Our Voice

The Local Authority has now published their booklet setting out the play schemes and activities for children with additional needs for the October 21 half-term. 

See the booklet here.

Please click here to view the latest information booklet for parents that gives guidance on the Secondary Transfer Process for children with Special Educational Needs and / or a disability (SEND) in Enfield. 

Contact will be running a series of parent workshops over the summer covering sleep, encouraging positive behaviour, money and handling meetings. 

See flyer here for full details and booking links.

The sessions will be: 

Understanding Sleep - 18th August

Encouraging Positive Behaviour - 19th August 

Money Matters - 24th August 

Handling Meetings - 25th August 

Further to our Short Breaks and play and leisure videoconference last week, you can see the Q&A document from this session here.

Following our videoconference last week on supporting your child with anxiety and mental health issues: 

• You can see the Presentation from the videoconference here.
• You can see the Q&A from the session, along with links to additional resources here.
• Some additional resources and sources of support can be found here.
• Information about a set of free web-based materials for children and young people with complex needs and/or learning disabilities here

The Summer Uni are offering a programme of activities for young people aged 11 - 25 (up to 19 for young people without SEND). 

You can see the details of the 'Together Unlocked' programme here and register here

The programme includes mainstream activities which should be suitable for young people with learning difficulties or minor disabilities (email the team at SUregistration@enfield.gov.uk to discuss your child's additional support needs) as well as some activities which are specifically for children with SEND. The SEND specific sessions are: 

Strike Back - Martial Arts Workshops - a chance to try Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Chi Kung and meditation workshops plus mindfulness workshops to help improve mental wellbeing. Taking place at Ponders End Youth Centre 10 am to 1 pm on Monday 26th and Wednesday 28th July, Monday 2nd and Wednesday 4th August, Monday 9th and Wednesday 11th August and Wednesday 25th August. 

Dance 4 Fun - a fun dance course teaching new skills, techniques and moves in routines which will be performed to parents and friends at the end of the week - Wednesday 4th and Friday 6th August 10 am to 1 pm venue tbc. 

Drama for all - these fun drama workshops take a new look at mindfulness, giving young people tools to manage everyday challenges though acting and improvisations. Wednesday 11th - Friday 13th August 11 am to 3.30 pm age 11 - 16 

Eat Fresh - plant-based food and cooking - this course aims to teach young people about plant-based cooking and how to eat a healthy balanced diet and guide and inspire them to produce delicious healthy meals. Thursday 19th and Friday 20th August 2 - 4.30 pm, venue to be confirmed. 

You will need to register your young person for the scheme before booking on activities. Booking opened Friday 9th July at 5 pm. 

We were joined yesterday by the MACE team for an important presentation on how to protect our vulnerable children and young people from exploitation. 

Presentation here. 

Links to the videos from the presentation are here.

Social media checklist - useful guides to help you set up settings for different apps your children might be using

Our Voice members enjoyed a presentation from Steve Dodds, Senior Estate Planning Consultant at Estate Planning Solutions, and a useful Q&A session, at our webinar on Tuesday 9th February, and again on 12th May and 15th June. 

You can see the presentation here. 

Please note that this course is now fully booked and a waiting list is in place.

Our Voice and the Enfield Psychology Service would like to offer parents and carers an opportunity to have confidential space and time away from their busy lives to reflect and feel empowered in their busy parenting/family journeys. 

A small group of parents will meet every Thursday for 6 weeks starting after the Half Term Break, where they will be guided in one-hour structured sessions online to explore their strengths and the rich resources they have developed over the years. 

There will be an additional celebration session (either online or in-person depending on circumstances at the time).

For full details see our booklet here. 

The Educational Psychology team are providing a series of events to support parents and young people. 

1) A series of Emotional Wellbeing events for Secondary school-aged children/young people (parents are welcome to accompany to provide support) and the parents and carers of primary school-aged children: 

Programme of events 

Behaviour workshop for parents and carers - 25th May 10 - 11 am 

Anxiety Workshop for parents and carers - Tuesday 8th June 10 -11 am 

Body image workshop (and rejecting diet culture) for secondary school-aged young people Tuesday 8th June and (part 2) Tuesday 15th June - 4.30 - 5.30 pm 

Coming up:

Reducing Sibling Rivalry  (parents ) Tuesday 22nd June 8-9 pm 

Mindfulness in action (parents and young people) Wed 7th July 7.30 - 8.30 pm 

Planning a meaningful summer (young people and/or parent carers) Tue 13th July 7.30 - 8.30 pm 

2) Based on growing concerns about emotionally based school avoidance the EPS is partnering with the Education Welfare Service to carry out discussion groups with parents and carers and young people (as well as schools). For details and to join please see flyers below: 

Discussion group for parents/carers - Wed 9th June 8 - 9.15 pm 

Discussion group for young people Wed 9th June 5- 6.15 pm