LPCF Achievements

Volunteer Celebration Day

5th December 2019

LPCF held its Volunteer/Trustee Celebration day at the Grange Spa, near Pointon on 5th December 2019.

Nine volunteers joined together for a day to celebrate the achievements of LPCF.

The team enjoyed a talk by the owner of the Spa, Matt, on Fitness and wellbeing.

Nicole from Hummingbird Hynotherapy also gave a talk around Stress and implementing strategies to look after yourself.
A relaxation session was enjoyed by all the team who all deserved a well earned rest!

The team enjoyed a healthy lunch and then were given the opportunity to use the relaxing Spa facilities.

One volunteer commented "I learnt about how my stress bucket affects my daily life and how to manage it by using some of the strategies. I must look after myself before I am able to look after others. Thank you for a lovely day".

Kind Donation

LPCF have received a kind donation from the Hudson Charitable Trust for our work with parents and carers.

Many thanks to the Hudson Charitable Trust

Parents Voice

29th October 2019

Our extensive quarterly round up of what parents have been saying about Health, Education, Transport, EHC Plans, Leisure, Social Care etc

This edition of our Parents Voice is again a large document demonstrating a wide range of feedback from parents.

Please see the report on the Library page of our website.
The July to September report for 2019 can be found here.
For other Parents Voice reports please have a look in our extensive library or check back through our Achievements pages or our library page.

Signposting and Information Day

30th September 2019

On 30th September 2019 LPCF hosted a Free Signposting and Information Event at “The Festival Hall” In Market Rasen.

29 organisations attended providing a diverse range of information and support for parent carers.

Parent Carers, Professionals and members of the public provided feedback at the event. One parent commented “I arrived with my children. We felt a little overwhelmed at first but the lovely lady at the first stall (LPCF) suggested we get a drink and sit down and look at the stalls listing for a bit. What a great Idea! Thank you.
It really helped the children adjust to the busy environment. They drew pictures with the free pens and paper, drank juice and enjoyed the biscuits. Once settled we could look at the stands.
Having the info to take away and look at was good too. Thank you for organising this!”

LPCF wishes to thank
All the parents, carers, stand providers, volunteers,
and the Caretaker at “The Festival Hall” in Market Rasen who made the day a success and helped provide information and signposting for those who attended.

Next signposting event is on 31st January 2020 in Hubberts Bridge - add it to your diary now!
Please see full report in our library for more detail

Volunteer Engagement Day

23rd September 2019

LPCF held its Volunteer/Trustee engagement day at the Supreme Inn, Bicker Bar, Boston on 23rd September 2019.

A team of ten volunteers joined together for a team building day to explore the work of LPCF.

The team learnt all about the LPCF website and the importance of using it to help parents navigate their way through the mountain of information available.

Discussions around the importance of feedback, why and how LPCF collect it and the difference it makes to the improvement of services, took up a large part of the day.

Training on the use of the internal admin area, an overview of LPCF’s strategic role and a discussion surrounding signposting parents concluded the day

One volunteer commented “these VE days keep us up to date, involved in the team and make us feel valued whilst learning about our volunteering role”

Lunch concluded the day.

AGM

10th June 2019

LPCF held its AGM where the 2018-19 Annual Report and Accounts were presented. Annual Report

Volunteers and Trustees were thanked for the enormous amount of volunteer time given during the year.

4353 hours given to our forum last year.
325 meetings attended by our volunteers
18597 miles travelled annually to get to meetings etc.
Trustees were elected for the forthcoming year.

Launch of Redeveloped website

10th June 2019

A mixture of parent carers and professionals attended the AGM where LPCF launched a redeveloped website.
The site is now adaptable and usable for Phones, Tablets and Desktops with bigger screens adding information as space is available.

The only area not available on phones is the SEND page which covers the recent SEND Strategy to affect schools in Lincolnshire.
The home page now features a rolling listing of Latest News and our next six events (full listing in Events).

