We are a term time only organisation and so we will be taking a break over the school holidays from 4th April until 22nd April.

This means that our emails will only occasionally be checked during this period, so it may be some time before we are able to reply to you. We will catch up on any outstanding messages after 22nd April.

If your query is urgent, you can call us on 07515 66215 and leave a message, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Please note this may still take two or three days.

You can also try the following sources of support and information in the meantime:

• Enfield’s Local Offer gives information about all the local support and services available to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and their families: https://www.enfield.gov.uk/services/children-and-education/local-offer
• The SEND Information Advice Support Service (SENDIASS) offers one-to-one information, advice and support for parents and carers – see here for details and contact information or call them on 0749 4280063.
• You can book Contact’s Family Support ‘listening ear’ 1:1 telephone support service with a family support adviser for parent carers looking for a listening ear, reassurance and practical and emotional support. You can make an appointment here.
• Telephone the CONTACT free helpline on 0808 808 3555 · Enfield’s Psychology Service has a helpline for parents – information and booking link here.

Our Voice are currently in the process of applying to become a Registered Charity (Charitable Incorporated Organisation or CIO).

We are seeking our first three trustees ready for our registration, and to help us ensure the good governance of our organisation once the registration has been completed.

Are you a passionate advocate for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and their families?

Do you want to play a pivotal role in helping our organisation to move forward as we become a registered charity?

Then we’d love to hear from you!

Please read our attached documents:

• Trustee Information Pack 
• Trustee Role Description
• Our Voice constitution (draft version)
• Who are Our Voice and what do we do? 

If you would like to apply to become one of the first three Our Voice trustees, please complete the attached application form  including a personal statement setting out why you are interested in the role, what skills and experience you bring, and any other relevant information, and email it to us at info@ourvoiceenfield.org.uk 

Please also see the  recruitment timeline. The deadline for applications is Tuesday 22^nd April.

Our Voice have been running a series of Positive Behaviour sessions between April 24 and April 25: 

• We have now completed all of our six Introduction to Positive Behaviour Support workshops but you can see the presentation from these sessions here. 
• You might also like to have a look at this video - on Supporting Children's Behaviour at Home. 
• Positive Behaviour support drop-in sessions where you can discuss individual questions relating to your child/young person's behaviour. The next session will take place on Friday 4th April - see the flyer. 
• Cheviots will be continuing the series of drop in sessions on Fridays 2nd May, 6th June and 4th July.   See the flyer for more details. 

Please note - it will normally be possible for Cheviots to provide creche facilities and/or a translator for any of these sessions. Please give as much notice as possible if you need either of these.  

The Learning Disabilities: Challenges and Choices in Carer and Accommodation conference takes place on Thursday 3rd April from 10 am to 4.30 pm at teh Woburn House Conference Centre in WC1. 

The session will look at care and accommodation for adults with severe learning disabilities, in terms of the legal, regulatory and academic frameworks, the experience of families and the perspective of care providers. 

Tickets for parent carers and other family members are £39 each including a hot buffet lunch and other refreshments. 

Whilst this is more expensive than most of the events we tell you about, the event does include some exceptional speakers including Professor Luke Clements and other well known speakers in this field. 

For details see the flyer here. 

If your child has an EHCP and is now in year 9 or above, it is important to start thinking about what will happen when they get to the age of 16 and become legally responsible for making their own decisions, and perhaps start to think about their future in terms of getting a job or living more independently. We know that this can be a worrying time for parents and carers, and it is important to start thinking about the transition as early as possible so that you will be well-informed and ready to support your young person through the changes.

The Local Authority's Preparing for Adulthood booklet is a key document to help you understand the process and support. You can see this booklet on the Local Offer here and there is an easy-read booklet here and additional information about the process here

We recommend that you should attend as many of the Preparing for Adulthood online events as you can. It is worth starting as soon as possible and you may wish to repeat some of the sessions over the next few years.

Preparing for Adulthood events

Full details of the Preparing for Adulthood sessions are available here.

The next sessions will be:

Day services

Date: Thursday 27 March 2025
Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

This event will help you understand the following:

• What are Day Services and how you access and pay for them.
• Where do you find out about the different providers and their programme of activities?
• How will attending a Day Service benefit my young person?

