News

Action4Youth, an energetic youth charity that provides positive, often transformational experiences and activities, works to enable young people of all abilities and disabilities to learn to challenge themselves - learning what they can achieve rather than what they can’t.

Confidence, self-belief and people skills are not traits that come naturally to young people with learning disabilities and Special Educational Needs (SEN), so it’s easy to see how they can become self-conscious, isolated and afraid to try new things. One youth charity is working with SEN students, taking them out of their comfort zone and opening their eyes to the possibilities and opportunities that life has to offer.

A CHARITY for young people with learning disabilities has invested in new quality assurance technology to meet critical development planning and Ofsted requirements.

The Highgate-based Harington Scheme delivers individual learning programmes, including gardening courses, which are designed to help young people into employment, further education or lead a richer life.

The charity’s management team, under the supervision of scheme manager Joanna Baxter, adopted new Mesma self-assessment and improvement planning software to assist in the administration, implementation and tracking of its development plan as part of the training provider’s wider commitment to improving quality assurance.

Adoption UK and PAC-UK have published two complementary education guides, for adoptive parents and school staff, to help ensure adopted children get the best possible educational start in life.

The guides explain why these vulnerable children may need additional support in school, what educational entitlements they can attract and what support is available for them.

Adoption UK’s guide Meeting the needs of adopted and permanently placed children - A guide for adoptive parents includes information about Virtual School Heads (VSHs), Designated Teachers (DTs), Priority School Admission and Pupil Premium Plus (PP+).

Adoption UK is proud to announce that their updated online Adoption Support Fund (ASF) guide has now been published, to mark National Adoption Week 2017.

The Adoption Support Fund - how it's working for families, provides anyone new to adoption with everything they need to know about the ASF. It provides background to the ASF, who is eligible, the level of funding available, and the fund’s vision for the future.

The guide walks the reader through the application process with a step-by-step diagram on how to access the fund. It also includes the latest statistics around the ASF, including the fact that more than £50 million has been spent supporting 17,000 families since the fund was launched in May 2015.

A leading care provider is co-ordinating a series of fundraising activities across the UK, including organisation-wide support for the charity YoungMinds’ #HelloYellow campaign with everyone dressing in yellow for World Mental Health Day on Tuesday 10 October.

The Regard Group, which is the UK’s fourth biggest private provider of supported living and specialist residential services in the UK for people with learning disabilities, mental health needs and acquired brain injury, has raised over £4,000 since June in aid of YoungMinds in their campaign to improve the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young adults.

Horse riding has many benefits for disabled people and for those with conditions that effect communication, physical strength and balance. 

Part of the foundations for the success of Accessibility Mark is down to the horses and ponies that are required to quickly adapt between riding lessons for clients in a commercial riding school and the disabled riders during an Accessibility Mark session.

Due to certain conditions riders can at times struggle to grip the reins properly or use the reins to balance, this is where centres can take advantage of specialist or modified equipment to ensure the safety of both horse and rider.

The Together Trust has been granted the highest award possible for its customer service and relationship management following an independent assessment by Investor in Customers (IIC). 

The Stockport based charity, which provides care, special education and community support for young people and adults in the North West region, registered ‘exceptional’ customer service levels, qualifying for gold status across all four IIC principles.

When asked why they would recommend the Together Trust, customers stated that staff were ‘caring, approachable and supportive’.  

IIC provide independent assessments of excellence in the field of customer service and customer relationships, based on internal and external perceptions of the customer experience. 

The Benefits of a Rich Sensory Environment that PC Building Provides

Sensory experiences are crucial for the development of a child’s brain. As soon as they are born, they are exposed to an endless amount of stimulation that the brain soaks up as a sponge. The process of learning, or soaking up new information, happens via the sensory neurons in the brain, which essentially serve as branches to make new connections in the brain.

Care Management Group (CMG), a leading provider of specialist learning disability care, has this week hosted its greatly anticipated Athletics Championship, enjoyed by hundreds of its service users, as well as staff and family members.

Taking place at the David Weir Leisure Centre in Carshalton, individuals joined together for a whole day of competitive sporting fun. People CMG supports were eager to take part in a whole range of traditional and unique sporting activities, with everything from wheelchair basketball and a wheelchair sensory obstacle race, to 100m, 200m and 400m races, badminton and the traditional egg and spoon race.