The support that we offer children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a key priority the Wokingham Borough Council, through which a range of services, groups and support are offered and co-ordinated.
This term has been busy as usual for the teams delivering support to children and young people with SEND and their families, here is what some of they have been working on.
SENDIASS team
The team have introduced a new training session for families on Preparing for Adulthood, giving information about what will happen when and some important considerations, such as the impact of the young person’s mental capacity and ensuring their young person is able to give their own opinions and influence decisions about their future
Short Breaks and Early Help
Bridges Resource Centre is currently providing a range of short breaks to 26 children, both at the centre and out in the community, to parks, zoos, and adventure playground activity centres.
Saturday Club had a fun term with lots of arts and crafts including Easter activities, celebrating the Platinum Jubilee and the Queen’s birthday, as well as making the most of the warmer weather, spending time outside on the play equipment and playing ball games.
Family Intervention Resources and Support Team (FIRST) are continuing to develop their service, and the support to children and young people with disabilities and their families, offering a variety of workshops about sleep and behaviour.
ASSIST (Autism Spectrum Service for Information, Support and Training)
The social skills group training which ASSIST previously offered has been improved and renamed as the ‘Social Knowledge programme’, which will be delivered to small groups of older primary aged young people across six weeks.
SEND Innovation and Improvement Programme (SEND IIP)
The SEND IIP was set up between the council and local partners, following on from a 2019 inspection for the arrangements for SEND children in the borough which highlighted six areas that needed significant improvement. In 2021, a revisit showed that the SEND IIP had made improvements across all areas, with five areas no longer requiring improvement plans.
As a partnership the SEND IIP includes Send Voices Wokingham which is the independent parent carer forum for the borough, and was established up to ensure that the families and carers of children and young people with SEND have their voices heard.
The next SEND IIP update meeting with SEND Voices Wokingham is planned for Wednesday 19 October at 8pm via Zoom, with more information about the meeting available nearer the time.
Local Offer Live
The Local Offer provides information about the help and support available in the area for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Local Offer Day Live returns in October, and is open to all families in the Wokingham borough who have a child or young person with a special need and/or disability. The day is run by SEND Voices Wokingham, in partnership with the CAN (Children with Additional Needs) Network.
This year's event will be on Saturday 8 October 2022 at St Crispin’s Leisure Centre, with more information available nearer the time.
Have your say on SEND inspections
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are currently carrying out a survey about proposed changes to the way they jointly inspect area SEND arrangements from 2023.
The survey is open to anyone who has an interest in SEND, including parents and carers, children and young people, professionals and practitioners involved in the commissioning and delivery of services to children and young people with SEND.
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