Family Information and FOPHS News Friday 10th November 2023

On Monday 13th November we will be joining in with ‘Odd Socks’ Day. Students are requested to come into school wearing odd socks. If your child or young person wears tights, maybe they could wear their socks on top of their tights.  We look forward to seeing a lot of odd socks on Monday!

As always, this is optional.

We are delighted to be supporting the BBC Children in Need campaign this year and invite all students to wear pyjamas to school next Friday 17^th November. If you are willing and able to support, please send your child in with a £1 donation to their fundraising.

See FoPHS section for more detail.

The link to the events calendar is below.

This Monday 13^th November 10 of our students will be completing a sponsored cycle to help the ‘Jonny cycling to space’ fundraiser. Some did a cycle a few months ago and it is a great way to involve students in a challenge. He has so far achieved an unbelievable 314,393ft in elevation and over 5181 miles in distance, an absolutely amazing effort. All money raised will support the school with exciting new projects.

You’ll find more information on this year long challenge below.

It is here.

Online safety blog this week is about Ofcom response to the social media companies in line with the new online safety bill.

It is very scary having to think about the future for our young people, but the two sessions offered by MENCAP may help. Thanks to the parent who first alerted me to these and reminded me that they are being repeated.

Below is a link to Mencap’s website where there is a guide which you can download.

Wills and Trusts Service:

Quote below from Mencap:

“If someone with a Learning Disability has an inheritance left directly to them, it could lead to the loss of their means tested benefits and support package.

Setting up a discretionary trust can give them financial security and help them to do the things they love.”

Link below to the “Planning for the future” online webinars which I can highly recommend, having joined one. These are free of charge and there are several coming up in the next few months. Visit the link below for times and dates and to book.

Mental Capacity

Another subject which parents/carers need to think of. Again, Mencap offers free online webinars on “Decision Making”, covering the Mental Capacity Act, Power of Attorney and the Court of Protection with a legal firm. These are held less frequently; in fact, the next one is not until March next year and the link is below.

“We like to send out regular emails just to keep in touch and keep you up to date with information which we think may be of help or interest to you.  The information we circulate is for families in the North East including, but not restricted to, Northumberland, Newcastle / Gateshead and South Tyneside.

Recently we have had families contact us and tell us that they have been expecting emails from us but they have not been received in their Inbox.  We seem to be having more problems like this so please could we ask that if you are expecting an email from us – whether it be a Zoom link, a support email, an appointment email or just a general email, please always check your spam or Junk Inbox.  Often our emails can be found there rather than in your direct Inbox.

FACEBOOK – If you have a Facebook account, make sure you like and follow our page. Families living in South Tyneside are invited to like our Autism Hub Facebook page to keep up to date on local offers, activities and information as well as upcoming events at the Autism Hub.

There is different support depending on where you live, and you will find all the information on the website.

Other benefits, Child Tax Credit/Child Benefit can continue to be claimed for a child/young person in education until their 20^th birthday. Evidence will be required from their school/college to confirm that they are in full time education.

For those in higher income households, who are not eligible for Child tax Credit/Child Benefit, those families would, prior to December 2021 have applied in the young person’s name after their 16^th birthday for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). This has been replaced by an element of Universal Credit, whereby the young person has a Work Capability Assessment carried out and assessed as having limited capacity for work. This establishes a limited capacity for work related activities (LCWRA) and it may be possible to claim the ESA element of Universal Credit.

For all students moving on from school to college, it is essential that the LCWRA is established before they move to a new course. Failure to get this done means they won’t be able to apply for the new style ESA which I refer to as UC/ESA.

Below are some links which may help.

Guidance has changed since December 2021, and I do keep abreast of them as much as possible. I know that Contact-for families of disabled children were advising families to go down the “credit only” route once a child turned 16 to access a WCA. It does appear, from the most recent information I have that students currently in Post 16 will not be able to claim UC/ESA in their own right as the course here is full time (5 days), whereas mainstream settings in 6^th form/college would normally be 3. I think, given the changes it will be worthwhile getting support from Citizens Advice Bureau or Welfare Rights. A word of caution though; welfare rights does not offer support in all local authorities and if you seek support from Citizens Advice, try to establish that it is someone who understands the process.

This group is open to families living in Durham and surrounding Local Authorities. You do need to join the group and there is a suggested annual family donation for those able to contribute. If there are specific activities you are searching for, you’ll find details of their weekly clubs/groups on their website. They also do trips/activities during school holidays.

They also have relaxed sessions from 10-12.00 on certain Sundays, approximately fortnightly from what I can see. The next ones are on November 12^th and 26^th. If your child/young person enjoys these and annual membership at £29 (child aged 3+) or £37 (adult concession/student) might be worth considering and a free carer ticket is available too. Single ticket entry is £9.09/£11.36 (child/adult concession or student).

The Santa experience is a separate event, with different charges and there are relaxed sessions available on the 26^th November at 3.15pm and 3^rd December at 1pm.

They have just added a Gaming Room!  Here is what they have said:

“We know how difficult it is to get our children away from their devices so we have created a Pathways gaming room.

This room will only be available when booked on your day of visit for a maximum of 4 children and a guardian must supervise at all times. This will ensure our children have a safe, secure environment to game together. In the new year we are planning to start a teenage gaming group to encourage new friendships and confidence building amongst our gamers. (Please note there will be no extra cost to use our gaming room)”

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 16^th November from 9.30-11.00. We would love to have more parents/carers join and you are welcome to join in person or online. We also would like to ask for more support from parents/carers with some of the work the FoPHS does; this could be helping with a raffle, sourcing things we want to purchase. We will talk more about this at the meeting.

The link to join online is here.

FoPHS 100 Club

We now have 52 numbers subscribed and seem to have hit a standstill. For those who are interested and need a reminder, the form is below, or available as paper copies from me.

IQ Christmas Cards

Orders have been sent out and I hope you love them. There were a few late orders which will be sent when they arrive. I love seeing the student’s artwork and there were some amazing designs. I also love how we can use assisted technology to enable those who cannot use their hands to create something themselves.

Facebook page:

This is a closed group for family and friends of Percy Hedley School, where you can share news and updates about school life. It is not for external professionals who may be working with families. To join, you need to answer the question stating your link with school.

Please note: this group is for sharing news and updates about school life and is not intended to discuss any issues around individual students, and as such all comments are moderated. If you have a particular issue or concern, please contact school directly on 0191 216 1811.