Rotherham Parent Partnership

Rotherham Parent Partnership

ROTHERHAM PARENT PARTNERSHIP SERVICE
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Welcome to the Rotherham Parent Partnership Service home page.

Our Service is available to all parents/carers of children who have learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs (SEN).

We aim to empower you to play an active and informed part in supporting your child's education.

The content of our website may be of interest to parents/carers and professionals.

To find out more follow the links below:

What is the Rotherham Parent Partnership Service all about?

Inclusion

What is meant by Special Educational Needs?
(includes What does the law say? And The Code of Practice)

Area of Need Information Guides

Parent/Carer Discussion Forum

Latest News!

Take a look at these:
Inclusion Works -
'Children with Sensory Impairments'
'Moving from Primary to Secondary School' (View Factsheet)

Area of Need Information Guides

Finding it difficult to sort out:

what help is available?
which services you can contact?
how your child can be referred to services?

School have answers to many of your questions and this is always a good place to start. However, it is not unusual to be confused by the range of help and support that is 'out there'. Rotherham Parent Partnership believes that this overview of information will help you.

Click on to the area of special educational need you are interested in:

SENSORY/PHYSICAL
ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD)
AUTISM/ASPERGERS
COGNITIVE AND LEARNING

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What is the Rotherham Parent Partnership Service all about?

The Rotherham Parent Partnership Service is available to all parents/carers of children who have learning difficulties, disabilities and/or special educational needs (SEN).

We aim to empower you to play an active and informed part in your child’s education.

We work with you in looking at the particular issues you bring to the Service and expect our involvement will only last for a few weeks in most cases. You can talk to the Service as many times as you wish. We hope that you would feel more able to tackle issues yourself and need less active support following our involvement. Your case can easily be re opened later if the need arises.

We want to help parents, carers, professional workers and schools to work together to raise the achievement of children with special educational needs.

The Services we offer are:

  • Confidential, impartial advice and information on special educational needs from staff and trained volunteers (Independent Parental Supporters).
  • Information about Education, Health and Social Care, Voluntary Organisations and Support Groups.
  • Parents' information sharing workshops.
  • A range of information leaflets.
  • Access to SEN Information including books, CDs and videos.
  • Web site: www.rotherhamparentpartnership.com.
  • Training for parents and professionals.

The Service can also offer individual support to you as a parent/carer with regard to your child’s special educational needs. This support might include:

  • Helping you to communicate with schools and other services that may be involved with your child's special educational needs.
  • Going to meetings with you in school or with other services involved with your child.
  • Looking at the choices that are available to meet your child's needs.
  • Helping you to make sure your child’s views are heard.
  • Helping you to put your views in writing and make sense of the letters, reports and documents you receive.

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Inclusion

Inclusion within education is an ongoing process which aims to raise the achievement of all pupils by actively seeking to identify and overcome barriers to a child’s learning and participation. All pupils, including those with SEN, at risk of exclusion or non attendance, should be able to achieve success and have access to the highest quality education. Inclusion within education is also important in the development of increased inclusion and equal opportunities within the wider community.

Inclusion Parents' Forum Minutes

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What is meant by ‘Special Educational Needs’?

"Children have special educational needs if they have learning difficulties that need special educational provision to be made for them. Children have a learning difficulty if they have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age or they may have a disability which makes it difficult for them to access educational facilities.

Many children at some time in their lives, have special educational needs of some kind. The vast majority will have their needs met in their local mainstream school." - Reference SEN Code of Practice

What does the law say?

The law says that all schools must do their best to see that proper education is provided for all children, including those with special educational needs.

The most important legislation dealing with special education is the Education Act 1996 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice is part of this legislation and gives guidance to schools about how a child’s needs can be identified and assessed.

The Children Act includes children with special needs and sets down the responsibilities of social services working with Health and Education Authorities to help ‘children in need’. This can include children with special educational needs.

The Education Act, Special Needs and Disability Act and Children Act emphasise the importance of consulting with children and young people and taking their wishes and views into account where possible.

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The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice

The Code of Practice on the identification and assessment of SEN (Department for Education and Skills 2001) provides guidance on the identification and assessment process and the way in which pupils’ special educational needs should be met. There is detailed information about the responsibilities of Social Care and the Health Authority. The Code of Practice highlights the importance of working in partnership with parents and pupils.

All maintained schools must have SEN policies which clearly set out how they intend to identify, assess and meet special education needs and involve parents in their children’s education.

Also outlined in the Code of Practice are the arrangements for transition from primary to secondary school and from secondary to further and higher education. This requires local education authorities to consult with a variety of bodies, including Social Care, the Health Authority, the Learning and Skills Council and the Connexions Service in planning for a young person’s transition to adult life.

You can order copies of the full SEN Code of Practice, DCSF 581/2001 (You will need to register with Teachernet first). Alternatively, you can order from the publication centre: telephone 0845 6022260 or email dcsf@prolog.uk.com, quoting the DCSF reference number above. Further information about the SENCcode of Practice can be obtained from:

www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/sencodeintro

The Code of Practice says:

  • The knowledge, views and experiences of parents are vital. This means that people should listen to you as a parent when deciding how best to help your child.
  • Whatever your child’s difficulties in school it is important that they are helped to overcome them.
  • Wherever possible children with special educational needs should be educated in their local school, alongside other children and have the right to benefit from education in all school subjects.
  • If your child has difficulties it is important that these are recognised as soon as possible.
  • Some children’s difficulties may be recognised before they start school and the Local Authority (LA) and other services such as Health and Social Care may become involved at an early stage.
  • You must be informed that a school is making Special Educational Needs provision for your child.
  • The best way to help your child is by everyone sharing information and working closely together.
  • Your child’s own views are important and should be listened to.

Rotherham Parent Partnership Service Documentations

These can be downloaded. Copies can also be posted on request.

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Last updated on October 8, 2008

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council