We are a friendly group of parent carers who have children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities aged 0-25 years.
WBPCF aims to support parent carers to participate, and have a voice in how services for disabled and special needs children are shaped and delivered locally. As a member of the Forum, we may ask you to fill out an occasional survey, or take a poll or vote for a change to a service.
We are pan-disability group, and welcome members who have children and young people with any type of special needs and disabilities to come and join in, and be part of an amazing great and supportive group. As a member of the Steering Group, you could become involved in attending meetings, support us in holding local events, come into schools, and be a Forum champion, either way you will be at the forefront of the changes whilst they are happening. We will fully support you with training , and you can give as much or as little time as you want to, we are all parent carers of special needs children too, and appreciate how hectic life can be. But together, we can make changes…
We are really looking forward to our Special Needs Event in February. We are working hard to have some great workshops available for you, so do look out for more information in January.
NNPCF AGM Conference—Etihad Stadium, Manchester
27th/28th November 2017
In November I attended the National Network of Parent Carer Forum's AGM. It was incredibly interesting, and great to see how many other parent carer forums there are, (151 so far) which are all striving to work both together, and in collaboration with other services to improve SEND.
To find out more about the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, click on the link below which will take you to the annual report.
Lots of issues we have in West Berkshire are also National issues, the NNPCF is working to ensure these issues such as Short Breaks. CAMHs and the EHCP process and more are being monitored and our input is being garnered and collated to be fed back to the Government. It really is incredibly encouraging to know that our voices are being heard and changes are being made!
We had an amazing fundraising event on Monday 19th December. Barclays have an annual raffle and tombola, and this year they chose us to be the recipients..It was held over two days, and on the Monday members of the Forum manned the table selling tickets. A grand total of £653.00 was raised, and Barclays are going to match fund, so we are so very pleased that we have a lovely extra pot of money with which we can use to hold more events, and workshops for our wonderful parent/carers.. Thank you so much to Caroline, and her stafff at Barclays Bank Newbury.!
Although it's getting quieter now, in the background lots of things are happening. We attend meetings with the Local Authority who invite us to attend to give our views on various topics, such as the ECHP process,
The ICE Youth Group in Hungerford will be open again on the Tuesday 16th January.
The group is for any child on the SEN Register who is in School Years 6 -13. We welcome all types of SEN, and have a great group of parent volunteers who run the group each week.
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The Youth Group is held in John of Gaunt Youth Club every Tuesday night (term time) from 6.30 - 8.30pm. There is a chill out room, X Box, Crafts and we all make full use of our outside area by playing dodge ball, having water fights, rounders and now there is Air Hockey!!
Entrance is £2.00 per child. There is also a tuck shop open where crisps, sweets and drinks can be purchased.
Would you like to help? We are looking for new volunteers to join us to help run the club, it doesn't have to be every week, but any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Just drop in or contact us on Facebook if you would like to know more:)
Join our Facebook Group to find out what's on each week, and for more information about volunteering. Click HERE to be taken straight to the FB Page
Save the Date - Conference 2018 - Childhood Aggression and Violence - Thursday 26th April 2018
We're pleased to let you know that our Conference in 2018 will focus on Childhood Aggression and Violence, and will be held on Thursday 26th April 2018 at The Pavilion in Reading.
Our Key Note Speaker will be the award-winning Author and speaker Yvonne Newbold. Yvonne is the author of The Special Parent's Handbook, runs the The SEND Parent's Handbook on Facebook, and has since won three awards: HSJ Top 50 Inspirational Women in Healthcare 2014, Learning Disability Today Parent/Carer Advocate Champion Award 2015, and The PENNA Award 2016 for Outstanding Contribution in Patient Experience. www.yvonnenewbold.com www.twitter.com/YvonneNewbold
This term, our Autism Service is offering the following courses and workshops. Links to these courses can be found in the list below.
A series of three linked pre- and post-assessment workshops for parent/carers of children and young people who are waiting for an assessment for Autism, or who have recently been diagnosed with Autism.
A single workshop for parent/carers of children and young people who may have difficulties with Sensory Processing, whether they have received a diagnosis or not. This is a common factor for children and young people with Autism or ADHD.
(Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service)
What we do
The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Service for West Berkshire provides:
free and confidential service, provided independently from education, health and care providers
Impartial information, advice and support relating to special educational needs and disability (SEND)
Advice and support from independently trained Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Service staff
Support through the statutory processes relating to Statements of Special Educational Needs and the new Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and planning
Information and practical support to find the answers to your questions in relation to education, social care and health services
Who we can help
We can provide information, advice and support to:
Parents or carers of a child or young person (aged 0-25) with a disability and/or special educational needs
Parents or carers who are worried that their child or young person may have a disability or special educational needs;
If your child has questions, we can help them too
Young people aged 16-25 who have a disability and/or special educational needs
Our service is for people who live in West Berkshire. If you don’t live in West Berkshire, but need support, we can put you in touch with your local IAS Service.
How we can help
We aim to provide you with help that is right for you. We can help by
Listening to your views and concerns
Helping you feel more confident to express your views
Explaining your options, rights and responsibilities
Help in preparing for meetings and/or attending meetings with you;
Answering your questions about Statements of Special Educational Needs and Educational Health and Care (EHC) Plans;
Supporting you through a needs assessment or review
Support to resolve disagreements
Developing networks and links locally to provide solutions to your individual queries
The Local offer sets out provision which is available for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), aged 0 to 25, including education, health and social care services.
Where you see the green West Berkshire Local Offer flag, on the top, right corner of a record in this directory, you will know that the service or provider has submitted information on what they can offer a child or young person who has SEND. This is known as their Local Offer. Please do take a look, there are providers of a range of services which may be useful to you.
