We're pleased to announce that we are now signing people up for our next Healthy Parent Carer course which will be running online for 6 weeks, every Friday morning from 15th September until 20th October. 

This is not a parenting course, or about how you can get support for your child/young person - it is about your own well-being and will be run for small groups by trained facilitators who are also parent carers and understand the challenges. 

Please see the flyer here for full details of the course, what it is about and who it is for. 

If you are interested in attending the course from 15th September, please click on the link here to complete the short form,  so that we can get back to you before the School holidays. 

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis (including those who registered when we were recruiting for our previous courses), once we have had an initial discussion with you to make sure that the course will work for you and you are happy to commit. 

There will be additional courses in each half-a-term which we will offer to those unsuccessful in obtaining a place on this course. These will include some courses with a translator available (Turkish, Somalian or Bengali) and options to attend face-to-face or online.

If you would prefer to attend the programme at a later date please click the same link and indicate what your preferred timing is,  and we will come back to you in due course. 

There are only a limited number of places on each course so don't delay! 

Resources to support wellbeing and provide support for children or adults who are anxious, including general support in dealing with the aftermath of the two years of pandemic, and the challenges of starting to return to normal.

You can see a useful guide to sources of support for children and young people and their families here and a directory of services (including some SEND specific support) here. 

The last few years have been extremely challenging for many of our young people, and for us as parents, and the continuing uncertainties and changes in routine will be difficult for many families to manage. 

If you need someone to talk to you can contact the Samaritans round the clock - telephone 116 123  - and see the flyer here for more information and other ways to contact them. 

Urgent Mental Health Support

Children, young people and their parents can get free help, advice and urgent mental health support from 24/7 telephone lines supported by trained Mental Health practitioners. The Crisis Line for Enfield can be reached on 0800 151 0023. See here for more information, along with details of other sources of support. 

Videos to help you support your child

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. 

For more information and to view the videos (and links to support materials) see our website here.

General support for children with SEND

The BBC Bitesize SEND Toolkit includes a wide range of resources for supporting children with special needs and disabilities (as well as home learning support and fun activities) with managing emotions, keeping calm, mindfulness and Mental Health support. 

Educational Psychology Service Family Telephone support line

If you would like help and advice with supporting your child's emotional wellbeing and mental health (or your own) or managing behaviour at home you can contact the Enfield Educational Psychology Service's Family Support Helpline. The helpline also provides help with supporting your child's learning at home, concerns about their general learning, development or well-being, access to information and resources and signposting to other services. 

The Good Thinking Guide

The Good Thinking Guide produced by the Health London Partnership contains useful resources for managing your own wellbeing and that of your children, including dealing with anxiety, stress, sleep problems and low mood. It includes information about a variety of resources available including helplines and apps which you may find useful.   

A collection of top resources to do with your kids and help them manage their wellbeing here. 

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

CAMHS have a variety of useful resources which you can download from their website. These include guides, apps and website links for parents, younger and older children and young people. 

They have a wide range of different resources and tools for parents or carers and children. Topics include anxiety, self-esteem issues, self-harm, sleep, building resilience, managing stress, positive parenting, ADHD, controlling anger, Autism, problem-solving managing emotions and melt-downs, depression, adolescence, online safety, OCD, eating disorders,  Tourettes, supporting children when someone close has a terminal illness or dies, Pathological Demand Avoidance and mindful colouring. 

Thrive Enfield

Thrive Enfield have created a variety of different guides to help support parents, children and young people including Wellbeing support - how to look after yourself and your children

Healthy Enfield

Healthy Enfield has a useful Mental Health and wellbeing section which has a variety of tips and resources to support your mental health including Are you OK? - a guide to your mental health during Coronavirus.  

Children's Mental Health week resources

The website for Children's Mental Health week (6th- 12th February 2023) has a section for parents and carers here, which contains a useful selection of resources for supporting your child's mental health and helping them to express themselves, which you may find useful. It includes games and activities to do with your child, like the 'Squiggle game' and 'Draw your feelings' as well as a section on other resources which you may find useful. 

Mental Health Support for young people 

Kooth is a web-based confidential support service available for young people which provides a safe and secure means of accessing mental health and wellbeing support. Kooth offers young people the opportunity to have a text-based conversation with a qualified counsellor, available 12 noon to 10 pm weekdays and 6 pm to 10 pm at weekends, on a drop-in basis. Young people can access regular booked online counselling sessions as needed. Outside hours young people can message the team and get support by the next day. 

Resources from the Mental Health Foundation

The Mental Health Foundation has some useful general resources for supporting your mental health including: 

How to look after your Mental Health

How to overcome fear and anxiety

How to look after your Mental Health Using Mindfulness

How to sleep better 

Look after your Mental Health using exercise 

Other resources 

Play is a great way for children to deal with their emotions and manage stress and worry. This short film on the value of play has been created by the British Psychology Society/Division of Educational and Child Psychology.  

Our latest 'What's On at Half Term' Guide has information on a variety of accessible events, activities and over the May half term in the Enfield area and nearby. 

The Local Authority's booklet on playschemes for the May half-term school holidays can be found here and there is additional information about the playschemes on the Local Offer here.

