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Inside Summer’s Issue:

• Early Support

Pilot Project • Drop-In Sessions • Meet Ivy’s Family • Parent Support

Groups

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Parent Partnership Service

The service is hosted by Family Action in the voluntary sector and is funded by

Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council

Partnership Matters

Partnership Matters No: 41 Summer 2009

Disclaimer: Parent Partnership Service cannot take responsibility for the accuracy of information provided by external agencies, although we do our best to ensure that all information is as accurate as possible.

Edwina Cosgrove Parent Partnership Officer Scott Smith Deputy Parent Partnership Officer Carol Greaves Helpline Advisor Ruth Iveson Temporary Volunteer Support Worker (Part-time) Wendy Storrs Volunteer Support Worker Helene Torr Partnership Development Officer (Part-time) Noreen Sheikh Asian Support Worker (Part-time) Bill Connor Exclusions Worker Deb Jones Cool Kids Worker (Part-time) Amanda Fletcher Senior Admin Assistant Lorraine Fitzpatrick Admin Assistant

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Editorial

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Planning and developing services for families is very much in the air, with new services being commissioned through the Aiming High for Disabled Children agenda and new family support staff appointments. One parent’s perspective on interviewing for social work posts is on page 6. Parents have also been part of the tender interview panels in Nottinghamshire, listening to pitches from a range of organisations and deciding which ones can best be trusted to deliver the goods. This is a highly exacting and responsible task – Mandy, a parent of a young son with ASD, sat on a tender panel which looked at 15 organisations over a three-day period. She tries to keep well-informed about services which could support her son and family but says she was quite shocked to see how little she knew of some of the organisations, especially one of which she is a member! Clearly the new Information Service (IRIS) is desperately needed! Although one parent commented “I can’t believe how much is happening for us over the summer!”, we know that there are still families unaware of many of the activities on offer. The planned launch for IRIS will be in October, appropriately during Families Week – and we will try to ensure that everyone who needs to know, does know! Have a good summer and enjoy whatever sunshine is to be had!

With Best Wishes Edwina Cosgrove

Parent Partnership Officer

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Many of you will be familiar with the booklet ‘Finding Your Way’, which contains so much useful information for families with a disabled child – about national and local statutory services and agencies (education, health, social care), voluntary and private sector organisations, charities and self-help groups. It is prepared and published by Lyn Nixon and Joyce Judson, Information Officers at the Children’s Centre, City Hospital Nottingham. Over the summer, the remaining staff and some volunteers from the now closed VPV Project will be working on an updated version of the booklet, to ensure that families continue to benefit from accurate information. If you know of a new group or service for families that you feel should be in ‘Finding Your Way’ but which is not currently listed there, please call Claire McCurdy on 0115 8533289 to suggest that it could be included; it would be helpful to provide contact details for the group or service so that a full entry can be prepared. The new version of ‘Finding Your Way’ should be in print early in 2010.

Hi. I’m Scott Smith and I’m the new Deputy Parent Partnership Officer. I started in June and I’m really happy to be working at the Parent Partnership Service!

A bit about me! I came to Nottingham from Kent in 2002. I have two daughters, Grace is four and Evie is two. I started my career in finance, working in the City of London, before moving to Nottingham and joining Nottinghamshire County Council. I then worked in the Voluntary Sector for Age Concern before coming to the Parent Partnership Service, so a bit of a varied career!! Everyone here has been fantastic in showing me the ropes, and I hope to help everyone in the team continue to provide a high level of service for parents.

