LOCAL MUMS ‘SEND’ SUPPORT TO ISLE OF WIGHT SCHOOLS WITH RESOURCE GIFT PACKS

54 resource gift packs that give advice on how to better support neurodivergent children in the classroom have been delivered to schools and other learning institutions across the Isle of Wight, thanks to the efforts of parents, carers and families involved in the ‘SEND Support’ project. The project was created by Colleen Brannon to help nurture a more inclusive, collaborative and supportive approach for disabled and neurodivergent children in local schools. This idea has been supported by families belonging to the local lived experience-led group Isle of Wight SEN Support, who, through fundraising efforts, have been able to create a resource pack for 54 Island schools, colleges, academies and those in the home education sector. The resource pack, delivered to all learning institutions on Tuesday (7th November), contains an invitation for all school staff to an online training session with Yvonne Newbold MBE, who is the founder of national parent-led organisation, Newbold Hope. The organisation provides strategies and resources for families to help better support their neurodivergent children. Yvonne is currently working with organisations such as NHS England on policies and strategies to help reduce anxiety-led difficulties and dangerous behaviours across all sectors. Alongside this training session, the pack will also include 3 books and a bespoke booklet created by families to help professionals better support and understand their children. All information and resources included in the pack have been well researched and most importantly, come almost exclusively from lived experience. A letter explaining the aims of the project will also be sent out to schools, alongside a digital copy of all resources and some extra treats for our teachers, as a small token of the family’s appreciation for their work. Colleen Brannon, co-ordinator of the project, has explained parents of neurodivergent children have a ‘steep learning curve to understand and support children’ and that schools simply do not always have the time or resources needed to help these children. The Isle of Wight currently has the highest proportion of home-schooled children in the UK, because, Colleen says, some parents ‘have no real option’ when schools struggle to create the right environment to nurture and support all children. Colleen wants this project to help to create a more ‘inclusive and supportive environment for neurodivergent and disabled children’ and feels it could make a real difference, saying that it would be ‘completely worth it’ if the project managed to help just 1 family. She extended thanks to people who funded, shared, and advised on the project, without whom she said it would not have been possible, as well as for the fantastic responses she has already received from some local schools.