Our Voice

Our Voice are currently running a series of Positive Behaviour Support sessions, held jointly with the Joint Service for Disabled Children (the Cheviots team): 

• Our most recent Introduction to Positive Behaviour Support workshop sessions took place on Wednesday 12th February 10 am to 12 pm at Cheviots Children's Centre. 
• Our next session will be in March 25 - date to be confirmed. 
• You can see the presentation from our previous sessions here. 
• Positive Behaviour support drop-in sessions where you can discuss individual questions relating to your child/young person's behaviour.  The next session takes place on 7th March. See our events page and 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. 

Our latest 'What's on this Christmas?' guide has information on a variety of SEND-specific and accessible events, activities and over-the-school Christmas holidays. 

The information in the booklet is correct (to the best of our knowledge) at the time of writing, but please do check with the individual venues and schemes, and please bear in mind that many activities and events must be pre-booked. 

The Local Authority's most recent booklet on playschemes for the school holidays is here. There is additional information about the playschemes on the Local Offer here.

We know that Christmas can often be a very challenging time for the families of children with additional needs and we thought some of you might find this Christmas Sensory Survival Kit and these Christmas Tips for Autistic People and their families (from the National Autistic Society) useful. 

We recently held two 'Wills and Trusts' events with Estate Planning Solutions. 

You can see the presentation from both sessions here. 

If you would like to book a 1:1 appointment with Estate Planning Solutions please email us at info@ourvoiceenfield.org.uk confirming that you give your consent for us to share your details with them. 

You might also be interested in the Wills and Trusts session which will be run by the Local Authority as part of their 'Preparing for Adulthood' series of events on 28th February 2025 - see details here. 

Our latest parents' conference 'Emotional Wellbeing and Your Child' took place on Tuesday 19th November. 

We produced an information pack to accompany this event which you can see here. The pack includes: 

• An overview of the agenda
• Introduction to Our Voice 
• Introduction to the Educational Psychology Service
• Introduction to My Young Minds Enfield (MYME) 
• Who's Who at the Conference 

Resources from the event

As promised we have added resources from the event: 

Q&A from the panel session. 

Useful resources and links 

The presentation from MYME - Top Tips for supporting your child with their worries and fears

You can see more information about the event here and a report on feedback from the event here.

Other useful information

The Enfield Psychology Service (EPS) offers a telephone support line which gives parents and carers an opportunity to talk to a member of the EPS team about any concerns they might have in relation to their child. See the flyer at https://www.enfield.gov.uk/educationalpsychologyservice/telephone-support-line-for-parents-and-carers

You can either request a call using the link on the flyer, or by phoning 0208 379 2000.

Are you trying to choose a primary school for your child with additional needs?

Our Voice Parent Forum is hosting two Zoom information sessions for parents and carers, in conjunction with Enfield SENDIASS and the SEN Team. 

The two sessions will be on Tuesday 26th November (12.30 - 2 pm) and Wednesday 27th October (10 am to 12 pm) 

These sessions will look at how to choose a primary school for children with additional needs, and expressing your preferences for children who have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). We will talk about what the process is, how you can get information about primary schools and what to look out for when making decisions. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions, in advance and also as part of the session.

Book your place for Tuesday 26th November from 12.30 – 2 pm here 

or Wednesday 27th November from 10.30 am to 12 pm here

See our event flyer here  for more information

If your child was born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, you will need to apply for a primary school place by 15^th January 2025, ready for your child to start reception class in September 2025. This workshop will be particularly useful for parents of children in this age group, but you may also wish to attend if your child is a year or so younger, so you can start thinking about the choice of school early.

Key information and dates: 

• For children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP), the deadline for confirming your preference is 29^th November 2024. You will be advised of the name of the school the LA is proposing to name in Section 1 of the EHCP in February 24. 
• For children without an ECHP applications must be submitted by 15^th January 2024. School places will be offered on 16th April 25 (after 7 pm) and you will have until 30th April 25 to accept the place offered. 
• Open days are taking place during November and December – check with individual schools for dates
• You can see more information about the standard process (including options to defer for summer-born children) here. 
• If your child has an EHCP, the SEN Services team will get in touch with you to discuss the process.  
• For more information about all special schools and other specialist provisions in Enfield see the Local Offer for SEND here. 

