Children and young people with special educational needs have been enjoying being by the seaside thanks to the work of a North East charity and funding from a County Durham business.
Chester-le-Street-based Integrating organised a five-day holiday to Butlin’s Skegness Resort for 24 of its young service users, after members of its youth forum suggested it as a venue for the charity’s annual trip.
A £10,822 grant from property and mining firm the Banks Group enabled Integrating to cover the cost of taking the group and 12 support workers on the trip and to ensure the cost to families could be kept to an absolute minimum.
The holiday was organised to give the young people the chance to engage with a range of different leisure activities of their choice in a safe and supported way – and it was judged such a success that plans are already being made for next year’s trip.
A video is currently being made by Integrating’s visual arts group which will showcase what the holidaymakers did during their trip and what they thought about their time away.
Integrating aims to involve children and young people aged between six and 30 years old with a range of disabilities and learning difficulties in mainstream activities which can help them build key life skills and friendships, improve confidence, and enable them to interact better with others.
The charity, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, works with up to 100 children and young people a year and offers over 15,400 core activity hours per annum during both term time and school holidays.
Activities are organised between Integrating’s staff, the young people in question and their families, and include individual and team sports, music, rowing, going to the cinema or theatre, shopping trips, or going as a group to a restaurant.
Kathryn Gaudie-Jones, business manager at Integrating, says: “Our aim is to seek to remove barriers that prevent children and young people with SEND from engaging in community-based leisure activities that most of us take for granted, like going on holiday with your friends.
“For some of our young people, this was the first time they’ve been on holiday without their families, or even the first time they’d ever spent time apart from their parents, so it was quite a big undertaking for both them and us.
“Everything was set up to allow them to make their own choices about what they did, with support available whenever it was needed, and the feedback we had while we were there and since we’ve come back shows just how much everyone enjoyed their holiday with their friends.
“We also know how much families valued the worry-free time to themselves that this trip allowed them to enjoy when that can often be quite a rare commodity, and just how happy and excited their family members were when they got home.
“We simply couldn’t have made this holiday happen without the funding that Banks has provided and we’re hugely grateful for everything it has allowed us and our young people to achieve and enjoy.”
Lucy Hinds, executive assistant at the Banks Group, adds: “The positive impact of Integrating’s excellent work is clear in the enjoyment that their young people get from spending time with their peers and the charity’s team.
“Planning this sort of experience takes a huge amount of time and care, and it’s obvious from the young people and families’ comments what a great time everyone had by the seaside.”
For more information on Integrating’s work, visit www.integrating.org.uk