Harrow Parent Carer Forum Weekly Newsletter

• Our next and final Coffee Morning of the year is Friday 15 December
• Our HPCF SEND Christmas Party was a massive hit!
• Still time to sign up for Winter Wonderland 2023! SEND Aware session Saturday 23 December 2-5.45pm
• Latest News from Contact for families with disabled children
  • Baroness Grey-Thompson backs free school meals campaign
• Contact's News round-up
  • Parent carers fight back
  • Take a look at our information and advice about common winter virus, RSV
  • School transport for disabled children is a vital service
  • Universal Credit managed migration: your top 5 questions answered
• Special Needs Jungle News
  • Ombudsman report says councils are “standing in the way of support” by failing to offer personal budgets during the EHCP process
• Witherslack Group FREE training events, advice and podcasts
• Cost of Living Support
• Harrow Energy Advice and Support with the Cost-of-Living Project

Parent Carer Coffee Mornings

Our next and final Coffee Morning of the year will be Friday 15 December
Come along and join in the festivities

HPCF SEND Family Christmas Party 2023

What a fabulous SEND family Christmas Party we had on Sunday 10 December. There was entertainment from our brilliant DJ Peter, silliness from Adam the children's entertainer, arts & crafts which the parents loved just as much as the kids, face-painting, food and this year the kids had their very own Santas Grotto and Father Christmas handing out gifts. The smiles in the photos speak volumes. A brilliant day but none of it would be possible without some special thanks to John, Community Kitchen, Allie Brice, Muddy Puddles Nursery, Versha, Peter, the Harrow Parent Carer Forum Committee, Harrow Carers and of course last but not least our amazing volunteers and all the families that joined in with the fun. 

Winter Wonderland 2023! Exclusive SEND Aware session Saturday 23 December 2-5.45pm

Book for the SEND Aware session for free NOW!
This SEND Aware session is generously gifted to Harrow Parent Carer families, make the most of this fully inclusive, yet exclusive SEND event. Book here
Ignore any mention of Benefit Related Free School meals. If you are a Harrow based SEND family with a child who has an EHCP and/or DLA then you are eligible to book for this event.

Latest News and activities from Contact for families with disabled children

Baroness Grey-Thompson backs free school meals campaign

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has used a written question to the Department for Education (DfE) to cite our research that a third of eligible disabled children are not able to access free school meals.

We’ve been supporting a parent-led campaign, led by Natalie Hay, aimed at stopping disabled children missing out on free school meals.

Imogen Steele, Contact’s Policy Lead on free school meals, said:
“We thank Baroness Grey-Thompson for raising this important issue in the House of Lords. Eligible families are losing the equivalent of £570 a year in financial help."

Are you affected by this issue?

We have produced a range of resources to help eligible families claim the free school meals they’re entitled to.

Contact's News round-up

Welcome to What's new

Parent carers fight back
Maria, parent carer and Engagement Lead in our campaign team, reflects on a year of parent carer campaigners fighting for change.

Take a look at our information and advice about common winter virus, RSV
It’s important to know how to identify RSV and when to get emergency care. We have lots of resources to help.

School transport for disabled children is a vital service
As local authorities struggle with severely reduced budgets, some are looking at ways of reducing their spend through changes to school transport arrangements for disabled children.

Universal Credit managed migration: your top 5 questions answered
Our Family Finances team ran a special Q&A session so that families could get specialist advice about the Universal Credit managed migration process.

Special Needs Jungle News

Ombudsman report says councils are “standing in the way of support” by failing to offer personal budgets during the EHCP process

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), were you offered a personal budget? Were you told during the assessment that they wouldn’t qualify for one? Or was it not mentioned at all? If so, you’re not alone. An analysis of complaints about personal budgets by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found that too many parents of children with SEND aren’t being given a choice in how their children are supported because their local councils don’t fully understand the personal budget process. It’s made a number of recommendations for better practice.

We looked at the latest data and found only around 5% of EHCPs have a personal budget, so this is a systemic issue- but not one that’s being looked at in the DfE’s SEND Change Programme as far as we can tell.

Click here to read the full article.

Witherslack Group FREE training events, advice and podcasts

This webinar will dive into the world of neurodivergence and adolescents. Tracy Bowyer, Parenting Co-ordinator from The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, will uncover common conditions, co-occurrence and the complexities that come with it. From navigating puberty, hormones, sensory differences, managing emotional regulation and much more.

Register NOW!

What Is An SEN School?

In the latest episode of our podcast, SENsational, we are joined by Susan Gill, Head Teacher of Bridgeway School, shares insights on the profound benefits of SEN schools, the personalised curriculum approaches, and advice and guidance on supporting your child’s journey into an SEN school setting.

Listen here

Cost of Living Support

As The Cost of Living crisis continues, causing a huge impact on families across Harrow, with soaring energy bills, mortgage rates, and food price increases. HPCF provide the following link for information about food support, mental health & local support, housing and low-cost furniture. For full details click here

The Government is delivering a support package worth billions of pounds to help people with the cost-of-living. For information about the support available and to see if you are eligible, please see the below links:
Hardship Fund Scheme
Cost of living support - GOV.UK (http://www.gov.uk)
Help for Households - Get government cost of living support
https://www.harrow.gov.uk/benefits/help-cost-living
Benefit calculator (entitledto.co.uk)

Harrow Energy Advice and Support with the Cost-of-Living Project

Contact Green Doctors who will explain the Harrow Energy Advice and Support with the Cost-of-Living Project.  Green Doctors are delivering this project on behalf of Harrow Council and is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.