Speak Out Southwark’s ‘Speak, Share, Learn’ day to return after rave reviews
A free event which has had rave reviews for its work supporting Southwark clubs to improve accessibility for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will return next week.
VoiceAbility has hosted six ‘Speak, Share, Learn’ days at Cherry Garden School in Peckham since January, as part of Southwark Council’s Thrive-to-25 project.
The event will return on Tuesday 26 November, and is aimed at those who run evening, weekend and holiday clubs who want to ensure their activities are inclusive of children and young people with SEND.
Our final ‘Speak, Share, Learn’ day of the year will be held in Peckham on Tuesday 26 November, with lots of networking opportunities on the day.
The November session will look at how to plan for disability inclusion, with auditing tools, accessibility plans and equality information, and how to put this into practice.
There will also be opportunities to find out more about the support available from community networks like Community Southwark, and the work of the Speak Out Southwark Thrive-to-25 project – a partnership between VoiceAbility and Southwark Council to improve the accessibility of local play and leisure services across the borough.
Attendees at a previous VoiceAbility event in Peckham pictured taking part in a Makaton signing training session.
Those attending also get to hear from Speak Out leaders who are part of Speak Out Southwark Thrive-to-25, made up of young disabled people, autistic people and people with learning disabilities, and their parents and carers.
Groups and clubs that attend can also work with VoiceAbility on a plan to improve inclusion and, once complete, they can apply for up to £800 towards these improvements.
Speak Out Leader Jon speaking during a previous Speak Out Southwark event.
A survey ran prior to this latest event has found that 94% of previous attendees had increased their confidence and knowledge on how to improve accessibility for children and young people with SEND as a result of attending. And 59% of responses rated their knowledge as now 8 out of 10 or higher.
The survey also found that 65% of previous participants had already made changes to what they deliver and/or how they support children and young people following the support they received.
One attendee said in their feedback:
I can never fully verbalise how big of an impact your funding has made and I truly hope you’re able to continue the work you do.
Marine Bernier-Harrington – co-founder and director of The Neurodiversity Family Hub which offers a range of services for children and young people, including after-school clubs – was among those who attended VoiceAbility’s first event back in January. She said:
VoiceAbility’s training was a great educational experience.
“Through engaging sessions and invaluable content, I not only acquired new skills such as Makaton sign language, but also gained a plethora of innovative ideas for interactive sessions with young people with SEND.
Beyond learning, the training provided a unique opportunity for networking and fostering collaborations, and the team were warm and effective.
All ‘Speak, Share, Learn’ events take place at Cherry Garden School in Bellenden Road, Peckham. The 26 November session runs from 12.30pm to 5pm, with two more events to be held at the same times on 30 January and 18 March 2025.
For more information visit voiceability.org/speak-out-southwark – where you can book on to these events – or email thrivesouthwark@voiceability.org.