Common Ground Mediation: Independent ASN Mediation

May 17, 2016 Morag Steven Information

Common Ground Mediation is pleased to announce that our mediation service is now available in Dundee City, Angus, and Perth & Kinross Council areas. We also offer independent mediation in City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, East Lothian, Dumfries & Galloway, North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire.

The service is FREE for parents and carers of children with additional support needs, and its aim is to help resolve disagreements between parents and their child’s school and/or local education authority.

Scottish Government: Implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act

March 23, 2016 Morag Steven Information

In March 2016 the Scottish Government published the 2015 report on the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act. As well as presenting figures and statistics regarding children with additional support needs in Scottish schools, the theme of this year’s report is implementation of the Act in relation to mental health in schools.

Read the full report.

Refreshed GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) Information

January 28, 2016 Morag Steven Information

The Scottish Government has published new and revised information about what GIRFEC means for children, parents and families; and those who work in children’s and adult services.

At the heart of GIRFEC is a commitment to ensuring that every child and young person in Scotland is safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. GIRFEC impacts significantly on how statutory and voluntary service providers develop their services.

Read the most recent draft Statutory Guidance here.

Questionnaire for parents about dealing with bullying

January 28, 2016 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

The Scottish Government is updating the National Approach to Anti-Bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People. The purpose of this is to help adults who are in contact with children and young people to prevent and deal with bullying in similar ways.

The Scottish Government is consulting with children and young people and their parents as part of the process of updating the National Approach. A short questionnaire has been devised to gather the views of parents about anti-bullying.

Complete the questionnaire here. Please note the closing date is Friday 19th February 2016.

Articles & Reports

Researching the information needs of families with disabled children in Scotland

Image December 1, 2015 Morag Steven

Contact a Family Scotland has received a small grant from the Scottish Government to establish the information needs of parents and carers of children with disabilities. It has been suggested that while there is a lot of information out there, parents and carers are still unsure of who to turn to for accurate information.

Contact a Family Scotland has devised a short survey to find out what the information needs are and how to improve information services for families with disabled children.

Complete the survey here. The survey is open until 31 January 2016.

Articles & Reports

New report about children in Scotland requiring palliative care (ChiSP study)

Gallery November 25, 2015 Morag Steven

This important report (October 2015) sets out the findings from an investigation into the numbers of children and young people with life-limiting conditions in Scotland. It also provides evidence about these children’s and their families’ support needs. Based on their findings, the research team makes ten recommendations about palliative care services.

Read the full report here.

Common Ground Mediation goes international

November 19, 2015 Morag Steven Information

In October 2015 CADRE (Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) held their sixth national symposium in Eugene, Oregon. The title of the symposium was ‘The Evolving Landscape in Special Education Dispute Resolution’. Mediation was introduced into the US education system in 1997 through IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and this year nearly 300 delegates from across US attended the symposium.

Information about all the speakers and sessions is available here.
Session 8.5 is the Common Ground Mediation presentation ‘The Tartan Connection’.

ASN mediation feature in Times Educational Supplement Scotland

November 19, 2015 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

This article which appeared in TESS in August 2015 gives an excellent overview of ASN mediation in Scotland, including interviews with a parent and an ASL manager. The article poses the question: independent mediators have been resolving additional support for learning disputes for a decade, but with demand for their services rising and budgets falling, can they keep up?

Read the full article here.

Concerns expressed about the education of children with ASL needs

August 26, 2015 Morag Steven Information

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has recently written to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to raise concerns about the education of children with additional support for learning (ASL) needs.

Follow this link to read the letter.

fSDC Parent Participation Project – Survey Findings

August 6, 2015 Morag Steven Articles & Reports

In 2014 fSDC (for Scotland’s Disabled Children) in partnership with Children in Scotland launched a survey of parent carers to learn more about their experiences of family life and bringing up a child with a disability.

Key findings from the research have been collated in a recent newsletter. Over 250 parents participated in the survey.

Read the newsletter here.

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