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PPS is to host this pilot project over the next few months, which aims to extend the Early Years Keyworker model to County families with a child with severe and complex needs aged between 5 and 7 years old. This is a direct response to comments made during the SEN Review and the JAR inspection of 2008, where families who had been supported via a keyworker during their child’s pre-school years reported that they felt somewhat abandoned and insecure with the school-directed model of support once their child started full-time school. The national drive for early intervention where families are struggling to cope with a child’s disability underpins the aims of the pilot, which will target a relatively small group of families to explore some of the benefits and difficulties of providing holistic family-centred support for this older age-group. There will be four keyworkers within the project, one based with the Early Years team in Ollerton to support parents in Bassetlaw and three with PPS in Nottingham to support families in Mansfield/Ashfield, Rushcliffe and Newark. (Families in Broxtowe and Gedling with a child with a life-limiting condition can already call on support from the Barnardo’s Butterfly Project.) There will also be a Volunteer Co-ordinator, working with the group of volunteers transferred from the Family Action Volunteers for Parents’ Voices Project, which operated alongside PPS for much of last year to provide holistic support to families in and around Nottingham. Parents will be referred to the pilot project by health or education professionals and will be assigned a keyworker to help them access and co-ordinate services around the family. The project will be evaluated in the spring of 2010. We have now appointed all staff and are awaiting CRB clearance in preparation for taking up their posts. We will be setting up some volunteer training to draw in new volunteers for the project as soon as possible and, in short, the whole thing is beginning to feel a sense of gathering momentum. Exciting times!

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Achievement or Attainment –

how best to measure progress? The Nottingham City Complex Needs Strategy Group research project kicked off at the PPS Information Day in June, with parents invited to comment on a number of issues around measurement of children’s progress. There were many revealing and sometimes surprising comments made! Here are the results of the questions we asked:

• 8 parents of children with significant and complex needs participated

• All were aware of National Curriculum levels and felt they understood how they were used to chart children’s progress.

• 5 had heard of P levels and PIVATS; 3 had not • None of the parents felt they understood how P levels and

PIVATS are used to measure children’s progress. Our plans to hold an event in the early part of the summer term did not quite come to fruition, but this has been postponed rather than cancelled! We now have a date and time set for this event (7th October 6.30pm), venue to be confirmed. Invitations will be sent out to all Nottingham City parents on our mailing list, and the event will be open to all City parents of children with SEN. It will also be advertised on our website www.ppsnotts.org.uk and information will be available in schools. There will be a survey on the website for parents unable to attend the event. PPS staff and Jackie Dearden, from Nottingham’s Educational Psychology Service, will be facilitating the event and we look forward to meeting lots of parents during the evening. Bring along some bright ideas on what parents think are important issues when measuring children’s progress.

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Interviewing the Social Workers………………….for a change A parent’s experience

Imagine this conversation – “Jane, we know you’re a busy parent of three children, each with an identified Special Educational Need. We’d like you to join an interview panel for new social workers for Nottingham City Council’s Disabled Children’s Team. Are you interested?” Oh, and they’d pay for childcare.

Given the wait that many families experience for a Social work Assessment from the DCT, it would be disingenuous to say that I was not surprised. Often represented by the disembodied voice at the end of the line, or the never-the-same-twice Duty Social Worker, it’s easy to demonise a whole department. Better the devil you know perhaps – or knowledge is power? The latter, in my case.

Social Workers don’t need high profile cases (Baby P, Victoria Climbie) to sully their reputation. They earn less than teachers, and a high staff turnover, often due to stress, can make them seem inconsistent. Caseloads are high, yet each ‘case’ (you and me) is fundamentally crucial. It’s easy to see how tragedies happen.

So, for a few hot days in July, I sat on a panel in the Mary Potter Centre with two Senior Social Workers and a Senior Administrator. There was a great deal of weak coffee involved, and a surprising amount of paperwork. We all read each candidate’s application form. They each had a deceptively informal 45 minute interview, during which we all asked two questions, and then had to complete a 30 minute written test. Each task was marked subject to assessment criteria, discussed between us and modified. We then had to write up and recommend whether each candidate was appointable.

It was slightly daunting, particularly grappling with the assessment matrix. Everyone was very helpful, however, and happily explained any aspect of the process. It was an eye-opener to see just how much training and retraining Social Workers have to do. The thoroughness of the process was reassuring, particularly when you worry that you might be slipping through the gaps.

Despite being the representative Nottingham City ‘parent’, I never felt that my presence was just nominal. It really is important to get involved in shaping services to match our needs. Knowledge, if not power, is certainly demystifying and, if you can bear the coffee, I’d definitely recommend the experience.

