling personal budgets for children with SEND so that we can give families more choice and control over some of the support they receive. A personal budget is a sum of money which can be used to buy services to meet a disabled child’s needs. It could be given to families in the form of a direct payment or families may prefer the local authority to manage it on their behalf (they would still have a say in how it is spent).
There is evidence to suggest that personal budgets enable families to get support that meet their needs more effectively and improves outcomes for their children. The programme team is currently testing which services could be provided with a personal budget, as some services are not available due to funding restrictions.
Another aspect of the pathfinder is to develop our Local Offer, which includes an online ‘one-stop’ directory of services and SEND provision for children and young people across Hertfordshire.
Hertfordshire is also working in partnership with schools and colleges to create the best opportunities for our young people by building relationships with local employers to create links so that young people with SEND can find supported employment.
Timely and comprehensive staff training is critical to the success of the pathfinder. So far we have provided person-centred training; outcome focused training; and personal budget information sessions. We ensure that staff are supported to put the new approaches into practice through mentoring support and drop-in sessions.
We have been working closely with parents of children with SEND through Hertfordshire Parent Carer Involvement and the Voluntary and Community Services to ensure that they have a key role in shaping the changes. Feedback so far has been positive and parents hope that the pathfinder will drive positive developments in the future. Comments include: “It was a positive experience for us and we hope that our child's needs will be met.”
“With everyone being present, working off the same plan, everyone was able to express their views and their intended actions and enable it to fit our child much better.”
The SEND pathfinder produces a monthly newsletter available at:
Hertfordshire’s pathfinder is making good progress. It focuses on:
- a new single education, health and care plan
- personal budgets
- transition into adulthood
- engagement with the voluntary sector and the Local Offer
- engagement with parents and carers.
Two SEND pathfinder family days are currently being organised for the spring to provide families with a general update, information on personal budgets and give them an opportunity to meet other families involved in the pathfinder. A SEND pathfinder conference is also being organised for May 2013.
For more information about the pathfinder, please visit: www.hertsdirect.org/send or email: SENDpathfinder@hertscc.gov.uk.
2013-2014 Local Authority Funding for Accredited SpLD Training March 2013
Teachers and Teaching Assistants (TAs) working in school can apply for funding for accredited SpLD courses from a range of course providers:
- OCR Level 5 Diploma in Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties (teachers and TAs with degrees other than foundation degrees and suitable experience)
- OCR Level 7 Diploma in Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties (secondary teachers with OCR Level 5 qualification)
- OU E801 Difficulties in literacy development (teachers and TAs with degrees other than foundation degrees and suitable experience)
University of Hertfordshire SpLD Short Course: Working with children with SpLD - 1 semester (TAs only)
Please see application form page 3 for course and contact details.
Teachers wanting to study other SpLD courses may ask for other accredited SpLD courses to be considered.
Please download the appropriate 2013-14 application form for either primary or secondary schools and return, fully completed and with the Head teacher’s statement to Jonnie Yates, SpLD Advisory Teacher by Friday 10th May, 2013.
NB: It is important that applicants check before applying for funding that the course meets their needs and the needs of their school, that they have the capacity to meet course requirements and will be able to attend sessions as necessary, and that they meet any entry requirements.
Jonnie Yates, SpLD Advisory Teacher
Children’s Services
Integrated Services for Learning
Educational Psychology Central Team
Email: jonnie.yates@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Primary Letter to Headteacher
Primary Application for Funding
Secondary Letter to Headteacher
Secondary Letter to SENCo
Secondary Application for Funding
Advanced Skills for Teaching
Assistants (Level 4)
This course meets the criteria for the National Scholarship Fund for SEN support staff.
Please note, applications for funding must be made between
8th April 2013 and 25th April 2013
Start date - Autumn 2013
This is an exciting course open to support staff who wish to extend their knowledge of high
incidence SEND and who would like to develop coaching and mentoring role in school. It is
suitable for those who have achieved at least a full level 3 qualification or hold higher level
teaching assistant status.
Course content
Core knowledge about high incidence special educational needs* (and an option to explore low
incidence special educational needs also). This knowledge can be applied to extending a range of
skills which include the following:
- developing coaching and mentoring approaches
- exploring reflective practice
- using innovative support styles to ensure measurable impact on pupil progress
- establishing effective feedback and metacognitive thinking for pupils with special educational
needs
The course will begin in the autumn term and will include the equivalent of four taught days spread
over three terms. Assessment is by portfolio, action and learning project and presentation.
*includes specific learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia), speech language and
communication needs, autism spectrum disorder and social emotional behavioural difficulties.
Costs and Accreditation
The cost of the Hertfordshire programme is £810, this includes accreditation of 30 level 4 credits
with the University of Hertfordshire (University of Hertfordshire require maths and English GCSE A
to C or equivalent)
This course meets the criteria for the National Scholarship Fund for SEN support staff.
Please note, applications for funding must be made between
8th April 2013 and 25th April 2013
Delegates for this course should register their interest with the
Eastern Leadership Centre (ELC)
who will be able to offer further details and guidance with the funding applications. Once registered
please book onto the course through the in the normal way.
For further information on this course, contact Val Hazell email: val.hazell@hertscc.gov.uk or
Frances Martin email: frances.martin@hertscc.gov.uk
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