January 8, 2025 • 12 mins
Our amazing Advocacy Fellows interview Kate Evan-Hughes, Strategic Director for Together for Families who strives to ensure the support and protection of children and families. The Advocacy Fellows ask about Kate's journey to becoming Strategic Director, school placements for children with special education needs and who will be the parent carer voice in Cornwall?
The Advocacy Fellows: heroes voicing for and empowering young adults with learning disabilities.
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Discover Voices (c) 2023, a production by registered charity, disAbility Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
We are
The Advocacy Fellows - heros voicing for
and empowering young adultswith learning disabilities.
(00:30):
Hello.
My name is Liddy.
Hello, my name is Jack.
My name is Max.
Hello.
My name is Kate.
Can you say your name Mathew please?
(00:52):
Mathew! Thank you.
Welcome to our Advocacy Fellows podcast.
This time we are with Kate Evan-Hughes.
Last time we had Ali Bulman,but this time we have Kate Evan Hughs.
The reason why Kate is here is becauseKate is the new Straegic Director
for Children, Families
(01:15):
and Schools at Cornwall Council,like this one.
She has been in the post a few months now
and The Advocacy Fellows feltit is time to find out more about her.
Welcome and thank you for being a partof our podcast Kate.
Absolutely.
And our Advocacy Fellowshave come up with questions.
(01:38):
That they would like to ask you
about yourself,your experience and your role.
Where
did you
work before?
(01:59):
So I actually worked for Cornwall Councilbefore
and I was the Service Directorfor Education and Community Health.
So I've been in Cornwallsince the 1st of February 2020.
So just before we went into the pandemic.
So I was in Cornwall before.
Before thatI was in Pembrokeshire in Wales.
(02:19):
Did/do you have/had any pets?
I do. I have two dogs.
One is called Mab and one is called Nonand they are both Collie Labrador crosses.
So they are very energeticand Non is very naughty.
So no one likes to steal foodand I have to hide the food
(02:39):
so that Non can't steal the food.
So Non would be very fat if I let her eatas much as she would like to eat.
So we have to exercise her a lot.
Greedy Non!She is a greedy Non absolutely!
How far did it take for youto get from Pembrokeshire to Cornwall?
So Pembrokeshire to Cornwalltakes about 7 hours in the car,
so I moved pretty quickly to Cornwallto make sure that I didn't
(03:03):
have to travel those 7 hours.
Wow! see what the next one is!
I love my school, how are you
going to
make more places available for young
people
with learning disabilities?
(03:25):
You love your school,which is actually great.
How am I going to make more placesavailable for young people
with learning disabilities?
Yeah,so actually next week I've got a meeting
with our property servicesbecause we know we need more places.
So property services,
look after all of the buildingsthat we have in Cornwall Council
and I'm asking them, have we got buildingsthat are available now
(03:49):
that we can start to do that work in termsof expanding the number of school places
that we've got for children,young people with learning disabilities.
So that's happening next weekand I'm more than happy to keep you posted
on what the outcome of those meetings is.
So we recognise we need moreand that's what we're doing about it,
to try and find ways to do that.
Why did you decide to work with children,families and schools?
(04:13):
Right.
So for me,the most important element of our future
is our children and young people,because they are the adults of the future.
And I particularly have got aI've worked a lot.
So I started my teaching careerwith children who were hearing impaired.
I then went on to run and a settingthat was for children
(04:34):
who are on the autistic spectrum.
I then became a head teacherin a primary school
that had a number of childrenwho were on the autistic spectrum.
So I've got a history of workingwith children with learning disabilities
and special educational needs,
and I want to work with them to say
find out what's the best that we can offerto make a difference for them.
(04:55):
So they livetheir best lives with their adults.
And is it tricky working with familiesand schools?
Sometimes it's difficult to balance
the what the family would like,
what the young person would like,what the school would like.
And to be absolutely blunt,what we can afford.
(05:16):
And sometimeswe have to work and negotiate.
But it's always really important for methat we listen to the young person
what they want.
We listen to the familyand what they want, and then we know
how we have to work through that.
So I think that's the challenge sometimesis that we can't always give everybody
what they want. That's part of life.
But understanding whatthey would like to have and how can we get
(05:39):
as close to that as possible,I think is what we would aim to do.
We don't always get it right.
And for me, the most important thing isthat when we don't get it right, we are.
