Parent Practitioner Advisory Team

Edvocation Services have journeyed many times alongside parents and school staff so that each child can be heard. We acknowledge and understand that the SEND journey is often lonely, frustrating and anxiety evoking. Navigating the differing systems and languages of education, health and social care in very many cases is confusing and alienating. As Parent Practitioner Advisors (SEND & Inclusion), we feel a keen sense of responsibility towards parents/carers and school staff throughout our own assessment processes as well as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services [CAMHS] referrals and Education, Health, and Care Needs or Individual Development Plan processes.

Being a parent can be challenging enough as it is with all the stresses and expectations of daily life. Life as a parent/career of a child with complex or additional needs can be tough. Negotiating your way through the world of SEND, in order to get support in place for your child, may have been a battle. You know your children/young people best and have the sharpest insight into the daily challenges they, and you as a family, face.

Time is the greatest cost of being a SENCo. Relentless paperwork and form filing, organising and attending meetings, initiating and tracking cycles of assess, plan, do, review, making requests for statutory assessment and funding and referrals to Bee U/CAMHS, advising and supporting parents and colleagues…are all just some of the rigors of your specialist role. At the heart of what you do is a young person who can thrive, with the appropriate strategies and adjustments in place for their needs.

As experienced & long-serving SENCos, the PPA team at Edvocation understand many of the personal and professional challenges you have faced to get to this point; we are ready to listen. We offer, and encourage, open and honest communication. We do not judge. As we join you on your journey through Edvocation Services assessment processes, we will advise and support you, ensure you are kept informed, and reflect your views and wishes in the final report.

We look forward to speaking with you and supporting you along the assessment journey.

Sarah Creaser & Vic Bradley-Barnard

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