Inclusion and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Our approach to inclusion and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

The Coventry Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme aims to have a wide range of inclusive activities, experiences and clubs that are accessible for eligible children and young people. We are developing this approach through our relationships with providers, parents/carers, children and young people. We value your feedback on our activities (see below).

Information on the inclusivity of activities

In our descriptions of each HAF activity (see: HAF interactive activity searcher), there is information about the inclusivity of each activity. Please note that we have some activities that are only shared with particular parents/carers and children as they have been specifically designed to meet particular needs.

How to make providers aware of your child(ren)’s additional needs

A key part of enabling effective support for children with additional needs is for parents/carers and providers to have conversations about the needs of your child(ren).  We promote this in the following ways:

  • You can provide information about additional needs when you add your child(ren) to the HAF booking system.
  • Through the “All About Me” approach. Where you have provided this information and booked onto an activity, HAF providers should contact you for an “All About Me” conversation based around the following questions (see below) about your child(ren). This can be done by completing a template and/or a phone conversation. If your provider has not contacted you about this, please contact them.

All About Me Questions

Below are the questions that can be discussed about children with additional needs from the perspective of the child:

  • What are your strengths?
  • What are your needs?
  • Do you know anyone else coming to the activity/club? (e.g. children or staff) If so, who?
  • How do you like to communicate?
  • How do you understand instructions?
  • What can make you feel upset?
  • What can help you calm down?
  • What are your favourite things to do?
  • Will anyone come with you to the club? If so, who?
  • Is there anything else we should know?

What should a parent/carer do if a HAF provider cannot meet the needs of their child(ren)?

There may be situations where a HAF provider is not able to meet the needs of individual children. Where this is the case, please email: HAFprogramme@coventry.gov.uk and we will explore alternative options. If this is not possible for the current holiday programme, we will look at how we could improve this for future holidays.

We value your feedback

We are always aiming to improve the range of activities available. We welcome and value your feedback on inclusion and Special Education Needs and Disabilities and will follow up on every email. Please let us know of any positive feedback, areas of improvement, and ideas or ways in which we can make our activities more inclusive.