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There are a number of expectations placed upon Councils as part of the Aiming High for Disabled Children agenda. Among these is the requirement to provide an information service specifically for parents/carers of children with disabilities and to maintain a database of those children and families in order to be proactive in keeping them informed about services which might be of benefit to them. We already know how difficult it is to ensure that families get to hear what is available to them. Family Action, England’s leading family charity which has existed since 1869 to provide family support, has been commissioned to provide this information service in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and began planning the work in April. Two project staff are being recruited and the aim is for them to be in post by September. Parents have already been involved in planning the scope and structure of the project, and in the commissioning process which led to the appointment of Family Action to take the lead role. The aim is give parents/carers real influence and control over the way in which the service is developed and delivered in order to make sure that it best meets their needs. Over the next few months Family Action will be contacting as many parents as possible across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to invite them to take part in this work – there will be different ways of being involved to take into account the different amounts of time parents may wish to give. If you feel you would like to be involved in this exciting and important new development, please call Edwina Cosgrove on 0115 9482888 or email edwina.cosgrove@ppsnotts.org.uk and pass on your contact details so that, once they are in post, the project staff can get in touch with you to talk about how you can be involved in this work.

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DROP-IN SESSIONS FOR PARENTS

All Drop In Sessions are held during term time only.

Come along and drop in at one of our venues:

KIRKBY-IN-ASHFIELD Held in conjunction with SMILE, 9.00 - 11.30 a.m.

MANSFIELD 11th & 25th September 16th & 30th October 13th & 27th November

11th December

9.30 - 11.30 a.m. at APTCOO, Botany Avenue, Mansfield, NG18 5NF

To make an appointment or for more information call: 0115 9482888 or email: enquiries@ppsnotts.org.uk

Bracken Hill School Morven Park School Coxmoor School 10th September

8th October 5th November 10th December

16th September 14th October

11th November

24th September 22nd October

19th November

Remember to keep us up to date….. We send our newsletter out three times every year, and each time several copies are returned to us as ‘not known at this address’. If you are moving or have moved recently could you contact us to make sure we have your correct details? If you know of other people that might be interested in receiving our newsletter, please let them see your copy and suggest they call or e-mail us to be placed on our mailing list.

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The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been set up to help implement the new Vetting and Barring Scheme, designed to ensure that 'unsuitable people' are prevented from working or volunteering around children or vulnerable adults.

The system is being introduced from October 2009; new employees (including those moving jobs) and volunteers can register from July 2010 (according to information on the ISA website, a fee of £64 is payable by the employee, but registration is free for volunteers). From November 2010 all new employees and volunteers must be ISA registered. From then on it will be illegal to employ people who are not ISA-registered. CRB disclosures will continue to be used as at present. It seems that you only need to register as a new employee/volunteer; for now, if you remain in your current post you don't need to register. Once you have registered that's it; employers can check the status of an individual online for free at any time, and can opt to be informed if an employee's ISA status changes.

You might find this website useful: www.isa-gov.org.uk

Mailing Lists

We usually send you this newsletter if you‘ve agreed to go on our mailing list following your first contact with Parent Partnership Service. Our policy is that parents will no longer receive our newsletter once their young person has left maintained education whether that be at 16 or 19. If your young person is over this age or coming up to this age this academic year please contact us as we are happy to keep you on our mailing list with your consent. If you have several children you will continue to receive the newsletter until your youngest child, known to us, reaches 16.

Please call Lorraine on Tel: 0115 9482888 to arrange to continue receiving our newsletter.

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This is part of the parent participation programme and the short breaks pathfinder. Who are we and what do we do? Representatives from parent support groups throughout the County:

▪ Indigo Kids ▪ Smile Ashfield ▪ Debz for Coffee ▪ Special Kids Nottingham ▪ Mums of ASD Kids ▪ Mansfield and District Autism Support Group ▪ Rushcliffe Parents Group ▪ Mapperley Plains Parents Group

We work together as group mentors, empowering parents and encouraging parent participation in service planning and decision making processes. We work as parental representatives on short break task groups and feed back to those groups.

