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Every Child Deserves to Play
SEND Socials Birmingham provides social opportunities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their family. A passion to give families opportunities to do ordinary activities in their extraordinary circumstances is at the forefront of our organisation. We strongly believe that every child deserves to play in a safe / tailored environment with their family, outside the confines of their home. Our whole family approach enables families to have fun and make memories together.
Our Story
SEND Socials Birmingham CIC is founded and led by mums of children with additional needs who have experienced social isolation and difficulty in navigating the systems and services needed by families like our own. We recognise there is a lack of choice and opportunity and that’s why nothing is off limits with us, we will give anything a go at least once provided we can make adaptations to suit the needs of our audience. We drive to give every child who accesses our services a positive experience and allow them to access it in their own way.
We no longer just provide fun for the kids! We continuously review our services and now offer special events for parents and carers through our regular coffee mornings, Dad’s group and parent well-being and workshops.
SEND Socials Birmingham has evolved from a small Facebook group back in 2018 which went on to become a community group in 2019. By joining in with us families felt less alone, included, and confident to be able to try activities among others who understand the challenges that can be faced. Families were having positive experiences at our events and word spread quickly with friends who faced similar challenges, it wasn’t long before we needed to change our structure again to enable us to support the demand we were facing and to grow, enhance and develop our services. In 2021 we registered as a Community Interest Company and have since provided tens of thousands of spaces on our activities, with plenty more to come!
Our mission here at SEND Socials Birmingham
We want to be an integral service across Birmingham for families who have children with additional needs and / or disabilities for social opportunities, advice from lived experiences and support for the whole family who are navigating the SEND system.
We know through lived experience the difficulties in navigating the SEND system and strive to support others on their journey from the outset.
Support through SEND Socials Birmingham comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We don’t profess to be professionals — collectively we are more than that. We are people with lived experience and offer valuable support to one another, whether that be sharing our experiences, signposting to support services on a local and national level or just being a sounding board in a safe, secure environment. We’ve got your back.
Meet the Team
We are a small dynamic team, all with lived experience of SEND. As a progressive organisation we all bring different complimentary skills, experience, and ideas to the table. Natalie and Lisa are the people you will likely see and hear from the most as they are the operational workforce — they do all of everything!
Lisa
Co-Founder / Director
Mum of two boys, both with additional needs. Lisa is the creative of the duo and goes weak at the knees at the prospect of making a poster / something look pretty or a spreadsheet. Her favourite activities with SEND Socials are the “on-site” ones. This means where we hire a venue and sometimes practitioners to work with us for more intimate activities like stay and plays, drama, music and other workshops.
Fun fact: Lisa travelled around the USA clocking up over 12,000 miles in just 6 weeks!
Natalie
Co-Founder / Director
Mum of three boys, two with additional needs. Natalie enjoys the challenge of finding new and exciting opportunities for SEND Socials, and she sees absolutely nothing as being off limits! She loves taking big trips out and exposing as many kids as she can to more opportunities which are typically only suitable for non-SEND children. Whilst in the office she can often be found writing policies and procedures — she is a stickler for the rules!
Fun Fact: In 2000 Natalie was Haven Mate, getting up on stage and providing hours of fun for the holiday makers!
Sadie
Non-Executive Director
Sadie is our ginger Aquarian who helps keeps things in check behind the scenes on a strategic level, offering lots of advice, support and experience and a critical friend when we need it! She’s a mum to three boys, two of whom are special needs twins. Life is one big adventure for Sadie, and she spends any spare time travelling, watching live shows and music and everything in-between.
Fun Fact: Sadie is still able to do the splits in her 50's!
Abbie
Senior Volunteer
Abbie loves spending time with young people and has a great passion for those with SEND. She works in special education and when not working she’s volunteering, leading, and is constantly on the go! She runs two brigade groups during the week and in the school holidays you will find her with SEND Socials supporting the running of activities, sessions and getting to know our families.
Fun Fact: — She used to play premiership rugby but you can’t beat supporting Aston Villa too!
Frequently Asked Questions
No. We understand that diagnosis comes long after you need the support. It’s often the very beginning of the journey that’s the hardest and when you need the most support, need to ask the most questions and find it the most difficult to get out.
We encourage sibling participation. Making memories together as a family is hard if you can’t go out and enjoy the things that are easily accessible to most. With our careful adaptations to make environments more inclusive or just simply going out as a large group we hope your family can have some fun together. On occasion we may have some activities which are SEND specific only, these will be clearly labelled.
All events are available to book through the website. You will find details of our upcoming events in our calendar.
We understand that there may be occasions where you can’t attend a pre-booked event. You can cancel via the email booking confirmation you received.
We will always try to reallocate spaces where reasonably practical. If we are able to refill your spaces we will refund you automatically less the administration fee we are charged. Please refer to our refund policy for more details.
Yes, our booking system allows you to be added to a waiting list and you will be contacted if a space becomes available. Please note this is fully automated and staff will not be able to add you to lists.
Parents / carers are required to stay with their child throughout all activities unless stated otherwise. We do not currently offer a childcare / respite service.
Yes, if you are willing to travel and will benefit from using us then you are welcome. On occasion there may be a funding requirement to restrict people from specific areas but this will be done on individual events and will be clearly labelled.
Parents / carers are required to stay with their child throughout all activities unless stated otherwise. We do not currently offer a childcare / respite service.
There will usually be a uniformed SEND Socials representative at the events. Details of where to go and what to do at the arrival of events will be detailed at the booking stage.
Please notify us as soon as possible if you are running late. There will be contact details on the booking form.
Your children can be themselves at our sessions, please do not worry. We can help as much or as little as needed – everybody is unphased by meltdowns, doing things a bit differently and everything in-between.
