What we do - Have your say! - Other local and national surveys and consultations

Three Ways School Information Survey

The Pupil Admission Numbers (PAN) for Three Ways School has continued to rise. In 2007 they opened with a planned eventual PAN of 150. To date they have 220 students (September 2018) attending daily.

They have taken the decision to apply to the Department of Education (DfE), to cap their PAN at 220 with a view to continue to monitor the referrals for places in subsequent years . This will ensure they safeguard their current pupils and staff and continue to offer the same outstanding level of teaching and learning.

They would like to invite you to provide any feedback on their decision during this consultation period. Please either complete the following form or go online and download the form at www.threeways.co.uk

For further information, please contact: Amelia Hartley, Business Manager, 01225 838070 or, 01225 830377.

The consultation survey closes at 12 noon on Friday 5th October 2018.

New Minimum Standards for Information Advice and Support Services

Parents, children and young people, professionals and anyone else with an interest in this topic are invited to participate in an online consultation on a draft of the new Minimum Standards for Information Advice and Support Services (IASS, sometimes known as SENDIASS). These are part of the IAS Programme and will be the basis of future operational plans and linked funding in 2019/20. In Wiltshire, the IASS, or SENDIASS service is currently provided by KIDS WISA.

You will need to have read and have access to a copy of the Minimum Standards to understand the consultation questions. The Minimum Standards document is fairly short (three pages long) and can be accessed [HERE].

More information and a link to the consultation can be found [HERE]

The consultation period will close on Monday 3rd September 2018.

Ambitious about Autism Campaign

Ambitious about Autism is a national charity for children and young people with autism. They are currently running a campaign called We Need An Education, drawing attention to the problems young people with autism face accessing education in England.

Complete their short survey [HERE]

BOOK NOW! Families and Children's Transformation Partnership Strategy Event

Are children’s services working in the best way to make a positive difference for your child and you as a family?

The WPCC is engaged with Wiltshire Council on a new programme called FACT that is looking what is working well and what could be done differently across children’s services. The FACT programme is looking at services for all children, not just the services for children with SEN and/or SEND, and is asking: 'what do children’s services need to do meet the needs of children at the right time so that wherever possible, problems don’t need to get worse before support can be accessed?'. Please see the FACT newsletter for parent carers that gives more information about the FACT programme.


Have a say in what priorities for children, young people and their families should be...

To build on the work that has been taking place so far, Wiltshire Council's FACT team is hosting a Partnership Strategy Event at the Corn Exchange on 28th September 2018. The event will be open from 9am, to start at 9:30am and finishing at approximately 4pm. Work is currently taking place on confirming the programme for the day but we anticipate there being key note speakers, part of the day facilitated by young people, and a variety of stalls and workshops to help further develop priorities to create a shared, purposeful Partnership Strategy. Refreshments, including lunch will be provided.

The event is being promoted to as many services and agencies who work with children and young people across Wiltshire as possible, and in response to WPCC requests, we have been given places to offer to parent carers of children and young people with SEND as important stakeholders in these discussions. The event promises to attract a large number of people, and capacity of the Corn Exchange is limited. We have however been given 20 places to offer to parent carers on a first come, first served basis. The WPCC will pay parent carers' expenses (car parking, travel and any childcare costs relating to attending the event). To request a parent carer place at this event, simply complete the [online booking form] or telephone the WPCC on 01225 764647 (please note the office is closed from 6th August 2018 to 17th August 2018 inclusive and we will not be able to respond to emails or telephone calls during this period, we will reply to any messages as soon as possible after we re-open on Monday 20th August 2018).

To request a place at the event simply:-

• click [BOOKING] to go to the online booking form, or
  
• copy and paste https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FACTSept2018 into your address bar
  
• or if you prefer to request a place by telephone, call the WPCC on 01225 764647
  

Transformation of Children's Services in Wiltshire Survey

Lots of different organisations in Wiltshire are working together to make lives better for families. A variety of health services, schools and early years settings (e.g. children’s centres, nurseries, etc.), council services, family support services and others would like to hear about your experience when things got difficult and what support worked best for you.

This is a really important opportunity to inform a wide range of services and play a part in improving how help and support can be offered to all families of children and young people in Wiltshire (including, but not only, those with SEND). The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete.

We would also like to encourage as many young people as possible to respond to the survey. You may or may not need some help to answer some of the questions but you will only need to answer questions that are appropriate to you. Questions will talk about ‘your child’, but please read this to mean ‘you’.

Click: [Families and Children's Transformation Survey 2018] to go to the survey.

Workshop to Demonstrate Free Music Making Equipment for Children and Young People with SEND

Ruth Jones is the Development Manager at [Wiltshire Music Connect] – the music education hub for Wiltshire. She would like to improve access to music making for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and social, emotional, and mental health issues.

