SEND Socials Birmingham CIC is a parent-led organisation providing social opportunities to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families. This will be our fourth HAF program and we are proud to be providing 1,000 spaces throughout the summer in conjunction with many other SEN specific opportunities.
The group’s summer project will include about 100 children with SEND and their families during the school summer holidays. Regular morning and afternoon sessions for 20 children each will take place on half the weekdays during the holidays at bases including at Dame Ellen Pinsent School in Billesley. There will also be a series of eight longer enrichment trips off-site for 40 children each.
A whole family approach is as the heart of everything SEND Socials Birmingham CIC provide. We ask all parents and carers to stay with their children at all of the activities and siblings are welcome to join in too, meaning your family gets to make memories together. We don’t under estimate how difficult it can be to access experiences without any adjustments and work hard to offer SEND exclusivity where we can. We have a merry team of carefully selected volunteers and parents with lived experience who are on hand to help with the delivery of all our events so all you have to do is turn up, relax and enjoy your summer in the company of lots of other families who just “get it”.
Activities
SEND Socials Birmingham CIC creates welcoming and exciting play spaces where children and their families feel comfortable to come together. We are providing a wide and varied summer programme offering lots of young people the opportunity to participate in activities which might ordinarily be out of reach for them. For example, magic shows, forest school, bubble workshops, football, animal experiences, music and drama workshops, stay and plays, trips out to some of Birminghams top attractions such as Cadbury World, Botanical Gardens, The Nature Centre and so much more.
Food
SEND Socials Birmingham CIC will provide lunch for children taking part in morning and afternoon sessions using catering facilities available at the school or other venue. SEND Socials Birmingham CIC volunteers are trained to Level 2 Food Hygiene standard and have undertaken training in Food Allergy Awareness. Meals are planned to meet school food standards. The group will ensure there is flexibility, however, so that the food available meets the needs of the children participating. And families are welcome to bring their own food.
SEND Socials Birmingham CIC is based on a network of more than 2000 parents/carers with SEND children in the city. Membership is free and open to any parent/carer in the city with a child or children with SEND. To get involved in SEND Socials and its holiday and term-time activities, you should make contact with the network through its Facebook Group for Parents/Carers.