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Parents in Need Annual Quiz Night!

We have some greatnews!

It’s that time of year again and we are excited to invite you all to our Annual Quiz hosted by Jim Carter.

A spectacular evening of food, drinks, quizzing and prizes! Book now as tickets selling fast!

This year we will be at Blossom House, Motspur Park, KT3 6JJ
24th March, doors 7pm, Quiz starts 7.30pm

Tickets: £30

As always, we thank you for your support.

The PIN Team

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Winter Newsletter

There is much good news to report since our last Newsletter in June.  And a timely reminder of why Parents In Need exists.   When we invest in families who have children with additional needs we want to give them the best possible chance, however the process can be very long.  We rarely see instant results.  But just recently we have seen the value of our efforts and we want to share them with our supporters without whom none of this would be possible.

Take Mary for instance. Her sister applied to us for help early in 2018.  The Local Authority refused to place Mary in the correct educational setting and what ensued was two years of anguish and heartache.  Thanks to the persistence of Mary’s sister and the funding she received from PIN I am pleased to report that they did win their case and Mary is now happily settled in the right school with a sunny future ahead of her.

 

Then there is Riley and Kyle. The Local Authority tried to separate these twins and send them to two different care homes. They were adopted by theirgrandparents who were struggling to cope.  After two years of fighting we had total success in keeping them together and they are now in a school where they are well suited which also offers respite to their grandparents.

 

There have been many other success stories recently.  Here are just a few of the messages we have received:

Today I have been told the outcome of the appeal which was last week, the LA has been ordered to issue a plan. I could not have achieved this for H without the support from Parents in Need, you went over and above helping me and I cannot thank you enough. 
Jane

I just wanted to say thank you so much for funding this young man’s assessment. I know the family are so grateful. You really have changed a young man’s life.”
Melinda Eriksen- Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapist

“Amazing to have an Educational Psychologist to help. It’s such a minefield… I can’t believe she’s leaving school, and we never managed to actually get the support she needed! I’ve been on the case since she was 7!  Thanks again. 
Kiersten

“We would like to express our sincere appreciation to you for everything that you have done for Mary and our family. As parents who have a child with special needs, we are often put in the position of feeling like it’s “Us” against “Them” but you have made those feelings go away. Thanks to PIN Mary is now happily settled into her new school and we have PIN to thank for that. The generosity you have shown has gone far beyond the financial means but also one of kindness and compassion. You were there for us just when we needed support and because of this, Mary’s future is so much brighter now. Your support has been immeasurable, thank you so much for everything!
Best Wishes from Mary and Family

The tribunal has ordered that my son be issued an EHCP.  We will be forever grateful for your support.Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Kerry and Dale 

We have had a super report and now a super new school. Thanks so,so,so much. It’s been life changing for my son.”
Becky

 

The not so good news is that we have had to heavily rely on our resources and so funds are dwindling as we continue to support the ever-increasing needs of more and more families.  So far 120 since we began raising funds in 2017.

Without any fundraising activities in this unique year of 2020 we have survived but once again find ourselves asking for, however small, a donation.

Once again we would like to thank our Patron, Stephen Mangan, for naming our charity on the TV programme ‘Tipping Point’ and winning us £2,700 and thanks to Ann McManus and Eileen Gallagher for their very generous donation too.  We also want to thank you, the friends of PIN who have supported us throughout and a very special thank you to those of you who have set up a monthly standing order, it makes SUCH a difference especially in these troubled times.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

 

AND FINALLY!
PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR OUR CHRISTMAS RAFFLE AND IN THE NEW YEAR OUR ANNUAL QUIZ ZOOMING TO YOU!!

THANK YOU

Catherine Bailey

Chief Exec, PIN

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Parents of SEND students desperate as reforms ‘fail a generation’

A report from a cross-party group of MPs has found that parents are suffering as they face a battle to secure school spaces and adequate support for their children. Parents have attempted suicide, been forced to give up their jobs, and re-mortgage their homes, the education select committee found at the end of their 18-month enquiry.

MPs heard “countless” examples of pupils facing off-rolling and exclusion, with schools actively discouraging parents from enrolling children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Some students have been made to wait for years for an appropriate school place.

The report stated that parents need a cocktail of “special knowledge and social capital” to make headway in a system “thrown into crisis” and “despair”, and even then those who are successful are left “exhausted” by the experience.

Penny Hoffmann-Becking, a parent and member of SEND Family Voices, was quoted in the report: “I feel that many parents I speak to are living in a constant state of anxiety.”

Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chair of the committee, said: “The Department for Education (DfE) cannot continue with a piecemeal and reactive approach to supporting children with SEND.” Halfon added: “rather than making do with sticking plasters, what is needed is a transformation, a more strategic oversight and fundamental change to ensure a generation of children is no longer let down.”

DfE ‘set councils up to fail’ on SEND reforms, says education committee (Schools Week)

Special educational needs reforms ‘failing generation of children’ (The Guardian)

Parents of children with special educational needs attempting suicide as schools lock them out, report suggests (The Independent)

Lack of SEND support ‘failing a generation of pupils’ (TES)

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£25,000 donation from Ronnie and Sally Wood

Ronnie and Sally Wood have nominated Parents In Need as one of their favourite charities. Consequently, following the extremely successful Rolling Stones tour in the US this year, we were sent a cheque for £25,000 from the proceeds!

 

We have also recently received huge donations from the Brenley Trust, the Swire Charitable Trust, St James’s Place, Beacon Lodge, Albert Hunt and Baily Thomas. We are massively grateful to all our supporters who champion our cause.

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2019

At the beginning of 2017, we were able to help our first family and by the end of 2018 we had assisted a further 15 families. We now have a further nine families in the process of being supported.

We have managed to do this through our fundraising activities, applying for grants and thanks to the generosity of our supporters – our ‘Champions’.
The award winning Stephen Mangan became our patron and hosted our Spring quiz. Judith Hill joined us as a part-time fundraiser. And a brand new website was built so that we could spread the word more clearly.