Wiltshire Music Connect have a set of five “Skoogs” and would like to offer two or three free parent and carer introductory workshops across Wiltshire. Your feedback will help them work out when / where the workshops should be held, and after the workshops they will then be able to work out how best to loan the Skoogs free of charge to parents and carers, Opportunity Groups and for Holiday Projects, etc. They have specialist music leaders who are able to lead workshops or deliver one to one music lessons.

A [Skoog] is an accessible digital musical instrument that can be adjusted for a range of sensitivities. It is wireless, and is used with ipads and speakers. Click

[HERE] to watch a short clip (57 seconds) that shows what a Skoog is.

Please complete their survey here: [SKOOG SURVEY]

Parent Carer Support Groups facilitated by Carer Support Wiltshire

Despite regular promotion there has been very limited attendance at some of the Parent Carer Support Groups that were being facilitated by Carer Support Wiltshire. Carer Support Wiltshire have therefore taken the decision to close the groups in Salisbury, Chippenham and Devizes.

Carer Support Wiltshire is introducing their Community Connectors and they will be working across Wiltshire to identify and support carers.

In response to questions from the WPCC about the closure of these groups, the WPCC has been told that if the Community Connectors uncover the need to reinstate a group, then they will be able to do this.

If you need a parent carer support group in your area, please let Carer Support Wiltshire know and they will pass this onto one of their Community Connectors.

Carer Support Wiltshire can be contacted on 0800 181 4118 or by email at: info@carersinwiltshire.co.uk

Alternatively, you can complete a WPCC Feedback Form and we will pass your comments on to Carer Support Wiltshire on your behalf.

Wiltshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) - Urgent GP appointments

If you need a same day urgent GP appointment - this could mean that you might not be able to see your usual GP and you may have to travel to a different practice. Urgent GP appointments are booked on the day and are for patients who have health problems which cannot wait for a routine appointment.

Wiltshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) wants to hear your views on accessing urgent GP appointments. Tell them what you think by completing this [Survey]

Contact - Petition in Response to Cuts to Universal Credit

Under [Universal Credit], payments for a disabled child are to be cut by more than 50 per cent for most disabled children. Consequently, many families with a disabled child will be worse off. Families whose caring responsibilities prevent them from working and who qualify for the lower disability element appear certain to be worse off by at least £1,600 per year. It seems certain that the number of families with disabled children who will be worse off is likely to be significantly more than 100,000. Many of these families are already struggling to afford basic essentials such as food and heating. The impact of a further cut of more than £1,600 a year for many is likely to be increased debt, stress and ill health. Contact is therefore calling on the Prime Minister to reverse cuts to child disability payments under Universal Credit.

More than 4,000 people have signed Contact’s (formerly Contact a Family) petition so far. This is an invitation to join them and help stop cuts to payments for disabled children under Universal Credit, by [signing the petition] today.

More information about Contact’s campaign against cuts to Universal Credit can be found [HERE].

Contact - School Transport Loophole Petition

A few weeks ago Contact (formerly Contact a Family) launched their school transport loophole petition. They had more than 3000 signatures in the first 24 hours, and Contact would like to thank everyone who has already seen and signed the petition.

Contact set the target of 5000 signatures and they are currently on 4908; they are asking us to help promote the petition.

More information from Contact about what they understand nationally:-

"We know from our school transport inquiry that the impact of losing school transport is huge for families. Unfortunately, more and more disabled children are being refused school transport or charged for it, as councils exploit a loophole in the law. How can it be fair that the law says a young person is expected to be in school or training until 18 but does not have the transport to get there once they turn 16? We are calling on the government to close this loophole for disabled youngsters as they face additional challenges getting to school or college. Please sign our petition to close the school transport loophole for disabled youngsters http://bit.ly/2HxKV2O #schoolruncrisis"

If you need advice on school transport, you can visit Contact's webpage and read their useful fact sheets:
[Transport to School and College]
[Challenging School Transport Decisions]
[Transport for over 16's in England]

Rare Diseases Advisory Group

NHS England is seeking to recruit a new patient/public member to its Rare Diseases Advisory Group (RDAG). The RDAG Patient and Public Voice (PPV) member should ideally have lived experience of a rare disease and the capacity to provide independent judgement on the strategy, vision and performance of RDAG. Members are reimbursed for their meeting, preparation time and expenses. For more information and to request an application pack e-mail: england.voice-crg@nhs.net.

Scope Research Project - Our Lives Our Journey

The charity, Scope, are looking for disabled people and parents of disabled children living in England and Wales to take part in their new five year life opportunities study. Your participation will help them develop their future campaigns and the support they provide to disabled people and their families.

Read more on the [Scope Website]

Calling all young disabled people ....

• this includes physical disability, sensory impairments, learning difficulties and disability, mental health issues and long term health conditions