Haven’t we all done well?

We would like to congratulate everyone involved with Dream The Change, CIC.

At the end of the school year, we are so proud that our parents, who come from diverse backgrounds; their children, who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); our staff; funders and volunteers have all survived a difficult year, including several national lockdowns.

We have tried our best to maintain our support, as we know the pressures (as well as pleasures) that parents of SEND children face on a daily basis, never mind when you are confined to your own home, having to do home schooling and work from home at the same time. 

Thanks to our hardworking trustees, we managed to attract funding from The National Lottery Community Fund; the National Lottery Coronavirus Support Fund; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; Essex Community Foundation and more recently, Find Your Active funding from Active Essex.

With the grants we’ve received we’ve been able to take families on excursions to local attractions in Essex and Suffolk, giving our families chance to meet each other in the flesh and to make friends. This funding has enabled us to organise Parent Tea Sessions on Zoom throughout the last year. Parents were able to meet regularly online to discuss issues that were affecting them, share resilience techniques and get to know each other better.

We also used some of the funding to buy sensory toys and equipment to help our SEND children cope with being at home 24/7. Some of our families assisted in delivering these gifts at Christmas and Easter.

We also launched our new website which is full of useful information, blogs and photographs of our families and we are maintaining a regular presence online through our social media, which is full of photographs and stories about our activities. We now have students on placement from the University of Essex, Social work department helping us with information research, our website development; they have an opportunity to meet parents and learn more about challenges they face and services available to provide support required for their children.

During the final term, one youngster in particular has stood out for her effort. Sarah was recently awarded a certificate for achieving 100% attendance at our Diddidance exercise sessions, which we have run twice a week online during the spring and summer terms.

 

The Diddidance sessions helped children connected with Dream The Change, CIC to stay active and learn new skills during the Covid-19 third UK lockdown. 

"Sarah attended all of the Diddidance sessions and joined in with all of the activities, so we wanted to acknowledge her efforts and she received the Certificate from us and presents. Well done, Sarah!” said Jemal, one of our Co-Founders. Sarah was also given a hand puppet and a cosy lamp for her achievement.

Sarah’s mother, Souzan Yousif, also deserves to be congratulated after gaining a certificate to be a Parent Group Leader for undergoing The Incredible Years: Parents, teachers and children’s training series organised by the Ministry of Parenting.

This training will enable Dream The Change to support other parents.

Souzan said, "I learnt about how play can help children by promoting social emotional development, encouragement and more, which will help me to support my daughter’s needs. It will also help me to support other families that may need advice around these issues.”

"It is a very useful course for families struggling with children's behaviour and I would recommend it to other people."

Another child, D., deserves a special mention for writing a poem which was included in a book “Peculiar Pets” which was recently published.

Congratulations D. We look forward to reading more of your poems in the future.

Many of our families are relieved now the lockdown restrictions have been lifted. We have recently organised a trip to Easton Park Farm, Suffolk, and an outing to Jump Street, Colchester, as well as arranging gatherings for our families at Highwoods Country Park in Colchester, where children could enjoy the play equipment and explore the woods together.

The new funding that we have attracted from Active Essex will enable us to organise more sports activities for children, specially devised to take into consideration their sensory needs.

Keep an eye on our social media and website to keep up-to-date with all of our forthcoming activities.