Sendac - Cumbria Parent Carer Forum

24/06/2025

Cumberland OFSTED SEND Inspection!!!! PARENT CARER SURVEY OUT NOW! for all parents who have a child/ young person with additional needs age 0-25 living in Cumberland.

❗️DEADLINE to complete the survey: 1st July at 9:00 am! ❗️

SURVEY LINK: https://ofsted.smartsurvey.co.uk/p/AreaSend/10364961

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will be visiting Cumberland between the 7th to 11th July 2025 to inspect ALL services available for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

🕵🏼The inspectors want to hear from parents, carers, and young people about whether local services are meeting the needs of children with special educational needs/ disabilities and their families in the area. as well as, their overall experiences of services—whether positive or negative. for example:

✅ Education – How well schools and settings support children with SEND, the EHCP process, the system as a whole etc.

✅ Health Services – Access to therapies, sensory processing support, CAMHS, speech and language, diagnosis processes and other health provisions

✅ Social Care Support – Short breaks, respite care, direct payments and family support

✅ Post-16 Support – Transition to adulthood and options available to your child.

This is an important opportunity to share your views, as responses will contribute to the inspection findings.

The more surveys responses the better! The LA and NHS get to have multiple meetings to let them know how things are going from their point of view. However, parents don't get as much of a say and the survey is one of the main ways you can do that!

SENDAC will also be submitting all evidence provided by parents, including insights from the annual SEND survey completed in November.📊

SENDAC will be part of the SEND inspection and will be meeting with inspectors also, giving parent carer feedback we have received, including results from our ANNUAL SEND survey! 🫱🏼‍🫲🏻📝

Why should you take part?

The more parents that respond, the clearer the picture inspectors will have of the support available in the area. If too few people share their experiences, valuable feedback may not be fully considered.

👉 Fill out the survey now to ensure your voice is heard! https://ofsted.smartsurvey.co.uk/p/AreaSend/10364961

18/06/2025

‘Every accessible bathroom should have, a hook, shelf and mirror’ stoma friendly toilets.

“You wouldn’t but baby stuff on the floor, so why should you have to put stoma bag stuff on the floor” 👌🏻

10/06/2025

Carers week 2025! FREE raffle for parent carers!

This year carers week theme is ‘Caring about equality’. 🤍

YOU MUST BE A PARENT CARER to a child with additional needs/disabilities IN CUMBRIA TO ENTER!

Parent carers pour all of their love, efforts, energy and time into their children, as a way to give back and well done for everything you do. We are doing some free giveaways to some well-deserving parent carers

The winners will be chosen completely randomly!

1st Prize - Choose between a relaxing spa day for one with three treatments at banatyne spa (your choice of location) or an afternoon tea for two at armathwiate hall.

2nd & 3rd prize - a Devon heaven truffle afternoon tea for two hamper

10 additional prizes- £5 Starbucks gift card!

How to enter, just simply enter your name here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/85VBYZH

Final prize - Tag a parent to a child with additional needs/disabilities in the post to get some well deserved flowers sent their way or chocolates if you would prefer!

Raffle Closes Thursday 26th June!

07/06/2025

05/06/2025

Is your child being assessed for Autism and you wish for some support and a chance to meet others? 🌈✨

See poster for more information regarding parent drop in sessions⬇️

05/06/2025

28/05/2025

Do you know a young person who is blind or has a visual impairment?

These activities look like lots of fun!

💰 £60 per weekend
🔢 Open to ages 8 – 17 years
🌍 Lake District, Cumbria

Dates 🗓️

June 6th - 8th 2025 limited spaces
July 11th - 13th 2025
September 5th - 7th 2025
October 3rd - 5th 2025

Do you know a young person who is blind or has a visual impairment?

The Outlook Trust team are running monthly activity weekends in the Lake District for young people with a visual impairment – and we’ve got spaces available!

These weekends are a brilliant chance for young people to build confidence, make new friends and have some fun outdoors. Whether they’re looking to try something new or just want a change of scene, they’ll be welcomed by a friendly and experienced team.

