The summer holidays can be a challenging time for young people with SEND and their families. Whether going away for some of the summer or staying at home, the change in routine can be a challenge.

For those going away, everything from travelling to a holiday destination to using public transport and getting used to a new place and routine can prove difficult and create a great deal of anxiety.

The NAS (National Autistic Society) have produced a guide to help, preparing for the summer holidays.

Take a look at the Airedale & Wharfedale Autism Resource (AWARE) School holiday guide for 2022. 

Find helpful updates and summer activities from the Down Syndrome Training and support service, read their July/August newsletter here. 

Local Offer summer activities page

The Local Offer webpage has lots of summer holiday events and activities especially for children with SEND and their families. 

Take a look and plan for the summer - if you have an event we could add email: LocalOffer@bradford.gov.uk

Free play events in Bradford parks

Every weekday during the summer holidays there will be free play events in the parks for children and young people. 

Activities will run from 11am to 3pm and will include bouncy castles, sports games and coaching, climbing tower, dance sessions, arts and crafts, adventure play, giant games and lots more.

The activities are aimed at 5 – 14 year olds. Free, healthy packed lunches will be available 12.30 – 1.30pm, subject to demand. Parents are responsible for the supervision of their own children.

No need to book, just turn up and play! Check out the schedule below to see which park the team will be visiting each day.

Please note that in the event of bad weather, events may be cancelled for safety reasons.

View a full list of the free play in parks events here.

Schools Out 

Our Council's Schools Out web page is packed full of fun things you can do this summer. 

You will also find things to do in the What’s On Guide for events across Bradford district. 

SEND parent/carer annual survey

The Bradford local area SEND parent support groups are currently meeting every half term to discuss challenges and agree joint working. As part of this work the group have chosen to produce a joint annual parent/carer questionnaire which will be collated at the end of the summer and shared with the SEND Strategic Partnership Board.

It would be great to have as many parent/carers as possible complete the annual survey to help our support groups and SEND services progress with their improvement plans. Thanks to SNOOP, Down Syndrome Training and support service and the Parents' Forum for Bradford and Airedale for helping to co-produce the survey. You can help us by filling out the survey here.

Parents' Forum Bradford and Airedale (PFBA) school visits - update

The PFBA just wanted to say a big thank you to all of the parents at the schools who have hosted SEN coffee mornings (and the schools for providing tea and cakes).

Peer to peer support is really essential for parent/carers and the feedback from parents and schools has been fantastic. Just a smile or a “how are you doing?” from someone who ‘gets it’ from across the playground can make a difference! 

Adele from the PFBA will be visiting six more schools in September and October – Abbey Green, Midland Road Nursery, Barkerend Leadership Primary, Clayton, Laycock and one other to be confirmed.

If you would like the PFBA to host an SEN coffee morning at your school, contact Adele on adele@pfba.org.uk or ask the school SENCo to contact Adele.

The PFBA staff were lucky enough to be able to talk about the SEN support work they are doing at a Bradford headteachers meeting and hope to visit more schools in the future.

SEND Inspection feedback session

The Send Transformation and Compliance Team recently hosted a virtual SEND Inspection feedback session with parents and carers in Bradford district.

 The session covered what our next steps will be following the letter we received about the SEND inspection. The team also shared details of our planned Transformation Journey which will be co-produced alongside families and support groups.

Further events with parents and carers will be planned for the new academic year to update on developments and our improvement journey.

Social, Communication, Interaction and Learning team - support to schools 

The Social, Communication, Interaction and Learning Team (SCIL) are launching their enhanced offer of specialist support to school and settings from September 2022. The team offer specialist support to schools across Bradford district. If a child or young person is struggling schools can contact the team for specialist support.

Details of the support can be found on the Local Offer page.

SEND Green Paper – Bradford’s Local Area Response

Following the publication of the SEND Green paper, the SEND Transformation and Compliance team held three co-production sessions to gather the views of our partners and families on the potential reforms. Thank you to all who came along and contributed. Please see below a link to the summary of the feedback received so far.

Read the Green Paper Response here.

Bradford young people achieve awards

There has been a flurry of activity on social media from those who received awards or were finalists in the Bradford Careers and Technical Education Partnership Awards.

The School of Rock and Media had two students scoop awards, Benjamin Ashton for communication and collaboration and Obsidian Dunkley for creativity and innovation. Shipley college student Nicholas Beard won an award for social and cross-cultural skills.

Congratulations to all the students for their hard work promoting independence, confidence and career pathways and to all the students nominated.