Synergy - Enquiry

We would like to take this opportunity to confirm our approach to parent/carer participation and engagement.

In Barnsley, we want to make sure that all children and young people achieve the best outcomes, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), aged 0-25. To do this we are fully committed to working in partnership with parents and carers as we want to make sure the services we plan, commission and deliver, across education, health and care, meet the needs of children, young people and their families.

We can do this best through a wide reach of active parent and carer participation, which is why we want to engage with parents and carers in ways that work for them. This includes everything from coffee mornings, focus groups, training, meetings and other events to gather feedback about services and how they need to respond to what parents and carers tell us.

The Barnsley SEND Parent Carer Alliance is a DfE recognised parent/carer forum which benefits from funding allocated through Contact. They are a key step in the parent carer participation process. However, we recognise that there is much diversity in Barnsley, and no one group represents all parents and carers, which is why we value the input of all groups and individuals. Our aim is to empower parents and carers so that they have their say on all SEND related matters. We aim to ensure that parents and carers are able to influence the development of local services across the local area and strategic decision making.

Our SEND Participation Officer, Alex Taylor, will continue to work with all groups and individuals who wish to be involved in engagement and co-production activities in the way that works best for them, making sure that everyone is able to shape decisions regardless of how they choose to engage. Everyone’s voice is valued regardless of where it is captured. Alex will also continue to work closely with our SEND Youth Forum to ensure that efforts to capture and act on the voices of children, young people, parents and carers are aligned across the local area

For more information email alextaylor@barnsley.gov.uk

Families Information Service wants to get together and talk about the information on the Local Offer Website, as part of their ongoing Quality Assurance programme.

Over the next year they will be running a series of ‘Let’s Talk Local Offer Website Sessions.’

These are new for the upcoming academic year.

When are the Autumn Term sessions?

Starting your SEND Journey: Tuesday 13th September 2022

Barnsley Town Hall @ 12:30 - 1:30pm or Online Microsoft Teams 6 – 7pm

Disabled Children’s Register : Tuesday 8th November 2022

Barnsley Market Kitchen @ 11:00 – 12:00pm or Online Microsoft Teams 6 – 7pm

When are the Spring Term Sessions

Childcare for a child with SEND: Tuesday 14th March 2023

Barnsley Townhall @ 11:00 – 12:00pm or Online Microsoft Teams 6 – 7pm

To find out more and book your place email infofis@barnsley.gov.uk

The Education Inclusion Service are creating a series of workshops to support the parent carers of teenagers with an autism diagnosis.

They would like to hear about your lived experience, and ask you to provide feedback on the workshops once they have been developed.

Join us at our group session

Wednesday 22 March, 1.15pm - 2.30pm in the Tesco

Community Room within Tesco Extra at Stairfoot (Wombwell Lane, S70 3NS).

This session is an opportunity to meet and chat with

other families and share your thoughts and experiences

with our friendly team.

To book a place please Email

melaniebooth@barnsley.gov.uk

Alternatively, you can share your thoughts by completing our survey

Help produce the post-16 offer for young people with SEND at our family information session.

From October until November last year, we delivered a post-16 education consultation for young people with education, health and care plans. Following on from this, we are co-producing the post-16 offer across education, health and care.

You can find out more about this work in item 177 of the cabinet report.

We'd like to invite families to our information session, so you can learn more about this important piece of work, and share your views and opinions. Join us on Tuesday 21 February 2023 at the Barnsley Town Hall, in meeting room 2, from 10am to 11.30am.

In Barnsley we want to make sure young people with special educational needs and disabilities are prepared for adulthood and are able to:

Stay well and healthy
Be a part of the community and have friendships
Achieve paid employment
Live independently and have housing options

Some students with SEND may be on study programmes focused on helping them achieve stretching qualifications. Others may be more suited to a traineeship, supported internship or other study programme that helps them prepare for employment and adult life.

We are opening a consultation about the hours of education for learners over 16 (p16) who have SEND at the EHCP level, and what that should look like.

Why are we doing the consultation?

There’s around 550 young people over 16 with an EHCP in Barnsley, and we are at a point where we need to review the way in which we approach p16 education so that we can:

Make sure the way we allocate funding for p16 learners is fair, simple, consistent, transparent, and helps us to plan how we meet the needs of the increasing number of young people with SEND within the resources available.
Make sure that we are meeting the needs of all learners here in Barnsley.
Keep delivering on the priorities outlined in the SEND strategy and SEND Improvement Programme.

Your responses will help us to shape the future model for p16 learners.

What happens at the moment?

At the moment hours vary from 16 hours up to 25 hours of education, depending on where learners attend and not necessarily their needs.

What are the options?

Option A: Continue with the current way of allocating p16 placements.

Option B: Move to a three-day week across all p16 providers, with the option for more hours if needed. More hours will be determined through a local authority decision making panel. This will depend on the needs of the learner and not the setting type.

How do I share my views?

We want to make it as easy as we can for you to share your views.

You can either come to one of our face-to-face drop-in sessions:

Tuesday 11 October, 9.30am-12.30pm, in Barnsley Town Hall (meeting room 1)
Monday 17 October, 3pm-6pm, at Greenacre
Friday 21 October, 9am-12pm, at Dearne Family Centre, Billingley View, Bolton-on-Dearne
Tuesday 1 November, 11am-2pm, at Athersley Family Centre, Lindhurst Road, Athersley North

Or complete the online survey before Friday 4th November.

You can ring 01226 773966 for any queries and if you need to request a paper or braille copy of the survey and/or consultation.

You can also contact the SEND service on SEESupport@barnsley.gov.uk.

Outcomes of the consultation will be published in December 2022 and will be available on the Local Offer and Council website, as well as social media.

Opening date: Friday 7 October

Closing date: Friday 4 November

The EHC Team have some spaces to join their Parent/Carer Discussion Group.

The EHC Parent/Carer Discussion Group meets at least once a half term on Wednesday mornings at the Ozone.

It's a chance to:

Meet senior staff within the EHC Team
Influence decisions
Co-produce information and guidance related to the service

They are informal, friendly and members are able to share ideas in a safe environment.

Please email the EHCTeam@barnsley.gov.uk if you would to get involved or if you have any further questions.

If your child attends a Short Break or other Targeted Youth Support SEND session you are invited to our informal coffee morning we meet twice a half term supported by the LDD co-ordinator for Targeted Youth Support.

We are a well established group and we are always looking for new members, the group offers parents and carers the opportunity to access peer support and information as well as the chance to feed into participation and co-production opportunities.

For more information including how to join email; PaulaTM@barnsley.gov.uk

Does your child or young person have a vision need?.

Would you like the chance to shape decisions about vision services?

The Participation Officer and wider vision service host an open session with parent carers, once a term.

It's a new opportunity for this year and will be developed as it grows, we really want to hear the voices of parents and carers of children and young people with vision needs.

If you would like more information, including about when and where the next session will be held, email alextaylor@barnsley.gov.uk

Co-production	Working together on something
Quality assurance	Making sure something is good quality
Participation	Joining in with something, taking part