Share your experiences of SEND services
Did you know that you can share anonymous feedback at any time about Warwickshire's SEND services?
We want you to tell us about what works well to ensure this is not lost, as well as what needs to improve.
Listening to and understanding your experiences of SEND services is very important, so that we can work together to create better services.
We would also like to encourage families and children and young people to share their feedback, so please feel free to share this link with your parents and carers too.
You can provide feedback using the online form here.
Autism Acceptance Week 2023: Understanding Autism – free resources for schools
Together with our partners across Coventry and Warwickshire, this week Warwickshire County Council has been celebrating Autism Acceptance Week (27 March – 2 April), highlighting the importance of understanding more about autism and aiming to inspire others to take steps to build kinder, more inclusive communities.
The week has been an opportunity to encourage everyone to develop a better understanding of autism and how it affects individuals and their families. With more than 700,000 autistic people in the UK, it’s important that we work together to build more autism-friendly communities.
Here are some helpful links for education settings to training and resources available to support a better understanding of autism:
Autism Education Trust training for schools
You can find details of training provided through Autism Educaton Trust, as well as other SEND-specific training for Warwickshire schools in the recently launched online training catalogue here.
Learning About Neurodiversity at Schools (LEANS)
The University of Edinburgh has developed a free programme for primary schools to help introduce pupils aged 8-11 yrs to the concept of neurodiversity and help them explore how it impacts experiences at school.
It is a teacher-delivered resource for the whole class and was developed with reference to school contexts in the UK and Ireland.
Find out more about the LEANS programme here.
Free ‘Lets Learn About Autism’ packs
The Autism Education Trust is working in partnership with The National Autistic Society to provide free ‘Let’s Learn About Autism’ packs to education settings. Request your pack to raise peer awareness in your education setting here.
Spring neurodiversity stakeholder newsletter
The latest edition of the Neurodiversity Stakeholder newsletter is out and has all the latest updates on the work taking place with partners across Coventry and Warwickshire to improve the lives of austistic children and adults. Read and share the Spring edition.
Additional autism resources
There are also lots of other organisations providing information about autism relevant for people with or without a diagnosis:
BBC Two’s recent Inside our Autistic Minds series helps autistic people illustrate how their minds work, helping them connect with their friends and family in a new, more authentic way.
Share your experience of involvement in LA processes for resolving disagreements around SEND support
Professionals working in schools that have been involved with mediation and/or through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals process during the last two years are invited to share feedback.
we are committed to improving services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with a strong focus on early intervention to give them the best start in life.
We understand there may be occasions when families won’t agree with the decisions that we make about education health and care (EHC) plans or EHC needs assessments and recognise the importance of being able to have open and honest discussions with families to resolve any issues.
As part of a wider programme of work focused on improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, we are reviewing the process for resolving disagreements following a decision about an EHC plan or EHC needs assessment.
To help improve the process, we would like to encourage professionals working in schools who have been involved with local authority processes for resolving disagreements within the past two years to share their experiences by responding to a short survey. This involvement may have been through mediation and/or through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals process.
All feedback is welcome and anyone who has recently been through the process is being encouraged to respond. Parents, carers and young people aged 16-24, and other professionals working with families, are also being invited to share their views as part of this review.