Home / HPCI Member update 21 July 2023
Welcome to the last update of the academic year from HPCI, which reflects on the recent local area SEND inspection and also covers:
Local Area SEND Inspection
Last Friday (14th July) was the last day of the Ofsted / CQC local area SEND inspection. While the official judgement report won’t be published for a number of weeks, we are confident that the inspectors have heard very clearly the views and experiences of families. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to share their views, either via the Ofsted survey, through last Autumn’s HPCI survey, or directly with inspectors. We will keep you informed as soon as the report is published.
HPCI end of year update
As well as taking part in the recent inspection, HPCI has had a really busy year, gathering views and sharing these with local partners to help drive improvements for our children and young people. We’ve been running a series of updates via Facebook this week to tell you all about what we’ve done this year. If you’ve missed these, there is a summary on our website here.
Summer activities for children and young people with SEND
You may have seen the recent findings from Contact that showed that 9 out of 10 families have been unable to find a suitable holiday club for their disabled child this summer. If you are looking to find summer activities, you may want to have a look at the Local Offer activities page which is searchable by age, location etc. And if your child or young person is eligible for free school meals, you should have already received information about this summer’s HAPpy programme, which has some SEND specific sessions.
HCC Consultation on Family Centres
Hertfordshire County Council is currently asking for views on the future locations and service offer of the Family Support Service within Family Centres in Hertfordshire. The consultation should take about ten minutes to complete, and it closes on 10 October 2023. You can share your views here.
Consultation on how the new BSL GCSE will be assessed
This consultation sets out Ofqual’s proposals for how GCSEs in BSL should be assessed (rather than the content itself). It is open until 7 September and can be accessed here.
Making financial decisions for young people who lack capacity
The Ministry of Justice has recently published this toolkit for parents and carers, who may need to make financial decisions on behalf of young people from ages 14 to 25, who may lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.
Contacting HPCI over the summer
We’re here over the summer if you need us, but as we’re all parent carers our work does slow down. We know for some families the long holidays are a challenging time, so you can still visit our website, contact us via e-mail, phone or Facebook, send us your feedback or ask for signposting. We just might take a bit longer to get back to you than normal. We’ll be back at full speed in September!