Services for children

SEN bulletin January 2025

    Message from Madhu

    Happy New Year! I hope you have all had a good start to the new term and 2025!

    I look forward to seeing you all at our network meeting on 29 January 2025 at the EEC from 1pm. The room will be available from 12pm if you wish to arrive early to have your lunch, have some quiet time or network. The Headteacher briefing that morning has a SEND focus – learning about The Social Model – Consider how to personalise curriculums for individual pupils. The key questions explored during the meeting have come from our conversations over the last few months:

    • What practical insights can be shared on how schools are successfully implementing and embedding a Therapeutic Thinking approach?
    • How can schools build a skilled, confident workforce to meet all children’s needs through professional development?
    • What strategies are schools using to address disproportionality and promote race equality?
    • How can schools develop a whole-school inclusive culture effectively?
    • In what creative ways are schools utilising resources to support children with additional needs?
    • What approaches are schools taking to build effective partnerships and support parents of children with SEND?

    Please do speak to your Head about their reflections from the session.

    Speech and language therapy

    The Spring Training Sessions Brochure is out! There is a great range of courses including SEMH and communication in secondary, DLD, Dysphagia, colourful semantics and adaptive learning for complex needs. The times, and lengths of sessions vary to allow for access to a wider range of school staff.

    Ealing Therapists will run the virtual training sessions via Zoom, and there will also be one face-to-face training held at Ealing Green Church. All sessions listed are free of charge.

    Sessions are promoted on Ealing CPD online, but please book by emailing wlm-tr.sltuniversalservices@nhs.net with your attendee’s name, your school and the workshop name.

    Insert Ealing SLT Training Listing pack Spring 25

    Autism Education Trust: this month’s resource

    Message from Dawn:

    Members of the Autistic Young Expert Panel advise the Autism Education Trust, speak at events, co-deliver training, and share their experiences on their YouTube channel. Follow these links to 4 short videos to hear their insights about autistic burnout, the huge impact it has, and how we can think about supporting autistic pupils to prevent burnout:

    Therapeutic Thinking

    Message from Simon:

    Classicists among you will know January derives from ‘Janus’ – Roman god of beginnings, gates, and doorways. He is often portrayed with two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back.

    Attached is the interpretation I had when I started, and I hope this proves useful to some of you who are grappling with what we mean by ‘therapeutic’. Now, more simply I tend to say that Therapeutic Thinking prioritises how people feel.

    Looking back: Therapeutic approaches to behaviour within education | Ealing Grid for Learning

    Looking forward, Ealing is in a great place to take therapeutic practice on further, and have more impact on staff, pupils, and families. I attended a cluster meeting recently – leaders there were going to ask me loads of questions, but by the time I arrived they had spoken to each other and answered their own questions from within the group. More of this please!

    Occupational Therapy (ELP)

    Message from ELP’s attached OT Esther Mellor:

    The new year is perfect time to reflect on our knowledge of foundational developmental skills, as these underpin the work we do to support students with additional needs.

    One such skill is PRAXIS - the ability to carry out new or unfamiliar tasks.

    It is broken down into FOUR stages:

    1. Having an idea for a task
    2. Mentally planning how to carry out the task
    3. Physically executing the task, based on this plan
    4. Reflecting on whether it was successful, and working out how to adapt it for next time.

    When is it used? This skill is used by everybody, every day, for all tasks and is often an automatic process. However, those with additional needs may require assistance at one, or all, of the stages for certain tasks.

    What to look out for - Struggles initiating a task (stage one), difficulties working out what to do once they have an idea (stage two), challenges organising and executing the correct movements (stage three) and/or repeatedly completing the task in the same unsuccessful way, and not knowing how to adapt it (stage four).

    How to help - People with praxis difficulties CAN learn new skills, but the way we support them needs to be considered, and plenty of practice, in a low-pressure environment, is required.

    Work with the person to create a GOAL > write a PLAN in their own words (you can scribe if needed) > DO the task (according to their plan) > CHECK which section of the plan may need adapting, if the task was unsuccessful.

    Promoting reflection -- Use open questions to promote retention and a greater sense of achievement. If demonstration is required, complete this stage by stage, with concise and consistent verbal instruction, whilst sitting next to the person and leading with the same hand/foot as them (for practical tasks, except for writing). Encourage them to ask questions and think about the differences in your execution, compared to theirs.