We apologise and we say we're sorrythat we haven't got it right
because that can make a real differenceto people feeling heard.
How are you going to workwith the adult services
to have a smoother transitioninto the adult services?
(06:01):
Okay, so you've met Ali Bulman.
Ali Bulman and I workreally closely together, so I think
it's probably the first timethat the service director
has responsibility for children and adultsare working as closely as we are now.
That's not to say they haven'tin the past, but it's very close now.
We've got teams working across.
We've asked for a look at what worksin transitions and what doesn't.
(06:24):
We did have something
called the Preparing for Adulthood Board,which I've I've stopped at the moment
because I want to make sure we're doingthe right thing about working together.
Whereas what we were gettingwas almost updates from adult services
and updates from children's services.
We want to make sure we're getting updatesabout how we'll be making a difference
around that transition.
(06:57):
Have you
heard of
the new
Down's Syndrome
syndrome policy
(07:19):
around surveying
the number
of pupils
with Down's syndrome.
And how are you going to
(07:51):
tackle to it?
So that's a really good questionand I will absolutely acknowledge
that we haven't actually thought
about that stage of how we're goingto implement that at the moment.
So I think probably there'sa further conversation for us to have.
We can have more talksabout how we do that,
what's the right thing to do,and certainly make sure that we're
(08:12):
involving the Down's syndrome communityin those conversations as well.
So, you know, as I said,I'm always going to be honest with you.
I'm not going to I'mnot going to fudge it.
We asked young people of CAAP
(Cornwall Accessible Activities Program)
who falls under your serviceif they have any questions for you?
(08:34):
They might want to talkabout school placements
for children with special education needs.
Alex asks, Why can't I go to school?
His mother explainedthat there are no suitable school places
in Cornwall for him.
Therefore,how are you going to improve SEN provision
(08:55):
for children and young people like Alex?
So this is always a complex onebecause without knowing Alex's detail
and not wanting to discuss
Alex's detail, it'sI can't answer the specifics around Alex,
but as I said earlieron, we are looking at an expansion,
but we have to make sure
that we've got the right provisionfor the right children in Cornwall.
(09:17):
Sometimes where children have very complexneeds,
we might not be able to havethe right provision in Cornwall itself
because, you know, we don't have thatmany children that need it.
But then it's about making surewe get it as close to possible.
And the moment, yes, we have got childrenwho go to school in Scotland
and that's not where we want to be.
But it just happens thatthat's the best school for them
(09:39):
and that's that bit about balancingwhat's right for the young person.
What does the young person want
and how do we make sure that we'resort of meeting their best needs.
But what we're looking to dois grow provision in Cornwall
so that we can better meetthe needs of more children.
Might not be all, but certainly more.
This next one is from Daisy,she asks: is the new school
(09:59):
for autistic girls on
target to open in August.
The local authority has built a building
around the Redruth area.
Converting it using the spaghetti bridge
approach to education.
Okay, so the local authority doesn't openany new schools anymore
(10:24):
because they're all new schoolsnow what are called free schools
and they are part of the Departmentfor Education that opens them.
We are in close conversationwith the people that are opening
that school and looking to make surethat we can open it hopefully on time
and that all the planning stuffis going through at the moment.
Morely asks (10:43):
why isn't the school listening to my voice?
We had many young people have SENsay that they were not being listened to
and the needs not met by schools.
So what I would say is that Molly.
Morley Well if Morely contacts us,then we can make sure that we do some work
with the school about pupil voice,because otherwise we can't.
(11:07):
There are 280 schools in Cornwall,so knowing what's
going on in all of them,all of the time is really quite tricky.
However, we will always...
So we have a memberstaff called Catheniva,
who leads on our pupil rights,children's rights,
so we can make sure that if the schoolisn't
listening to young people, we can go inand support them to how to do it better.
(11:29):
So it's not about telling the school off,
but it's actually workingwith the school to understand
how can they do somethingbetter than they're doing now.
the parents carer of
Cornwall are stepping down,
who will be the voice
of parent carers in Cornwall.
So we are commissioning already
(11:51):
the next Parent Carer Cornwall,whatever that is called.
So that's already underway.
We're having conversations about howwe do that over the next three months.
So the 31st of March, when Parent CarerCornwall ceases, the new organisation
will be in huge thank you for you, Kate,for allowing us to interview you today.
We really appreciateyou giving up your time.
(12:13):
Thank you.
