Our Voice

Carers Rights Day for 2025 is on 20th November.

Carers UK established Carers Rights Day to raise awareness of the rights and entitlements of unpaid carers, ensuring they receive the recognition and support they deserve.

This year’s theme, “Know Your Rights, Use Your Rights,” focuses on empowering carers to understand the support available to them and to feel confident in exercising their rights — whether in health, social care, employment, or financial wellbeing.

This year, Carers UK has published two new reports:

• Caring About Equality – Carers Week Report, Released during Carers Week (9–15 June 2025). Report explores inequalities faced by unpaid carers, including health and financial disadvantages and highlights that 11.9 million people are currently providing unpaid care in the UK.
• State of Caring 2025, supported by TSB Bank, explores how carers are navigating work, caring responsibilities, and financial pressures one year after the introduction of the Carer’s Leave Act. The findings underline the importance of ensuring carers can access and use their rights effectively.

Did you know that, across England, as an unpaid carer you have:

• The right to unpaid Carer’s Leave
• The right to request flexible working
• The right to ask your GP practice to identify you as a carer
• The right (and choice) to request a free flu jab
• Protection against discrimination or harassment
• The right to a carer’s assessment
• The right to be consulted when the person you care for is discharged from hospital

Find out more about Carers Rights Day 2025 here: Carers Rights Day | Carers UK 

SEN sports day this Saturday, 22nd November 1-3 pm at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre. 

Including dance, games, relay races, scooter boards, football, jumping and more. 

Your child can join in at their own pace.  

More information at www.sen-sports.com or see the full details on the flyer. 

Our Voice was pleased to be featured in the local newsletter 'The Enfield Dispatch' this month. You can read the article at Dispatch-86.pdf

IPSEA (a leading charity in the field of SEND Law in England) has a useful webinar on the topic of Annual Reviews coming up on 21st November, 12.30 to 1.30 pm. 

Annual reviews - the process and your rights, will look at key aspects of the annual review process, including:

• When annual reviews and phase transfer reviews should take place, and what the process is.
• What rights parents, carers, and young people have.
• What action you can take if the process is not followed. 

Details and booking link at https://www.ipsea.org.uk/join-our-free-webinar-annual-reviews-the-process-and-your-rights 

The session will be recorded, so if you cannot make it at this time, you can request a recording. 

Our Voice held a webinar on Wednesday 12th November, looking at school support for children with additional needs, within mainstream schools. 

The session looked at:

• What does school support look like?
• Understand what Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) is
• Looking at the Ordinarily Available Provision Guidance for parents and explaining how you can use this document. 

You can see the presentation from the webinar here and you can access a recording of the session here: OAPEdited.mp4. If you have any difficulties accessing the recording please , contact us at pins.ov.enfield@outlook.com. 

The Ordinarily Available Provision guidance for parents was published last year by the Local Authority (Schools Improvement Service) with input from Our Voice. It sits alongside ‘Ordinarily Available Provision’ guidance for mainstream schools and SENCOs, which sets out what they are meant to do to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

The guidance gives important information about how schools should identify and support young people with SEND, how you can raise concerns as a parent and what you should do if you think your child is not getting the support they need.

• Understand what a disability is.
• Understand the different forms disability can take, particularly ‘hidden’ disabilities like Neurodiversity
• Help young people to understand how they play a role in making the world more inclusive
• Look at some famous disabled adults and what they have achieved.
• Understand what it might be like to have disability
• Explain the importance of empathy and consideration when interacting with other young people/friends who have a disability

The Local Authority will be running their ‘Transition Journey into Adult Social Care’ event at the Angel Community Centre in Edmonton (N18 2JF) tomorrow, Wednesday 22nd October, 10 am to 2 pm.

This is an important event for anyone whose young person is approaching adulthood, and gives an opportunity to find out about the transition process, eligibility criteria and support planning, the education pathway, and to hear from young people themselves.

See the attached flyer for full details about the event. 

There will also be a marketplace session (noon to 2 pm) where you can speak to a whole range of different service providers, adult health and social care, and the voluntary sector, including the Our Voice team. See below for a list of those services currently confirmed as attending. 

Please see our What's New 21st October 25 update here. 

We have also attached: 

• Flyer for our webinar on Wednesday 12th November - what support should my child receive at mainstream school?
• Flyer for our Cuppa and Chat on 3rd November - have your say about transition to adult services
• Flyer for event tomorrow: Transition Journey into Adult Health and Social Care (22nd Oct)

Unfortunately, technical issues mean we cannot send this out in our usual format this week. 

• Responsibility for the strategic leadership, operational management, development and promotion of daycare services
• Ensuring the daycare service operates safely and efficiently, delivering high-quality services to the community
• Build strong partnerships and achieve strategic objectives
• Lead staff, manage resources,
• Oversee financial and administrative systems
• Liaise with statutory and non-statutory and third-party stakeholders
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation

• To coordinate the day-to-day operations of our daycare service,
• Ensure clients attending have a positive and engaging experience.
• Support the Operations manager to deliver high-quality, person-centred support and activities. 
• Deputise for the Operations Manager in their absence or as and when required. 
• Financial management, oversight and record keeping: including sales and purchase invoicing, receipts, credit control functions, petty cash and reconciliations
• oversee staff and volunteers
• organise activities
• Accurate record keeping
• support individual client plans

• Provide a warm, engaging, safe space for older /vulnerable adults
• Provide compassionate person-centred care and support
• Make a meaningful difference in the lives of those using the service  
• Work closely with carers, family members and clients to achieve stated outcomes
• Assisting with low-level mobility (e.g., walking, gentle support, wheelchair assistance)
• Facilitating or helping to deliver individual and group activities

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

Our Voice Parent Forum hosted two Zoom information sessions for parents and carers, in conjunction with Enfield SENDIASS and the SEN Team on Wednesday 8^th October and Wednesday 15th October.

The sessions looked 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 can view the presentation here, along with a short Question & Answer summary. 

If your child was born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, you will need to apply for a primary school place by 15^th January 2026, ready for your child to start reception class in September 2026. 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 17^th October 25. You will be advised of the name of the school the LA is proposing to name in Section 1 of the EHCP on 15th February 2026. 

·    For children without an ECHP, applications must be submitted by 15^th January 2026. School places will be offered on 16th April 26 (after 7 pm) and you will have until 30th April 26 to accept the place offered. 

·     Schools hold open days/evenings usually during October and November, so you can find out more  – check with individual schools for details

·    You can see more information about the standard process (including options to defer for summer-born children) here and in this booklet.

·    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 usually provide a programme of events from about November to March about starting primary school which you can sign up to attend and the information and signing up links will be added to the website. The website also 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