    SEN governors

    Joint SENCO and SEN Governor meetings have been revised and will move online. SEN governors will be invited, with input from SENCOs as appropriate. An online session for the SEND governor network will be on Tuesday 29 April 6-7.30pm.

    Share a resource

    Esther reviewed these resources for us.

    Addressing Handwriting Challenges in School-Aged Children - The OT Practice

    If you have a resource, a picture of great practice in action at your school, or a recommendation to share with SENCOs in the Bulletin, please send a picture, description or link to Sam SENDline@ealing.gov.uk.

    Upcoming training and networks:

    Browse Ealing CPD Online for a full view of professional development in Ealing.

    Autism training brochure

    Springhallow outreach autism training brochure

    EYFSSEN training

    NASEN

    Specialist spotlights from Whole school SEND this term include sessions for primary and secondary such as Behaviour as communication, Memory for Learning and supporting sensory differences. All courses are free, funded by the DfE. Why not build these into your school CPD plan?

    Events listing | Whole School SEND

    ESCAN and SENAS news

    Key dates for 2025

    15 February - Receiving schools must be named for all pupils with EHCPs at phase transfer – ie those who will be going to reception, Y2-Y3, Y6-Y7, or post 16. Many of you will continue to receive consultations for places for children with EHCPs.

    Please continue to forward assessments last term for any children in this position (usually it’s the N2) who don’t have an EHCP yet, who may require a special school place. Their EHCPs are unlikely to be completed but we will be aware of them for place planning.

    Invitation to join panels

    We would welcome representatives from education settings in Ealing to join our panel and be part of the decision-making processes. Representatives should be leading SEND in their provisions and be familiar with statutory processes, such as statutory requests and annual reviews.

    Wider representation from schools will ensure continued fairness, accountability and transparency across the LA. Not only will this opportunity allow SEND representatives to influence decision making, it is a great opportunity for CP and networking. If you would like to join our panels, please contact me by email. We look forward to working with you over the course of the academic year.

    Education, health and care needs assessment, plans (EHCP) and review dates | Ealing Grid for Learning

    Level descriptors project

    This is a significant project that will be changing the way top up funding works in schools. Here is a reminder of the aims of the project. View the aims of the Level descriptor project

    SENDline Padlet and Podcast

    3 episodes of the SENDline Podcast are now available:

    SENCO bitesize sessions

    Episode 4 is scheduled to be recorded in February. Who would you like to hear from, or do you have a passion for an aspect of SEN you would like to share? To get onto the guest list or request a guest, message Sam: SENDline@ealing.gov.uk. Searching for resources, events or written advice? Try the SENDline Padlet here: SENDline Advice and Resources

    Signposts for parents

    Local Offer

    Ealing Families Directory | Ealing Local Offer

    Parent groups meet parents of children with additional needs who have not accessed the local offer every week. Translation on the site for many community languages is available, and local organisations such as Contact also offer support for language barriers. What can you do to make sure it the Local Offer is accessible to parents of children with additional needs?

    Contact Ealing workshop: Is your child struggling with reading, writing, or maths?

    Contact Ealing are hosting a workshop with guest speaker accredited learning difficulties teacher (ATS) and SENCO of Lady Margaret primary school Alison Towers, designed to help parents and carers understand learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and how to support their children effectively at home and in school. There session will cover:

    • What are Dyslexia and Dyscalculia?
    • Working with schools
    • Practical strategies for home support
    • Available resources and support

    On 30 January 2025, from 10am-12pm at Southall Town Hall, High street UB1 3HA. To book your place you can register here: https://forms.office.com/e/vpE8DpqpEb

    For further enquiries please email ealing@contact.org.uk

    Mental Health Support Team Workshops

    The MHST have workshops through the spring term on a range of topics. Please share MHST spring flyer with your parents.

    Coffee mornings with Ealing Parent Carer Forum

    7 February 2025 post 16 coffee morning flyer

    Top Tip

    Remove public displays of detrimental behaviour (names on the board, pegs etc) and replace with private conversations and intervention. An Ealing school has done this and as a result pupils feel less shame, and fewer incidents in the classroom escalate. This tip is from the Therapeutic Thinking Network.

    Did you know/SEN in the News

    Call for Evidence - Committees - UK Parliament - Solving the SEND Crisis Deadline ends Thursday 30 Jan 2025

    The Committee is seeking evidence on short term actions to stabilise the SEND system…the Committee will also be looking at how, beyond stability, long term sustainability of the SEND system can be achieved to support and improve outcomes

    Contact:
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    Last updated: 28 Jan 2025