Dear parents and carers,
It has been wonderful to welcome all of our Abbots Farm community back for the Summer Term after a well-deserved break. In this month's newsletter, we have shared information about SEN Meetings for children with Special Educational Needs as well as details of support available for transition for Year 6 pupils preparing for high school. Further links, videos and webinars have also been added and we hope you continue to find these useful.
Please remember that we are always available for any concerns you may have. Class teachers can be reached via the school office. Our Children and Families Team can be contacted anytime via email at pastoral2421@welearn365.com or by calling the school office. Mrs Smythe and Miss Ingle can offer support with any concerns affecting your child and family (not just school-related) and will usually offer a tea or coffee. For any queries or concerns relating to behaviour, welfare or inclusion, emails can be sent to senco2421@welearn365.com
We hope you continue to find this newsletter helpful and would welcome any suggestions about the content to ensure our community are receiving the information they find most useful. You can share your ideas by clicking on the link below.
https://forms.office.com/e/ePJr7ckbde
from Mrs Watson-Tate :)
SEN Meetings
Our termly SEN meetings (IEPs) will be held on Tuesday 23rd April (Wednesday 24th for Mr Evans' class). The meeting will be with your child's class teacher and is an opportunity to review your child's progress and discuss next steps. Mrs Watson-Tate will be available in the school library throughout the evening for any additional questions.
We use a variety of assessments and monitoring to identify children with Special Needs which includes parents' concerns. If you have concerns related to your children's learning and development, please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance. Questions regarding Special Educational Needs can also be sent to the dedicated SENCo email address senco2421@welearn365.com.
Transition
While we love the excitement and celebrations that the Summer term brings as we approach the end of another school year, this can be a challenging and anxious time for many of our pupils.
For pupils moving on to secondary school, our Year 6 team and the Children and Families team work together to identify children who would benefit from additional transition support and to ensure that all relevant information is shared with secondary schools. Miss Ingel also offer one to one and group support to a number of pupils to help them manage feelings of anxiety around secondary school and/or to work on key skills that will be beneficial.
For pupils moving year groups within the school, there are also opportunities to spend time with their next teachers and ask questions about any changes they may be worried about. Information about SEN needs and pastoral support is also shared by the current teachers.
It is very normal to be worried about changing teachers and schools especially when moving up to high school to an environment which is quite different from primary school. However, if you feel your child's concerns and anxieties are affecting their everyday life, please don't hesitate to contact us for support.
Videos, Webinars and Workshops
Thank you for your feedback on our BWI newsletter. We have been asked to provide signposting to videos, webinars and workshops so we will continue to add to this section. If you have any requests for topics, please let us know.
Barnados Online Safety Webinar for parents is based on current research and best practice to promote online safety for children. Barnados objective is that parents leave the webinar feeling empowered and have practical tips that will help their family stay safer and be happier on the internet.
Family Lives offers a selection of online courses filled with advice and techniques. topics include: Bringing up confident children, Siblings and Coping with Teens and more.
Childhood Trauma and the Brain. This video gives a general introduction to what happens in the brain after children face traumatic experiences in childhood, like abuse and neglect. We have undertaken further training to ensure all of staff are aware of the effect of trauma on children's development.
Our work with the Mental Health in Schools Team (MHST)
We are very proud of the strong relationship we have built up with our dedicated NHS MHST educational mental health practitioner Sue Kelly over the past two terms. She has already helped to provide the Creating Calm workshops for all pupils and has other whole class and small group sessions planned in right up to the end of the academic year. Sue is also able to work 1:1 with pupils and their families.
We offer short term support to children and young people who are experiencing symptoms of mild to moderate mental health difficulties. This might include anxiety (for example; separation anxiety, panic, some lower impact obsessions and compulsions, generalised anxiety (worry and social worries) and low mood. We are also able to offer some support for difficulties that might require a more intensive approach and will signpost to other services if we aren’t the right people to help.
If you think your child might benefit from a referral to this service, please email pastoral2421@welearn365.com and the Children and Families team will support you with this.
Healthy Body and Mind - Support for all of our Farmers Families
This newsletter is the new place to find links and signposting to a range of support that families can access. This will include ongoing services – such as the Family Information Service – as well as those that are most relevant to the time of year or newly released.
Warwickshire's Children and Families Team are hosting a number of workshops for parents about a range of topics such as sleep and understanding behaviour, all free of charge - click here to see if there is anything may be useful for you https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/warwickshire-children-and-families-17595309993
Refuge Warwickshire If you are experiencing domestic abuse in Warwickshire, Refuge’s local county-wide service can support you and your children to keep safe. Call Refuge’s Domestic Violence and Abuse Service Warwickshire Helpline on 0800 408 1552 (Monday-Friday 8:30am-8:30pm) to speak to one of our support workers. If the line is busy or for out of hours calls, a voicemail operates on this number. If you leave a message, please do let us know your name, number and a safe time to call and we will get back to you.
Cost of Living Support Warwickshire services are working together to help people find the information they need to manage increased household costs. This is a difficult time for many people and finding direct support can be hard. National and local links to services are listed on this page as well as information on related topics.
SearchOut Warwickshire is here to help you find and access organisations, services and events that are local to you - things that will help you stay active, healthy, happy, and well. They also provide further information about services and support available from local organisations and groups for families with children and young people aged 0 to 25, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
The Community Autism Support Service offer free bite-sized, one-hour sessions for parents and carers covering topics such as routines, meltdowns and communication. Find out more about Toolboxes here.
Place2Be Parenting Support Parenting advice from child mental health experts. This includes practical tips to support children’s wellbeing and behaviour and covers a range of topics in articles and video format. Topics include: anxiety, building resilience, friendships, shyness, co-parenting and many more.
If you or your child are experiencing a mental health crisis, you can contact the Rise Crisis Team by calling 08081 966796 and selecting 'option 2' at any time of the day or night. Please note that it is an advice-only service overnight from 8pm to 8am. In an emergency call 999.
The Family Information Service phone line is a freephone number to enable anyone to contact them for support. You can call them on 0800 408 1558 with anything - even if they can't help, they may be able to point you in the direction of someone who can!