http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/ en amanda.fletcher@nottscc.gov.uk Copyright 2010 2010-04-16T10:52:30+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/get-on-in-school.-get-oline-at-home/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/get-on-in-school.-get-oline-at-home/#When:10:52:30Z Home Access is a government drive which will help low-income families to get access to a computer and the internet to get online at home. Get a grant Home Access provide grants to buy computer and internet packages for low-income families to learn safely, have fun and achieve more.  The programme is aimed at those who currently lack access and need it most. If you answer yes to the tree questions in section one and yes to at least one question in section two below, you could be eligible for a Home Access Grant. Section One: are you a parent or guardian responsible for and living with a child..... .....who is in school years 3 to 9, which normally means age 7-14? .....who attends a state-maintained school in England full-time*? .....Who has not already had a computer from a Home Access Grant or any other similar programmes, such as Computer for Pupils? Section Two: Do you receive at least one of the following? Free School Meals for your child** Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance Income Support Child Tax Credit but not Working Tax Credit and an income of less than £16,040*** Guaranteed Pension Credit (not Savings Credit) Income-based Employment Support Allowance Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 If you think you are eligible please call 0333 200 1004 for an application pack. You can fid out more about Home Access at: www.homeaccess.org.uk *or whose place is paid for by their local authority or the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).  Home-schooled children do not qualify.  State-maintained schools include: primary schools, secondary schools, middle schools, special schools, academies, city technology colleges, pupil referral units.  State-maintained schools do not include: independent (private) schools and places at non-maintained special schools not funded by a local authority. **Children receiving Free School Meals under the national rules may be eligible for a Home Access Grant; however, children receiving free school meals as part of the pilots in Durham, Newham and Wolverhampton will need to provide additional supporting documents. ***If you are not sure of your income, you should check your Tax Credit Award Notice. 2010-04-16T10:52:30+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/achievement-for-all/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/achievement-for-all/#When:10:43:09Z This is a national programme to boost the educational achievement of children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). The programme runs from September 2009 to September 2011, and is operating in 10 local authority areas across the country; Nottinghamshire is the area for the East Midlands region. £35m is being spent on the programme, divided between the 10 areas, to support the schools taking part to do three things: 1) Track the attainment over 2 years of all pupils in Years 1, 5, 7 and 10 with SEND (ie at School Action, School Action Plus or with a statement) 2) Engage with their parents in a focused way, listening to parents’ concerns and suggestions, planning and acting collaboratively to support the child 3) Improve the outcomes for these children in wider areas eg after school clubs, having friends, being involved in their local community, decreasing the impact and occurrence of bullying etc Schools will be expected to be creative and to try out new ways of supporting these children. Parents of children with SEND should see their child become a more confident learner, more engaged with school and happy to be there. Parents should better understand their child’s attainments and achievements and the crucial role they play in supporting those. Schools should also develop a deeper understanding of children’s needs across academic and more social areas, and of the fruitful partnerships that can emerge with parents. If you are a parent of a child with SEND in Yrs 1, 5, 7, or 10 in one of the schools taking part in the programme, you should already have had information about this exciting work. You can find 2 leaflets (one for parents and one for schools) with more information in our leaflets section. There is likely to be some consultative work with parents once the programme is properly underway, so keep an eye on our 'Events & Training' section. Children without any additional needs will also be affected by this work – if the children with SEND benefit, then so will the whole class. 2010-01-04T10:43:09+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/tell-us-your-views/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/tell-us-your-views/#When:11:20:03Z We're looking for feedback about our service from parents and carers, schools and professionals. Please click here to tell us your views and complete one of our questionnaires. 2009-12-21T11:20:03+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/wednesday-evening-drop-in-sessions-are-changing/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/wednesday-evening-drop-in-sessions-are-changing/#When:21:15:48Z From 1st November our weekly Wedneday Drop-In Session at Clarendon Chambers will change to an Advice Session. This means that parents will need to book an appointment to come in and talk to an adviser rather than being able to just drop in, as happens now. 2009-03-31T21:15:48+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/a-website-for-teachers-parents-young-people-and-others-with-an-interest-in-/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/a-website-for-teachers-parents-young-people-and-others-with-an-interest-in-/#When:21:02:03Z A website for teachers, parents, young people and others with an interest in dyslexia has been launched by Sir Jim Rose as part of his review into how children with dyslexia learn best. Sir Jim is asking for personal accounts and experiences as well as details of published research to help inform his development of recommendations to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. 2008-12-31T21:02:03+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/counselling-sessions-for-parents-carers/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/counselling-sessions-for-parents-carers/#When:15:22:18Z We are now pleased to be able to offer free counselling sessions to a limited number of parents, supported by two students from Nottingham University. Sessions will be held in our Nottingham office, and can be booked on Mondays to Thursdays, including some evenings. Students are required to cover 100 hours of counselling as part of their coursework and are closely supervised throughout by a qualified counsellor. If you are interested in registering for counselling please contact Amanda Fletcher or Lorraine Fitzpatrick on 0115 9482888.  