The session will be at the Integrated Learning Disability Service
Carnegie Building
258a Hertford Road
Enfield
EN3 5BN

Getting a job

Date: Friday 2 May 2025
Time: 10:30am to 1pm

Find out about:

• SEND Careers
• Supported Internships
• College courses
• Equals Employment Service

The session will be at the Integrated Learning Disability Service
Carnegie Building
258a Hertford Road
Enfield
EN3 5BN

These events are part of a series about different aspects of the Preparing for Adulthood process. If you have been unable to attend a session, the presentations will be added to the Local Offer Preparing for Adulthood page here shortly after each session. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see links to each presentation. 

Sessions are held online or at the Integrated Learning Disability Service, Carnegie Building, 258a Hertford Road, Enfield, EN3 5BN. 

Drop in sessions

On the first Friday of every month, parents and carers of young people aged 16 and over can join the monthly drop-in sessions 10 am - 12 pm at the Integrated Learning Disability Service in Hertford Road, where you can talk to a member of the ILDS team, and Jane Richards from Families in Transition to Adulthood. More information on the flyer here. The next session will be Friday 4th April. If you would like to attend please book an appointment by noon on the previous day. If this day does not work for you, please contact Jane to discuss an alternative timing.

You are welcome to bring your young person along with you. 

The Local Authority has just released its booklet for SEND and inclusive holiday playschemes for Easter 25. 

This will be added to Enfield's Local Offer for SEND shortly, but in the meantime, you can view it here. 

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES AND FOOD PROGRAMME (HAF) – EASTER 2025

The DfE funded HAF programme is running in Enfield between 7th – 17th April 2025

Children from reception to year 11, in receipt of benefits related free school meals can receive up to 4 days of FREE fun and food across Enfield. Each day will include a nutritious hot meal, snacks and a selection of activities ranging from basketball and dodgeball to first aid and cooking. The overall programme is not SEND -specific, but there is some SEND provision within it. 

You can see information about the programme in the poster and the brochure. 

The full programme is at https://traded.enfield.gov.uk/news/2025/mar/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-haf-enfield-easter-2025

For more information please email HAF@enfield.gov.uk

Our Neurodiversity Parent Information and Networking event took place on 5th March 2025. 

You can see all the presentations from the event here and the slides from the Neurodiversity Team Pathway here.

Additional information:  

• Information about Ordinarily Available Provision including a version of the information for parents and carers can be found here. 
• EASA website - https://www.enfieldasa.org.uk/
• ENAS website - http://www.enfieldnas.org.uk/
• Autism Central website - https://www.autismcentral.org.uk/hubs/london-delivered-contact-and-ambitious-about-autism

If you attended the event and would like to give your feedback, please complete the feedback survey here.

The 'worry form' for the Neurodiversity Team Pathway can be found here - you can use this to give your feedback on anything you think the team has missed. 

This event was run as part of the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) project but was open to all parent carers of neurodiverse children and young people (not just those in the participating schools). 

For more information about the PINS project see the newsletter here. 

Enfield Council have asked Families First to help them review Early Years Inclusion Services in Enfield. You can have your say by joining one of the two Zoom sessions on Monday 3rd March at 10 - 11.30 am or 7 - 8.30 pm.

More details (and links to join the sessions) on the flyer here. 

You can also give your view through the survey at: Enfield Parents/Carers Feedback Form 

For the Morning Zoom session join here 

For the evening Evening Zoom session here 

Our guide to What's On -Play and Leisure in and around Enfield has lots of information on local SEND-specific and inclusive activities in and around the area (including some days out in Central London and further afield). The guide was last updated on 5th January 2025. 

This guide focuses on ongoing term-time activities (although some continue during school holidays), and will be regularly updated with the latest activities and dates, so do check back regularly. We will also let you know about relevant one-off events via our weekly updates to members - please join our mailing list to receive these, if you haven't already done so. 

Some new and/or one-off activities coming up include: 

• Inclusive table tennis - information here. 
• Inclusive cricket - information here. 

In addition, we usually publish a short 'What's on?' guide during each school holiday, featuring information about specific activities during the next holiday period.  

Please note that these activities are provided by external providers, not Our Voice, and inclusion in this guide should not be taken as our endorsement of any particular provider. 

If you know about any relevant local, accessible activities that aren't included in our guide, please do let us know - email us at info@ourvoiceenfield.org.uk