Sendiass Isle of Wight

NEW SENDIAS SERVICE FOR THE ISLE OF WIGHT

The Local Authority on the Isle of Wight have made the decision to tender the Sendias service and the contract has been awarded to Polaris Children Services.

As you know Sendiass has over the past year been through some significant changes as to how we offer the service to parents, carers and young people on the Isle of Wight.

Polaris Children Services will be taking over the service as from the 1st April 2024.

With this in mind Polaris Childrens Services will need your permission to hold your information. As it will be transferred from us to them.

Please respond to [email protected] with your permission to transfer your information by 26th March 2024. If we do not hear from you by this time your details will be deleted.

Please read the statement below forwarded to us from Polaris.

With our best wishes from
Emma, Cathy & Heather

New SENDIAS Service for the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight Council working with Hampshire County Council and the Integrated Care Boards, has awarded a contract to Polaris Children’s Services (PCS) to provide a confidential, impartial Special Educational Needs and Disability, Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) on the Isle of Wight. The service will be known as IOW SENDIASS.

This service will provide a single point of contact for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability and their parents and carers.

Gayle Moir, SENDIAS services manager for PCS, commented: “We look forward to building on our existing SENDIAS services in Hampshire, Richmond and Kingston by bringing a service to the island. This will take over from the long-established SENDIASS Isle of Wight.

The new service will be live from 1st April 2024. All customer who are receiving a support from the existing SENDIAS Isle of Wight service will be contacted and consent will be sought to pass their details to the new service so that their support can continue.

The new service details are:
iowsendiass.org.uk
[email protected]
0808 164 5492

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Parents and carers 📣

Does your child have an EHC plan? Are they transferring from one of the settings listed below this year?

📆 Your local authority was required to review and amend your child’s EHC plan by 15 February, and that deadline has now passed.

If you haven’t received your child's amended EHC plan, you can write to your local authority using our template letter.

📄 Download it here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/annual-reviews-in-advance-of-a-transfer-between-phases-of-education

(Note, if your child is transferring from secondary school to a post-16 institution this year, the deadline for their EHC plan to be reviewed and amended is 31 March)

📚 Exams and reasonable adjustments

Did you know that schools can apply to exam boards to make access arrangements for students with disabilities?

📆 This is the time to check that your child’s school has applied for those arrangements, if appropriate.

For further guidance on this, read our ‘Help in exams’ page: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/help-in-exams

📑 Does your child have an EHC plan, but the provision set out in it is not being delivered?

EHC plans must be written using particular sections. Some sections are for information only, such as Section A which contains views, wishes and aspirations, and these cannot be legally enforced.

Other sections are legally enforceable by a parent or young person. One example of this is Section F. This section sets out all of the special educational provision required to meet all of the special educational needs set out in Section B, and your local authority is under a legal duty to make sure it is delivered.

If provision in an EHC plan is not being delivered, you should complain. Who you should complain to depends on which section of the EHC plan the provision is set out in.

Find out how to enforce your EHC plan here 👇https://www.ipsea.org.uk/enforcing-your-ehc-plan

What's on this month at Youth Trust! 💙

To find out more check out our website 🌐 iowyouthtrust.co.uk & our Eventbrite BIT.LY/IWYTEVENTBRITE
or contact the Youth Trust on 01983 529569 or email [email protected]

Parent carers shouldn’t have to navigate disability services and the complex SEND system all by themselves. That’s what our Helpful Guide is here for!

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Order yours here 👉 contact.org.uk/helpful-guide

⬇️ What to do when you receive your draft EHC plan ⬇️

If your local authority decides to issue your child with an EHC plan following an EHC needs assessment, the first step is for your local authority to send you a draft version. This is an opportunity for you to check whether the draft EHC plan contains everything it should.

You have at least 15 days from receiving your draft EHC plan to make comments about any outstanding issues, to ask for a meeting with the local authority (if you want one), and to request that a particular school or other institution should be named.

We've put together some guidance on what to do when you receive your draft EHC plan, including a template letter you can use as a starting point for your response.

🔗 Find it here: https://buff.ly/3HvInDn

Sharing on behalf of I.P.S.E.A.

Families frequently tell us about delays in the EHC needs assessment process, due to long waits for educational psychology advice.

The law says:

🔸 Your local authority (LA) must get information and advice from an educational psychologist during an EHC needs assessment.

🔹 If your LA decides not to issue an EHC plan, it must notify you within 16 weeks of receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment.

🔸 If your LA decides to issue an EHC plan, it must send you the final plan within 20 weeks of receiving a request for an EHC needs assessment.

These are hard-edged legal duties which must be met, and it is not enough for your LA to say it has ‘done its best’. A very small number of limited exceptions apply but staff shortage is not one of them, meaning your LA cannot lawfully breach these deadlines because it did not get the advice on time.

Where waiting lists or staff shortages risk your LA’s ability to meet its legal deadlines, it should consider other ways of getting the necessary advice. This may include getting the advice privately.

🔗 See our website for what your LA must do during an EHC needs assessment - and how you can complain if the assessment is not being carried out properly:
https://www.ipsea.org.uk/what-happens-in-an-ehc-needs-assessment

Join us on Monday 15th January for a coffee morning at Youth Trust with the RAISE Project. A great opportunity for parents and carers to connect, chat, and share their experiences. See you there! 👋

For more details, please email ✉️ [email protected]