Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) – Summer holiday activities

26th June 2025R King

The holiday clubs for families in receipt of free school meals and SEND will be available to book from Tuesday 1st July at 3:30pm using the QR code below. If you need any further information or to check eligibility – please call, email or visit the website provided on the poster. 

Glorious Gibside!

24th June 2025C Machin

What a day!
As part of our ‘Out and About’ theme, that we start next week, we headed to Gibside, National Trust.  We had a day of den building, orienteering, walking through the forest and up too many hills to count!!  We even had enough energy to play at ,Strawberry Castle play area.  We loved every second but the den building was a firm favourite. We can’t wait to go back again.

Glorious Gibside – Part 2!

24th June 2025sam wingrove

This week we took a trip to Gibside, an 18th century park and garden. The children loved spending the day running around, building dens using their OPAL skills and using new maths skills to try out orienteering! We will be using some of our photos of the day to support our learning in our last Learning Means the World topic of the year ‘Out and About’. We had a lovely day. Thank you to everyone who came along and helped support our trip!

Author Stuart Reid

18th June 2025C Machin

Today we were lucky enough to have a truly memorable visit from the author Stuart Reid. He read from his books and we helped him to reenact his favourite ( but disgusting !) parts. I think we have all been inspired to follow our passions and write about what makes us happy and makes us laugh!

Active Futures- Futsal

9th June 2025ashleigh clark

We have been so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Amy who was from a company called Active Futures. Active Futures run a range of sporting activities around the North East and have been running some of these in our local area. This week the children engaged in an activity called Futsal which is like a smaller scale game of football. Amy showed the children some tricks to do with the football and then played lots of games. The children really enjoyed their sessions and even received a leaflet to take home with all of the information about the activities that Active Futures run. Please feel free to have a look and sign up to the activities!

Sibs Newsletter

6th June 2025R King

 

Mental health awareness week 2025

This month we have been supporting mental health week, which has focused on the theme of community. Our latest spotlight blog for young siblings talks about how having people around you or looking at our YoungSibs pages can support you as a sibling.

Here are some useful links to explore.

How can I help them play together? – Parent tip

As a parent, it can be difficult to know how to support your disabled or neurodivergent child and their sibling to spend positive time together. Finding games and activities that all of your children can enjoy can sometimes feel tricky – especially during half term break.  Check out our recommendations here. We would love to hear about what has worked well for your family, do let us know.

Last call – Sibling Group Leader training (young siblings)

Our next training session will run online on 16th June for anyone who wants to run a sibling group for children.  This session will give you all the information you need to plan, run and evaluate your own local siblings group. It is also an opportunity for those already running a group to gain new ideas.  To find out more and book your place, check out our webpage here.

Final Opportunity to Take Part in the OASIS Sleep Study – Focusing on Children with Complex Needs and Their Siblings


Researchers from the University of Birmingham are in the final month of recruiting families for the OASIS Sleep Study, a fully remote research project exploring sleep and wellbeing in children with intellectual or complex needs and their same-household siblings (aged 4–15 years).
The study aims to better understand how sleep affects both children with additional needs and their siblings, with the goal of supporting family wellbeing more effectively.
What’s involved?

  • A brief online questionnaire and a follow-up phone call with a caregiver
  • 10 days of sleep monitoring using a small wrist-worn movement tracker for both children
  • Completion of a simple sleep and behaviour diary by caregivers

Each family will receive a personalised sleep and behaviour report for each child. These reports have proven helpful for gaining insight into children’s sleep patterns and for sharing with schools or health professionals.
This is the final opportunity to take part in the study.
If you are interested or would like to learn more, please email the research team at: [email protected]