Child and Adolescent

Mental Health

Service (CAMHS)

Surrey

CAMHS exists to promote emotional well-being and to deliver preventative mental health services and treatment to children and young people with mental health problems.  CAMHS is a partnership between Surrey County Council, Surrey’s Primary Care Trusts, three NHS delivery trusts for mental health and voluntary organisations. 

CAMHS supports teachers, youth workers and people working with young people

• By giving training and advice around how to spot mental health difficulties
• By offering advice about how to create an environment that helps prevent emotional difficulties developing

CAMHS employs specialist mental health workers

• To work with children and young people with mild or moderate mental health difficulties
• And to support their parents and carers

CAMHS works with psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and community nurses to provide specialist services

• To support children and young people with complex mental health difficulties
• And to support their family and carers

Click here to link to the CAMHS pages on the SurreyCC website or click on the following to go to www.surrey-camhs.org.uk

The Telephone number for the South West Surrey Helpine is 01483 783344

Surrey County

Council Partnership

Services for

Families

Here you can find all sorts of information about the services available in Surrey to help parents and families, including

• information about how you can help support your children
• upcoming events such as courses, workshops and conferences for parents, carers and practitioners
• the Children’s Information Service which provides information, advice and assistance to parents, child protection services. 

Click here for more information.

Partnership withParents

Operating at arm's length from the LEA, PwP:

• aims to ensure that parents are able to play an informed part in any decisions about the educational provision made to meet their child's special educational needs
• aims to build partnerships between parents, the LEA and schools
• provides information, advice and support to parents of children with SEN at all stages of their child's school life, from pre-school early diagnosis through to school-leaving at 16 or 19 and for those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to 25.

The PwP Service offers:

• a confidential Helpline for parents
• verbal and written information
• help to complete forms and to understand complex documents and reports
• information sessions and conferences for parents' groups
• advocacy and mediation
• training
• advice on rights and responsibilities
• company at meetings or when visiting new schools
• support through the statutory assessment process (statementing)
• volunteers to support parents as required (Independent Parental Supporters)
• regular surgery sessions at different venues in the county
• information about Surrey County Council's procedures for the identification and assessment of SEN
• support through exclusion for parents of children with SEN
• where appropriate referral on to statutory or voluntary organisations working with relevant agencies to support parents who have difficulty accessing services, perhaps because English is an additional language, because of their culture, or because they have learning difficulties themselves

For more information, click on the web address below, or contact PwP on 01737 737300

www.pwpsurrey.org

Surrey County

Council

Special

Educational

Needs

• Provides information about what special educational needs (SEN) are and...
• How the Surrey Children's Service helps children of all ages with special educational needs.

Click here to link to the website for more information.

South East Region

Special Educational Needs

Partnership

(SERSEN)

SERSEN aims to help establish more effective regional co-ordination of special educational provision and services, in particular for low incidence disabilities, in order to:

• ensure the general availability of services and
• ensure the efficient provision of these services
• allow the DfEE to produce and disseminate examples of good practice in developing regional co-ordination

The partnerships will do this by

• developing more inclusive policies and practices
• improving the efficiency and effectiveness of SEN process and services (including benchmarking and parent partnership services)
• responding to, and engaging effectively with, Government initiatives
• improving inter-agency working locally and regionally

For more information go to www.sersen.uk.net

Contact details:  Lesley Johnson, SERSEN Administrator

SERSEN, Surrey County Council Learning & Children's Development,
Policy & Public Affairs Service, County Hall, Room 150,
Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DJ

Office: 020 8541 9048  Fax: 020 8541 9570

Surrey County

Council

Children with Disabilities

Traveller Education Support is a county-wide team which is part of Surrey Children's Service.Its aims are:

• To promote and support the achievement and development of all children and young people from Traveller families
• To ensure that children and young people from Traveller families have equal and unhindered access to education
• To improve the attainment of children and young people from Traveller families, in line with the strategies of the Commission for Racial Equality
• To provide opportunities for lifelong learning for families and children from Traveller communities
• To provide resources to schools and other agencies to enable them to welcome and support children and families from Traveller communities
• To eliminate all forms of discrimination, including race discrimination and prejudice against children and families from Traveller communities
• To ensure that the culture and lifestyle of the Traveller communities is recognised and valued

Click here to for more information, or contact Angela Flanagan or Sue Hurtley on 08456 009 009 Monday to Friday between 8am-6pm, e-mail angela.flanagan@surreycc.gov.uk

at Loseley Fields Primary School

From September 2004 eight specialist centres attached to mainstream schools were opened across the county to meet the needs of statemented children with learning difficulties who require specialist support.

The River Centre at Loseley Fields Primary School is one of these specialist centres.  It is for the inclusion of children with Moderate Learning Difficulties within a thriving mainstream school and enables pupils to access a programme of personalised learning tailored to their individual needs without isolating them from their peers in mainstream provision. It avoids pupils being stigmatized and enables them to benefit from the wider curriculum of the mainstream school and to integrate socially with all children. Pupils at the River Centre follow the National Curriculum and National Numeracy and Literacy Strategies as well as a broad and balanced curriculum, experiencing learning in Art, Music, PHSE and Culture, enabling them to develop spiritually and emotionally.

