Autism in Schools

PaCC is working on the Autism in Schools (AIS) project in Brighton & Hove, as part of a national programme to try and improve the experience and outcomes for autistic children who attend mainstream schools. The AIS project has been created and is funded by the NHS but delivered by local authorities. It comes from the Transforming Care Programme, which is focused on Learning Disability and Autism. The National Network of Parent Carer Forums has put together some information on how the Autism in Schools project was created, see here/link (https://nnpcf.org.uk/2021/06/23/autism-schools-project/)

In Brighton and Hove PaCC is running the AIS project in local schools in partnership with two BHISS ASC specialist teachers and a schools mental health service participation worker.

At the start of the project, PaCC distributed a survey to parent carers whose children attend the schools taking. The survey asked parent carers how working together with schools could improve inclusion and access to support services for families.  We used the feedback to shape the content of the coffee mornings we run for parent carers in the participating schools. The impact of the project and any future developments will be evaluated by a final closing survey, which will be sent to parent carers to complete once the project has ended.

One of the aims of the project is to support parent carers in each school to find ways to come together for mutual support.  This could be through coffee mornings, online meetings, whatsapp groups or other methods.  PaCC has resources and can offer advice and support to these groups, so that they can continue meeting even after the end of the project.

 

PaCC and Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)

PaCC is involved with a project called the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS).  This is a national programme that aims to support the education and health needs of neurodiveregent children in schools through a partnership approach, working with local authorities and parent carer forums. The project is like Autism in Schools but has a focus on all neurodivergent conditions.

We work with representatives from local authorities and health from across Sussex as well as East Sussex Parent Carer Forum [link https://www.espcf.org.uk/ ] and West Sussex Parent Carer Forum [link https://www.wspcf.org.uk/ ] .  At the start of the project, we sent a survey to parent carers in all the nine schools around their SEN support needs, and used the findings to inform the coffee mornings we run with parent carers.