Parental Support

Coffee morning in association with Suffolk Family Carers

Monthly coffee mornings take place at Key Cafe in Ipswich to provide an opportunity to meet others who are neurodiverse or part of a neurodivergent family. More details can we found here. 

Radicalisation and extremism awareness workshops

Please see this flyer regarding free radicalisation and extremism awareness raising sessions for parents, carers and front-line practitioners. The sessions will be run by a former reformed Extreme Right-Wing (ERW) activist and mentor who now supports people to leave extremism and help build resilience for the future. There are 4 dates in total for attendees to choose from. These sessions have been commissioned by Groundwork following a successful joint application by Suffolk County Council and Norfolk Community Safety Partnership to the Home Office Preventing Radicalisation Fund.

NDD referral information

Please see this guidance if you are interested in understanding how the NDD referral works.

Suffolk County Council's Friends and Networks (FaN)

This is a new DfE-funded project to support children with emotional based school avoidance (EBSA) and/or special education needs and disabilities (SEND), who are experiencing difficulties in maintaining a full-time education placement. You can find out more information from their flyer here.

Supporting young people's mental health

During Spring there are some 60 minute free virtual workshops taking place to provide up to date advice and guidance on how parents/carers can support the young people in their life. To see which sessions are available and how to book, see their flyer here.

Childhood Neurodiversity PST workshops 

The NHS are offering parent/carer workshops between January and May regarding childhood neurodiversity including: language and communication; planning organising and remembering; sleep difficulties; social relationships and using technology. More details can be found here.

Free NHS funded online mindfulness course

The NHS are offering FREE NHS mindfulness courses for parents. These will be available in January and will teach techniques on how to incorporate mindfullness throughout the day. To see more information and find out how to apply, you can view the flyer here.

SENDIASS sessions for parents and carers

Booking is open for: Supporting children and young people to manage their emotions. You can view the informaiton flyer here.

Keeping Children Safe in Sport - NSPCC

Sport is a fantastic thing for children and young people. It helps them socialise, keeps them fit and more importantly can introduce them into an interest for life. One which will increase their quality of life far into the future, setting good habits and instilling values and self-discipline. Engaging with them in this manner can show them new directions for their lives and expand their opportunities. Unfortunately there are, like with anything, risks attached. Away matches, interactions with non-school staff such as coach drivers, out-of-school coaches and other personnel can create vulnerability windows that could be exploited. To help head off these potential problems, the NSPCC has created a page dedicated to offering guidance on how to keep pupils safe in sporting environments. To find out more please click here.

Does your child suffer with sleep issues?

The national sleep helpline  are here to offer support and guidance. To find out more information including how to contact them, you can view their flyer here.

Young Wellbeing Hub

Click here to view information regarding the pathways and services offered by the Young Wellbeing Hub.

Behaviour Safe At Home Courses – new 23/24 dates available

There are new 23/24 dates available for these popular courses, which support parents and carers of children displaying extreme behaviours with an emphasis on early intervention and keeping everyone safe. £30 for one attendee; £50 for two.

Click here for a full list of dates 

For full details please click the link above. 

Contact: aufamilyadvice@suffolk.gov.uk / 01473 260026

A reminder of Emotional Wellbeing and Childhood Neurodiversity Parent and Carer Workshops

The Psychology in Schools Team from Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) would like to remind everyone that there are a series of free workshops they have coming up over the next few months to help provide advice and support to families on topics, such as, supporting young people with challenging behaviours, and helping children and young people manage big feelings. There is also a programme of workshops that explore nurturing the unique strengths of neurodivergent children and young people.

To view all workshops available and to book a place, please go to the Family Wellbeing page which can be found on the Wellbeing in Education website: www.suffolk.gov.uk/wellbeingeducation

Measles / MMR vaccination
Measles cases are rising across the country, with over 102,000 children starting primary school in England being at risk of catching the disease. We are asking education settings to share key messages from the NHS about MMR / measles and how to get vaccinated.
The Back to school MMR Guidance from the NHS includes information to share, as well as example social media posts which can be found here: NHS Vaccine Poster and NHS MMR Poster.
Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom can catch the disease if just one child is infectious. Please share these resources with colleagues, parents, and where suitable, community organisations to increase awareness and encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.

Realise Futures
Realise Futures is a fantastic local education provider for adults and their families. They offer a wide variety of courses that are often free to access.

Please see the leaflet for further information.

Update to NHS Speech And Language Therapy (SALT)

If you have a child who is on the waiting list for Speech and Language Therapy, they will be seen in due course. Miss Read and Mrs Booth have had a meeting with our Speech and Language therapist and the children have been put into categories based on need. It is hoped that over the next academic year all children will have sessions with SALT. When children are due to be seen, you should receive a letter. If you have any questions please speak with Miss Read our behaviour lead. 

Is my child too ill for school?

Please see the guidance from NHS regarding when to send your child to school and when to keep them at home.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ 

Update to the Neuro-Diverse pathways:

Please note that referrals to the NDD pathway will now only be taken for those children who require an assessment for either ASD or ADHD.

GP's and Health Care professionals can also take the lead on referrals.

The referral is now in 2 parts, Part 1 is for parents to complete and Part 2 is for completion by the Lead Professional.

Please see the link for further https://infolink.suffolk.gov.uk/

Behaviour Safe At Home training - new course dates

Behaviour Safe At Home supports parents, carers and family members living with children who display extreme behaviours, to improve the safety of everyone. The focus of the programme is on early intervention, to help prevent the behaviour escalating and to reduce the need for restrictive interventions. Meaningful and focused guidance is given to help parent/carers make appropriate positive choices when managing difficult behaviours.

Two-day courses will be delivered by Bells Croft Consultancy on the following dates:

• 19th and 26th September 2023 – Bury St Edmunds

• 10th and 17th October 2023 – Lowestoft

• 7th and 14th November 2023 – Ipswich

• 16th and 23rd January 2024 – Sudbury

• 6th and 13th February 2024 – Bury St Edmunds

• 5th and 12th March 2024 – Ipswich

Full address and details provided with enquiry or booking

Prices are:

£30.00 for one parent/carer

£50.00 for two parent/carers

Please note these courses are heavily subsidised with the original cost being £200 per person. Therefore, the booking fee is non-refundable.

Please contact us at aufamilyadvice@suffolk.gov.uk for a Booking form or to go on our waiting list.

 Forthcoming parent workshops from The Psychology in Schools Team and the Under 18s Wellbeing Team