Children and young people with special educational needs (SEND) and their families have been enjoying an action-packed school holiday thanks to Wolverhampton's Yo! Summer Festival.
The inaugural festival has featured a total of 28 days of activities especially for children and young people with SEND, with over 1,500 places available for activities ranging from painting, sculpture and clay workshops, film shows and 10-pin bowling to boat trips, fishing and horse riding.
Events have been organised by parent carer forum Voice4Parents, comprising parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities living in Wolverhampton, and held at a range of popular local attractions, including Wildside Activity Centre, Hollywood Bowl, HugglePets and The Hive thanks to funding from the City of Wolverhampton Council, the Department for Education and HeadStart Wolverhampton.
Sarah Baker, Chair of Voice4Parents, said: "Although it's been hard work pulling the programme together it has been lovely to hear such amazing feedback from families about the activities that we have been able to arrange, and how it has helped reduce isolation and brought people together.
"We used feedback we had from a survey we conducted earlier this year into leisure opportunities for SEND families to help put this programme together and to ensure it suited what families wanted to do, and we hope its success will also help improve leisure facilities for them over the coming years."
As well as events for SEND families, the six-week long Yo! Summer Festival has provided – and continues to provide – hundreds of other activities for youngsters and their families, ranging from sports and holiday clubs to fun days and arts and crafts. For full details of events which are still to take place, please visit the Yo! Summer Festival website, www.yowolves.co.uk.
Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: "It's brilliant that, thanks to our support, Voice4Parents has been able to pull together such a wonderful programme of events and activities for children and young people with SEND and their families this summer.
"It has formed a cruicial part of the wider Yo! Summer Festival offer and there's plenty more to come over the next few weeks, so please check out the website and for more details."
To find out more about Voice4Parents, visit www.voice4parents.co.uk, www.twitter.com/Voice4p or search for Voice4Parents on Facebook. To join the group, visit www.voice4parents.co.uk/get-involved or email admin@voice4parents.co.uk. To share views and experiences, visit www.voice4parents.co.uk/have-your-say.
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