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Solihull's inclusion charter

The draft inclusion charter is now out for sign off to parents groups, schools through collaborative groups, early years settings, local authority, health and social care colleagues. It will be finalised and published in December 2019. Work on Solihull’s SEND strategy will be based on the values of the inclusion charter and will commence in November 2019.

Speech and language strategy

Six schools have just completed the first year of the ELKLAN pilot. This is a joint project delivered by SISS and the speech and language therapy service (SALT) aimed at supporting schools to gain communication friendly status.

A huge well done to the 27 school and SISS ARC support staff who have worked hard to achieve their level 3 award in speech and language support for 5-11 year olds. Five of the six schools are now beginning their level 4 award to become accredited communication friendly schools by the end of this academic year.

In addition, for 2019/20 we are running a pilot with SALT for early years ELKLAN, supporting eight settings to become communication friendly.

The ELKLAN projects are the next phase of delivering Solihull’s speech and language strategy. Language link continues to be used successfully in most schools, with particular successes for the language link training with parents.

Policy work

We are working alongside colleagues form adult services and schools to produce a draft policy for provision of equipment and a corporate manual handling policy. Policies will be finalised by Easter 2020.

Poor oral health can affect children and young people’s ability to sleep, eat, speak, play and socialise with other children. When children have toothache or need treatment, this can mean absence from school and parents having to take time of work.  Oral health is an integral part of overall health, which affects children’s ability to learn, thrive and develop.

There is still a great deal of variation of tooth decay across the UK.

*A third of all children starting school each year have signs of tooth decay. Tooth extractions are the biggest reason children are admitted to hospital for general anaesthetics.

*There has been a 19.6% increase in children being admitted to hospital with tooth decay between 2010 and 2015.

*In England, children and young people drink sugary soft drinks more often than anywhere else in Europe.

*Roughly 40% of children still do not visit the dentist each year

 *74% of adults have had to have a tooth extracted.

 *1 in 3 people have never flossed their teeth

 Brushing x1 daily means you are 33% more likely to suffer from dental decay

Please find attached below a list of dentists in the Solihull borough that are currently registering NHS patients and a quick poster that promotes good oral health.

For references or more dental health facts, please see website link below.

For more school information on dental health please contact lianne.lovell@heartofengland.nhs.uk