Welcome to the NatSIP Website

This website offers access to a wealth of SI resources, most of which are now freely available.  We encourage you to register on the site for full access to everything we have to offer.  Registration is free, and open to anyone.  A walkthrough/howto on the registration process is here.

Last June NatSIP partners joined See Ability eye care champions in signing a letter to NHS England and government on improving eye care for people with learning disabilities.

Yesterday there was good news in that there has been a new commitment to rollout sight testing in all special schools from next year 2024/25! Where there is the existing NHS service in special schools this will continue too.

It’s such a great bit of news and SeeAbility wanted to thank everyone for all their incredible support!

If you would like to read more the government statement is in full here

NDCS has today publicly launched Every Moment Counts, their new 2023-2028 strategy.

It’s based on these charitable objectives:

  • To deliver outstanding support in the early years;
  • To provide life-changing information and advice;
  • To build communities that unite families;
  • (in respect of our international work) to be the leading global authority on childhood deafness

The strategy is available at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/every-moment-counts-our-2023-to-2028-strategy/ and there is a media landing page at https://www.ndcs.org.uk/every-moment-counts

Event: Promoting Independence - and how resources can help
Date:
Wednesday 10 May 2023  09:30 - 12:30

 

We are pleased to announce that, following the NatSIP event on 10th May the additional resources list from the discussion is now available in the NatSIP Document Library.

NatSIP would like to thank the trainers who led the event; Caireen Sutherland (RNIB), Steph Halder (BATOD) and Michelle Jones (Seashell Trust), their colleagues who contributed and to the delegates who made this a very successful morning.

Available Document:

Find your FAQ answers here!

The RNIB education team, together with VIEW, have got together to make information on some of the most popular topics raised on VI forum available on demand. Find answers to the most frequently asked questions here: Your education questions answered - VIEW (viewweb.org.uk)

Please find below a link to a briefing about 2022 national government attainment data on deaf children in England.

This was updated on 24th May 2023: https://www.ndcs.org.uk/media/8720/ndcs-note-on-attainment-data-2022.pdf

This is DfE data for children where deafness has been identified as the primary special educational need. It will not include deaf children who have not been formally identified as having a special educational need or where deafness is a secondary need (for example, deaf children with complex learning difficulties). The figures should therefore be used and interpreted with caution as they will not include all deaf children. As far as we know though, they remain the best data available in this area and for any benchmarking or comparisons over time.

 

Children’s hearing services in England (2022)

This report sets out the findings from a national survey of children’s hearing or paediatric audiology services in England in spring 2022. Responses highlight that paediatric audiology services are facing some difficult challenges as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The main themes reported were; long waiting lists, staffing issues, increasing demands on services, barriers to gaining Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPs) accreditation and other resource or funding issues. However, responses from services provided evidence that many are working hard to tackle these challenges and maintain quality. Some are even managing to innovate and commit to service improvement in a difficult environment.

Report: Children’s hearing services in England (2022)
Briefing: Children’s hearing services in England (2022)

Event:
NatSIP National Online Working Day:
The SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan
Date:
Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:00 - 16:00

 We were delighted to welcome 90 delegates to a full programme for the NatSIP Online Working Day today, 19 April 2023.

There was some excellent reflection and discussion on the SEND and AP Improvement Plan and where the strategy for success for SI learners might fit in the wider plans for SEND locally, regionall and nationally.

We heard from André Imich at DfE about the plan. Brian Lamb talked about the implications for SI provision. Karen Flanagan looked at the opportunities the Improvement Plan might offer to a Local Authority.

Specialist training is an important part of workforce development and Jackie Salter, Rory McDonnell and Tina Wakefield brought us up to date with the new learning outcomes for the SI Mandatory Qualifications for teachers and the proposal for a QTSI Apprenticeship.

The VIEW conference took place in March and John Rous Milligan gave feedback from discussions there about National Standards.

We are pleased to make the speaker presentations available below.

