How To Make More Time...

Douglas Silas,
Specialist SEN Solicitor
15th February 2021

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They say that weeks go by quickly when you are busy (or enjoying yourself), but they go by slowly when you are not busy (or not enjoying yourself).

Actually, I have found that often, in reality, we are usually unrealistic about how long it actually takes us to do something, so we are then often chasing our tails trying to complete everything that we need to do, when we just have not given ourselves enough time in the first place to do everything!

​And these all end up compounding each other, so that at the end of the day or week, we are just exhausted and feel under-productive, as we focus on the things we haven't done, rather than the things that we have done.

So, when you think you can do something in an hour, try and give yourself two hours to do it in your diary. If you then do it in an hour, you will still have another hour to spare to do other things; but if it takes you longer than an hour, you still have time left to do it.

​Simple isn't it?

Go on, try it - you will be surprised at how less hurried and stressed you may feel...

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Feel free to skip this bit if none of it is of interest to you.

On Friday afternoon (why do they always leave their emails until Friday afternoons), I received the latest email from the SEND Division at the Department for Education (DfE), this week entitled: 'a) SEND funding 2021-22; b) HNFF Consultation; c) Supported Internships Access to Work funding', which said:

"Dear colleagues,
 
We would like to signpost the following items:
 

• SEND Funding for 2021-22 - on Wednesday, 10 February, we announced over £42m SEND funding for 2021-22 to extend projects for children with SEND – further information is on gov.uk: Over £42 million to extend projects for children with SEND
• High Needs National Funding Formula consultation - as part of our review of the high needs national funding formula that calculates high needs funding allocations to local authorities, we launched a six-week consultation on 10 February. We are looking for responses to questions on the proposed formula changes for 2022-2023, including questions relating to longer term developments. A link to the consultation is on gov.uk: High needs national funding formula – proposed changes
• Access to Work has extended funding for Supported Internships outside of the work placement until August 2021 - confirmation has been received from DWP that students taking part in a supported internship who are unable to attend their work placements due to coronavirus (COVID-19) can apply for Access to Work funding until the end of August 2021 for work-related activities where: a job coach leads the activity; the activities develop employability skills. Access to Work funding is available for employability activities that are delivered face-to-face or via digital methods. Access to Work is not available to support academic learning activities such as English and Maths. You can contact the Access to Work helpline on 0800 121 7479, and further information is at: Get support in work if you have a disability or health condition (Access to Work)

Many thanks
 
Special Educational Needs and Disability Division"
 
I won't say anything else, as if any of this interests you, you can click the relevant link/s and read things for yourself; and if you are not interested, you won't!

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This week I want to draw your attention to theIASS (Information, Advice and Support Services) Network.

I can do no better than to quote from their website, which says:

"We are the Information, Advice and Support Services Network (IASSN)As part of the Children and Families Act 2014 it is a legal requirement that all local authorities ensure children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) & their parents have access to an impartial Information, Advice and Support (IAS) service. The IASSN are funded by the Department for Education (DfE) to support this.
We do this by:

• Working with the SENDIAS services to ensure they have the resources and training to provide high quality information, advice and support to children, young people and parents in their area.           
• Listening to and working with SENDIASS' to understand their challenges and successes in order to feedback to the DfE to implement positive and necessary change.
• Working with SENDIAS services and other stakeholders to develop and promote the standards for SENDIAS services

We do not provide direct advice or support to children, young people and parents. However, we can help you find your local IAS Service or you can have look at our resources section for other sources of support.

The IASS Network is based within the Council for Disabled Children in the National Children's Bureau.

Please note that CDC, NCB, the IASSN and all SENDIAS services, have been, like everyone, affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Due to the wide ranging impact of this pandemic, CDC have developed a webpage dedicated to support, information and guidance regarding Coronavirus. This can be accessed here: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/news-opinion/news/covid-19-support-and-guidance"

You may also find it useful to subscribe to their newsletter, which contains news, resources and events relating to SEND. which you can do here.

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In terms of news, here's a few things I found of interest:
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• Five ways children could make up for lost school time
  
• Heads warn against 'grinding out hours' in summer catch up
  
• Mental-health tsar: Anxious pupils should return gradually
  
• Doctors warn of ‘tsunami’ of pandemic eating disorders
  
• Paediatricians call for Covid rules to ease so children can play

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Where can I find further information?
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Again, aside from clicking on the relevant links for more information, I would also remind you of the very useful resources and information provided on the following websites:
 
- IPSEA
- Council for Disabled Children
- Contact
- Scope  
- Special Needs Jungle
 
I would also highlight again the fact that you can now get digital copies of the magazines: SEN Magazine and Autism Eye which are both very helpful to any parents or professionals involved with children/young people with SEN.

Keep safe until next week.

With best wishes
 
Douglas

P.S I understand that there are a number of educational or other useful resources now on the web, so I would be very grateful if you could let me know of any that you find that other people may find useful, so that I can direct people to it.

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