• If you have teenagers you may be interested in the ECYPS Teenscheme - information on their flyer here. 

We're pleased to announce that we are now signing people up for our next Healthy Parent Carer course which will be running online for 6 weeks, every Tuesday morning, starting straight after the May Half-term Holidays. 

This is not a parenting course, or about how you can get support for your child/young person - it is about your own well-being and will be run for small groups by trained facilitators who are also parent carers and understand the challenges. 

Please see the flyer here for full details of the course, what it is about and who it is for. 

If you are interested in attending the course from 6th June, please click on the link here to complete the short form, by 9.30 am Thursday 18th May so that we can get back to you before the School holidays. 

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis (including those who registered when we were recruiting for our April- May course), but there will be additional courses in each half-a-term which we will offer to those unsuccessful in obtaining a place on the first course. These will include some courses with a translator available (Turkish, Somalian or Bengali) and options to attend face-to-face or online.

If you would prefer to attend the programme at a later date please click the same link and indicate what your preferred timing is,  and we will come back to you in due course. 

There are only a limited number of places on each course so don't delay! 

Relaxed performance of ‘Wicked’ Thursday 1^st June (Half-term)

Go Live Theatre Projects (formerly Mousetrap Theatre Projects) have announced a Relaxed Performance of the well-loved musical, Wicked, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

Taking place on Thursday, 1st June 2023 at 1.30 pm (during Summer half-term week), this Relaxed Performance will be tailored for families with a child, or children, who would benefit from a more relaxed and welcoming theatre environment. This special performance of Wicked will have adjustments to sound and lighting and is suitable for young people on the autism spectrum, those with learning disabilities or other sensory and communication needs.

Tickets are on sale now and are being offered at very reduced prices (£7.50 to £12.50 for children and £12.50 to £20 for adults).  More information and booking here.

We are pleased to announce that we now have funding to continue running our popular Healthy Parent Carer Programme for the next year.

We'll be running the first six-week course online every Tuesday, starting straight after the Easter Holidays. 

This is not a parenting course, or about how you can get support for your child/young person - it is about your own well-being, and will be run by trained facilitators who are also parent-carers and understand the challenges. 

Please see the flyer here for full details of the course, what it is about and who it is for. 

If you are interested in attending the course from 18th April, please click on the link at  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HPCcourseOV  to complete the short form, by 9.30 am this Thursday 30th March so that we can get back to you before the Easter School holidays. 

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, but there will be additional courses in each half-a-term which we will offer to those unsuccessful in obtaining a place on the first course. These will include some courses with a translator available (Turkish, Somalian or Bengali) and options to attend face-to-face or online.

If you would prefer to attend the programme at a later date please click the same link and indicate what your preferred timing is,  and we will come back to you in due course. 

There are only a limited number of places on each course so don't delay! 

Thinking about what to do over the Easter school holidays? See here for our booklet on events and activities for children and young people with SEND.

The Local Authority's booklet on playschemes for the Easter school holidays can be found here and there is additional information about the playschemes on the Local Offer here, and more on Easter holiday activities on the Local Offer Spotlight here. 

Enfield is about to undergo an ‘Area SEND Inspection’. This means that, from 16^th March to 24^th March, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will jointly inspect how well the Local Authority, Health Services, and other partners, are working together to improve the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs.

This is different to a school inspection as it focuses on all the support for your child/young person across the Local Authority, Education, Social Care and Health (rather than on specific schools).  

It is a really important exercise, and it is essential for parents and carers to make sure that their voices are heard by the inspectors so that they get a full picture of families’ experiences.

As part of the inspection, parents and carers and children and young people are invited to complete a short survey. You can access the surveys at https://ofsted.smartsurvey.co.uk/p/AreaSend/10257443

You should complete the survey if you have a child or young person aged 0-25 who has a Special Educational Need or Disability, whether or not they have an EHCP, are on SEN support or have a formal diagnosis. If you have more than one child with additional needs, please complete one survey for each child.

You should be able to complete the survey in about 15 minutes or so, but there are several open questions so it may take longer if you have a lot to say!

There is a separate survey for your child or young person to complete.

You can see the covering letter for parents and carers here and the covering letter for children and young people here.

The surveys will close at 9 am on Tuesday 14^th March so please don’t delay!

This page Area SEND inspections: information about ongoing inspections - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) gives more information about what the Ofsted and CQC inspection is about and includes versions of the information for parents and carers, and for children and young people, in Easy Read and British Sign Language versions

The Our Voice newsletter for Spring 2023 has been published today and will be uploaded to our newsletter page shortly. 

In the meantime, you can see a copy here. 

Please Save the Date for Our Voice's seventh 'Meet the SEND Heads' Parents Conference on Thursday 22nd June 2023. 

This event will be held at the Green Towers Community Centre in Edmonton Green, from 10 am (registration from 9.30) until 2.30 pm. 

The event will include a Q&A session with a panel of the LA and Heath Heads of Service responsible for services supporting children and young people with SEND. 

There will also be opportunities for one-to-one meetings with professionals from the various service areas, to discuss specific issues relating to your own child/young person. 

See our flyer here for more details. 

Please note - this event has been rescheduled from the original date of 2nd March, due to the planned teachers' strike on that day.