And I enjoyed your questions.
They're really thoughtful,really thought provoking
and thank you for the opportunityto share what we're doing with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you a huge thank you to The AdvocacyFellows, like us,
that were involved in this podcast,and a thank
(12:37):
you to you for listening!
We are
The Advocacy Fellows - heros voicing for
and empowering young adultswith learning disabilities.
(00:30):
Hello.
My name is Liddy.
Hello, my name is Jack.
My name is Max.
Hello.
My name is Kate.
Can you say your name Mathew please?
(00:52):
Mathew! Thank you.
Welcome to our Advocacy Fellows podcast.
This time we are with Kate Evan-Hughes.
Last time we had Ali Bulman,but this time we have Kate Evan Hughs.
The reason why Kate is here is becauseKate is the new Straegic Director
for Children, Families
(01:15):
and Schools at Cornwall Council,like this one.
She has been in the post a few months now
and The Advocacy Fellows feltit is time to find out more about her.
Welcome and thank you for being a partof our podcast Kate.
Absolutely.
And our Advocacy Fellowshave come up with questions.
(01:38):
That they would like to ask you
about yourself,your experience and your role.
Where
did you
work before?
(01:59):
So I actually worked for Cornwall Councilbefore
and I was the Service Directorfor Education and Community Health.
So I've been in Cornwallsince the 1st of February 2020.
So just before we went into the pandemic.
So I was in Cornwall before.
Before thatI was in Pembrokeshire in Wales.
(02:19):
Did/do you have/had any pets?
I do. I have two dogs.
One is called Mab and one is called Nonand they are both Collie Labrador crosses.
So they are very energeticand Non is very naughty.
So no one likes to steal foodand I have to hide the food
(02:39):
so that Non can't steal the food.
So Non would be very fat if I let her eatas much as she would like to eat.
So we have to exercise her a lot.
Greedy Non!She is a greedy Non absolutely!
How far did it take for youto get from Pembrokeshire to Cornwall?
So Pembrokeshire to Cornwalltakes about 7 hours in the car,
so I moved pretty quickly to Cornwallto make sure that I didn't
(03:03):
have to travel those 7 hours.
Wow! see what the next one is!
I love my school, how are you
going to
make more places available for young
people
with learning disabilities?
(03:25):
You love your school,which is actually great.
How am I going to make more placesavailable for young people
with learning disabilities?
Yeah,so actually next week I've got a meeting
with our property servicesbecause we know we need more places.
So property services,
look after all of the buildingsthat we have in Cornwall Council
and I'm asking them, have we got buildingsthat are available now
(03:49):
that we can start to do that work in termsof expanding the number of school places
that we've got for children,young people with learning disabilities.
So that's happening next weekand I'm more than happy to keep you posted
on what the outcome of those meetings is.
So we recognise we need moreand that's what we're doing about it,
to try and find ways to do that.
Why did you decide to work with children,families and schools?
(04:13):
Right.
So for me,the most important element of our future
is our children and young people,because they are the adults of the future.
And I particularly have got aI've worked a lot.
So I started my teaching careerwith children who were hearing impaired.
I then went on to run and a settingthat was for children
(04:34):
who are on the autistic spectrum.
I then became a head teacherin a primary school
that had a number of childrenwho were on the autistic spectrum.
So I've got a history of workingwith children with learning disabilities
and special educational needs,
and I want to work with them to say
find out what's the best that we can offerto make a difference for them.
(04:55):
So they livetheir best lives with their adults.
And is it tricky working with familiesand schools?
Sometimes it's difficult to balance
the what the family would like,
what the young person would like,what the school would like.
And to be absolutely blunt,what we can afford.
(05:16):
And sometimeswe have to work and negotiate.
But it's always really important for methat we listen to the young person
what they want.
We listen to the familyand what they want, and then we know
how we have to work through that.
So I think that's the challenge sometimesis that we can't always give everybody
what they want. That's part of life.
But understanding whatthey would like to have and how can we get
(05:39):
as close to that as possible,I think is what we would aim to do.
We don't always get it right.
And for me, the most important thing isthat when we don't get it right, we are.
We apologise and we say we're sorrythat we haven't got it right
because that can make a real differenceto people feeling heard.
How are you going to workwith the adult services
to have a smoother transitioninto the adult services?
(06:01):
Okay, so you've met Ali Bulman.
