November 2023 Kirklees SEND Newsletter
Introducing the Our Voice team
The Kirklees Our Voice team help children and young people to make their voices heard and let the council know what they think about decisions that are being made about them.
This is important because it helps the council to ensure the voices of children and young people are at the heart of our planning. The Our Voice team have made a short video to explain who they are and what they do - you can view it below.
Home to School Travel Consultation
Kirklees Council is planning to make some changes to the way eligible post-16 young people with additional needs are helped to access their place of education.
The changes will relate only to young people of sixth form age who are eligible for travel assistance - and your views will help to shape the way forward. A consultation has now opened and all the details are available on our Home to School travel consultation page (opens link in same window)
Project Search Graduation 2023
Congratulations to the latest group of young people with learning disabilities and autism who have graduated from Project Search.
Project Search is a popular scheme helping young people into the world of employment whilst also giving them more confidence and new skills.
Kirklees is a national leader in this programme - find out more in the news story on Kirklees Together (opens link in new window).
Launch of Inclusion Counts guidance
New guidance has been launched for all practitioners who work in early years settings, such as pre-schools and nurseries providing childcare and education for 0 – 5 year olds.
This guidance is designed to help adults identify the specific support needs of children with SEND and to adapt the way they work. This will help to plan effective teaching and additional provision where needed which will help children to make good progress.
The guidance is written for early years professionals and is available on the Local Offer for everyone to see our page on Inclusion Counts guidance (opens link in same window).
Come along to the official launch of Blossom
As part of the council’s work to continue improving SEND provision across Kirklees, Woodley School and College has expanded.
Woodley now operates Blossom, a shop in Byram Arcade, Huddersfield town centre, which will provide students aged 16 to 19 with many exciting opportunities such as learning new skills, gaining work experience and developing customer service.
Blossom sells a wide range of products made by students themselves, including cards, candles, coasters and personalised mugs. The name of the shop was also chosen by the young people. Profits will go back into Blossom to fund more equipment, more products and even more experiences.
The council is working on plans for Woodley School and College to move to a new site in Almondbury. This is a long-term process involving a multi-million pound investment.
Blossom will be officially launched on Wednesday December 13th (2pm to 4pm) and everyone is invited to come along, have a look around and meet students and staff.
If you would like a PDF version of this newsletter then please find it below:
November 2023 Newsletter (downloads PDF) (opens link in new window)