Available Documents:

Event:
Hybrid Training Event
Body-Tactile Communication and Tactile Sign Language
Dates:

Monday 12 June 2023 10:00-16:00 - Online via Zoom
Tuesday 13 June 2023  10:00-16:00 - Face to Face

Day 1
Online Platform:
Online via Zoom
Day 2
Face-to-Face

Thomas Pocklington Trust: Pocklington Hub - 3 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR

Pocklington Hub - Thomas Pocklington Trust (pocklington-trust.org.uk)

Cost £200/delegate, reduced to £100/delegate for NatSIP-member organisations
Booking: Open now

 

Who is this 2-day hybrid workshop for?

This two‐day workshop is aimed at specialist teachers, speech and language therapists, intervenors, teaching assistants and family members who are exploring, using and assessing tactile communication with children who are deafblind or would benefit from using tactile sign strategies in mainstream and specialist settings.

Workshop content:

  • An understanding of bodily tactile communication and tactile sign language – theoretical frameworks and how these come together in emerging tactile language users
  • Practical aspects of supporting learners who communicate in a bodily tactile way and supporting the emergence of tactile language
  • Principles of tactile sign language and adapting sign language to the tactile mode
  • Supporting assessment and goal setting for learners using bodily tactile communication and tactile sign language

For more information and a booking form, see here

RNIB has launched a new report What we know about Education which is available for download here (MS Word format).

The report summarises the experiences of children and young people with a vision impairment who are in education.

In the UK, we estimate that there are around 41,000 children and young people who live with a vision impairment and they are not always having the same education experiences as their sighted peers.

We know that 70% attend mainstream schools where they may be the only child with a vision impairment. They need a range of specialist support, but this isn’t always or consistently happening.

This lack of support is leading to educational attainment for children with vision impairment being lower than their fully sighted classmates.

The Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment has been developed by RNIB and partners to support parents, carers, and education professionals to ensure children and young people with a vision impairment receive an appropriate and equitable education. You can access the Framework at: http://www.rnib.org.uk/cfvi

In preparation for the Westminster Hall Debate on the specialist workforce for children and young people with special educational needs and disability on Wednesday 22nd March 2023, and in response to proposals in the Government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, NatSIP has written a briefing paper which can be downloaded below.

Available Document:

NatSIP and Linden Lodge were pleased to welcome over 60 delegates to the Family engagement and partnership for children and young people with vision impairment and multi-sensory impairment event at Linden Lodge School on Friday 10 March 2023.

This was a learning and networking event for therapists, educational professionals and parents supported by staff from the Wandsworth Sensory Support Service as well as Linden staff and two ex pupils.

Running alongside the conference was the WSSS Annual Technology Event, an exhibition of resources available to support VI and MSI learners.

The following presentations are available:

During the day delegates were also able to follow a presentation on Online Family Partnership: a collaboration focused on tactile communication from Steve Rose.

An executive summary of a project on the early auditory experiences of deaf toddlers can be found online at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/baby-soundscapes/results/

This is a project led by Dr Hannah Cooper at UCL Ear Institute, and funded by NDCS. It sought to explore the early auditory experiences of deaf toddlers and identify if/when radio aids might be helpful, whilst still being mindful of other environmental sounds that might be important for deaf children to access.

We were pleased to welcome some 42 attendees and speakers at the first of this new NatSIP Online Series on Thursday 9 March 2023.  This event had a focus on professionals working positively with parents.

The following documents are available from the session:

 

NDCS has produced a position paper on cross-border commissioning of specialist education services and provision for deaf children.This has been produced in response to the recent instances of local government changes, as well as the Department for Education interest in cross-border commissioning through the SEND review.

https://www.ndcs.org.uk/media/8572/202303-position-paper-on-cross-border-commissioning-england.pdf

The Education Policy Institute report on educational outcomes by deaf children, commissioned by NDCS, has now been published.

Please see the links below for more information on this:

Below is a link to a NDCS blog for parents of deaf children, giving an initial response to today’s SEND improvement plan from DfE.

www.ndcs.org.uk/blog/government-sets-out-next-steps-to-improve-special-educational-needs-support-in-england/

NDCS will be doing more in-depth analysis over the coming weeks.

NDCS would also like to take the opportunity to thank colleagues for their support for the campaign work in this area.  NDCS is clear that they couldn’t have achieved the outcomes that they have without this. In particular, the support for the CRIDE survey continues to be invaluable in evidencing and making the case to DfE for action on numbers of Teachers of the Deaf.