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Introducing the new Preparation for Adulthood Support Team
Published
As part of a series of articles in Families In Partnership, Sarah Smith, GCC Preparation for Adulthood Lead, will be highlighting different elements of Preparing for Adulthood. This months issue will focus on travel independence and sharing updates around the new Preparation for Adulthood Support Team.
Hello, great to see and chat with so many faces at the latest Parent and Carer SEND Information Fair on March the 8th, hope you all found the event informative.
For this month issue I would like to spotlight GCC Tim Griffiths newly rebranded Preparation for Adulthood Support Team, as our objectives to improve the quality of our young people’s PfA Outcomes align, we have been working closely and looking to collaborate on future projects.
Exciting news!! … The Independent Travel Training Team will be re-branding to highlight Gloucestershire County Councils commitment to providing support to children and young people with additional needs and disabilities, within education. The changes have come into effect from the 1st April 2024 and the team will be known as ‘The Preparation for Adulthood Support Team’.
Why are the Independent Travel training Team rebranding?
Getting on a bus is only a small part of what the team do when they start to work with young people. The new aptly named “Preparation for Adulthood Support Team” is more relevant to the bigger picture of the work the team do to support young people to become safe and independent travelers.
Using person centered planning tools, the team spend time building a relationship with their young person, capturing what motivates them, to include their likes and dislikes, their aspirations and hopes for the future. The team work on building confidence through experiences in the community, getting young people out and about with their expert support. They concentrate on developing interaction and communication skills, exploring coping strategies for when things do not go to plan. All this work is tracked and evidenced which can highlight where extra support is needed and to track the progress of the young person becoming a safe and independent traveler in their community.
What will the Preparation for Adulthood Support Team do?
The team noted from their experience, working with young people at an earlier age can enable a smoother transition at post 16. These essential life skills can be executed and developed over time rather than waiting until leaving secondary school and having a shorter window of opportunity.
The team are currently working 1-2-1 with students from year 7/8 through to year 11 and are focused on person centred planning exercises to identify the young person’s own aspirations. This will lead to the creation of meaningful outcomes that are important to the YP and their family/parent/carer that will also directly support the EHCP process, where the statutory duty to support PfA from year 9 is currently in place.
In the next edition I will be spotlighting my colleague, Brad. Brad was one of GCC’s independent training trainees when the team was first created in 2017. Brad has written a powerful article about the impact the support and Preparation for Adulthood training from the team has had on him and how it has helped him to accomplish his aspirations.
Please do get in touch with Tim and his team details below, if you would like to discuss further how they can support your young person and education provision.
Tim Griffiths - tim.griffiths@gloucestershire.gov.uk 01452 328751 or 07342 085039