Dear All,
WPCC Phone Line 2020.
Our phone lines continue to be open as normal (10.00am – 5.00pm), but there is still a high demand for our service. The number to access SENDIS, remains as 01225 764647.
When you call, if you cannot get through please leave a message and your contact number or email and we will call you back as soon as possible – please be mindful that our phone lines can be extremely busy.
PLEASE NOTE: Office hours will remain 10.00am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, unless stated otherwise.
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In This Week's Issue...
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BREAKING NEWS
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- Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Children in England Advised not to go to School During National Lockdown
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CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION
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- Coping with COVID-19
- WPCC Website Previous Information
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HAVE YOUR SAY
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- Survey - New North Wiltshire School Build at the Rowde Campus
- Feedback Form (see attached form)
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ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
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- What’s On Parent/Carer Calendar
- Reminder Barnardos Latest Halloween Activity Pack
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EVENTS AND INFORMATION
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- What’s On Parent/Carer Calendar – ONLINE Option
- WPCC Virtual Coffee Mornings
- Vacancy Portage Home Visitor Salisbury Area (see attached information)
- Kidz to Adultz – Venue to Virtual November 9th – 13th
- Free Online Parent Carer Workshops November 10th, 12th,13th
- Free Webinar- Simple and Effective Multi-sensory Techniques Children Can Try at Home November 12th
- Free Listening Ear Service from Contact
- Free Webinar - How can parents encourage a confidence and awareness of numbers in their children November 19th
- South West Regional Webinars – Personal Budgets November 17th and December 1st
- The Wiltshire Autism Hub
- Kidz to Adultz Magazine
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BREAKING NEWS
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Children in England Advised not to go to School During National Lockdown
Children in England who have been confirmed by a doctor to be clinically extremely vulnerable are being advised not to attend school during the national lockdown, which starts on Thursday 5th November 2020 until 2nd December 2020, when it will be reviewed.
If your child does fall into this category, the guidance says that appropriate arrangements should be made by their school to enable them to continue their education during this time.
Parents of clinically extremely vulnerable children will be receiving a letter shortly confirming this advice
The list of conditions for adults automatically classed as clinically extremely vulnerable has also been updated to include over 18s with Down's syndrome.
Coronavirus Information
Coping with COVID-19
Please see a new animation about national help and support for families and where to find it, reflecting services newly commissioned because of COVID-19.
This is one of four videos created by Respond with the theme of 'Coping with Covid'. Covid-19 has brought change and uncertainty for everyone, but families who have loved ones with a learning disability and/or who are autistic, are likely to find this period of time even more challenging than most. This animation includes contact information for national charities and organisations who may be able to help: Coping with COVID animation.
Have Your Say
Survey - New North Wiltshire School Build at the Rowde Campus
The LA is in the process of designing the new North Wiltshire School build at the Rowde campus. Since September, there have been a series of co-production workshops to hear from people across the whole school community, including the Chippenham and Trowbridge campuses. This work has helped to get a deeper understanding of what all the children using the school, today, and in the future, will need. All the discussions and feedback from those sessions have been taken into account and a survey has been produced as a result; this will provide the design team with even more information and views. Parent carers (including those with children attending any other school or setting, too young to have started school, have left school or home educated etc.), pupils and students, staff, governors and anyone else with an interest are encouraged to complete the survey.
Please follow the link below to complete the survey by 15th November 2020.
General Feedback (see attached form)
If you have any general feedback you would like to share, please telephone us on: 01225 764647 or send an email to: admin@wiltspcc.co.uk. Please be assured that when we share feedback with services, we never identify the person who gave the feedback, unless we have their consent to do so.
When sharing your feedback, it is often helpful to know:
· Which part of Wiltshire you live in? (North, South etc.)
· How old your child/young person is?
You may prefer to complete the attached feedback form, send us an email or call us to give your feedback.
Consent to share your contact details? (Optional) This is so we can work with service providers to address issues with you individually.
Activities for Children and Young People
What’s On Children/Young People’s Calendar November 2020
For a full list of activities for November for children and young people with disabilities, including Music, Social, Sport, Drama, trampolining clubs and much more please go to our What’s On Calendar for more details: What's On Calendar
Please Note: We advise you to check directly with service providers regarding any of the activities on our calendar.
Sadly Rising Stars Sports Clubs will now not be able to go ahead as we had previously shared.
Reminder Latest Barnardos Halloween Activity Pack
Please see this latest Halloween Activity Pack from Barnardos: Halloween Pack
Remember to also see our dedicated section of our website for previous activities/resources we have shared:
Events and Information
What’s On Parent Carer Calendar November 2020
For a full list of training/events/support groups for November for parent carers please see our What’s On Calendar for more details:
Please Note: There is still an ONLINE option available on our parent carer calendar during this period of “limited face to face” sessions.
WPCC Virtual Coffee Mornings
We held our first virtual coffee morning this week since the summer holidays. It was really well attended and we were delighted that so many people could join us. The theme this week was Behaviour and we would like to express our thanks to staff from the Primary Behaviour Support Team for their time and support. It was a really constructive session full of tips, strategies, mutual support and sharing of ideas.
Our next session is scheduled for 11.30am on Wednesday 2nd December. People attending this week’s session suggested that a session on anxiety, to include issues such as: poor sleep, panic attacks, refusal to attend school and separation anxiety would be really useful. In response to this suggestion, we are currently in the process of reaching out to colleagues in the hope that we can organise this. Please bear with us and we will confirm as soon as possible. In the meantime, please hold 11.30am on 2nd December in your diaries if you would like to attend our next virtual coffee morning.
