Read the Summer Edition of the Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group (CQC) Newsletter Here (

**19th of October**

![Poster](

**17th of October**

Read the Summer edition of the Crawley Clinical commissioning Group (CQC) newsletter [here] (

New event:

![Poster](

View it on the Local Offer [here](

**13th of October**

NEW example of good practice added to the [Sharing Good Practice]( information page:

[Parent Roadshow Case Study by Rother Valley SEND HUB]( (October 2016)

[Local Offer Bi-Weekly Newsletter 13.10.2016](

- [Anti-bullying works Newsletter](

**11th of October**

- Six West Sussex schools have been given £15,000 to run a programme promoting the arts to children with special needs. Read more [here](

**NEW service listed on our Local Offer called [Kooth](

> As a fully commissioned service, KOOTH.COM is a FREE, safe, confidential and non-stigmatised way for young people to receive counselling, advice and support on-line. This very popular service is used by large numbers of young people. Staffed by fully trained and qualified counsellors and available until 10pm each night, 365 days per year, it provides a much needed out of hours service for advice and support for young people in West Sussex. [View it here](

**7th of October**

- [Out now - Reaching Families Newsletter](

![short breaks](

Can you share this information? Here is a **[link]( for you to be able to share. Thank you.

**6th of October**

###Annual Reviews

Over the last year SENAT has focused on improving the Annual Review paperwork and to make the whole process much more person centred, as part of their Annual Review improvement plan.

An Annual review is a statutory requirement to review the EHCP/Statement to ensure a child/young person is making progress toward their outcomes and receiving the provision in order to meet these. We began with reviewing the meeting report which involved consultation with various groups and resulted in a form which emphasises what is working well and how things could be better.

A good Annual Review is important to ensure the best outcomes for the children and young people in West Sussex who have an EHCP or statement. The Special Needs Officers (SNOs) cover different areas of the county to support schools and parents in this process.

The Special Needs Officers provided training on the new paperwork and how to run a successful, person centred Annual Review meeting. We have seen good practice emerging across the county with children and Young People having greater involvement in their Annual review. Examples of this have been children bringing items/work they want to talk about, Powerpoint presentations from Young people, and person centred PATHs. Central to the success of the meeting is ensuring that the views of the Children, Young People and Parents have been collected. Having these views at the heart of the meeting will lead to better outcomes for the child /young person.

We hope to continue to build on this good practice through twice termly audits of Annual Review paperwork. Good practice and areas of development will be fed back to schools following these audits with general points for schools to consider for their own practice. Common themes identified will be used to inform the training SNOs offer schools. It is hoped that we will also share this information with other interested parties e.g. SEND IASS and the Parent Carer Forum in order to ensure the views of others are also considered.

To further support this work, the Special Needs Officers set up a working party which included representatives from schools, post 16, parents and other professionals to create an **[interactive resource about the Annual Review process](

![resource](

**[View it here](

Annual Reviews will remain a high priority for the service going forward. They are central to our business plan and we are committed to improving this process for all participants in the Annual Review process.

If you have any questions or any feedback please contact us:

Team A: Ali Totman

Team B: Damon Smith

Team C: Katharine Amalados

**21st of September**

**Education, Health and Care Plan National Survey – Reports 2016**

Last year we asked for your help by participating in a national survey to find out how Education, Health and Care Plans are working for children and young people.

West Sussex County Council was one of 74 councils participating in a national survey led by the charity In Control with support from the DfE.

Nationally, there were 2,989 responses from practitioners working to implement Education Health and Care Plans(EHCPs), 1,879 responses from parents/carers and 906 from children and young people who have experience of EHC plans. The link to the National EHCP POET Report Spring 2016, which summarises these responses, can be found [here](

**Wednesday 31st of August**

###Requests for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment.

The process of requesting an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment from the Local Authority has now changed. The request process is now entirely electronic for educational settings and can be accessed electronically by parents and carers or young people if they choose to use this mechanism. The option of parents and carers and young people writing to the SEN Assessment Team is still available.

The changes ensure a more streamlined and supportive application process, where requesters are guided through the required documentation. The documentation is then immediately sent to the SEN Assessment Team saving time and resources.

As described in Chapter 9 of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice a child’s parent, a young person over the age of 16 but under 25 and a person acting on behalf of a school or post 16 institution can request an EHC Assessment. Most children and young people in education are supported through their school or college’s different teaching methods and resources. An EHC Plan is written for a child or young person that may not be able to achieve certain educational outcomes without the extra provision and support that this plan may bring. These plans are most often used in cases where a child’s needs are more complex.

If you are considering making a request for an EHC Assessment it is important you consider the [EHC Guidance Document]( which is also available electronically. This document provides further details regarding the thresholds at which an EHC Assessment might be considered a suitable next step. An EHC Assessment should always be considered as part of the graduated response to supporting a child or young person’s needs. It is therefore expected that a setting provides clear information regarding the support they have been using to meet the child or young person’s needs from within the setting’s ordinarily available resources as well as information regarding the progress the pupil has made and their own assessment of the impact of this support.

You can find further information and the online request forms on the [Local Offer]( and [guidance here](

If you have further questions regarding the EHC Assessment process you can either contact SENDIAS on 03302 228 555 or or SEN Requests and Referrals Team on 033 022 22711 or SENRequests&

**Wednesday 21st of August**

[SEND Board Newsletter out now!](

**Tuesday 16th of August**

Have you read the West Sussex Future Plan?