▪ Complex health needs ▪ Play and holiday activities ▪ Challenging behaviour ▪ Eligibility and pathways ▪ BME groups

Throughout 2009 to March 2010 we will be organising the following:

▪ Two parent-led information days in Rushcliffe and Ashfield ▪ Empowerment training for parents ▪ Visits to other County support groups ▪ 5 leisure activities for families in conjunction with the City parents’

forum

For more information about how to get involved please contact: Helene Torr on Tel: 0115 948 2888

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September. Beginning of the new term, and my son has just started in his post-16 placement at a new special school (his previous school didn’t have any post-16 provision). We were both a little anxious; he was beside himself in case the IT side of things wasn’t good enough for him (ie whether he could spend lots of time on the computer), while I was just, well just anxious. He has ASD, severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviour; although he’s quite chatty his words are poorly enunciated and he finds it hard to communicate his needs even to those who are familiar with his verbal idiosyncracies. Been there two days and he arrives home via the school mini-bus, all glowing and full of it. We embark on the standard mum-to-son-just-got-home-from-school conversation: “Anything nice happen today?” “Been on computer! Looking at females!!” He’s bouncing up and down, clearly got a lot out of that particular activity……… Er………looking at females?? What kind of place is it?? Don’t panic, keep exploring, find out exactly what he’s been up to……..then get on the phone to the Director of Children’s Services, Minister for Schools, Queen…… “Oh, er, pictures of ladies or girls?? Ladies with nice clothes on??” Don’t even think about the alternatives to ‘nice clothes on’. He looks a bit puzzled and shakes his head, wanders off; clearly I haven’t quite hit the mark here. Two minutes later he’s back, all eager again, waving a leaflet that had been put through the door advertising a new takeaway joint. “Look! Look! Females!!” He points to the email address on the leaflet, waving it in my face to make sure I get it. “(F)emails!!!”

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Well hello everyone out there. Let me introduce myself and my brood. My name is Ivy and I live here with husband Dhill, Lilly 17+, Sage 11+ and our A.S.B.O. dog - Asbo. Welcome to my family!

Dhill works all hours he can muster, takes more vitamins and potions than you can shake a stick at and is always poorly! He does acknowledge he is the poorliest person he knows - a rare quality in a man, I’m led to believe!!!!

Lilly is almost 18 and has a list of diagnoses including Autistic Spectrum Disorder and is the wellest person I know. Lilly is a source of great delight and joy with the odd sandwich of frustration thrown in.

Sage is almost 12 going on 19, where do those years go? A constant frustration sandwich here but with the extra filling of fun, humour and a touch of mustard!

Asbo is our beloved dog. He really needs a new name now as he is well behaved apart from, of course, the times he isn’t. He is scared of carrier bags, but only when they are 20 feet away, birds and truly believes that rabbit - that one over there, is his sandwich for tea. His eyes truly show his daily disappointment when he only nearly catches it - ah bless!

I was chatting with our Sage the other day and one of her usual dilemma-like questions came about, “Why doesn’t Jimmy Choo make shoes in a size 1?” As always an almost unanswerable question for this tired Mum. She continued, “Can I have a pair in a size 4 to grow into?” Of course to a 12 almost 19 year old my answer of “no” was

not appreciated. “But why?” I was asked. “Because it’s unreasonable, expensive, your feet may never fit into them and they may go out of fashion - oh and you can’t wear high heels to school”, I feebly concluded.

Sage did her fantastic OSCAR winning grumbling routine and expressed her dissatisfaction - “But Mum, you wear heels to work, why can’t I wear them to school; it’s not, fair what about my Equal Opportunities?

More to follow in the next edition of Partnership Matters.

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Hello and welcome to Cool Kids update. Cool Kids have been working on a mix of activities - these are just a few. • talking to Gavin who was a Para Olympian about what it takes to compete. • trying Boccia and curling with Bob at our Sports Taster Session. • visiting Trent FM to see how a radio station works and asking questions

about how many listeners they have. • making a DVD for the new intern doctors at City hospital to show what

it’s like for children and young people with additional needs when they have an appointment.

• drumming with Biant at an Editorial Board meeting. We learned how to

play - the rhythms help express your feelings and it relaxes you. • planning our summer activities and organising a Cool Kids Talent Night for

September. • putting the finishing touches to our Places we Like to Visit Directory

2009. We have said goodbye to some members and welcomed some new ones.

If you would like to know more about Cool Kids why not visit our website: www.cool-kids.org.uk or contact Deb Jones, Cool Kids Development Worker on Tel: 0115 9482888 or Mobile: 0775 3625414.