Other information and resources

You may also find it useful to look at these resources for preparing to start primary school.

Enfield Communication Advisory Support Service (ECASS) Rising to Reception programme is aimed at parents and carers of children with communication difficulties. They will be providing a programme of events from November 24 about starting primary school which you can sign up to attend - all the information and signing links are in the brochure here.  The website has lots of useful information about starting primary school including a range of presentations from previous years' events.

Information about starting school on the Contact website here 

Family Corner – starting school

SENsational Tutors – Big ideas for little learners transitioning to big school

NCCA – Suggested transition activities for moving from preschool to primary

TTS Group – 9 top tips for managing transition from nursery to school

The Healthy Parent Carer Programme is a parent-led six week programme to improve the Health and Wellbeing of parents and carers of children and young people with SEND. 

The course will take place every Tuesday from 7^th January 2025 to 11^th February 2025, at the Ponders End Family hub, 10 am to 1 pm. See the flyer here and sign up at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OV-HPC-Jan25 by Monday 16th December. We will call you to discuss and make sure that the course is right for you, before confirming your place.

The course is designed to improve your health and well-being by promoting your self-confidence and ability to take greater control of how you deal with things and to give you some time to focus on your own needs. It was inspired by and coproduced with parent carers from the Family Faculty at the University of Exeter and will be led by trained parent-carers from the Our Voice team.

Parent carer health and well-being are often over-looked and parent carers rarely receive enough support. The programme can help you take small steps to improve your health and wellbeing. It is not a parenting course, or a course about getting support for your child. It is about you! Parent carers are very busy. But can you give yourself or make some time for you?

The course is open to any parent-carer of a child or young person aged up to 25, with SEND, living in the London Borough of Enfield (unless you have already previously completed the course with us). The course lasts for 6 weeks and you will need to confirm you can and will attend all 6 weeks of the programme.

The course is designed for a small group, so numbers are strictly limited.

More reflections from previous participants can be viewed here.

For more information contact Our Voice on Telephone 07516 662315 Email: info@ourvoiceenfield.org.uk

Previous participants said:

‘There were times in my life when this course would have been a life-saver’

‘Give yourself time sometimes …. Do something for you’

‘Taking a moment to notice something else, something beautiful, helps you switch off from the things you worry about’

Please see this week's update here for information regarding:

o   Page 1: Our coffee mornings give parents an opportunity to talk to members of the Our Voice team, and other parent carers, and to hear from relevant guest speakers, in an informal and supportive environment. Our next coffee morning at the Ponders End Family Hub will be tomorrow, Wednesday 6^th November and will be an informal cuppa and chat session – more information here.

o   Page 1 – Save the date for our Christmas party on Sunday 1^st December 2.30 -4.30 pm – details to follow soon (all places must be pre-booked)

o   Page 2 – information about changes to benefits following last week’s budget – more information here.

o   Page 2 – ‘Rising to Reception’ support for parents of children with communication difficulties starting primary school next September. First sessions on 8^th Nov – Enfield Admissions Team with tips on applying for a reception place and 15^th November Our Voice will share their strategies for supporting your child with the transition to school. More information here

o   Page 3 – Play and Leisure – relaxed sessions at the Science Museum 23^rd Nov and 8^th Jan.

o   Page 3 – Coffee morning in Cockfosters this Friday 9.30 – 11 am – see update for details.

o   Page 4 – Independent travel training for young adults and adults, with learning disabilities to become confident using public transport. More information here.

o   Page 4 – Open evening for the Pre-internship and Supported Internship programme on 27^th Nov. An opportunity to find out about this scheme to support young people aged 16-24, with an EHCP who want to find employment but need help to get started. More information here.  

o   Page 5 to 6 – a reminder of all our events coming up over the next two months: (see also our events page here)

·       Our ‘Emotional Wellbeing and your Child’ event on Tuesday 19^th November with the Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and the My Young Minds Enfield team (an early intervention service which is part of CAMHS). See our events page here, (including the flyer) and book your place here.