Ali Bulman and I workreally closely together, so I think
it's probably the first timethat the service director
has responsibility for children and adultsare working as closely as we are now.
That's not to say they haven'tin the past, but it's very close now.
We've got teams working across.
We've asked for a look at what worksin transitions and what doesn't.
(06:24):
We did have something
called the Preparing for Adulthood Board,which I've I've stopped at the moment
because I want to make sure we're doingthe right thing about working together.
Whereas what we were gettingwas almost updates from adult services
and updates from children's services.
We want to make sure we're getting updatesabout how we'll be making a difference
around that transition.
(06:57):
Have you
heard of
the new
Down's Syndrome
syndrome policy
(07:19):
around surveying
the number
of pupils
with Down's syndrome.
And how are you going to
(07:51):
tackle to it?
So that's a really good questionand I will absolutely acknowledge
that we haven't actually thought
about that stage of how we're goingto implement that at the moment.
So I think probably there'sa further conversation for us to have.
We can have more talksabout how we do that,
what's the right thing to do,and certainly make sure that we're
(08:12):
involving the Down's syndrome communityin those conversations as well.
So, you know, as I said,I'm always going to be honest with you.
I'm not going to I'mnot going to fudge it.
We asked young people of CAAP
(Cornwall Accessible Activities Program)
who falls under your serviceif they have any questions for you?
(08:34):
They might want to talkabout school placements
for children with special education needs.
Alex asks, Why can't I go to school?
His mother explainedthat there are no suitable school places
in Cornwall for him.
Therefore,how are you going to improve SEN provision
(08:55):
for children and young people like Alex?
So this is always a complex onebecause without knowing Alex's detail
and not wanting to discuss
Alex's detail, it'sI can't answer the specifics around Alex,
but as I said earlieron, we are looking at an expansion,
but we have to make sure
that we've got the right provisionfor the right children in Cornwall.
(09:17):
Sometimes where children have very complexneeds,
we might not be able to havethe right provision in Cornwall itself
because, you know, we don't have thatmany children that need it.
But then it's about making surewe get it as close to possible.
And the moment, yes, we have got childrenwho go to school in Scotland
and that's not where we want to be.
But it just happens thatthat's the best school for them
(09:39):
and that's that bit about balancingwhat's right for the young person.
What does the young person want
and how do we make sure that we'resort of meeting their best needs.
But what we're looking to dois grow provision in Cornwall
so that we can better meetthe needs of more children.
Might not be all, but certainly more.
This next one is from Daisy,she asks: is the new school
(09:59):
for autistic girls on
target to open in August.
The local authority has built a building
around the Redruth area.
Converting it using the spaghetti bridge
approach to education.
Okay, so the local authority doesn't openany new schools anymore
(10:24):
because they're all new schoolsnow what are called free schools
and they are part of the Departmentfor Education that opens them.
We are in close conversationwith the people that are opening
that school and looking to make surethat we can open it hopefully on time
and that all the planning stuffis going through at the moment.
Morely asks (10:43):
why isn't the school listening to my voice?
We had many young people have SENsay that they were not being listened to
and the needs not met by schools.
So what I would say is that Molly.
Morley Well if Morely contacts us,then we can make sure that we do some work
with the school about pupil voice,because otherwise we can't.
(11:07):
There are 280 schools in Cornwall,so knowing what's
going on in all of them,all of the time is really quite tricky.
However, we will always...
So we have a memberstaff called Catheniva,
who leads on our pupil rights,children's rights,
so we can make sure that if the schoolisn't
listening to young people, we can go inand support them to how to do it better.
(11:29):
So it's not about telling the school off,
but it's actually workingwith the school to understand
how can they do somethingbetter than they're doing now.
the parents carer of
Cornwall are stepping down,
who will be the voice
of parent carers in Cornwall.
So we are commissioning already
(11:51):
the next Parent Carer Cornwall,whatever that is called.
So that's already underway.
We're having conversations about howwe do that over the next three months.
So the 31st of March, when Parent CarerCornwall ceases, the new organisation
will be in huge thank you for you, Kate,for allowing us to interview you today.
We really appreciateyou giving up your time.
(12:13):
Thank you.
And I enjoyed your questions.
They're really thoughtful,really thought provoking
and thank you for the opportunityto share what we're doing with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you a huge thank you to The AdvocacyFellows, like us,
that were involved in this podcast,and a thank
(12:37):
you to you for listening!
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