For admissions there is an annual countrywide panel process, which is used to ensure that children are selected who would benefit from the specialist support at the centre and who meet the criteria for admission. These criteria include being in the 7-11 age range; having a statement of Special Educational Need or be in the process of statutory assessment; living within daily travelling distance of the school, having a severity and/or complexity of learning need that has not been successfully supported in a mainstream class even when given an intensive support programme; and having considerably lower attainment levels than his or her peers.

Click here to link to the Loseley Fields school site special needs page for more information, or contact Mrs Pam Cookney at the school. Tel: 01483 416477

Family Link

(Surrey County Council)

Respite care for children with disabilities

Family Link provides practical support for Surrey families who have a child or young person with a disability.

Link carers and their families provide a link between these families and people in the community. They look after the young people for agreed periods of time, within their own home, in the family's home or by joining them in leisure activities.

The time involved may be just a few hours after school, an overnight or weekend stay, or longer, particularly during school holidays.

If you would like more information, contact the West Surrey Family Link team from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5 pm on 01483 517950

For families with disabled children           

Although some disabled children need hospital care, most live at home with a parent or other family member who may not have expected to be in this position but who has quickly had to become an expert.

When parents find out that their child is disabled they feel isolated and alone because usually they don't know anyone else facing the same problems. They want contact with another family who've been through a similar experience; and they want information about their child's disability and information about benefits and services that may be available to them.

Contact a Family is a UK-wide charity providing advice, information and support to the parents of all disabled children and enabling parents to get in contact with other families, both on a local and national basis.

Click below or on the logo (left) to link to their website.

www.cafamily.org.uk

Young, Gifted & Talented Programme

(Department for Children Schools and Families)

The new Young Gifted & Talented (YG&T) Programme caters for the needs of gifted and talented learners aged 4 to 19, in all maintained schools and colleges. Whatever your child’s gift or talent, whatever their background, there will be something in the programme for them.

There is a section for Parents/Carers on the site.  There are sections too for Learners, Governors, Local Authority, School/College Staff, YG&T Providers, Regional Partnerships, Excellence Hubs.

Click here to link to their main Home Page, then find the page for you by clicking on the grey bar at the top of that page.

NAGC is the UK's foremost membership charity that deals with all aspects of giftedness in children. Individuals, parents and organisations are welcome as members.

NAGC strive to support those who are directly involved with gifted children - parents, teachers, schools and medical professionals - as well as advising policy makers at national and local levels.

Click on the link below to find out more

www.nagcbritain.org.uk

Surrey Connexions

Connexions Surrey offers a service for every young person aged 13-19:

• It provides impartial information, advice and guidance when and where you want it by bringing together all the services that help young people.
• It gives every young person access to a Personal Adviser – someone you can trust and who really will help.
• It encourages all young people to stay in learning from 13-19 so they achieve their FULL potential.

No matter what your situation, it can provide private and confidential help and support to every young person who needs it. Here are some of the services offered, but if an issue you want help with isn't on this list, don't worry. Whatever it is, we'll find a way to support and guide you:

• Careers advice and guidance
• Information on employment, education and training opportunities
• Support with applications for jobs, training, Further Education and Higher Education courses
• Bullying
• Problems at home or work
• Health, personal relationships and sexual health
• Drugs, smoking and alcohol
• Housing
• Transport and getting around Surrey
• Money management
• Personal development opportunities, leisure & hobbies and advice on voluntary work opportunities

For adults, there are pages for parents & carers, and links for Connexions Personal Advisers and other professionals.

Click on the link below to get to access this website.

www.connexionssurrey.co.uk

ChildLine

HELP FOR CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

ChildLine is the free helpline for children and young people in the UK. Children and young people can call ChildLine on 0800 1111 to talk about any problem – counsellors are always there to help you sort it out.

Or click on the link below for more information.

www.childline.org.uk

HELP FOR ADULTS  -  Worried about a child?

If you're worried about a child's safety or welfare or if you need help or advice, ring the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline on 0808 800 5000

This is a free 24 hour service which provides counselling, information and advice to anyone concerned about a child at risk of abuse.

Help by email, with response within 24 hours: email help@nspcc.org.uk

www.nspcc.org.uk

The Anti-Bullying Alliance was founded by NSPCC and National Children's Bureau (NCB) in 2002. It is hosted and supported by NCB. The Alliance brings together over 50 organisations into one network with the aim of reducing bullying and creating safer environments in which children and young people can live, grow, play and learn.

The page headed Children provides many useful links to services which might help if a child is being bullied.  The page headed Links also provides lots of useful links for children, parents, carers and teachers.

Click below for the Anti-Bullying Alliance website:

www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk

Youngminds

One in ten teenagers find that those feelings get so bad that they want extra help from someone.

Sometimes children feel all those things, but can feel better by helping themselves or talking to someone.

Young minds is a national charity committed to improving the mental health of all children and young people, giving advice, training, campaigning and distributing publications.

Click on the link below to link to this website

www.youngminds.org.uk

Pages for Young People covering all sorts of topics, including:

• Health and Relationships
• Money
• Learning
• Work and Careers
• Leisure
• Travel
• Crime and Justice
• Young Disabled People
• and more...

Click on the link to the left for more information.