Welcome to PCAN

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Lesley

Welcome to the PCAN! We are the independent, parent-led forum in Kirklees for all parents and carers of children and young people with additional needs aged from birth to 25 years.

You are in the right place to find lots of good information, links to social media for networking with other parents, and to help us to develop a strong, collective voice so that we can work in partnership with service providers across Kirklees.  Together we can improve services for our  children and young people with additional needs!

We welcome all parents or carers, whether you are just beginning to become aware that your child or young person may have additional needs, or if they have confirmed diagnosis or disability.

It is free to join, so please click the “join us” link above!

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Tell us what you think about therapy service in Kirklees

Posted on May 4, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Hi, during the past three years, has your child received (or do they still receive) any of the following therapies?

  • Speech and language therapy
  • Physiotherapy
  • Occupational Therapy (including Sensory OT)

If so, we would love to hear from you.  Kirklees Council has a contract with local health providers to deliver these services and that contract is being reviewed.

As part of our PCAN programme about making sure that parents’ and carers’ voices are heard in order to  ensure that the new contract will deliver what is needed, the Council is really keen for you to share your views about:

  • What therapies your child/young person receives
  • What is working well
  • What could be improved
  • What is missing
  • Anything else you would like to share

There are two ways of doing this:

1.  We are holding a Zoom event on Tuesday 11th May at 1.30 pm

Tony Parker will be co-hosting the event with PCAN.  He is working with Kirklees Council on how the new contract should look.
Click here to join – look forward to seeing you.

2.  You can fill in our survey here

Your child can complete the survey if they would like to, same link.

If you have difficulty completing surveys, or don’t understand some of the questions, please contact us on 07754102336 or email us at info@pcankirklees.org and we can help you. 

The deadline for completing the survey is Friday 15th May 2021.

Thank you for your help – together we can make a difference

Regards
The PCAN Team
(Trace, Carol, Johanna, Jenny, Ann, Nicola, Joanne J, Joanne O, Anisa)

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Education Update Kirklees

Posted on April 16, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Please click on the video link below to hear from Kelsey Clark-Davies, new Head of Safeguarding and Inclusion about Kirklees Council’s vision for children and young people and what changes and improvements are happening in the SEND arena in Kirklees. As parents we have been asked for our views many times. There is a bit of “you said we did” in the presentation too. (So we are being listened to).

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Disability Benefits for young people with SEND 16+

Posted on March 23, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Here is the recording of the webinar PCAN hosted on Monday March 22nd regarding information about disability benefits. Includes transition from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and other claimable benefits. The speaker is Ros Walters, a Benefits Advisor from Carers Count. If you need help with applying for benefits or need further information, please contact Carers Count on 03000120231

Here are the Powerpoints Ros used in the presentation:

Benefits-and-Transition-to-AdulthoodDownload
Personal-Independence-PaymentDownload
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Disability Benefits for under 16s – watch video

Posted on March 23, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Hi, below is a link to the video of the webinar run by PCAN on Monday 15th March. If you want to know more about Disability Living Allowance and Carers Allowance, please watch. The speaker on the Webinar is Ros Walters from Carers Count. If you need help with benefits, please contact them on 03000120231. They are really helpful and can support you with an application.

For your information, here are the slides Ros used in the webinar:

Disability-Living-Allowance-powerpointDownload

Carers-Allowance-pptDownload

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Covid 19 vaccinations – information for Kirklees Carers

Posted on March 2, 2021 by PCAN Admin

If you weren’t able to attend our event on the 26th February, please click below to view the recording of the webinar.

https://vimeo.com/user117398288/review/518594534/5f69205550

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Launch of newly designed Kirklees Local Offer

Posted on February 18, 2021 by PCAN Admin

The Kirklees Local offer should give families of children of special educational needs and disabilities (aged 0-25) useful information across the many subjects they need to find out about.

Parents told us that the previous Local Offer was not well designed, was hard to navigate and there was lots of information missing. We fed this back to the Kirklees Council. Kirklees Council joined up with PCAN and members in summer 2020 to re-design the site for parents and carers, and they are currently working with young people to design a section of the site for them.

The site was launched in December and is a huge improvement on the last one. Please check out the information video below.

To give feedback, there is a survey on the Homepage of the Local Offer, an email address you can contact and a simple like/don’t like symbol at the bottom of each page with the chance to make a comment. Feedback will make the Local Offer better for everyone so don’t by shy! There is a great Local Offer team working in the background who will respond to comments.

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Wednesday 24th March 10 am What you need to know about EHCPs

Posted on February 15, 2021 by PCAN Admin

We get lots of questions about Education Health and Care Plans so hope that this session will help:

  • What are the parts of an EHCP and what is in each bit and why? 
  • Why do I (and my child) have to complete Part A and what should we put? 
  • What am I looking for when I get my draft plan?” 

Find out more from Sam Booth from KIAS. by clicking here

This Webinar will be recorded so if you can’t attend, a  link will be posted on our website by Thursday 26 March.

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Disability Benefits (families of young people 15+) 22nd March 10 am

Posted on February 15, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Monday 22 March 10 am
Benefits for age 16+
 This second webinar co-hosted with Carers Count will be about disability benefits post 16, the transfer from DLA to Pip, what is an appointee?  What happens to child benefit at 16? What benefits your child can claim in their own right and how that might impact on benefits you are claiming. If you are claiming DLA for your child and they are aged 15, this event will be of interest to you too.

Please register for this event – if you have questions for Carers Count (they can’t sort individual problems on the Webinar) please email them to us in advance.  (Details of how you can do that can be seen when you register).

This webinar will be recorded, so if you can’t attend, you can watch online.  A link will be posted on our website by Wednesday 24th March.

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Disability Benefits (families with children under 16) 15th March at 10 am

Posted on February 15, 2021 by PCAN Admin

We know you have lots of questions about this topic.  This is the first of two sessions that Carers Count are delivering around disability benefits, and this one is aimed at families of children with SEND who are under 16.
We are sorry that we won’t be able to deal with individual benefits queries, it will be an information session.  However you will be able to ask questions through the chat function on the Webinar, and if you register for the event, you can ask questions up front. If you have a specific, individual issue that you are struggling with, we would suggest that you contact Carers Count on 03000120231 for advice.

Please register for the webinar here:

This webinar will be recorded, so if you can’t attend, you can watch online.  A link will be posted on our website by Wednesday 17th March.

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Wednesday 10th March: Does your child attend an Alternative Provision?

Posted on February 15, 2021 by PCAN Admin

Wednesday 10th March


Does your child attend an Alternative Provision?
(now or in the last 12-18 months)

  • Has your child been permanently excluded from school in the last 12/18 months?
  • Has your child received support in school from an alternative provision? 

 Kirklees council has commissioned an independent review of alternative provision in Kirklees led by Jane Friswell, an independent SEND consultant and parent advocate.Join Jane as she delivers an update of her review. She wants to hear from you especially the answers to these questions:

  • What was your experience of the service?
  • What aspects were good, most valuable, most impactful?
  • What could have been delivered differently or been improved?
  • What could you have delivered if time and resources were delivered elsewhere?

Sign up now for the presentation on 10th March at 10 am.  (Please attend only if your child is up to the age of 18.)

Alternative provision includes the Ethos Academy Trust, known as Engage (Key Stage 2 Pupil Referral Unit), Reach (Key Stage 3 Pupil Referral Unit) and Ethos (Key Stage 4 provision).  There are other providers in Kirklees: Brian Jackson college, Employability Solutions, Pivot and TAO Activities.   

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