Q&A with Vicky Ford, Minister for Children and Families
The Council for Disabled Children had a Q&A with Vicky Ford about all things SEND. See below the document they put together:
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COVID Winter Plan – Impact on Education
As you will be aware, the Prime Minister introduced their COVID winter plan yesterday (you can read more on the Gov website here). This plan is fairly extensive, with more aspects (such as the three-tiers) still to be decided.
The relevant aspects that you may need to be aware of:
The COVID-19 Winter Plan ensures the current national restrictions can be lifted on 2nd December, so across all of England, regardless of tier:
The stay at home requirement will end, with domestic and international travel being permitted again subject to guidance in each tier.Shops,personal care,gyms and the wider leisure sector will reopen.Collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume, subject to social distancing.People will no longer be limited to seeing only one other person in outdoor public spaces -the rule of 6 will now apply as it did in the previous set of tiers.
Information about Protecting the Vulnerable
Under recent national measures, the clinically extremely vulnerable have been advised to take...
Home education rise leaving children’s services ‘stretched’
The number of children being electively home educated has jumped by more than a third compared with last year due to health fears sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, new figures from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) shows.
Some 75,668 children were being taught at home on 1 October, 38% more than on the same date last year. Of these, 25% had been registered since 1 September. The most common reason cited by parents is the fear and uncertainty around Covid-19.
Gail Tolley, chair of the ADCS educational achievement policy committee, warned that local authorities were struggling to deal with the jump in the number of children being home educated.
For more, you can read the full article on Children & Young People Now.
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Support for Families Impacted by Covid19
As the country continues through its second lockdown, it is a worrying time for many - particularly parents with children to care for. The Fashion & Textile Children's Trust is working with families every week who are feeling the ongoing impact of reduced pay or redundancy.
Here are some links that may help you and your family:
Help for families on reduced incomeGrants to help parents and carers whose household income has reduced as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Find out more
Redundancy GrantsIf you are a parent facing redundancy from a fashion or textile company, our grants can help bridge the gap and make sure your children have the essentials they need. Find out more
Who Can Apply?
To apply for an FTCT grant, the child's parent or carer must have recently worked for a UK fashion or textile company.This includes:
Supermarkets which sell clothing (ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, etc)Clothing companies (Matalan, NEXT, M&S, TK Maxx)Homeware and soft furnishing companies (IKEA, Dunelm Mill, DFS, etc.)Laundry...
Vicky Ford MP: Letter to CYP with SEND, their parents/carers and professionals
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, Vicky Ford MP, has released a letter to all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), their parents/carers and families, and others who support them.
"I recognise that this is an extremely challenging period, especially for children and young people with SEND, their families and carers and those who work to support them. I hope this letter gives you some reassurance that the education, health and wellbeing of children and young people with SEND continue to be a top priority for the government during these difficult times and we continue to be incredibly grateful to all those who work so hard to support children and young people with SEND."— Vicky Ford, MP
This provides information on:
School AttendanceChildren and Young People who are clinically extremely vulnerableRemote Education Winter package to provide further support for children and familiesFace coverings in educational settingsRespite CareHealth Services for CYP with SEND
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Are you a carer in Leicester City? Help is available.
For the website, please click here
As you’ll no doubt be aware by now, the Government has implemented another national lockdown from Thursday 5th November 2020 to Wednesday 2nd December 2020. You may find some of the following information useful for you and your family:
A Carer Passport scheme is now available across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. and is designed to:
recognise the support that family carers provideraise awareness of caringact as a conversation starter ease recognition in a variety of situations enable carers to access support (including accessing priority shopping slots)use as evidence for the need to travel during restrictions.
The Leicester Carers Support Service can be found here.
There is lots of COVID specific information for carers on the City Council website here, including how to protect yourself and the person/people you care for during the pandemic/lockdown, how to get food, medication and essentials, what to do if you can't care for your loved one and other FAQs.
More generic information...
Covid-19: £76m National Tutoring Programme launches
Children & Young People Now have announced an "intensive tutoring programme to help disadvantaged children whose learning has been most affected by the coronavirus pandemic has launched today (2 November)"
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) will allow schools to access subsidised tutoring, mainly for their pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The NTP is being designed to provide additional support to students that have been hardest hit by school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.
School leaders and teachers will be able to choose which tuition providers best suit their needs, from a list of approved NTP Partner organisations.
For the full article, click here.
Some of the potential partners are:
Explore LearningCoach BrightConnex Education Partnership
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Parent Workshops: Dyslexia
Are you a parent/carer of a child/young person between the ages of 6 and 16? Do you live in Leicester City? Does your child/young person have a diagnosis of dyslexia (or going through the diagnostic process)?
The Learning Communication & Interaction Team (LCI) are offering free online workshops. Bookings will be made available here.
Workshop 1: Digital Technology to Support Leaning
Workshop 2: Supporting Spelling
Workshop 3: Supporting Personal Organisation
For more, please read the poster below:
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“Parenting in a Pandemic”
The Centre for Fun and Families (CFF) have a range of services to help parents and carers that live in Leicester City during these strange times.
Are you struggling to manage your children's behaviour? If you are a parent/carer of a 3-11 year old and live in Leicester City they have a 7 week online programme to help.If your young person aged 11-16 is struggling because of the pandemic (behaviour, communication, relationship or mental health issues) they have a 4x 1 hour online programme you can both attend to help you through these challenges together. This programme is open to residents of Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Both programmes are FREE and you can find out more by visiting their website.
Visit the CFF
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Leicester City Council are holding a consultation on funding for Special Schools
Leicester City Council are proposing a change to funding in council-maintained special schools, as these have not been reviewed since 2014. The aim of the proposal is to ensure fair and equitable funding to meet pupil needs.
The schools under review include:
EllesmereKeyham LodgeMillgateNetherhallOaklandsWest Gate
The Children’s Hospital School and Pupil Referral Units will not be included within this review due to the specialist nature of their provision. Ashfield academy pupils have a much wider range of needs therefore a single unit funding rate is not appropriate.
Consultation details are available on Leicester City Council’s Citizen Portal: https://consultations.leicester.gov.uk
The Process of the Consultation:
The consultation will commence 2 October and run for 6 weeks through to 13 NovemberA report with recommendations will be taken back to the city council’s Executive and will require agreement from all special schools, and the Department for Education
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