HPCI Member update 23 July 2024

This is the last edition of the HPCI newsletter for this academic year.  We have had an incredibly busy year – if you would like to see a very short summary of what we’ve been doing, you can find out more here.

We hope that, whatever the summer looks like for your family, you’re able to find a little time to rest and enjoy some better weather 🤞

The articles in this newsletter have been grouped by subject and this edition includes:

  • Opportunities to provide feedback
  • Things to do
  • Support and Resources (including “The Road to Year 7” and “Looking Ahead” courses for 16-18 year olds)
  • Research on parent carer wellbeing

Providing Feedback

New youth councils for young people with SEND (aged 11-25)
Hertfordshire’s Services for Young People (SfYP) is setting up youth councils across the county for young people with SEND.  You might already be aware that SfYP already provides youth work projects exclusively for young people with SEND In addition to these, SfYP is now setting up youth councils specifically for young people with SEND aged 11-25.

This is a great opportunity for young people to be involved in shaping and improving the services that they receive, and having their voices heard by decision makers.  For more information about how your young person can get involved, you can read the article here.

Hertfordshire County Council Residents Survey
Hertfordshire County Council Online Residents Survey is available here and is open until 15 September 2024. This is a chance for you to feed in your thoughts about how the council can best support their residents and communities.  There is also an Easy Read version for those with SEND – you may want to encourage your young person to share their views.

Things to do

If you’re looking for things to do over the summer, there are lots of options available on the Local Offer page and also on the Herts Directory.  In addition, there are a couple of ideas below:

Discover Digital Summer Festival
Family Fund are running their free annual online Discover Digital summer festival, which starts on Tuesday 30 July. Tailored to disabled and seriously ill children and young people and their families, the festival offers friendly online sessions where you can learn new skills and socialize during the summer holidays.  With workshops ranging from exploring how to create fun animations, to making a vlog and mastering the power of coding, families can book as many sessions as they like. To register and find out more details, head to Family Fund’s website: www.familyfund.org.uk/discoverdigitalfestival

Colourscape at Cassiobury Park
Watford Borough Council is hosting Colourscape at Cassiobury Park from 17-26 August.  For those particularly sensitive to sound, on most days, the earlier and later slots have no music (please check booking pages for separate days in advance) and on 17 August, it is a ‘non performance, quiet day’.

Hertfordshire Music Service Inclusion Choir
Looking ahead to September, Hertfordshire Music Service’s Inclusion Choir is for anyone of any ability and caters for those with SEND and complex needs. Anyone can come and express their musical voice. Sessons are available from 20th September and contact details can be found here.

Support and Resources

Mental Health Support in Herts
The Sandbox is an online resource that provides mental health support for children and young people.  This summer, you might be particularly interested to read about resources to help young people who are changing school or moving to sixth form, college, university or perhaps starting a job.

The Road to Year 7
Also available is a new online group for all children in Year 6 who are on the “Road to Year 7” from Hertfordshire Mind Network’s With Youth Digital Wellbeing Service.  The group is free to join every Tuesday and Wednesday 4-5pm from 22 July. The Road to Year 7 group will help to build confidence around starting secondary school, by exploring related topics e.g. making new friendships and creating the toolkit to overcome any worries.  Find out more here.

Looking Ahead – for 16-18 year olds
In addition, there are “Looking Ahead” preparation workshops for 16–18-year-olds at the Herts Haven Cafe. The first workshop is on Wednesday 24 July 5-7pm, at the Herts Haven Cafe at the Stevenage Bowes Lyon Young People’s Centre.  More dates and locations for the workshops will follow.  Please email cyp@hertsmindnetwork.org if you would like more information and/or to attend.

NSPCC Guidance, Resources and Tools
The NSPCC has published new guidance, resources and tools for safeguarding children who have additional needs and disabilities.

Together For Short Lives and Make-A-Wish UK
From 1 July 2024 Together For Short Lives will be expanding their Family Support Hub offer thanks to their new partnership with Make-A-Wish UK, which gives seriously ill children the chance to do something extraordinary.  Referrals for wishes to Make-A-Wish UK will only be possible directly through the Family Support Hub – please contact them directly if you would like to refer a child on 0808 8088 100 or by emailing helpline@togetherforshortlives.org.uk

Asthma + Lung UK
The Asthma + Lung UK Parent Carer Support Network is a safe space for parents and carers of children with asthma (suspected or confirmed) to come together.  Monthly online meet ups are run for parents and carers and the Asthma + Lung UK nurse helpline team also provides resources and support. Further details are available at: Parent and Carer Support Network Events.

Affinity Hub
Affinity Hub signposts to emotional support for parents and carers of children with special needs and publishes a quarterly newsletter on research, information and services related to parent carer wellbeing.  You can sign up on the website here.

SEND Research

Results from the University of Birmingham Parent Carer Wellbeing Study
The University of Birmingham conducted a Parent Carer Wellbeing Study and the first findings from the survey have just been published.
The full paper and a summary can be found here (please note that the findings relate to suicide risk amongst parent carers and makes for difficult but important reading).

Thank you and have a good summer

Thank you for reading and thank you very much for being part of Herts Parent Carer Involvement.  As everyone at HPCI is a parent carer themselves, we will be slowing down a bit over the summer, as we focus on our caring responsibilities.  But do get in touch if you need to – it may just take a little longer for us to respond.  We will be back at full speed in September!