February may have been the wettest on record but nothing was going to dampen our spirits – including through a wet and windy half term. Intrepid fundraisers waded through puddles to walk the width of Hertfordshire 5 times! We drove through puddles and potholes to get to schools, coffee mornings and gatherings all over the county, Lending SPACE had a bumper half term week, our support groups were in demand and our packed schedule of events and activities brought lots of laughter and moments of pride and joy to the hundreds of children and young people who came along. Read on for more…!
Fundraising Heroes
First of all we have to say a huge thank you, thank you, thank you! We were blown away by the commitment and efforts of our fundraising heroes as they each clocked up 12 miles for SPACE in our February walking challenge with Helping Herts. The walking distance covered by our little walkers equates to walking the entire width of Hertfordshire 5 times!
And there is no doubt that both our walkers and their supporters will have a mighty impact on SPACE families with 141 donations adding up to an impressive fundraising total of £2,820. And that’s not all – thanks to our partnership with Helping Herts this is all eligible for match funding to a huge £5,640! A big big thank you to everyone who took on the walking challenge and to our wonderful supporters who have donated so generously. Many of our most valued and impactful services such as our 1:1 Family Support and events and activities for young people receive no statutory funding and are only possible because of the support of individuals, organisations and businesses in our community.
From little steps to First Steps
We ran our usual packed programme of workshops and courses throughout the month. A particular highlight was our first First STEPS course of 2024 which concluded in February. Parents and Carers of autistic children in the early years spent 6 weeks together with our specialist SEND family support workers Hayley and Lisa. During their weekly face-to-face group sessions they developed a good understanding of their children’s needs and left with a tool kit of strategies and interventions tailored to their family and specifically designed to support their little one’s development. The feedback is consistently brilliant – if you have a child either diagnosed or on the pathway under 5 years old please do consider signing up to our next course when dates are released for the summer term:
“It was a safe space to meet other parents and learn together. It was a really positive experience for me. The course leaders were really welcoming, engaging and knowledgeable.”
“The course has been life changing for both me and my child, I have noticed the positive changes from the start… I feel armed with the right information to give us the best chance of success and assist the school with supporting my child.”
Yes, we can work with your business too
Did you know that our team of professional trainers don’t just run workshops for parents and carers and schools – we also run training for organisations through our workplace neurodiversity training and programmes. As a female-led organisation it was a pleasure to be at the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Leadership Conference sharing information about how to access our workplace training and support and you can sign up to one of our Neurodiversity in the Workplace workshops here.
Water conservation and Feeling Good Week 2024
The weather was on our side with the whisper of spring on its way as we took to the SPACE community allotment as part of ‘feeling good week 2024’ Being outside and connecting with nature, seeing fresh new growth and making plans for the year ahead gave everyone such a positive boost. We busied ourselves with planting bulbs, making plant food, digging, raking and tidying. We also thought about how to save water, from collecting it to ensuring it got to where it needed to be.
Our intrepid water conservationists quickly set about creating various sized Olla pots to be used around the allotment, tapping into that Ancient Chinese scientific thinking of using terracotta and the power of osmosis to get the water where it’s needed with no waste. We couldn’t not use this opportunity to also get our art vibe on and create vibrant mosaics on our olla pot lids – learning spaces don’t need walls ❤️
February Fun
As always we can’t get enough of the joy we see at our events and activities for children and young people but one highlight this month was our indoor climbing session which was the second of what is now a regular fixture in our activities programme and it’s clearly becoming a firm favourite with lots of the children and young people who have come along so far:
“We have a climbing convert! He can’t wait to come back!”
“I liked getting all the way to the top of the planets, it was hard and I kept slipping but I kept trying and I did it!”
In addition to climbing and the other 25 regular monthly events and activities that ran throughout February, half term brought additional fun with over 80 children and young people whizzing down the ski slopes on fun rings for our hugely popular Doughnutting sessions run in partnership with Herts Disability Sports Foundation. Lots of our youngsters also enjoyed flexing their creative muscles with some exclusive pottery painting sessions in half term week. And Lending SPACE was a welcome haven for many families seeking refuge from the rain – we welcomed over 165 people through the doors of our Lending SPACE Community Hub in half term alone!
As well as our events and activities, our in-demand dyslexia screenings and Speech and Language Consultations were sell-outs in the February half term and we are running more in the Easter holidays – find out more about all our professional services and book here: Neurodiversity Services – SPACE Hertfordshire (spaceherts.org.uk)
A visit from Integrated Services for Learning
Our support groups in Croxley, Welwyn and Hoddesdon were super busy this month. At our February Hoddesdon Group, we had the pleasure of welcoming Charlie Crowe, the Lead Teacher for Integrated Services for Learning. Charlie brilliantly explained how schools are expected to approach supporting learners with additional needs and took the group through an informal look at the level 1 schools/setting reasonable adjustment workshop.
The group were highly engaged and presented Charley with lots of questions. Following the parents’ lead, Charlie looked at the training they offer to schools and how parents can gently signpost schools. The discussion also touched on reasonable adjustments, sensory movement breaks, toilet passes, curriculum changes and more.
We spoke a lot about normalising things in the classroom so individuals don’t stand out in getting support – for example, printing everything on yellow paper not just resources for dyslexic students and giving everyone the opportunity to have movement breaks. The real underpinning message that came out of the group was to work together with the school to achieve better outcomes.
Travelling through puddles and potholes!
Speaking of schools, our outreach programme continued apace into schools across the county delivering training and/or attending coffee mornings including at Sele, St Thomas’s, Ridgeway Academy and Goffs Churchgate. To find out more about how SPACE can work with and support your school drop an email to admin@spaceherts.org.uk
We weren’t just out and about in schools. We attended a PCN parent carer meet up in Harpenden which had a great turn out of over 30 parents and carers. “I thought the lady from SPACE was fabulous and I’ve always felt that because I can fight for my children I’m ok and don’t need help but actually, I would love some help, even just a short break of a couple of hours would be a treat, and it was as though she gave us permission to ask for this which was so wonderful.”
We also went to a wonderful coffee morning of adopters and special guardians to talk to the gathered parents and carers about SPACE and all the services we offer. Sometimes our children and young people don’t necessarily meet thresholds for particular diagnosis or neatly fit into more commonly known ‘boxes’, but our workshops, support, family activities, sensory resources and everything else we do are no less valuable. SPACE is a fully inclusive charity and we are also needs-led so diagnosis is not necessary to access our services. Developmental trauma, FASD, attachment disorder, sensory processing, genetic conditions or other SEND needs – if you think your family can benefit from being a part of the SPACE family you are welcome to join our tribe.
In fact, why wait – we have all sorts planned for March – come and join us!