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VPV has achieved the Investing in Volunteers Standards Award, which is a national recognition of the value an organisation places on its volunteers. Organisations are assessed by an external assessor against criteria such as volunteer support and development, recruitment, involvement with service planning etc.

We would like to thank everyone involved in gaining this award, particularly Claire McCurdy, the previous VPV Co-ordinator, and Ruth Jobs, who took over from Claire when VPV moved alongside PPS. Thanks must also go to Julie Jackson and Linda Wain for their sterling work in organising this celebration.

On the 4th June, we held an event at the Country Cottage Hotel in Ruddington to mark this occasion. VPV is moving towards final closure in August so this was a great way to round off the project. Volunteers from VPV are moving to the Early Support Pilot (see page 4 for more information).

I n f o r m a t i o n B o a r d

DCATCH – Disabled Children’s Access To Childcare, part of the Aiming High for Disabled children agenda.

For working parents with a child with a disability whose needs cannot be accommodated within standard childcare arrangements. Nottinghamshire is a Pathfinder for DCATCH - the aim is to increase appropriate care options substantially over the next two years.

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NOTTINGHAM CITY AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE PARENT SUPPORT GROUPS

For parents and carers of children and young people with additional needs

ALLSORTS – For pre-school children with additional needs. Meets at West Bridgford Methodist Church, Musters Road on 3rd Thursday of the month 9.30 – 11.30 am. Contact: Jo Cloughley – 0115 854 6344 or Tess – 07811 251658

APTCOO (A Place to Call Our Own) – One stop resource centre for disabled children and young people. Unit 15, Botany Avenue, Mansfield Notts NG18 5NF. Tel: 01623 629902 or E-mail: enquiries@aptcoo.co.uk

BREATH OF FRESH AIR – for parents and carers of children with ASD. Meets Tuesdays 10.00 am -12.00 pm at Parkgate Community Centre, Nobel Road, Clifton NG11 8RX. Tel: 0115 9148646 Tracey Cooke or E-mail: tracey_cooke@ntlworld.co.uk

DEBZ 4 COFFEE - For parents and carers of children with additional needs. The Debz4coffee group meets at the Waggon and Horses on Mansfield Road in Arnold from 10.00 am - 12.00 pm on most Mondays. Contact Deb Huthwaite on dpsgroup@hotmail.com or Mobile: 07598 317145

EXPLORING TOGETHER - A play session for parents of, and children with, any additional need. Sessions are held at the Gedling View Family Centre, Church Lane, Gedling. 9.15 am – 11.00 am every Thursday. Contact Fran Brown on Tel: 0115 961 8898

INDIGO KIDS - For parents and carers of children with additional needs in the Hucknall area. Meets Thursdays in the morning at High Leys Children’s Centre. Contact: indigokids@live.com

FRIENDS TOGETHER (Worksop) - Bassetlaw Project for children with addi-tional needs. Many excellent activities for parents and children. Contact Dianne Edwards. E-mail: Dianne.edwards@bassetlaw-pct.nhs.uk or Mobile: 07974 673214

MANSFIELD AND DISTRICT AUTISM SUPPORT GROUP - Meets at Harwood Court, Sutton in Ashfield. 1st Monday of the month plus leisure ses-sions on various Sundays. Contact Jane Eaton-Hill Jane.eaton-hill.1@ntlworld.com

