Special Educational Needs

SEN, Access and Inclusion
School Improvement Services
Priory Business Park
Bedford MK44 3WH

INFORMATION ON TRAINING AVAILABLE

Supporting Children with Down’s Syndrome

This programme of workshops aims to assist SENCOs, Teachers and TAs to further develop their understanding of what Down’s Syndrome is and how having it affects the child at school and to become familiar with the typical learning profile of children who have Down’s Syndrome.

Introductory sessions (attendance at one of the sessions is compulsory if you wish to access the subsequent workshops) will be held as follows:-

17th June, 2008
9.15 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.
at Bedford Football Club

11th September, 2008
9.15 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.
at Flitwick Lower School (places will be more limited at this session)

Workshops will be held from September onwards (dates and times will be provided at the introductory sessions – sessions run mostly from 9.30 – 11.30 a.m.) at either Flitwick Lower School or the Child Development Centre in Kempston and will cover Literacy, Numeracy, Speech and Language Development, Curriculum Access, Behaviour and Social Development, ICT and Resources.

The course leader for this programme will be Helen Long. Further details will be sent to schools via the courier service in the summer term.
 

CONTACT INFORMATION:
To book a place on an introductory session, please contact Fiona Ridgway on 01234 228427 or e-mail fiona.ridgway@bedscc.gov.uk.

Schools are welcome to send more than one member of staff.

Autism Awareness Training

This session is delivered by Bedfordshire’s Advisory Teachers for Autism and focuses on developing an understanding of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome).

In particular, examples will be given which illustrate how ASD can impact on a pupil within the education environment.

The session is aimed at Lower, Middle and Upper Schools.

On completion of the above session, or for those who have been involved in basic autism awareness training in school or elsewhere, we also run the following sessions:-

• Structuring the Unstructured
  A session of professional development activities that have been developed through the Autism Strategy Group by teachers working daily with children and young people with ASD. This session is aimed at Nursery, Lower and Middle Schools.

• Social Skills
  This session focuses on social interaction, which is an area of particular difficulty for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders. The session will explore what is meant by social skills, why pupils find social interaction difficult and how we can help pupils with autistic spectrum disorders to develop social skills and relationships. This session is aimed at Nursery, Lower and Middle Schools.

• Accessing the Curriculum
  This session is aimed at Middle and Upper Schools. The session focuses on considerations for delivery of the curriculum, learning habits, study skills and completion of homework for students with ASD.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
All the above sessions run on a termly basis at venues around the county.

For more information on dates and venues and to reserve your place, please contact Fiona Ridgway on 01234 228427 or e-mail fiona.ridgway@bedscc.gov.uk.
 

TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children)

This is an intensive theoretical and practical course, designed to enable staff from Education, Health and Social Services to work successfully with autistic children and adults using the TEACCH approach. Successful participants will have the opportunity to participate and further develop their skills and knowledge within the Bedfordshire TEACCH Project. An attendance certificate will be presented at the end of the course.

The course will run under the direction of Dr John Dougherty, Director of the Greenville TEACCH Centre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

 

Dates:	Week beginning Monday 13th October, 2008 Week beginning Monday 2nd March, 2009 Week beginning Monday 8th June, 2009
Times:	Coffee – 0845          hours Course – 0900 to 1700 hours each day This is a five-day course and all sessions must be attended in order to complete the course.
Venue:	Child Development Centre, Kempston.
Target Group:	Teachers and professionals working with children with autism.
Fee:	Delegates from Bedfordshire LA schools and Bedfordshire LA school support services: £700 per person Delegates from other establishments: £1000 per person

CONTACT INFORMATION:
To make a booking contact Fiona Ridgway on 01234 228427 or e-mail fiona.ridgway@bedscc.gov.uk.

Cancellation charges
Because of the special nature of the TEACCH course, i.e. the costs involved to bring the director over from the USA, the following cancellation charge will apply:
If cancelled less than 4 weeks before the course commences: 10% of full fee.
If cancelled less than 2 weeks before the course commences: 50% of full fee.
 

Bedfordshire Gifted and Talented Conference 2009

Sharnbrook Hotel

Bedfordshire

10th March 2009 9.00 – 15.45

Key Note Speaker: Professor Deborah Eyre

Addressing the Bedfordshire Gifted and Talented Conference will be one of the most internationally renowned names in the field.

Professor Deborah Eyre is a government advisor, a leading academic researcher, and was Director of the UK’s first national agency for gifted and talented, the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth. She has played a leading role in gifted education in England for over 25 years and has a particular interest in curriculum provision and classroom practice.

She established the first research centre for gifted education in the UK at Oxford Brookes University, served as a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Education Select Committee inquiry into the education of highly able children and designed the government’s national training programme for co-ordinators of gifted and talented pupils in schools. Professor Eyre sits on the Board of the Training and Development Agency and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

The aims of the conference are:

• to have the opportunity to hear a leading expert in the field of gifted and talented education

• to participate in workshops covering a variety of themes that support the education of gifted and talented children and young people

• to see and share best practice from a range of Bedfordshire schools in each phase

The conference is for all school practitioners, Gifted and Talented Coordinators, Leading Teachers, ASTs, Leadership Team members and Headteachers.

Costs have yet to be finalised but will be in the region of £120 per delegate. Details will be sent to schools with the list of workshops in September 2008.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a ‘first-come, first served’ basis.
 

CONTACT INFORMATION
To reserve your place, please contact Fiona Ridgway on 01234 228427 or by email at fiona.ridgway@bedscc.gov.uk.