LPCF events and those of other organisations sit on the same page – just select the banner at the top of the columns to switch.
All Information is now in an “information portal” which cover Help Lines, Websites, Policies, Top Tips etc.

Still to come is our volunteer recruitment information where users can read all about our recruitment and make an application online.
All your normal features are still there – Events Calendar, Your Say, Awards, Information, Achievements etc.

Signposting and Information Day

22 May 2019

A mixture of parent carers and professionals attended the latest LPCF Signposting and Information event in Navenby.
LPCF hosted 28 information stands offering a diverse range of Information, advice and guidance.

One parent commented "today is the first time attending an event, it is also a first in finding help and guidance in many factors. We look forward to attending future events"
Report link

SENCo Project

October 2018 - March 2019

The month of March saw the conclusion of our second project targeting SENCos mainly in Pre- school settings.

Our aim was to raise awareness of LPCF amongst pre- school settings and reach more parents at an earlier stage in their parenting journey.

Feedback was also gathered during our visits, anonymised and fed back to service providers to help improve the provision of services to children with Disabilities/SEN.

Thanks to all those SENCo’s who took part in our second project.

We have been fortunate enough to secure grant funding for a third outreach project so if you would like a visit from our Volunteer please contact us and we will arrange a FREE visit to your setting in the near future.

A visit from our volunteer can be used as evidence towards Ofsted as “working in partnership” with Lincolnshire’s Parent Carer Forum ( recognised by the DFE under the SEND COP (2015).

Report link

Parents Voice Report

13th June 2019

Our extensive quarterly round up of what parents have been saying about Health, Education, Transport, EHC Plans, Leisure, Social Care etc

This edition of our Parents Voice is again a large document demonstrating a wide range of feedback from parents.

Please see the report on the Library page of our website.
The April to June report for 2019 can be found here.
For other Parents Voice reports please have a look in our extensive library or check back through our Achievements pages or our library page.

Parents Voice

13th May 2019

Our extensive quarterly round up of what parents have been saying about Health, Education, Transport, EHC Plans, Leisure, Social Care etc

This edition of our Parents Voice is again a large document demonstrating a wide range of feedback from parents.

Please see the report on the Library page of our website.
The January to March report for 2019 can be found here.
For other Parents Voice reports please have a look in our extensive library or check back through our Achievements pages or our library page.

Volunteer Engagement Day

7th May 2019

LPCF held its Volunteer/Trustee engagement day at the Supreme Inn, Bicker Bar, Boston on 7th May 2019.

A team of eight volunteers joined together for an update on priorities for LPCF for the forthcoming year.

Those attending learnt about the new outreach project and were given an overview and training on the Hub project that LPCF is involved in on a weekly basis.

The team were provided with an update on the proposed Strategy “Building Communities of Support” and a whistle stop tour of the admin area was given to volunteers to refresh their knowledge.

Discussions surrounding the importance of statistics and lunch concluded the day

Reaccreditation of Carers Quality Award

“LPCF are an outstanding example of Carer involvement and empowerment.

Very much a reflection of the huge amount of work they do to engage and support carers to make a difference at all levels.

During the last year they have had an integral role in developing Building Communities of Specialist Provision from the outset, enabling the voice of Parent carers to be heard.

Through the SENCo project in October 35 settings have been visited and 32 signed up to the professional database.

This alone has reached 1040 children with EHC plans or SEN support. LPCF were also specifically mentioned in the recent Children’s services ‘Good’

Ofsted report who recognised their contribution to the shaping and designing of services and the benefits they have brought to parent carers in the understanding of EHC plans. LPCF continue to meet the Carers Award Standards and have provided excellent evidence to show its proactive commitment to recognise and support Carers”

Assessor Every One

Volunteer Engagement Day

25th March 2019

LPCF held their fourth Volunteer/Trustee engagement day at the Supreme Inn, Bicker Bar, Boston on 25th March 2019.

A team of ten volunteers joined together with Hil Gibb who is a successful Master Practitioner and Coach in NLP, with a Degree in Psychology & Education, and Masters Degree in Leadership.