💬 Just £60 per weekend – the rest is covered by The Outlook Trust.
📆 Open to ages 8 – 17 years
📍 Lake District, Cumbria

It’s also a great opportunity for parents and carers to enjoy a bit of respite, knowing their child is in safe hands. We’ve supported many young people with additional needs on top of visual impairments including Autism and ADHD – we just ask that children attending are physically mobile and able to follow instructions.

No outdoor experience needed – just a willingness to have a go! Many of our volunteers have over 25 years of experience supporting children with a visual impairment.

Find out more and book a place: https://www.outlooktrust.org/

[Image Description:
The Outlook Trust for the blind and visually impaired Lake District Activity Weekends
June 6th - 8th 2025 limited spaces
July 11th - 13th 2025
September 5th - 7th 2025
October 3rd - 5th 2025
Visit our website www.outlooktrust.org.uk for more information and to book your place]

27/05/2025

❗️ Reminder... The Targeted Short Breaks mid-year registration window is open until 6th June! ❗️

🚶 Targeted Short Breaks Activities are activities provided by organisations in the local area designed to meet the needs of children and young people with disabilities. This gives parents and carers the opportunity to take a Short Break from caring.🏃‍♀️

👫 Register your child or young person here: https://central.digital.cumberland.gov.uk/w/webpage/new-case-log-link?service=shortbreaks&council=cumberland&fbclid=IwY2xjawKiYVFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBJZWk1dmVOZUc2RXdHeHVkAR7BPIsvcufEFHiAOj1SmccY0-9_CdUHKsh0jvQ_7qc9Q8QlLnwaK3SoD4RUeQ_aem_8ur5ynzI8ih2hcdbpV-7tg

💻 Or visit our Local Offer page for more information: https://fid.cumberland.gov.uk/kb5/cumberland/directory/advice.page?id=zraKN6PcZcE&fbclid=IwY2xjawKiYT9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBJZWk1dmVOZUc2RXdHeHVkAR5q_zwtHuDdhFajW9318JXaoGE2DGn-ZsB4FlFKxnZ87ODmHQBV_Z7Hlo-zOw_aem_NaqG98znNYg-hZTVcDSBxg

➡ Please note that if your child is already registered for Targeted Short Break Activities and you can currently book activities you do not need to re-register until October 2025. This registration window is a mid-year window for those who missed the October window, or have since become eligible.

To be eligible to access the Targeted Short Breaks service,
Your child or young person must:
➡ be ordinarily resident in Cumbria,
➡ have a disability as defined in the Equality Act 2010,
➡ have an Education, Health and Care Plan, and
➡ be within the academic year groups Year 1 to Year 13.

If you would like to speak to someone directly about Short Breaks or have any questions surrounding eligibility or the registration process, please call:
☎️ 0300 3038 165.
📧 You can also email the service at: shortbreaks@cumberland.gov.uk

The registration window will close Friday, 6 June 2025. You will be informed if your child/ young person is eligible for the Targeted Short Breaks service before the end of June.

Please note that, if eligible, this registration window will allow your child/young person to access 38 hours of until the end of January 2026. We will open another registration window in October 2025 for the 2026/27 Targeted Short Breaks year.

24/05/2025

SENDAC is Cumbria’s statutory parent carer forum 💙💛🩶🩵

You are legally entitled to be a member of your statutory forum if you are a parent to a child with additional needs/ disabilities age 0-25 living in Cumberland or Westmorland and furness (no diagnosis required)

There are no commitments as a member but you do get a variety of benefits, such as a free MAX card (discount card for SEND families), Free SEND training, updates on SEND services and many more!

Either scan the QR code below or follow the link here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QM82XS6

If you’re seeing this post and you do not live in Cumbria, you can find your statutory parent carer forum details on the NNPCF website 🥰

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

22/05/2025

Bit of a late night post, we know lots of parents that have children with SEND are probably still awake though! 💙

Do you have any questions about being a member of SENDAC? Or just SENDAC in general 💙🌟

If you do, write them below and we will do our best to answer them!

👇🏼 👇🏼 👇🏼 👇🏼

21/05/2025

PDA, how this might look in the classroom 🙌🏻

A lot of people don’t realise these discrete tactics, to help avoid the demands of the classroom. Super important to recognise these behaviours and have an understanding that these are all forms of communication.

18/05/2025