Sustaining Our Community
The Kent, Surrey & Sussex Learning Disability Community of Practice 2018 Conference

Thursday  21^st   June 9am to 5pm, The Charis Centre, Crawley, Surrey RH11 7EL

The Kent, Surrey & Sussex Learning Disability Community of Practice is pleased to announce the date of its 2018 conference. The theme for the day will be: Sustaining Our Community.

The intended outcomes of the conference are for participants to share and hear about good practice initiatives in the care and support for people with learning disabilities, to be consulted about how the Community of Practice might develop in the future and to network with other Community of Practice members.

 The conference will include:

·       keynote speakers

·       workshops presented by Community of Practice members highlighting good practice initiatives

·       consultation about the future sustainment of the Community of Practice and report of progress to date

·       recruitment of ‘champions’

·       market stalls

·       posters produced by Community of Practice members highlighting good practice initiatives

·       the production of a film of day

A call for contributions will follow, in the meantime please save the date!

Siblings guide is about supporting the brothers and sisters of children who have a disability or long-term illness. It is written for parents and for those working with families who have a disabled child.

Access the resources here.

Sarah Wild, Headteacher at Limpsfield Grange School, offers some advice on supporting autistic children and young people with GCSE examimations, from preparing and revision to exam practice and wellbeing.

Read more here.

Find out more here.

Department of Health and Social Care, 2018

The Autism Act (2009) places a duty on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to publish a strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England, and to review it from time to time. England’s first Adult Autism Strategy, Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives, was published in 2010, with commitment from Ministers across government to transform the support for and experience of autistic people.

In April 2014, the Strategy was updated with the publication of Think Autism, supported by revised Statutory Guidance in March 2015. In 2017, it was agreed that the arrangements for overseeing implementation of the Strategy should be refreshed. In some areas, it was agreed with stakeholders that progress was not as quick as envisaged, and that there was scope to streamline the set of actions and commitments and to re-confirm ownership of specific actions to focus on those that would best realise the objectives of the Strategy.

The Strategy itself has not changed, but the implementation activities required to deliver its intended outcomes, and who will do what, have been clarified. This has returned the focus to delivering what is required by the Autism Act and Statutory Guidance, in a realistic and measurable way.

Find out more here.