In this issue:
Season's Greetings from the Local Offer team! Christmas design by our Supported Intern, Marcus.
🎄Making Christmas inclusive and fun for all (all ages)🎄
The festive season should be fun for everyone but not all children and young people will find the Christmas period easy. We've revised a list we put together last year of different websites and resources with advice on how you can make sure that everyone you're sharing Christmas with is included:
Making Christmas fun for autistic children and young people
For many autistic children and young people and their families the festive season can be a difficult time of year. Routines and daily life are disrupted and this can be challenging. Read these top tips from the Ambitious about Autism website to help support autistic children and young people at Christmas.
Making Christmas accessible for those with a visual impairment
This article from SCOPE has some great suggestions for making Christmas more accessible for those with a visual impairment.
Making Christmas Deaf aware
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) have put together some top tips for making your Christmas more inclusive for those who are deaf or have hearing loss.
Buying Christmas gifts
Fledglings is a not-for-profit shop selling essential aids for children and adults with a disability. Take a look at their selection of Christmas gifts for under £25.
SEND Monitoring inspection update
Last month, Ofsted and the CQC carried out a 3 week monitoring inspection to assess how well we are taking effective action to:
- improve the use of data across services
- strengthen our governance and quality assurance.
Their inspectors found we have taken ‘effective action’ in these 2 areas since 2023.
The monitoring inspection isn't the same as a full inspection - it just covers the areas above. A full inspection is expected within 3 years of the last one (which was in July 2023).
You can read the Monitoring Inspection letter on the SEND Improvements page of the Local Offer
Guest blog: How Expert by Experience, James, is bringing a new perspective to services (all ages)
James Aston joined the council as a Business Support Officer in 2019 and then in 2020 moved to the Transforming Care Team as an Expert by Experience. In this blog, he tells us about the projects he's been working on, and how his lived experience is helping to improve services for neurodivergent young people in Hertfordshire. 
"I talked about how people had put limits on me because of my autism diagnosis, but how I have been able to achieve so much more in my adult life than people used to think I could. My hope is that I am able to inspire conversations in schools about neurodiversity, and foster a sense of acceptance towards neurodivergent children in school."
Read James's blog
Make sure you have your say on the new SEND Strategy (all ages)
We want your feedback on our proposed SEND Strategy for Hertfordshire 2026 - 2029.
We want to find out:
- Do the ambitions reflect what matters most to children and young people with SEND and their families?
- Are there any parts which are missing, unclear or need strengthening?
- What do you think is the single most important priority for us to focus on?
The consultation closes Friday 6 February 2026.
You can find the proposed strategy (along with an easy read version) and the link to the consultation survey on our SEND strategy webpage.
There is also a link to the young people's survey - please make sure any young people you know have their say on the strategy.
There will be other consultation activities too - like online events, and activities for children and young people. We'll have details of these to share with you soon.
Parent workshops and courses in the New Year
Everyone needs a little support sometimes. In Hertfordshire, we have lots of brilliant organisations who offer free workshops, courses and webinars to help support families of children and young people with special education needs and disabilities. 
Check out the Local Offer to find:
- Webinars to help you understand ADHD, autism and topics relating to neurodiversity
- Face to face courses to meet other parents, share experiences and tips, and get support from professionals
- Support groups - both online and in person
- Workshops which cover a wide variety of SEND topics including behaviour, sensory needs, anxiety and sleep
Find out if there's a course for you on the Local Offer
Events
View all activities and courses
🎄View Christmas activities🎄
Imagination Dance: SEND Sensory movement and dance workshops
Monday 22 December (Biggleswade), Tuesday 30 December (Flitwick)
These workshops involve props, music, movement and sensory exploration. Suitable for those aged 3+ (Sensory movement) and aged 7+ (Dance).
Beauty and the Beast, relaxed performance panto
Saturday 27 December, 2pm, Hertford
Come and join in the fun at BEAM for the magical family pantomime Beauty and the Beast.
Autism Hertfordshire - Female Voice Group (ages 18+)
Friday 19 December, 7pm, online
Curl up, get cosy and join us for a relaxed catch-up as we reflect on the year gone by. We'll chat about how everyone's doing, share plans for wrapping up the year, and ease into the festive season together. If you wish to attend please email enquiries to: enquiries@autismherts.org