The aims of the day were to explore the following themes, including how volunteers represent LPCF, how to have the confidence to talk about LPCF and the barriers to communicating effectively.
Hil also enabled volunteers to explore how to manage hard or challenging questions, speaking in public and Identifying their own skills.

Hil presented in a way that kept everyone engaged whilst exploring the themes above. The discussions presented the team with new ideas and different ways of exploring new ideas for personal development.
The session encouraged everyone to take part in giving their views and opinions therefore opening up the dialogue between team members.

Feedback from volunteers included -
Loved the saying “we are all doing the best with what we’ve got”. I will remember that one!. Thought Hil made sure the whole team was engaged, covered all the themes and opened up the discussions to everyone.
She also made me question the way I portray myself to other people, which made me think"

Thanks Hil for making our day!

LPCF Workshops

on SEND Support and the EHC process

Presented by Liaise

26th February & 20th March 2019

In conjunction with Liaise, LPCF offered their second series of workshops for parents in Boston & Lincoln.

A team from Liaise, specifically developed the training for parents at the request of LPCF, who have been told by parents that they need more knowledge and support to navigate the maze of SEN provision.

Training was delivered in an informal , fun way but gave an overview of SEN support in schools, the EHC process with timelines and answers to many questions that parents brought with them.

Parents evaluated the events and learning very positively.

They told us “really useful presentation with fantastic people. Very informal and easy to ask questions. The flowcharts were particularly good and I will definitely use them again – also the sample EHCP.”
See Report

Thank you to Liaise for presenting the workshops.

National Recognition

LPCF Work Acknowledged

The excellent work of LPCF in ensuring parents views are gathered and used to guide policy and strategy around SEND has received National recognition from Contact and the NNPCF. Their reports produced at the 2017 National Conference held in November 2018 give more information.


See NNPCF Annual Report 2017-18 (Pages 16, 17, 19, 30)


See page 17 of Contact's Parent Carer Participation report 2017-18 (Page 17)

WELL DONE TO THE TEAM AT LPCF

Parents Voice Report

10th Feb 2019

Our extensive quarterly round up of what parents have been saying about Health, Education, Transport, EHC Plans, Leisure, Social Care etc

This edition of our Parents Voice is again a large document demonstrating a wide range of feedback from parents.

Please see the special report on National recognition on SEND support for Lincolnshire Parent Carer Forum. (LPCF) has showcased the county's ground-breaking project to bring £50m investment to special schools.

Please see the report on the Library page of our website.
The October - December report for 2018 can be found here.

For other Parents Voice reports please have a look in our extensive library or check back through our Achievements pages or our library page.

Spalding Today

"Parent forum chaired by Gosberton mum boosts Spalding Special schools"

22nd January 2019

"LPCF was one of only four forums out of 152 in the country chosen to highlight good practice in the development of a strategy that will benefit special schools like The Garth and The Priory in Spalding over the next five years.."

Open link for full article.

Signposting and Information Day

22 January 2019

Nearly 100 parent carers and professionals attended the latest LPCF Signposting and Information event offering a diverse range of 29 information stands.

Parent Carers, Professionals and members of the public provided feedback at the event, which was according to one person

“ Very useful talking to the Healthy Minds and CAMHS re relaxation techniques, sensory boxes etc "

During the day we also gave parents the chance to attend two talks on Puberty, Relationships and Sexual Health.

These were delivered by Jan Hargrave who is RSE programme Officer for Lincolnshire County Council. Jan discussed why it is important to talk to young people about sex and relationships.

She was able to dispel a few myths and informed parents where young people get their information from. Some of the subjects covered were “growing up, bodily changes, relationships, public & private scenarios and consent".

Although it is a very sensitive subject for lots of parents Jan covered it in an interactive and friendly way. LPCF would like to thank Jan for her expertise in this field and for giving parents the chance to find out lots of valuable information and strategies to implement, when talking to their children.

Please see full report in our library for more details.