Parental Support

Parent Workshop programmes 

The Psychology in Schools team are hosting a series of FREE parent workshops throughout the autumn term. These focus on Building Confidence and Managing Anxiety, Children's Sleep and Understanding and Supporting Behaviour. You can find out more information including how to book here.

There are also some workshops regarding childhood neurodivergence which can be viewed and booked here.

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum Newsletter

The December 2025 edition of the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum newsletter is available. Inside, you’ll find information and updates from support services operating across Suffolk as well as free events and activities scheduled for the upcoming school holidays.

Click here to view - SPCF December 2025 Newsletter

Supporting children and young people to manage their emotions

An online session, hosted by SENDIASS, where specialist teachers from the Social, Emotional and Mental Health Service  will explore ways to help children and young people to understand and manage their feelings. Also strategies that schools may use and how they can access advice to enable them to support your child.

4th December          10am – 11:30am                    Click here to register

While we’re reviewing the best ways to deliver our service to families (and supporting our newest team members), we continue to have a limited offer of live training sessions: View our autumn sessions schedule 

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum Newsletter

The October 2025 edition of the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum newsletter is available. Inside, you’ll find SEND updates, useful information, and a range of free events and activities happening across Suffolk this half-term.

Click here to view - SPCF October 2025 Newsletter

Parent Workshop programmes 

The Psychology in Schools team are hosting a series of FREE parent workshops throughout the autumn term. These focus on Building Confidence and Managing Anxiety, Children's Sleep and Understanding and Supporting Behaviour. You can find out more information including how to book here.

Parent Workshop programmes 

The Psychology in Schools team are hosting a series of FREE parent workshops throughout August. These focus on Neurodivergence in Childhood and Building Confidence and Managing Anxiety. You can sign up for a place here.

Summer Parent Carer Forum newsletter

Please see the SPCF newsletter attached here.

Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust - Neurodiversity information

The NSFT Psychology in Schools Team is offering an online parent/carer workshop programme that addresses childhood neurodivergence and covers key topics that families have identified as most helpful. These free workshops are offered to support families on the neurodevelopmental (NDD) pathway in Suffolk. You can book a place on upcoming live workshops using this link: Neurodivergence online parent/carer workshops - Suffolk SEND Local Offer. You can also access previous childhood neurodivergence workshop recordings, slides and resources using this link. By registering for any of the childhood neurodivergence workshops, even if you are unable to attend the workshop live, you will receive a copy of the workshop recording, slides and resources.

Clever Never Goes - the updated guidance for stranger danger

Click here to view a parent leaflet all about Clever Never Goes. It highlights an important rule we can teach children and explains why it has changed from stranger danger.

Did you know that Suffolk Sendiass have a YouTube channel?

Click here to view some of the information videos that have been shared with parents/carers. Sendiass provide Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service.

Holiday Activities for Young Carers and children with SEND

Please see the links and PDF below regarding some holiday activities your child may be eligible for.

These include Young Carers Schools and Colleges - Suffolk Family Carers  and Young Carer Short Breaks - Suffolk Local Offer and children with SEND Activities Unlimited Service Offer PDF (Part of Suffolk Local Offer).

Funding for courses - parents/carers

Are you interested in completing a fully funded Level 2 qualification? This can be completed online to fit around your lifestyle. To see the long list of courses which are available and how to apply, view the information poster from AIM here.

Pharmacy First Service

Pharmacy First is an NHS service being provided in pharmacies across England for adults and children. Please see this video for more information.

NDD referral information

Please see this guidance if you are interested in understanding how the NDD referral works.

Suffolk County Council's Friends and Networks (FaN)

This is a new DfE-funded project to support children with emotional based school avoidance (EBSA) and/or special education needs and disabilities (SEND), who are experiencing difficulties in maintaining a full-time education placement. You can find out more information from their flyer here.

Free NHS funded online mindfulness course

The NHS are offering FREE NHS mindfulness courses for parents. These will be available in January and will teach techniques on how to incorporate mindfullness throughout the day. To see more information and find out how to apply, you can view the flyer here.

Keeping Children Safe in Sport - NSPCC

Sport is a fantastic thing for children and young people. It helps them socialise, keeps them fit and more importantly can introduce them into an interest for life. One which will increase their quality of life far into the future, setting good habits and instilling values and self-discipline. Engaging with them in this manner can show them new directions for their lives and expand their opportunities. Unfortunately there are, like with anything, risks attached. Away matches, interactions with non-school staff such as coach drivers, out-of-school coaches and other personnel can create vulnerability windows that could be exploited. To help head off these potential problems, the NSPCC has created a page dedicated to offering guidance on how to keep pupils safe in sporting environments. To find out more please click here.

Does your child suffer with sleep issues?

The national sleep helpline  are here to offer support and guidance. To find out more information including how to contact them, you can view their flyer here.

Young Wellbeing Hub

Click here to view information regarding the pathways and services offered by the Young Wellbeing Hub.

A reminder of Emotional Wellbeing and Childhood Neurodiversity Parent and Carer Workshops

The Psychology in Schools Team from Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) would like to remind everyone that there are a series of free workshops they have coming up over the next few months to help provide advice and support to families on topics, such as, supporting young people with challenging behaviours, and helping children and young people manage big feelings. There is also a programme of workshops that explore nurturing the unique strengths of neurodivergent children and young people.

To view all workshops available and to book a place, please go to the Family Wellbeing page which can be found on the Wellbeing in Education website: www.suffolk.gov.uk/wellbeingeducation

Measles / MMR vaccination
Measles cases are rising across the country, with over 102,000 children starting primary school in England being at risk of catching the disease. We are asking education settings to share key messages from the NHS about MMR / measles and how to get vaccinated.
The Back to school MMR Guidance from the NHS includes information to share, as well as example social media posts which can be found here: NHS Vaccine Poster and NHS MMR Poster.
Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom can catch the disease if just one child is infectious. Please share these resources with colleagues, parents, and where suitable, community organisations to increase awareness and encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.

Realise Futures
Realise Futures is a fantastic local education provider for adults and their families. They offer a wide variety of courses that are often free to access.

Please see the leaflet for further information.

Is my child too ill for school?

Please see the guidance from NHS regarding when to send your child to school and when to keep them at home.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ 

Update to the Neuro-Diverse pathways:

Please note that referrals to the NDD pathway will now only be taken for those children who require an assessment for either ASD or ADHD.

GP's and Health Care professionals can also take the lead on referrals.

The referral is now in 2 parts, Part 1 is for parents to complete and Part 2 is for completion by the Lead Professional.

Please see the link for further https://infolink.suffolk.gov.uk/

 Forthcoming parent workshops from The Psychology in Schools Team and the Under 18s Wellbeing Team