21 parents attended the group

Professionals attending

Scilla Morgan
Sheila Ramdular
Bev Rolfe
Jenny Menzies
Gillian Goodchild
Chris Henderson
(+ interpreter)
Robert Raby
Penny Dixie
Lizzie Yauner
Andrew Lee
Neil Hudson

Sheila Ramdular facilitated the meeting.

1. Introductions from the speakers and parents:

Sheila welcomed everyone to the group and everyone introduced themselves.

2. Penny Dixie - Assistant Director Learning Trust

Penny explained that her remit covered: educational psychology; the inclusion team; SEN assessments; parent partnership; Healthy Schools; transport. Over the past 18 months, since she last attended HFT, a lot of progress has been made, though services are still not perfect, and some educational services are based at the Ark, working alongside PCT and Social Care. The Learning Trust is committed to working with children, listening to them via reviews and IEPs, and also listening to parents. She explained that a proportion of the budget allocated to the Learning Trust for SEN is devolved to schools, which then have responsibility over how it is spent.

3. Lizzie Yauner - Head of Inclusion Team

Lizzie introduced the new forum for young people with disabilities, which meets once a term, with a specific theme (eg sports) to discuss how it works for disabled youngsters and how it could be improved.

The forum has produced a new DVD, with 800 copies to be disseminated to all schools and agencies, with an accompanying booklet which the young people wrote; these will raise a lot of questions for schools to consider.

The DVD was then shown and parents had many comments and questions:

• I like the film as it is the children speaking; we all want teachers to be able to understand and know each child
• Teachers should take an interest in each child's individual interests.
• Particularly liked the re-run bit - the first section showing the teacher talking to the carer, then showing the teacher talking directly to the young person
• Also liked the examples of a teacher being unhelpful to a child who was unable to do a task, then modelling how he could have helped the child to achieve the task
• Really liked the section where the young people talked about their aspirations for the future, including career choices
  Nb the forum has invited disabled young people to be role models
• Teachers need training in special needs
  Lizzie explained that she does SEN training for all newly qualified teachers.

• The government wants schools to self manage, so to this end schools are organised into clusters of 6 - 10 schools, which share good practice
• Each cluster is facilitated by educational psychology, inclusion or assessment services.
• Within each cluster meeting a school is given 15 minutes to say how/what they are doing - others may challenge some aspects of this
• Out of this process the school devises an action plan for future improvement, which is monitored and followed up by the cluster facilitator. For example, schools will need to demonstrate how they identify SEN, what provision they make, who provides it, what evidence is there that this is effective, what staff training is in place, how is the provision measured and monitored?

• Difficulty of getting through to senco, especially when parent is called in to deal with issues arising from the child's disability. Letters are not appropriate in urgent cases, though might get a response if a complaint
• Where there is a situation when a child is refusing to attend school there is no help from senco and no sense of urgency in returning calls.
• Home-school communication is poor
• Senco doesn't have decision-making powers, seems very ineffective.
• Could there be a second senco, so someone is always available for phone calls?Or sufficient non-contact time for senco to be available to parents?
• There should be a laminated list of a child's needs that accompanies the child and is available for every teacher, including supply staff? Children suffer when needs are unknown to teachers. (Noted that there is often a pupil profile, or 'passport' which does exactly this)

• There is a crossover of professionals - parents need clarity over their role
• Paucity of summer provision, especially for younger children (ie<5s)
• There is a gap for younger children in after school provision too.
• Extra support needed for literacy an learning needs
• All staff need training in new programme for dyslexia
• High staff turnover is a problem
• More respite or use of volunteers would help.

• Transport is a huge issue. Is the Learning Trust looking at all the needs of child when considering school transport?
• Could LT help with cost of petrol, or 'walking buddy' or an escort, if not providing transport?
• Transition a horrendous time.
• Highly specialist and very expensive equipment needed by a child was left behind in transition - child left without equipment that enabled him to learn, new school couldn't afford, can't equipment accompany child?
• Parents fighting the system.

• Secondary transfer problematic. The process could be easier
• Transport is 'all or nothing' - could there not be a temporary provision?
• Or a scheme to teach children how to travel independently?
• Criteria for school transport provision seem unclear.
• Sen links with Social Care - not sure how this works.

• Penny Dixie to ensure that an article explaining school transport is sent to The Key
• Penny Dixie will raise the issue of equipment at the Transitions group
• Lizzie Yauner to emphasise at Senco Forum - the importance of ensuring child's pupil profile available to ALL teachers.