Welcome to the December All-Age (0-25) Disability Newsletter

This December issue has Daniela Carson’s update, along with the latest news about what’s been happening in November to help improve SEND services in the county. Other items include details about the Children’s Occupational Therapy Service Advice line, Things to do in December, a SENDIASS update and SEND Services Christmas opening times.

We wish you and your family a lovely holiday break and a happy, healthy 2025.

Update from Daniela Carson

How is it December already? And what a year it has been! 

I have now been in post for four months and what a busy four months it has been! 

A huge thank you to all those that have welcomed me, those that have met with me on a 1:1 and group basis, the schools that have invited me in to see all the wonderful work they are doing and the children and young people that have curiously engaged as I have visited a number of provisions across the county.

Across the All-Age Disability service we are continuing our journey post inspection and are committed to improving services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Some of those updates you will find below. If you want to get involved, please do sign up by scanning the QR code to the parent carer forum here: 

 

I am really excited to see what 2025 will bring and look forward to seeing the work that we have begun together, continue.

I hope you all have a wonderful break and holiday period and wish you all the best for the New Year! 

Daniela Carson
Assistant Director All-Age Disability (0-25) Service.

What we’re doing to improve SEND services following the 2024 Ofsted and CQC inspection: December update

The local area partnership is working through the Priority Action Plan and SEND Improvement Plan following the outcome of the 2024 Ofsted and CQC inspection. 

Here you will find some key updates on what we have been working on during November:

• Coproduction workshop – on 13 November we held a follow up workshop with parent carers on the quality and timeliness of EHCPs. Parent carers made suggestions on how to make improvements through better communication and transparency; and explored how an online system could help to track the EHCP process. We are now setting up two working groups which will include parent carers - one to review the format of the EHCP document and the second to further explore developing an online system
• Children and Young People’s Coproduction Lead – we are now finalising the job description and person specification for the new role of Children and Young People’s Coproduction Lead. This role will be crucial in enabling us to better involve children and young people with SEND in making changes and improvements to SEND services. The job will be advertised in January
• Independent Chair recruitment – we have completed the interviews for an Independent Chair for the SEND and Alternative Provision Executive Board. An offer has been made and we are now carrying out the standard HR checks and processes before agreeing a start date – which will be in the New Year
• EHCP feedback report – part of our quality assurance process includes collecting feedback from parent carers following the EHC Needs Assessment process where a new EHCP has been issued or following the annual review of an existing plan. The surveys are sent to parent carers and around 25 families are randomly selected each month and contacted by phone for their feedback. The ‘you said, we did’ style report is available on the Local Offer website (under the heading ‘EHCP Quality Assurance You Said We Did reports’)

Find out more about the improvements we’re making in SEND services.

Children’s Occupational Therapy Service Advice Line

Occupational therapy (OT) helps children or young people who may be experiencing difficulties participating in daily life. Daily life is made up of many activities (or occupations), which, for children or young people may include self-care, play or being productive (going to nursery or school).

If your child finds things tricky when participating in daily activities at home or in school, you can use the OT telephone Advice Line to speak with an Occupational Therapist about it. This could be questions about your child’s self-care, leisure or play skills. The Occupational Therapists will try and provide you with advice, strategies and tips to try at home or school or refer you to other appropriate support.

The advice line number is: 07562 436633 and is open every Wednesday 9am to 12pm and Thursday 1pm to 4pm.

Please note, the advice line is not for waiting list enquiries or to check whether a referral has been accepted.

SEND Services telephone lines Christmas opening hours

To allow staff to have time off with their families over the Christmas break, we will be running on reduced staffing levels so ask for your understanding with this. The SEND Services telephone lines will be available throughout the Christmas period, except for the bank holidays. If your case work officer is not available when you call, then the person who takes your call can make a phone surgery appointment with them for when they are working, which may be after the holiday period.

