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There was a good mix of parents, carers and relatives new to school and those who have been here for some time. That鈥檚 the beauty of it and new families really value meeting parents who can share experiences with them. Ollie, Chair of FoPHS, parent to Archie and Parent Governor attended with his mother and introduced the FoPHS. We had cake, lots of lively discussions and 100% positive feedback from those who were there.

As promised, there will be one each half term, a mix of mornings and afternoons and the next one will be from 14-15.00 on Thursday 28^th November.

They are for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium. This is for students eligible for one/both who are either new to school or have moved key stages. If you receive this letter (it will be emailed to you as well) please respond in the timeframe.

16-19 bursary letter.

Both need to be returned to me no later than Friday 27^th September. For those in receipt of vouchers for free school meals, this is essential.

If you need support, please contact me.

Post 16 MacMillan Coffee afternoon: Wednesday 25^th September 14-15.00

16-19 Bursary session for parents/carers: Thursday 3^rd October 10-11.00 This will be on TEAMS, but you are welcome to join me in school. The link to join is below.

It is below.

The online safety blog is live for this week!

A guide for parents: Online Activity and Acquiring images.

In today’s digital age, ensuring our children’s safety online is more important than ever. As parents, it’s essential to be aware of the potential risks and take proactive steps to protect our kids. This post will focus on two particular issues: online stalking and the unauthorised use of personal images.

Social Care.

If you are caring for a child/young person with a disability it is important to engage with Social Care. Some people have mixed feelings about it which might include:

• What can they do?
• They don鈥檛 understand.
• They are judgemental.
• They are no help.

These are all valid, as they have been experienced by some of you. However,

Social Care, both children鈥檚 and adults have a duty of care to support your child/young person and you! Don鈥檛 be afraid to challenge and use your child鈥檚 annual review to discuss what their social care needs are too.

The 2 acts I refer to are:

1. The Children and Families Act 2014:

The Act听requires education, health and social care agencies to work together more closely than they have in the past. This includes integrated practices in identification and assessment, and integrated planning to meet needs.

2. The Care Act 2014

The Care Act听places a general duty on local authorities to promote an individual’s ‘wellbeing’. This means that they should always have a person’s wellbeing in mind when making decisions about them or planning services. Wellbeing can relate to: personal dignity (including treatment of the individual with respect)

Both require Local Authorities to consider the needs of the disabled person and their carers and carry out an assessment of need to determine services to support them. This can include respite, personal budgets and/or commissioned services. Local Authorities are not allowed to have blanket policies so if you are told 鈥渨e don鈥檛 provide that service for people with X condition, this would apply.

One of the things you need to consider from an early age is that once your child leaves education/training their EHCP will cease as it is an education led plan covering education, health and care. It will be replaced by a health and/or social care plan. This can happen from age 18, so if your child receives services via Children鈥檚 Social Care, they will automatically have an assessment of their care needs as an adult.

Want to know more? Have a look at the links below or ask me to do a session on it.

Universal Credit:

Contact 鈥� for families of disabled children have a free helpline and here is some detail on Universal Credit and caring for a disabled child.:

Families on Universal Credit who have a disabled child usually qualify for extra payments.

You should get an extra Universal Credit payment 鈥� a disabled child addition 鈥� for each child in your family who receives a qualifying disability benefit. Qualifying benefits include Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or their Scottish equivalents. Depending on your circumstances, you may also qualify for an extra payment as a carer: the carer element.

Sometimes there can be a delay in the Universal Credit service finding out that you are eligible for a disabled child addition or carer element. This means there鈥檒l be a period in which you get Universal Credit, but your award is missing the additional elements. The law says that the extra payments can in most cases be backdated, i.e. paid from an earlier date.

But sometimes the Universal Credit service refuses to backdate to the correct date. This is an issue we know affects many families.

We’ve written some templates for parent carers to use to help get elements backdated.

The free helpline is on 0808 808 3555

The link to their information on benefits is below.

