Welcome to our November newsletter!

Hi everyone! A bumper edition this month with lots of important info to update you on as we head towards Christmas...

The Banding Consultation continues, and we have other important updates to share from the Education team including an update on locality areas in the SEN Service. Lots of events coming up too, including December dates for our Get Together and Future in Mind sessions.

As always, thank you for your support.

Take care
The HPCN Team
 
A reminder- consultation closes on 6th December 2020.

SEN Banding Consultation: Do you have a child with an EHCP in a Mainstream School? This WILL affect you...  

Hampshire County Council is seeking feedback on a proposal for changing the way that top-up funding, which provides support for children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP), is paid to mainstream schools.

A huge thank you to everyone who has had a say so far- either by attending an engagement event, completing the consultation online or emailing your views. 

However, so far, only 100 families have completed the consultation. This will affect 9000 families. 

If you haven't already, please click here to find out more about the proposal and to complete the online consultation. There is now an FAQ document online which answers some of the common questions asked by parent carers- you can read it here.
 

EHCP Quality Questionnaire



In our last newsletter, we sent a survey asking your views on the quality of EHCP's in Hampshire.

We had lots of responses, thank you all so much for taking the time to do this. The results showed some common themes, which we have reported back to the SEN Team. By doing this survey, we are able to show Hampshire County Council that there are areas for improvement- HPCN is about power in numbers and by competing this survey, you made our voice stronger. In summary:

  • 83% of parents felt they had an opportunity to share their views during the EHCP process
  • However, only 62% feel that their input was included in the final plan
  • One of the main themes to come out of the survey was that 75% of parents felt the relevant assessments required to determine their childs needs were not carried out
  • However, 70% said that the assessments that were carried out were included in the final plan
  • One of the issues we frequently hear is that EHCP plans are not specific enough around the support required for the child/young person. The survey further reflected this, with only 21% of parents happy their plan is specific enough
  • A positive to come out of the survey was that 72& of parents feel they have a good relationship with their child's school
  • We asked parents if a new teacher started, could they provide the necessary support by looking at the child's EHCP? Over 75% said no
Thank you again, the results of this survey give some good evidence of improvements needed in the EHCP process.
 

Locality Teams in Hampshire

There are now 4 locality teams that make up the SEN Service in Hampshire. You can still contact your local team using the current inboxes and helplines, you can find these by clicking here. Your local teams is:

Locality Two Basingstoke and Deane and East Hants 
SEN Locality Manager: Cathy Smith
Special Needs Officers: Robert Morgan, Caroline Frances, Leona Read and Lauren Hewitt
 

New sessions: How can I support my child better in school?

The first of these new sessions took place yesterday- a huge thank you to all of you who came! The next session is this Friday 27th November at 11am.

The session will be supported by two senior Hampshire County Council employees who work in the SEND department Chris Jones and Janet Cornall. They will cover a range of topics to support parents to better understand SEN in schools and how the Local Authority is supporting schools to continually develop and improve practice. It will include research and discuss a range of tools that parents can rely on to support their discussions with schools about provision for their child/young person with an EHCP. We will be recording the session so it can be shared with anyone who cannot make it.

The session will take place online on zoom. For the meeting link, click here. Meeting ID: 817 5834 5191 Passcode: HPCN.

Hope to see lots of you there!
 

 

Get Togethers 

 

Our Get Togethers are taking place on Zoom throughout the pandemic- come and join us at one of our December dates!

Zoom and being in a call with new people can be daunting. We hope our Get Togethers give you an opportunity to meet other parents in a similar situation, offer some support and share experiences. Hampshire SENDIASS also attend to answer any queries you may have. You can turn your video off if you would prefer and you do not have to stay the whole hour- these are informal, friendly sessions.

December dates and zoom codes are...

Basingstoke, 9th December 11am
Zoom link: Click here
Meeting ID:  885 9985 9486
Password: GT

Evening Get Together (all areas), 16th December 8-9pm
Zoom link: Click here
Meeting ID:  850 3409 5741
Password: HPCN
 
 
Future in Mind 

Do you care for a child or young person who struggles with their mental health/emotional wellbeing? Would you like to attend a CAMHS workshop to learn more? Different topics each month with a CAMHS Clinician guest speaker. Like our Get Togethers, our Future in Mind sessions will be staying on zoom during the pandemic.

December dates and zoom codes are...

Evening Session, 8th December 7-9pm
Zoom link: Click here
Meeting ID: 864 8149 6671  
Password: FIM

Basingstoke, 18th December 11am
Zoom link: Click here
Meeting ID: 833 1683 0635 
Password: FIM

Although we recommend attending your local group, you are very welcome to attend another at a more suitable date and time if you would prefer.
 

Hampshire SENDIASS Young Peoples Survey

Hampshire SENDIASS have created a survey for young people to ask them what information, advice and support they’d like from the service. The survey is in an easy read, user friendly format and you can find it here. 
 

Parent Led Engagement sessions with Hampshire County Council and Hampshire SENDIASS

New next month we are going to trial a virtual session which gives you the opportunity to join a virtual call with Hampshire SEN Professionals.

We will not set the agenda or have a theme but an open session where you can ask an education related question. The people involved will be:

  • SEN manager
  • Inspector from the Advisory Team (who go out to schools to support staff re SEND)
  • SENDIASS
They will obviously not be able to talk specifically about your child, but they will be able to offer information and advice that may improve an outcome for your child.

The first session will be on Tuesday 8th December at 11am. For the zoom link, click here. Meeting ID: 899 1449 9516 Password: SEN1
 
If they prove to be popular, we will repeat the session monthly.  
 
 
Hampshire SENDIASS Workshop- Conflict Resolution

Over the last few months we have offered workshops alongside Hampshire SENDIASS on a range of topics. Thank you so much to all of you who have attended so far- we hope you have found them useful.

The final session this year is on 7th December at 11am with a focus on Conflict Resolution. The session will cover:
  • Forming positive relationships
  • Disagreement resolution and mediation opportunities
  • Making a formal complaint
  • Appeal processes
If you would like to attend, the zoom link is here. Meeting ID: 830 6766 4472  Password: SEN1

Hope to see lots of you there!
 

Christmas Closure

The Hampshire Parent Carer Network team will be on Christmas leave from Friday 18th December, returning on Monday 4th January 2021. We will reply to any emails and queries when we are back.

More about that in December's newsletter along with some of our plans for 2021.

Thank you all for your support this year!
 
Don't forget...
You can now find all our events and sessions on the event calendar on our website by clicking here!