SEND & Inclusion – Explaining the Panels

Education, Health, Care (EHC) Needs Assessment Request Panel

• Considers requests for an EHC needs assessment by a school, parent or other professional on behalf of a learner, in line with the SEND Code of Practice 2015.
• The request is for additional support in existing settings, as part of a graduated approach.
• Meets weekly
• Made up of a Senior Plan Coordinator from SENDAR, Education Psychology, a school representative (rotated), and health and social care representatives
• Panel will decide whether or not to proceed to EHC needs assessment.
• Schools will be informed of the decision and the reasons for that decision.

Recent changes have been made to ensure best use of time, both for SENCos (eg. reducing travel time) and for the local authority, and to ensure equity (where some schools attended panel and others did not). This has been discussed with SEND workstreams and SENCo networks. Decisions are based on the written request submitted.

We welcome more SENCos to join the panel on a rotation basis – please email sen@warwickshire.gov.uk if you are interested.

High Needs Panel

• Learners are referred where mainstream schools are requesting additional funding which is greater than £20,000 or where there is a request for a non-maintained / independent specialist school. 
• Meets monthly
• Made up of representatives from schools, both special and mainstream, Educational Psychology, Specialist Teaching Service, Flex Learning, IDS and Social Care
• The make up of the panel and the range of experience represented helps ensure a multi-disciplinary discussion

Provision Panel (previously County Admissions Panel)

• Learners are referred where there are concerns that current provision is struggling to meet need or specialist provision may be indicated. 
• Meets monthly
• Made up of representatives from schools, both special and mainstream, SENDAR, Educational Psychology, Specialist Teaching Service, Flex Learning, IDS and Social Care
• The make up of the panel and the range of experience represented helps ensure a multi-disciplinary discussion
• Panel may recommend additional support from another team or make a request to High Needs' Panel for additional funding
• Panel may also recommend referrals to a Specialist Resourced Provision, a Partnership Place or one of Warwickshire's state funded Special Schools.

If you require further information please contact your SENDAR Plan Coordinator.

Ground-breaking music project at Nicholas Chamberlaine features on BBC Midlands today

Earlier this year we shared information about an exciting new music project set to take off at Nicholas Chamberlaine School involving 278 Year 7 students, over 300 orchestral instruments and four specialist instrumental teachers (if you missed it, you can read the previous article here).

The ground-breaking project, which in just five weeks has seen a remarkably positive response from students and parents, is the result of a partnership between Warwickshire Music Hub, The Griffin Trust and the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST). Musical instruments have been provided free of charge by Warwickshire Music and instrumental teachers drafted in to work alongside music staff at the school. 

It has been such a success that BBC Midlands Today recently paid a visit to Nicholas Chamberlaine to see the project in action. If you missed the first airing of this on 17 October then you can watch it back by clicking the link below:

BBC Midlands Today at Nicholas Chamberlaine

We are very much looking forward to seeing where this exciting new project leads in the months to come and will keep you posted here!

Virtual School training for designated teachers of CLA and CPLA

‘Inclusive responses to behaviour that challenges’ is a full day training course for teachers. Children who are expressing their experiences and anxieties through their behaviour often put pressure on resources and leave staff struggling for answers.

This course will provide opportunities for problem-solving and promoting positive approaches to addressing social, emotional and mental health needs of Children Looked After (CLA) and Children Previously Looked After (CPLA).

When and where

Wednesday 15 January 2020, Bulkington Village Centre, 9am – 4pm

Or

Thursday 19 March 2020, Pound Lane Learning Centre, 9am – 4pm

Who can attend?

Places are free for all Warwickshire schools and settings and to those outside of Warwickshire with Warwickshire CLA on roll.

How do I book?

To book a place on either of the above dates please email virtualschool@warwickshire.gov.uk or phone 01926 742018.

Training to support pupils with additional needs

A number of Warwickshire's traded education services provide training and development to help schools to build capacity and skills to better support pupils with additional needs.

Please see a list below of upcoming courses provided by the Specialist Teaching Service (STS) and Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS).

For details of all training provided by WES traded services you can visit their website: https://apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/Wes/

Course title / Description	Date	Venue	Booking Link
Talk Boost  Learn effective strategies and practical activities to support children with language delay in Reception and Key Stage 1.	28 Nov 2019	Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa	Book this course
Maths Learning Difficulties - Exploring successful strategies to support Explore the different factors that can affect a child’s maths development and understand the importance of concrete apparatus and visual approaches. Refresh your knowledge of the use of Numicon and other resources.	14 Jan 2020	Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa	Book this course
Pathway to success: meeting the challenges and expectations of the 2014 national curriculum for English Sponsored by Oxford University Press and led by James Clements.	21 Jan 2020	Wolston Leisure Centre, Coventry	Book this course
Inference Training A group intervention for pupils in KS2 and KS3 who decode adequately but fail to get full meaning and enjoyment from their reading.	6 Feb 2020	Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa	Book this course

Developing guidance for school accessibility plans

As part of their work with the Whole School SEND Consortium (WSS), pdnet is currently developing guidance to support schools to write accessibility plans so that they can better include learners with a physical disability. 

To help inform this guidance they are asking schools to complete a short survey which should take no longer than 10 minutes. They are keen to hear from headteachers, SENCos, senior leaders and any other school staff member involved in writing and/or using the school accessibility plan. 

Read more and respond to the survey here 

Free resources to create an open culture around mental health in your school

There is still time to join the 700 schools taking part in the In Your Corner campaign this November.

Time to Change, a growing social movement trying to change the way people think and act about mental health problems, has created a set of free resources to help schools create an open culture around mental health.

The pack provides a series of small steps that senior leaders, students and parents can take to help make this generation more open about mental health than those that have gone before. They are available for free and include four short session plans, powerpoints and films to portray these messages in an impactful way.

Find out more information and register here 

Feedback not Marking - developing effective feedback and assessment

Scholarship to support teachers of Religious Education

Primary, secondary and special school headteachers and teachers of Religious Education (RE) may be able to benefit from an opportunity to access the Farmington Institute Scholarship for 2020/21.

The aim of the scholarship is to support and encourage teachers of RE and headteachers working on values and standards. 

Scholarships may either be university-based or school/home-based. Teachers who live within a reasonable distance of one of the selected universities or colleges, may be awarded a university-based scholarship (the University of Warwick is one of the selected universities).

Scholars are free to study any aspect of RE they wish, but preference will be given to applicants whose work can be seen to be of direct value to the teaching of RE in schools. Funding is provided to allow the release of the scholar from school and also covers the cost of tuition and essential local travel.

The deadline for applications for the 2020/21 scholarships is Sunday 26 January 2020.

For further information and an application form visit the Farmington Institute website.

The Institute awards scholarships to UK-based headteachers, teachers of RE and associated subjects and has published many papers on moral and ethical issues, philosophy and world religions.