Our Voice and SENDIASS held two videoconference sessions on 20th and 21st October, to give parents and carers of children in or close to year 6 to discuss the options and the process for transfer to Secondary schools. For those children with an EHCP, the deadline is 23rd October, and for all other children, it will be 31st October. 

You can see the presentation from our session here. and the Q&A here.

Resources for supporting your child during the transition

The following information may be useful in supporting your child during the transition to secondary school: 

For children and young people: 

Tips for pupils starting secondary school - an easy read guide for children and young people developed by The Foundation for people with learning disabilities, with University of Nottingham and University of Cambridge. 

Things I could say to start a conversation when making friends - a useful list from SENDIASS

For parents and carers 

Suggestions for families - a guide for parents and carers on how to support children with SEND during the secondary transfer - developed by The Foundation for people with learning disabilities, with University of Nottingham and University of Cambridge. 

Secondary transfer guide from the Enfield Advisory Service for Autism - a guide to supporting children with Autism during the transfer. 

Suggestions for supporting pupils - this is a guide aimed at teachers but which you may find useful (or wish to bring to the attention of your child's school) - it is developed by he Foundation for people with learning disabilities, with University of Nottingham and University of Cambridge. 

We are holding an important videoconference in conjunction with SENDIASS looking at the transfer to secondary school, for the parents of children who are currently in year 6. 

There will be two sessions: 

Tuesday 20th October 10.30 am to 12 noon - book here

Wednesday 21st October - 12.30 pm to 2 pm - book here

These are for parents who want more information on choosing a secondary school for children with additional needs and expressing your preferences for children who have an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan). 

We will discuss the process, how you can get information about secondary schools and what to look out for when making decisions. 

For more information see our flyer.

We are aware that parents/carers of children with an EHCP need to submit their forms by Friday 23rd October. If you are unsure of the process or need some guidance we strongly urge you to attend these information sessions to help you make informed choices. 

The October to December newsletter from the Enfield Carers Centre is available here. 

Our latest newsletter is out now, with news on all that Our Voice has been doing to support families over the last six months and updates from the Local Authority. 

Read the newsletter here. 

Ofsted will be visiting Enfield in October to look at how children with SEND have been supported during Covid. It is really important that they should hear from parents/carers and young people at this time. 

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey here. If you have a child/young person aged 16-25 please ask them to complete the separate survey here. 

The deadline for response is 7th October 2020. 

Please click here to view the Personal Budget Travel Assistance options available if your child or young person is eligible for Travel Assistance

Useful information on Coronavirus is available in a range of languages.

General guidance on Coronavirus is available in the following languages: 

Albanian      Arabic         Bengali         Dari         English        Farsi       French

Hindi       Kurdish         Mandarin        Pashto      Portuguese        Spanish

Turkish       Urdu             Vietnamese

Talking to your child about Coronovirus - this useful explanation tool is aimed at younger children and is available in English, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Portugese Brazilian, French, Polish, Hebrew, Indonesian, German, Turkish, Russian, Egyptian Arabic, Arabic, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Danish, Serbian and Welsh.  

Information in Turkish and Somali on supporting your child and your own mental wellbeing during the pandemic. 

Our Voice worked with Enfield Educational Psychology service and Mental Health Support teams to produce a set of six videos to help you create a sense of safety, calm, control, connectedness and hope in your child, and to look after your own wellbeing during this pandemic. A summary of each video is available in Turkish and Somali. For more information and to view the videos and summaries see our website here.

Our Voice has been working with Enfield's Educational Psychology Service and Mental Health Support team to produce a series of six videos for parent carers. The videos aim to support parents in creating a sense of safety, calm, connectedness, control and hope for their children. The sixth video is about how we can look after ourselves as parents and carers. 

The videos are all short - between 5 and 10 minutes because we know that most parent-carers rarely get enough time to themselves! 

All six videos are produced by Enfield's Educational Psychology Service and Mental Health Support team in partnership with Our Voice. We hope you find them useful! 

Additional resources to support all the videos can be found on the Local Offer

Creating a sense of safety - see the video here. 

This video aims to help parents think about how to help their children feel a sense of safety during the pandemic.  You can also see a summary in English, Turkish or Somali. 

The video refers to a book explaining Coronavirus designed specifically for primary school children, the Blob guide to Social distancing and a suggested safe place meditation. 

Creating a sense of calm - see the video here

This video aims to help parents think about how to help their children feel a sense of calm during the pandemic. You can see a summary in English, Turkish or Somali. 

The video makes reference to Coronavirus: a book for children, Mencap Easy Read information, Carol Gray's social story about coronavirus, safe space visualisation, Drop the anchor exercise, progressive muscle relaxation, seated yoga and Cosmic Kids Yoga. 

Creating a sense of connectedness - see the video here

This video aims to parents think about how to help their children feel a sense of connectedness during the pandemic. You can see a summary in English, Turkish and Somali. 

The video makes reference to 'While we can't hug' and 'The Invisible String'. 

Creating a sense of control - see the video here

This video aims to parents think about how to help their children feel a sense of control during the pandemic. You can see a summary in English, Turkish and Somali

Creating a sense of hope - see the video here

This video aims to parents think about how to help their children feel a sense of control during the pandemic. You can see a summary in English, Turkish and Somali 

Looking after ourselves - see the video here

This video aims to parents think about how to look after their own well-being during the pandemic. You can see a summary in English, Turkish and Somali 

The video makes reference to the 30-3-30 wellbeing plan and Wellbeing plan from Learn4Mental Health. 

Introducing the Summer Support Pack for the Parents and Carers of children and young people with SEND. 

We know that this has been an exceptionally difficult time for many parents and carers, and that the summer is likely to continue to be challenging for many of us. 

Our Voice has worked with SENDIASS, with contributions from the Enfield Thrives partnership, to produce a support pack with information about events being run by the voluntary sector, support and services from the Local Authority and Health services and activities for families this summer. 

You can see the latest version of the pack here.

This pack will be updated as new events are announced, so do check back for the latest information.

There is currently a requirement for most people to wear face-coverings in shops as well as on public transport - see government guidance here.

However, there are exemptions to these rules including for children under 11, and those children and adults who are unable to wear a face-covering because of a physical or mental illness, impairment or disability, or if doing so will cause you severe distress, or if you are travelling with or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip-reading - see the government guidance here.

You may find it useful to carry a card explaining why you or your child cannot wear a mask, although there is no requirement for you to do so, and it is purely a matter of personal choice. You can see some options here which you can download for use, as well as an easy-read explanation of the guidance that might be useful e.g. when explaining the situation to a child or a young person with learning difficulties, or you can use the versions on the government website here. 

Our Voice is in regular discussions with the Local Authority and Health about how the provision is given and families are supported during this time. 

This page will be updated every few days with the latest developments. See our main Coronavirus news pages for a summary of advice over recent weeks: 

General Coronavirus news - a summary of recent developments and guidance as they impact on families of children and young people with SEND, living in the Borough of Enfield. 

Transition to homeschooling - advice on managing the change of routine, and some resources for home-schooling children with Special Needs and Disabilities  

Talking to children and young people about Coronavirus - Easy read guidance and story-boards. 

Advice in other languages

Anxiety and wellbeing - resources and support for parents and tools for children and young people.