Speak Out Southwark — Thriving Together
Witnessing the groups we had previously visited and provided counsel to share their own experiences and struggles with others, while also extending support to those in need, was truly inspiring.
Supporting play, leisure and childcare providers to become accessible to more children and young people, including those with additional needs.
What did Speak Out Southwark do in 2023-2025?
Speak Out Southwark — Thriving Together was made up of young disabled people, autistic people and people with learning disabilities aged 13+, and their parents and carers.
They supported Southwark Council to improve evening, weekend and holiday clubs so that they’re accessible to more children and young people, including those with additional needs.
Attendees at the SEND Speak, Share, Learn day in Peckham during a Makaton signing training session
Thriving Together — Speak, Share, Learn
As part of this project, we co-produced a toolkit with providers, parents, carers and young people, as well as expert practitioners from:
- Cherry Garden School
- Sense
- Evelina London Speech and Language Service
- All Age Disability Positive Behaviour
Support Team
The toolkit is a practical resource to support play, leisure and childcare providers in developing SEND-inclusive policies and practices.
It contains a range of templates, training activities, and useful resources to increase staff knowledge and help providers make reasonable adjustments to better support children and young people with additional needs.
We offer two options: Tier 1 on how the Toolkit works and Tier 2 which also supports you to use the Toolkit to create an action plan for your organisation.
Tier 1 is a half day’s training (2.5 hours).
It offers a hands-on opportunity to discover the toolkit and can either be on line via Microsoft Teams or as a face-to-face session.
Both options are delivered by a Speak Out Facilitator alongside a Speak Out Leader. A Speak Out Leader is someone with their own lived experience who has been part of the project to create the toolkit.
The Tier 1 session can be open to more than one organisation.
Tier 1 training will support you to:
- understand how and why the toolkit came about
- know how to use it effectively in supporting your organisation to improve accessibility and inclusivity
- learn how to use tools, tips, and tricks to help you identify where changes can make the most impact for the children and young people you support.
Attendees receive a physical printed copy of the inclusion toolkit as well as access to an online version during the training.
Tier 2 is a full day’s training (from 10am-4pm).
The day includes all the aspects of the Tier 1 session plus an extra half day of real in-depth exploration, bespoke to the needs of your particular organisation. For this reason, Tier 2 sessions are only open to one organisation per booking.
Depending on location, Tier 2 training can also include a visit to your setting. This provides a chance to talk through your concerns for accessibility and inclusivity, and a mini-review, which offers any improvement recommendations. It also includes an agreed action plan and training on further toolkit use.
Additional information
Please note that our training is based on the use of the toolkit, audit tool and action planning, so we don’t necessarily provide particular strategies for supporting an individual with challenging behaviour, or information about specific funding options, but we may well be able to signpost you to other areas of support.
For more details, please contact us on business.development@voiceability.org or call 0300 303 1660, and we will be happy to discuss how we can meet your training needs.
Spring Community Hub with their new SEND equipment purchased through the Thriving Together funding.
Thriving Together Inclusivity Toolkit
A practical resource to support play, leisure and childcare providers in developing SEND-inclusive policies and practices.