- Coronavirus (COVID-19) information
- Education and out-of-school settings
- EPS telephone support line
- Help for Households
- Preparing for adulthood
- Kahramanmaras earthquake
- New free SEND school for children with complex autism
- Our Voice parents' conference
Coronavirus (COVID-19) information
View helpful information about coronavirus (COVID-19):
- An important letter from Enfield Council (PDF, 561.11 KB)
- Easy read information on coronavirus
- Enfield Council's response to the coronavirus crisis
- Notice from the Every Parent and Child and SEND IASS teams (PDF, 130.99 KB)
- COVID-19 survival kit (PDF, 2034.5 KB) - activities, suggestions and help for children and young people
- Our Voice Enfield - a parent carer forum that provides useful information, advice and guidance
- NHS guidance on coronavirus in children
- Council for disabled children - family support
Face masks and coverings
Some people cannot wear a face covering or mask because of a disability, or it causes severe distress.
Face covering exemption cards (PDF, 603.5 KB) can be printed and carried, if required, to quickly explain why someone is not wearing a mask in public.
Transport for London has given further advice about the use of face coverings when using public transport, including a link to their own recognised exemption card.
Exemptions on public transport apply if:
- you have a physical or mental illness or impairment, or a disability that means you cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering
- putting on, wearing or removing a face covering would cause you severe distress
- you are travelling with, or providing assistance to, someone who relies on lip reading to communicate
- you are travelling to avoid injury or escape the risk of harm, and you do not have a face covering with you
- you need to remove it during your journey to avoid harm or injury or the risk of harm or injury to yourself or others
- you need to eat, drink, or take medication you can remove your face covering
- you are asked to remove your face covering by a police officer or other official, for example to check your railcard
Videos for parents
Our Voice, Enfield's Educational Psychology Service and Mental Health Support team, have partnered to produce 6 short videos for parents and carers.
Each video has a written summary in English, Turkish and Somali.
For more information and to view the videos, visit Our Voice Enfield.
Managing challenging behaviour at home
- Challenging behaviour - Supporting your loved one at home (PDF)
- Supporting children and adults with severe learning disabilities at home during the coronavirus pandemic (PDF)
Summer support pack
Our Voice and Enfield SENDIASS, with contribution from Enfield Thrives Together Partners, have worked together to compile a helpful summer support pack (PDF, 1587.77 KB) for parents, carers and families. This pack gives details on summer events and activities, includes links to other services, and offers additional information and contact details to support families through the holidays.
Youth Alive programme
The Youth Alive programme (PDF, 2452.16 KB) is for children and young people aged 10 to 19 who live or study in the Edmonton area. It encourages them to look after their wellbeing, build confidence and happiness, feel empowered, learn a new skill and take part in physical activities.
Through the programme, children and young people can take part in activities including basketball, football, cooking, acting and drama lessons. All activities will be carried out in line with Public Health England guidance on coronavirus infection, prevention and control.
Children and young people will be referred to their local health champion, who will discuss what the child or young person's interests are, and signpost them to free or low-cost activities. To take part, you can complete a referral form (PDF, 205.77 KB) and send to a link worker via email at socialprescribing@enfieldva.org.uk. Alternatively, you can telephone 020 8373 6268. Following the referral process, a young person will be contacted by a specialist Health Champion.
Doorstep Jamboree
Oily Cart make inclusive, sensory shows for young people with complex disabilities and their families.
In September and October, their colourful, friendly Balkan band will be popping up on zoom and on the doorsteps, gardens or streets of families across London. This show is completely free and will last 30 minutes at a time or day to suit your family.
For more information, visit Oily Cart.
Education and out-of-school settings
You can view further information about education, in relation to coronavirus:
Enfield Psychology Service telephone support line
In response to COVID-19, Enfield Psychology Service (EPS) is offering Enfield parents and carers the chance to speak to an educational psychologist about a concern or issue they may have about their child.
Educational psychologists are professionals concerned with the development, learning, social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people. Issues we can help you to think about include:
- learning
- emotions (such as fears and worries, low mood and anger)
- transitions at school and home
- parenting
- resource seeking
- signposting to appropriate services
Calls can be booked between 9.30am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Book a telephone consultation with an educational psychologist
You can also call us on 020 8379 2000 to request a phone call.
We will do our best to respond to your request within 10 working days. A telephone consultation is not a formal referral to our service.
For more information, email eps@enfield.gov.uk.
Help for Households
The ‘Help for Households’ campaign explains the 41 different government schemes available to help with the cost of living, including new one-off payments as well as existing benefits and schemes.
Preparing for adulthood
Young people with SEND should start preparing for adulthood from the age of 14.
For information, advice and guidance, see our preparing for adulthood page and information booklet (PDF, 1205.46 KB).
Our preparing for adulthood online events offer support for parents and carers as their young person transitions to adulthood.
Kahramanmaras earthquake
Talking to children and young people about the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria can be hard.
The Turkey and Syria earthquake support flyer (PDF, 192.01 KB) gives guidance on:
- what and how much information to share with a child or young person
- how to answer a child’s questions
- how to help a child with their feelings
- how you can help yourself at this time
- how to help in our community
Listed in the support flyer are contact details for organisations that can help Kurdish, Turkish, Turkish Cypriot, and Eastern European Turkish people.
There are also contact details of other organisations that can help, such as Educational Psychology Service and Kooth.
For more information, advice and help, see our social, emotional and mental health page.
New free SEND school for children with complex autism in Enfield
In Enfield, our vision is for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to have high aspirations, and to achieve ambitious and positive lifelong outcomes.
We have identified the need to provide additional specialist school places for children and young people aged 4 to 11 with complex autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).
We have been successful in our application to the Department for Education (DfE) to establish a new school providing a minimum of 96 primary places.
The DfE is in the process of accepting applications for free school providers to manage this new school, and will publish their 'how to apply guidance' on 9 May 2023. This will set out a timeline and the steps applicants need to take. Applicants will have until 31 August to make a submission.
We will be hosting engagement events with prospective providers in early June as an opportunity to understand our local context and vision for supporting our children and young people. This will make sure that applicants understand how we see the new school fitting into our strategic approach to supporting children and young people with special educational needs.
We have provided the school specification (PDF, 78.84 KB) and contextual information (PDF, 160.34 KB) to assist applicants.
For more information on the process, visit GOV.UK - Apply to open a special free school.
Key documents
- Admissions guidance for Enfield special schools (PDF, 690.43 KB)
- Ordinarily available provision 2022-2025 (PDF, 3761.74 KB)
- Organisational structure charts (PDF, 357.98 KB)
- SEND commissioning service (PDF, 191.32 KB)
- SEND demographics summary (PDF, 3763.46 KB)
- SEND partnership strategy 2023-2027 (PDF, 1421.83 KB)
Our Voice parents' conference
22 June 2023
This face-to-face event offers parents and carers a chance to ask questions directly to the heads of services for children and young people with SEND.
This is a free event, but you must pre-book your place via Eventbrite.
For more information, visit Our Voice Enfield.