They will also be able to give you further information about the sessions. A parent's perspective, from a parent who has taken advantage of the counselling sessions: "Often it is information, advice and support that parents need most from the Parent Partnership Service in order to get the best provision they can for their children, who have special educational needs. There can also be strong feelings around the additional obstacles we face in raising youngsters whose needs are often not met easily by existing provision. At times we have been given the information and yet are still unsettled by our sometimes conflicting feelings. These are times when counselling may provide the space we need to recognise and explore those discomforts. There are currently two student counsellors offering free sessions to parents through the Parent Partnership Service. I took advantage of this opportunity by arranging a series of six counselling sessions over a seven week period of major transition in the provision for my son. This gave me an opportunity to clarify and express my fears around that change and its consequences for me and for him. If anxieties are intruding on your sleep and / or waking hours and you’re already doing the best you can to do all the practical things, it could be worth contacting PPS to check whether it may be appropriate for you to sign up for some free counselling sessions." Name witheld. 2008-10-31T15:22:18+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/nottinghamshire-short-breaks-pathfinder-project/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/nottinghamshire-short-breaks-pathfinder-project/#When:15:27:10Z This important project is now launched and underway, and will make a significant difference over the next two years to the landscape of short breaks provision for families with a child with a disability.  The project steering group is very clear that the participation of parents and of children/young people to inform and guide development will be crucial in producing services which effectively deliver what they want and need. This participation will take place by: having a number of parents/carers as members of task groups which have been set up to explore different aspects of short break provision. ensuring that all the parents’ support groups which have contact with Parent Partnership Service receive consistent messages about the short breaks project and that parents at these groups are invited to provide views and comments that are fed back to the short breaks steering group ie that there is effective two-way communication using the PPS Cool Kids Project to seek the views of children and young people about the kind of activities and support they need from a short breaks package. setting up a Parent Participation Focus Group to bring together all views from task groups, parents’ groups, views gathered elsewhere eg from incidental conversations We recognise that parents/carers do not always find it easy or comfortable to sit on ‘professional’ groups – transport, child-care, time and venue of meetings can all be barriers to parent participation, and the difficulty parents sometimes experience in finding their ‘fit’ in a group of professionals is perhaps the biggest barrier of all.  The short breaks steering group is committed to making it possible, feasible and even enjoyable, for parents/carers to play a key role in directing the project development and will make every effort to address the difficulties that seek to detract from this.  For example, meetings of task groups will be at times and venues accessible to parents who may have children to take or pick up from school; help with transport and child-care will be considered and the Parent Partnership Service is planning a series of support groups for parents taking part in these groups to address any issues with confidence and understanding of the group processes.If you would be interested in being a part of this exciting project please contact Glyn Connolly, Lead Officer Service Development, 0115 8465550, or Edwina Cosgrove, Parent Partnership Service, 0115 9482888.  You may wish to be a member of one of the task groups, or you may already be a member of a parents’ support group and seek involvement that way.  It is vital that parents and children/young people express their views to inform and guide the development of the project – how else will it be able to match your needs and wishes? 2008-08-31T15:27:10+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/contacting-parents/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/contacting-parents/#When:15:34:12Z PPS would like to build up a list of parents’ email addresses, so that we can contact you quickly to pass on information that might be helpful to you, or to invite you to take part in a consultation or other event. There are too many parents on our database for us always to send out material by post, mainly because of the time involved in preparing the mailout (printing, labelling envelopes, franking etc).   We try to post as much information as possible on this website, but a list of email addresses would enable us to contact you individually with the greatest efficiency.If you would be willing to let us have your email address please send an email to our general service address : enquiries@ppsnotts.org.ukstating your name.  Please note that this will be a separate list from that used to send out our newsletter, Partnership Matters; our electronic circulation list for PM does not include parents’ names, just email addresses so that you will need to email us again even if you already receive PM via email.If you are not already on our database, and would like to be, please state this in the email so that we can contact you for further details. 2008-04-01T15:34:12+00:00 http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/parent-consultation-information/ http://www.ppsnotts.org.uk/news/parent-consultation-information/#When:15:56:57Z Parent Partnership Service is frequently asked to facilitate consultation groups to provide the parents’/carers’ perspective when new strategies are being planned or current policies reviewed.  We believe that parents in this situation are equivalent to volunteers, giving their time and expertise freely to benefit a wider group across the community. Organisations using volunteers to help deliver a service should ensure that those volunteers are not out of pocket as a result, and generally this means that they can claim expenses relating to travel and child-care.  For the purpose of any consultations facilitated by PPS involving parents/carers we will therefore pay expenses on that basis.All expenses are paid via cheque made out to the person attending the consultation session.Travel costs Travel costs will be provided between the home address and the venue, either as a mileage rate or on the production of tickets for public transport. Car park charges will be reimbursed on the production of a dated receipt/ticket. Child-care costs Those wishing to claim for child-care costs should indicate this at the time of booking their place on the consultation group. Child-care costs can be claimed for care over and above that normally in place for the child. A receipt from a registered child-care provider must be provided. 2008-01-18T15:56:57+00:00