·       ‘Choosing a Primary School’ online workshops on Tuesday 26^th Nov (afternoon) or Wednesday 27^th Nov (morning) to talk about the process (whether or not your child has an EHCP) and what to think about when making your decision. More information on our events page here.

·       Our last Coffee Morning at the Ponders End Family Hub for 2024 will be a short breaks update and Q&A with Miri Dhamo, Head of the Joint Service for Disabled Children, on Wednesday 4^th December – more information here.

·       Wills and Trusts Online workshops with Estate Planning Solutions, looking at how best to protect your vulnerable dependants in the long term will take place on 13^th November (evening session 7.30 to 9 pm) see here and 26^th November (morning session 10 -11.30 am see here.

·       Positive Behaviour Support – our next drop in behaviour support session held jointly with Cheviots Children’s Centre, will take place this Friday 8^th November – see our events page here. This is an opportunity for you to discuss specific questions and concerns relating to your child’s behaviour.

·       Our next Introduction to Positive Behaviour Support workshop is on Thursday 21^st November – details here and book here.

Please note - this covering note is intended to give you a brief overview of the content so you can quickly decide what is relevant to you. For detailed information please open the attachment here. 

If you have a child with communication difficulties who is due to start school in September 2025, the Enfield Communication Advisory Support Service (ECASS) service and partners will be running the series of Rising to Reception sessions throughout the year to help prepare your child for starting school.

Children with communication difficulties can find transitions to new settings challenging, so ECASS have teamed up with colleagues and volunteers across Enfield to put together a series of online information sessions to prepare you for the big day next September.

You can see the whole programme of events and the link to register your interest in the brochure here. 

If you have any queries, please contact the ECASS team at: RisingtoReception@enfield.gov.uk

Please see this week's attached update for information regarding:

o   Page 1- We’re delighted to announce that booking is now open for our ‘Emotional Wellbeing and your Child event’ which will be held on Tuesday 19^th November with the Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and the My Young Minds Enfield team (an early intervention service which is part of CAMHS). See also the attached flyer and our events page here, and book your place here.

o   Page 2- If you have a child with additional needs who is due to start primary school next September (or in future years and you are thinking ahead) please join us for one of our two ‘Choosing a Primary School’ online workshops on Tuesday 26^th Nov (afternoon) or Wednesday 27^th Nov (morning) to talk about the process (whether or not your child has an EHCP) and what to think about when making your decision. More information on our flyer here and our events page here.

o   Page 3 – Our coffee mornings give parents an opportunity to talk to members of the Our Voice team, and other parent carers, and to hear from relevant guest speakers, in an informal and supportive environment. Our next coffee morning at the Ponders End Family Hub will be on Wednesday 6^th November and will be an informal cuppa and chat session – more information here. Following this, our last session for 2024 will be a short breaks update and Q&A with Miri Dhamo, Head of the Joint Service for Disabled Children, on Wednesday 4^th December – more information here.

o   Page 3  - reminder that we are holding two Wills and Trusts Online workshops with Estate Planning Solutions, looking at how best to protect your vulnerable dependants in the long term. The two sessions will be on 13^th November (evening session 7.30 to 9 pm) see here  and 26^th November (morning session 10 -11.30 am see here.

o   Page 4 – Positive Behaviour Support – our next drop in behaviour support session held jointly with Cheviots Children’s Centre, will take place on 8^th November – see our events page here. This is an opportunity for you to discuss specific questions and concerns relating to your child’s behaviour. Plus you can book now for our next Introduction to Positive Behaviour Support workshop on Thursday 21^st November – details here and book here.

o   Page 5 – Support for families of Autistic Children and Young People – Enfield Advisory Service for Autism ‘Time to Play’ session for ages 18 months to 3 years on Thursday 7^th November, and Cuppa and Chat sessions on 14^th November (Early Years and Primary Age – Behaviour as Communication) and 21^st November secondary and post 16 children and young people – exams and revision.

o   Page 6 to 7 – Play and Leisure – accessible Zoo visits, and a play session for autistic children  

Please note - this covering note is intended to give you a brief overview of the content so you can quickly decide what is relevant to you. For detailed information please open the attachment.