SEN-Fit: Year-round SEND support

Community Interest Company, SEN-Fit based in Langley Mill, has been operating since 2022, offering a wide variety of health and wellbeing support for families of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Derbyshire.

As a specialist SEND holiday club provider with multiple years of HAF experience, SEN-Fit understand the growing need for year-round support for parents of SEND children, especially during the school holidays.

In the It’s About Me spring satisfaction survey, 22% of families stated that one of the biggest benefits of the HAF programme is providing support for a child with SEND.

An example of this need was evident in their most recent HAF programme. After receiving a referral from an alternative holiday club provider, the SEN-Fit team were able to contact the parents directly, discuss the young person’s specific needs and invite them along to try out their spring holiday programme, which focuses on emotional literacy, life skills and fitness.

In the first session. the young person was able to engage with staff on a 1:1 basis, and although the session was still a challenge, they successfully attended the next two sessions.

“The parent was so pleased their child had managed to stay at the session, she told us how it is a struggle to find support and was delighted that we had engaged them in activities they enjoyed.” Fiona Ross, Director of SEN-Fit

The SEN-Fit team have continued to build a relationship with the young person and their family outside of the holiday programme.

“Without the funding, we would not be able to run the sessions. We require a high level of staff to support the children and young people’s varying requirements, often leaving us with limited resources.” Fiona Ross, Director of SEN-Fit