Vacancy Portage Home Visitor Salisbury Area (see attachment)
Wiltshire Portage have a vacancy for a Portage Home Visitor to work 21 hours a week (caseload of seven families), 39 weeks a year (term-time) covering the Salisbury area.
Wiltshire Portage is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
All applicants will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check before appointment is confirmed.
Closing date: Friday 20th November at noon
Interviews: Monday 23rd November via Microsoft TEAMS or ZOOM.
‘Meet and Greet’: Tuesday 24th November 10.00 am (part of the interview process via Microsoft TEAMS)
For more details please see the attached information.
Next Week…..
Kidz to Adultz – Venue to Virtual November 9th – 13th 2020
Venue to Virtual is dedicated to children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs, their parents, carers, and the professionals who support them.
This free virtual event taking place during week commencing 9 th November – 13th November 2020 is in place of the Kidz to Adultz Exhibition which cannot run due to current COVID 19 restrictions.
The online platform will offer visitors virtual access to the many exhibitors, companies, voluntary and support organisations who will be showcasing their products, equipment and outlining details of their services at various times during the week-long event.
Free Online Workshops for Parent Carers November 2020
Contact’s parent advisers are running free online workshops throughout November for families with disabled children. Next week you can join:
November 10th
Support for Speech and Language Issues in Children
November 12th
Wellbeing Workshop for Parent Carers
November 13th
Encouraging Positive Behaviour Workshop
To view all Contact's up and coming workshops click HERE
Simple and Effective Multi-sensory Techniques Children Can Try at Home November 12th 2020
This is a free webinar from the British Dyslexia Association (BDA).
Taking place:
Thursday November 12th 7.00pm-8.00pm
The multi-sensory techniques Dr Susie Nyman will be presenting are based on her recent BBC Bitesize article on ‘Five multi-sensory activities you can do with your child at home’. These will not only be centred around the early years, but from key stages 1-5 across a variety of subjects.
The session will be suitable for teachers, parents, students and other practitioners working with dyslexic children too.
Contact’s Free Parent Carer Listening Ear Service November 2020
With all the changes announced in the last few weeks and ongoing concerns about the Coronavirus pandemic and what it means for your family, you may need to offload.
Contact’s listening ear service has appointments this coming week and next week with their family support advisers who are able to offer emotional and practical support. Making an appointment is simple choose the day (morning, afternoon or evening), and when you register choose the time slot you want.
And More…...
Webinar - How can parents encourage a confidence and awareness of numbers in their children November 19th 2020
This is a free webinar from the British Dyslexia Association (BDA).
Taking place:
Thursday November 19th 7.00pm-8.00pm
A talk by Brenda Ferrie (Lead Tutor Dyscalculia and Maths Learning Difficulties; Support and Intervention) about how children acquire maths skills and what are the sort of influences and experiences that impair progress in learning maths. The talk will also address lots of practical ways that parents can encourage and help their child to develop positive enjoyment and success in learning maths.
South West Regional Webinars – Personal Budgets November 17th and December 1st 2020
You can apply for one of the following dates (the events are duplicated so you do not to attend both days): -
- 17th November 2020 (12.00pm to 3.00pm). Please register for this event here
- 1st December 2020 (10.00am to 1.00pm). Please register for this event here
Once you have registered, you will receive a diary invite with details on how to join via Microsoft Teams.
What the event will cover
- Aim to provide inspirational examples where personal health, education and social care budgets have been used to support people to live a full life that makes sense to the person.
- To look at how the South West can be supported to be a leader in facilitating the use of personal budgets.
- To identify what support you need across health, education or social care to make this happen.
Who can attend?
People interested in more personalised services across the South West for children and young people who use SEND services and also adults who use Learning Disability or Autism services. The event is for people with lived experience, parents and carers, frontline professionals, commissioners, managers and senior leaders from health, education and social care.
Why you should attend?
Personalisation and personalised care are a fundamental part of our offer to children, young people, adults and their families. Now more than ever we have an opportunity to refocus our work, not just as a response to the SEND reforms or the NHS Long Term Plan, but also as a positive, proactive solution to some of the barriers people have faced during COVID.
Questions
The Wiltshire Autism Hub
Wiltshire Service Users’ Network (WSUN)
was formed in 1991 by people who use health and social services, to promote user involvement and support people to have a voice.
Their Wiltshire Autism Hub Service can provide information and support to Autistic adults across Wiltshire (aged 18+). The three-year project (which started in January 2020) is funded by the National Lottery through the National Lottery Community Fund
The Main areas of support:
- Mentoring – One to one support to navigate life in a neuro-typical world, this can be particularly important at times of transition such as going to university, change of relationships, moving house or starting a job.
- Post-diagnostic support, which will include working with other organisations
- Peer Support –This will be provided by other people with an Autism Spectrum Condition and who have lived experience
- Signposting and information
- Support with claiming benefits, and with challenging benefits decisions
- Autism awareness training for frontline staff and employers – delivered in partnership with autistic people
- Independent Travel training –Support is tailored to the individual and will take the form of one to one support by way of a travel supporter. The travel supporter will accompany the person on the journey of their choice until they become confident.
They can work on skills like planning a journey, road safety, telling the time, using money or a bus pass and help to build confidence.
- Support Groups
- Counselling
If you would like more information about these services or you would like to refer someone for support, please contact WSUN office on 01380 871800 or email them on info.wsun@btconnect.com
Kidz to Adultz Magazine – Latest Issue
Please see our website for the latest issue of this magazine packed full of interesting articles, true stories and advice:
Kidz to Adultz Magazine
Keep safe and well.
Thank you,
Sharon & Elaine