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THE MAZE (Arnold) - For parents of children on the autistic spectrum. 28a High Street, Arnold, Nottingham. Tel: 0115 920 5800 or E-mail: www.themazegroup.org MUMS OF ASD KIDS - Meet socially every 6 weeks in Carlton (for mums, carers of children with autism/asperger’s syndrome). Contact Helene on 07904 356280. Part of Special Kids Nottingham specialkids@btconnect.com Website: www.specialkidsnottingham.org.uk NOTTINGHAM CITY AUTISM PARENTS GROUP - Meets twice a term at the Children’s Centre, Nottingham City Hospital. Tel: 0115 915 0718 RAINBOW GROUP - Meets one Saturday afternoon per month in the Children’s Centre, City Hospital, Hucknall Road, Nottingham. For families with a child with a disability - parents must remain on the premises but there is a supervised play session for children. Contact Edwina Cosgrove on Tel: 0115 948 2888 for details. RUSH - Support Group for families with a child with attention deficit disorder. Meets first Monday of the month 10.00 am – 12.00 pm term time only at Radford Sure Start Children's Centre, Southwold Primary School, Kennington Road, Radford, Nottingham, NG8 1QD. An evening group is also in the process of being arranged, please contact for further details. Jo Hollis Smith, Mon – Fri 9.00 am – 5.00 pm, Mobile: 07881 654663. RUSHCLIFFE PARENTS - For parents, carers or individuals working with/ caring for those with autism. Meets first Monday of the month 7.00 – 9.00 pm, 169 Melton Road, West Bridgford. Contact Paula Webb on Tel: 0115 914 9757 or Linda Jones Mobile: 07974 675389. SMILE (Special Needs Information and Resource Group) - Meets in Kirkby-in-Ashfield on Wednesdays. Contact Bev Sinclair on Tel: 01623 469168 or Alison Dowsing on Mobile: 07500 803805. SPECIAL KIDS NOTTINGHAM - Online support for families with children with special needs www.specialkidsnottingham.org.uk

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Why not draw your own Summer picture?

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WORKING FAMILIES - WAVING NOT DROWNING PROJECT Working Families is celebrating its 30th Anniversary. This organisation was set up to support parents of disabled children who wanted to work. 12 years ago two parents of disabled children realised that parents like themselves didn’t seem to have moved on in the way other parents had. The Waving Not Drowning project was set up, initially for two years, with a brief to produce a newsletter, a contact directory, a handbook and run a conference. This project is still going with over 2,000 parents receiving the free newsletter. Working Families hear from many parents who can’t find appropriate childcare for their disabled children and employees who need their employers to be more flexible about allowing them the time to take their children to routine appointments. If you are a parent of a disabled child who works or who wants to get back into work and needs advice, contact the Freephone Helpline on Tel: 0800 013 0313, 10.00 – 3.30 weekdays. There is also a website : www.workingfamilies.org.uk. FACTSHEETS - Working Families’ Factsheets have recently been revised. They have factsheets on a range of topics relating to combining paid work and caring, including Flexible Working, Time-Off, In-Work Benefits and Childcare for Disabled Children. FLEXIBLE WORKING - The right to request flexible working was extended from 6 April 2009. The following people now have the right to ask to change their hours, work from home etc: • Parents of children under 17 • Parents of disabled children under 18 (who get DLA) • Carers of adults (18 and over) Ring the helpline for the procedure you and your employer have to follow and what to do if your request is turned down. The information above has been taken from the Waving Not Drowning Summer 2009 newsletter produced by Working Families.

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AIMING HIGH FOR DISABLED CHILDREN PARENT PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME

As part of the Parent Participation Programme, there are some fun and leisure activities for families with children with additional needs being organised over the next 5 school terms. In order to assess the numbers attending we are asking that parents tick their preferences from the activities below and return to the address below as soon as possible. This is just provisional, it does not indicate a commitment to attend at this time or a guarantee that we will be able to allocate everyone a place.

• Siblings are welcome at all events • Upon booking, a deposit of £3 per child will be applicable which will be returned upon attendance at the event – details to follow. The events themselves are FREE.

• Parents/carers are responsible for their children at all times

Please complete and return to:

Helene Torr c/o Parent Partnership Service

Clarendon Chambers 32 Clarendon Street

Nottingham, NG1 5NN

Provisional Date Activity No of Children 27 September 2009 7.00 – 8.00 pm

Swimming at Watermeadows, Mansfield (we are hiring out the whole pool)

w/c 26 October 2009 Visit to White Post Farm, Farnsfield w/c 15 February 2010 Ten Pin Bowling Nottingham or Mansfield

Parent/Carer Name

Address

Email

Names, ages and nature of disability of children attending