OUR MISSION
We strongly believe that children with SEND should have equal access, opportunities and visibility in their own community. They should be able to play, learn and socialise with their siblings and peers where they live.
OUR STRATEGY
We are partnering with local activity providers and businesses to improve inclusion. We put the issues of inclusion and visibility on the local agenda. We run our own events to give families with SEND the chance to socialise.
So far...
Since we founded SENDaWelcome we have forged strong partnerships with local providers, including Golden Hill Community Garden, Apple Shed Theatre, The Rin Tins, St Paul's Adventure Playground, King's Lawn Tennis Club, Circomedia, Annette Andrews School of Dancing, Sparks and OpenUp Music.
We have run our own events, developed a local network of families with children with SEND and increased visibility of our children and our aims.
We think we have initiated a shift in thinking about inclusion in our community. And, for the first time, BS7 will have a dedicated programme of events taking place locally for children with SEND and their families.
Next...
We have launched a Work Pilot Scheme, a family and community-led approach to generating local employment opportunities for young people with SEND. In partnership with Bristol City Council, Sixteen & PROPS, we are linking up with local businesses and traders to improve work experience from September onwards. We have also contributed our experiences of parenting a child with SEND to a multidisciplinary guide for professionals working with people with learning disabilities. Check it out here: Working with People with Learning Disabilities
The SENDaWelcome team
Viviana
Katz
Julie
Maria
BELGIUM has given us many things – chocolate, beer and frites, to name a few – but social inclusion probably isn’t the most obvious one. And yet a Belgian tradition brought together three parents keen to make their own community more inclusive for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
“We met at a house warming party Viviana had at her house,” says Julie. “In a very lovely, very 'unEnglish' gesture, she and her husband went round all the neighbours with an invite.”
Katarina was also there with her family. “We were gobsmacked that someone would let a bunch of strangers into their house and invite them to eat their food and drink their booze,” she says. What was more surprising was that all three – Viviana, Julie and Katarina – had a child with SEND.
“As the mother to a very young child with complex needs, who was one years old at the time, I found an instant network of support on my doorstep,” says Katarina. “This was an incredible find for me.” It was particularly helpful as she was just starting to connect with local services. “Julie and Viviana helped me see a way through the crashing mess of a system (or so it felt to me) I had started to engage with through my son.”
The theme that ran through all our conversations was exclusion. “All the SEND settings were outside our area, as were all the opportunities for SEND activities,” Katarina remembers. “I saw very little opportunities for my youngest child to spend time out and about because his needs were more complex and needed more thought than that of his brothers and his non-SEND peers.”
We decided to tackle this inequality and SENDaWelcome was born. The aim was simple – to make BS7 a model of true inclusion. “We just wanted to make our community inclusive for our children so they could be part of it the same as any other child,” says Julie. “We thought we would need to make people more aware of the issue and to link with local groups and activities and employers.”
Daniella Radice, the local Green councillor at the time, came on board and used her knowledge of local politics to push our project forward. Then Maria joined the group to help spread the word via social media.
This summer we met with Thangam Debbonaire, our local Labour MP, and we're lucky enough to have her on our side. To start with she'll be pushing our agenda for local businesses to offer teenagers with SEND the chance of work experience.
So far, the response to SENDaWelcome has been positive. “We have received lots of support from a wide range of the community, both moral and practical,” says Julie. “It has generally been embraced as a great idea and there has been a delightful willingness to get involved.”
We hope this willingness will translate into a concrete change. “In five years’ time, I would like to think our community will have seen a shift in thinking,” says Katarina. “If activities and groups do not have children with SEND in them, then facilitators should ask themselves 'Why is that? What more should I be doing?'.”
The ultimate plan is to see that shift in thinking extend beyond BS7. Says Katarina: “I hope that other communities will see our model, apply it to their locality and see a positive shift too.”