Telephone line Christmas opening hours

• Monday 23 December – 9:00am to 4:30pm
• Christmas Eve – 9:00am to 4:00pm
• Christmas Day – Closed
• Boxing Day – Closed
• Friday 27 December – 9:00am to 4:00pm
• Monday 30 December – 9:00am to 4:30pm
• New Year’s Eve – 9:00am to 4:00pm
• New Year’s Day – Closed
• Thursday 2 January – Normal office hours

SEND Services telephone line: 01905 845579

Herefordshire & Worcestershire SENDIASS

HW SENDIASS is the Special Educational Needs/Disabilities (SEND) Information, Advice and Support Service covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

HW SENDIASS have a dedicated team of trained advisors offering legally based and easily accessible information, advice and support on all matters relating to children and young people (0-25) who have or may have SEND.

The service is FREE, impartial, and confidential.

They can help you if:

• you have concerns about your child’s progress or development
• you would like to know more about the support available for children with SEND and their families
• you would like to know more about Worcestershire’s SEND policies and procedures
• you need information and guidance on the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process (including Needs Assessments and Annual Reviews)
• you need support with meetings, mediation or tribunal
• you need help understanding SEND law
• you need help to gather, understand and interpret information and apply it to your own situation

Contact them Monday to Friday 8:30am to 4:00pm 

Call: 01905 768153 (24 hour answering machine service is available) 

Email: SENDIASS@worcestershire.gov.uk

Website: www.hwsendiass.co.uk 

Social Media: www.facebook.com/hwsendiass and www.instagram.com/hwsendiass 

The service has lots of useful information on their website and provide FREE training to parent carers. This training covers Autism, Dyslexia, SEN Support, the EHCP process, how to check a draft EHCP and what you need to know if you have a child with additional needs. Find out more about their workshops on the HW SENDIASS Training for Parent Carers Webpage. 

SENDIASS Christmas Office hours

The SENDIASS helpline will close at 4pm Friday 20 December and will reopen at 8.30am on Monday 6 January 2025. The voicemail service will be available to leave messages during this time.

Things to do in December 

See what's on in Worcestershire this winter for children and young people with SEND - as part of the Holiday Activities and Food as well as the Groups, Activities and Short Breaks programmes). Bookings are open and spaces are still available to book. Read the what’s on guide to see all that is on offer, eligibility requirements and how to book. 

Please note: More SEND specific providers are being added in 2025 for both HAF and Groups & Activities and Short Breaks so if you can’t find anything for this winter, you may still find something next year. We also know that a lot of the activities are closed. If you are interested but there isn’t space now, email enquiries@hafworcestershire.co.uk to register your interest and be put on the waiting list.

We have shared the information below before in previous newsletters but thought it would be useful to share it again to remind people of websites you can look at to find things to do. These websites we’ve listed are not disability specific.

Worcestershire libraries have children and family activities throughout December, search for what’s on at your local library on their website: Worcestershire library events and activities

Visit Worcestershire, the county’s official tourism website has a ‘What’s on’ database Upcoming Events - Visit Worcestershire. They have also produced a Visit Worcestershire Christmas guide for visitors (PDF) which can be downloaded by clicking the link.

Theatres across the county will be staging pantomimes during December and January, and will be offering relaxed, as well as signed performances, check your local theatre’s website for details of when they are available. 

If you want to get outside in the fresh air and enjoy Worcestershire’s wonderful countryside, you might find these pages on the county council website useful: 

• Country parks, picnic places and nature reserves
• National Landscapes (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty)
• Walking, Wheeling and Cycling

Whatever you end up doing, we hope you enjoy it!

Touch Screen Cinema at Malvern Theatres

With Sarah Hamilton Baker.

An accessible, sensory cinema experience where audiences are invited to touch, smell and feel their way through a collection of short films based around a theme. They are designed for primary and secondary school-aged children and their carers who might benefit from a specialised environment for film watching.

• Malvern Theatres are hosting three different sessions, starting at 10am, 11:30am and 1:30pm on each of the days listed below:
• Light and Colour - Thursday 16 January
• Birds - Thursday 13 February
• Green Weekender - Thursday 13 March

The sessions last approximately 50 minutes and the participation fee is £4, carers are free to attend.

You can book your space by calling the box office on 01684 892 277 or online at malvern-theatres.co.uk and search for Touch screen cinema.