Dear colleagues,

I've finally managed to sort out my internet access at home so, I hope now to be able to generate some discussion and debate about the support that is provided for students with profound and complex needs.

Thanks for the documents that have already been uploaded on to the wiki, however I'm sure there are other examples of good practice out there which would benefit us all by being shared. So please share with us any documents you have, encourage colleagues to have a look and pass on to people who you think will be interested. It would be useful to hear the views of partner agencies eg Socail Work Departments, Support agencies etc too.

One 'live' issue for me at the moment is the lack of understanding from the schools about what we do and don't do at college. What is your experience of transition planning where you are?

Please get in touch with me directly if you want some help with the wiki.

I'll be adding comment, asking for feedback and posing a few questions from now on and I'm keen to hear your views.

regards

John McCran

I've added a (very) draft proposal I've put together at Stevenson, Text Alert system at Stevenson. It sort of does what it says on the tin! We hope to have this up and running after Easter, I'd appreciate your thoughts/comments

John

I find your point about schools not quite understanding what colleges are for quite interesting and have come across quite a bit of evidence to support this (and of course evidence that some partnerships are really effective in managing this issue too). I would also be interested in how this can be extended to partnership working with the Social Work departments as for many learners there is also a transition betwen Education to Social Work going on at the same time. In practical terms statutary responsibilities i.e. rights to funding and support can change. Have people come across issues in this area.

The more the project delves into various aspects that surroud this learner group, the more I think how much a key area the suppport framework is. Sharing targets and monitoring targets should be a key role for support staff both internally and externally. This would involve being very clear at the beginning of negotiations what should be expected in practicing, observing key targets either in the classroom, round the College and in everyday life where key learning targets could be practiced and monitored.

Hi, I, added a document outlining the excellent work taking place between Perth College and Tayside Fire and rescue Service. It's well worth a look!

John

Hi, I've added soem documents used by Forth Valley College. Good examples of external support guidelines.

John

Hello,
please note that the next meeting of the Support Protocols working group will take place in Scotlands College West Wing on Wednesday 26th October at 11am – 1pm. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Jill Hale.

jill.hale@scotcol.ac.uk

Hello,

I've uploaded the action notes from the Working group meeting which took place on Thursday 23rd June.

If there are any issues you wish to discuss please get in touch.

John

Hi all,

I've added a link to the Partneship Matters home page on the Scottish Governments website .Partnership Matters is a guidance document which describes the roles and responsibilities of all agencies supporting people with additional support needs who wish to study, or are currently studying at Scotland's colleges. It is itself quite a lengthy document, howevere there are links to information leaflets which are much more easily read.

I'll be uploading Support Protocol templates over the next few days and look forward to hearing your views and comments on how they might help (or not!) in your college.

Hope you all had a good summer.

Best wishes

John

Oops, should have told you where it is!


It's on the 'Examples of Support Working Arrangements' page.

John

New templates for colleges working with external support staff coming soon. These exemplar agreement documents will be uploaded onto the wiki within the next few weeks alongside a guidance framework.

I've added the National Policy for Further Education Bursaries document to the 'Examples of Support Working Arrangement' page on the Wiki.

This gives guidance (page 38 onwards) on the the use of Additional Support Needs for learning Allowance. Colleges are using this allowance in a variety of ways - for transport, classroom support and for items of equipment.

John

Hi I've added the finalversion of the Support Protocol templates on the Wiki page.

Look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

John

Hi,

I've also added pdf documents showing how I used these text documents to create documents I now use.

Should also have pointed out where they are!

The link is on the front page of the wiki - Support agreement templates page.

John

Included on that page is a Framework document offering some guidance on using the documents.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

John

Hi there,

I've added three links giving information from the Scottish Government on Self Directed Support to the Support Agreement Templates page

The Self Directed Support website is particulary helpful.

There are one or two references to colleges and the FAQ page makes interesting reading when the issue of employing family members is discussed!

John

Hello,

I've added copies of Perth College's Support Agreements, protocols and induction paperwork to the College Documents page.

John

Hi all,

I have added a copy of the excellent Support Staff handbook from Motherwell College to the college documents page
.

There are now several excellent examples of Support protocol and handbooks on the wiki.

Regards

John

Hi,

I've added summaries of the workshops presented by Motherwell, Dundee, Perth and Telford colleges at the recent conference.

regards

John