Some activity ideas for this weekend:

20, 21, 22 September – FINAL WEEKEND (ad) Happy Rooms Middlesbrough

21 September – FREE Create a Hobby Horse at Oriental Museum

21 September – (ad) FREE Park Play at Souter Lighthouse

21 September – 拢1 Eco Trail at Sunderland Winter Gardens

21 September – Create an Animal Themed Clay Bowl at Shipley Art Gallery

21 September – & Juliet at Sunderland Empire

21 September – American Car Show at Bamburgh Castle

21 September – Science Buddies Club at Hopetown Darlington

21 September – Abigail’s Party at Northern Stage

21 September – (Un) Canny Comics at The Word

21 & 22 September – FREE Harvest, Meet the Anglo Saxons at Ad Gefrin

21 & 22 September – Festival of Thrift at John Whitehead Park

21 & 22 September – Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out at Darlington Hippodrome

21 & 22 September – Sunderland Live Arena Monster Truck Show

22 September – Heritage Train Rides at Stephenson Railway

22 September – What the Tortoise Taught Us at The Word

As always, do double check event info direct with venues before heading out. You can find out more and get their official links below.

Sign up and get your free pass at the link below. There is also a guide to National Trust playgrounds.

(Cragside is not included in this deal)

One of the most inclusive events we have been involved with for years and part of British Triathlon, this year moved from Newcastle to the Wentworth Leisure Centre in Hexham. Two current and several former PHS students took part. A fantastic day and Ros, mum to Amelie said she thought the venue was better as changing facilities were more adapted. It takes place in September each year and here are a couple of photos and the link for those interested.

If you鈥檇 like to book please can you let us know on the booking form how many places you require.

We’re aware that this time of the day might not be suitable for some autistic individuals and their families. However, feedback from our previous sessions have been positive and this time has worked well for those families. We are aware of other SEN/autism friendly swimming events across the North East which might be more suitable if this session doesn’t work for you, please reach out to us if you would like to be signposted to them! Our staff members volunteer their time to make this event possible to ensure our families can have fun in an understanding, friendly environment, without fear of being judged.

All the family are welcome to join in. The session is 拢5 per person and is payable in advance of the session. Places must be booked in advance by emailing support@ttht.co.uk or by completing an online booking form on our website where we have further information about this event.

We expect places to fill up quickly so make sure to get in touch ASAP!

These can be borrowed for a refundable cash deposit of 拢20.

Find out more below.

Thanks to Ollie, parent to Archie, Chair of FoPHS and Parent Governor who introduced the work we do to support school, with examples of how we have done so in the last few years. We would welcome ideas for fund-raising as we rely on this to support school. We will also offer opportunities to volunteer in support of FoPHS. Our next FoPHS meeting is Thursday 28^th November in the afternoon from 2-3pm.

For 拢12 you will be entered into 12 draws which will be done in 2 batches of 6. Half the takings support FoPHS, the remainder is given as prizes. If we could, fingers crossed get 100 numbers taken this year that would be 拢50. You can pay cash, cheque, BACS or via the QR code. If you do the latter you鈥檒l be 鈥渋nvited鈥� to give a tip to justgiving but you can reset this figure to zero at the checkout. So far, 26 numbers have been taken.

We are asked to raise 拢350 per person so there is still time to help them reach the 拢700 target. Some of you have seen and been moved by the image on the PHF GNR post of a dad supporting his daughter to the finish line. In her words:

鈥淎 painful day to say the least. My 6^th GNR completed, and it was definitely the most mentally challenging. Suffering with a knee injury and still completing in 3 hours 9 minutes is a huge achievement. I couldn鈥檛 have done it without my dad. He encouraged me the whole way through, never left my side and held my hand when I was struggling the most鈥�.

I am so proud of them both; they did it to help current students have the experiences Niall did when he attended this wonderful school. So, I make no apologies for sharing the link again for those who are willing and able to support. Current amount raised is 拢635.

Why do we do it early? It means we can get orders in and get the finished product back to you in a timely manner. Although this does generate some revenue for FoPHS, last year we raised 拢175 there is a better reason. Your child can share with you something they have done which you can share with family and friends. I know my family love to see work Niall has done, so at 26 he will do one of these too.

Please help me by getting orders back quickly and if any parent could come in to help me with collating orders that would be fantastic. The link to the company we use is below.

Not done it yet. If you shop at Asda and have the rewards app on your phone, just choosing us raises 拢1 for FoPHS. We got 拢50 to start us off and will get 0.5% of the total value of your spends. This doesn鈥檛 affect your reward benefits either. Link below for more information.

. It is not for external professionals who may be working with families. To join, you must answer the question stating your link with school. This is to ensure that we keep the group school and FoPHS focused and keep it as safe as we can for families.

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.