What an exciting few months we’ve had!

Families with special needs children have enjoyed a variety of activities, training, support and excursions, thanks to Dream The Change CIC.

We have had an action-packed first half of 2024, with more planned for the remainder of the year.

We want to thank everyone who has supported or sponsored Dream The Change CIC, volunteered or attended our events.

Our Sports sessions are proving to be very popular. They are held most Wednesdays during term time at Acorn Hall/St Anne's Community Centre, 252 Harwich Road, Colchester CO4 3DH. Read our “Thank you” blog to learn more about our Sport Sessions.

Dream The Change has endeavoured to provide a variety of excursions to various popular venues.

These have included:

Hylands Estate, Chelmsford, Essex.

We have organised several Arts and Crafts sessions over the last few months, which have proven to be very popular.

At our Summer Art Class children with special needs painted masks, dinosaurs and created artwork with lolly sticks, to name a few of their masterpieces made at the Hythe Community Centre.

Families connected with Dream The Change CIC learnt about Safeguarding at our training session.

Paulina Rangel, our Safeguarding Lead, prepared a presentation and shared with parents about how we can build a safe community for our children.

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Dream The Change CIC thank Essex County Council for giving us a grant for food packs and winter warmth items for families connected with our organisation.

Jemal, a Co-founder of Dream The Change, said, "We greatly appreciate this generosity and forethought and we will be writing to the Leader of Essex County Council – Cllr Kevin Bentley - to thank them for this grant."

A mother-of-two said, M. said, "Thank you very much for the food bags, and other essentials, today. With cost of living and inflation at their highest, organisations like Dream The Change CIC are real saviours.

“As a single parent, who has full parental responsibility and is highly indebted, it is so kind and helpful to be provided with such an aid. The best part is that I was supported in such a dignified manner that my self-esteem remains intact and I do not feel like I was being judged.

“I do not qualify for state benefits which leaves me struggling really hard to make both ends meet. I am very thankful because you understand how many of us are working and struggling at the same time. Thanks again."

Several parents and carers have been regularly attending our support group known as Parent tea sessions, where we invite experts along to discuss topics of interest.

Sue Anderton from MAZE CIC has joined us on numerous occasions and shared her knowledge and experiences, which we appreciate. At one such session we discussed “Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) and personal budget.”

One of our Trustees said, "As “puberty” was such an important topic for parents to discuss and there were so many questions about various aspects of transition to puberty, we decided to make a series of tea sessions on the same subject.”

At one of our Parent Tea Sessions, Jo Keys, Lead Community Liaison from Autism Anglia talked about “Transition to puberty - how parents can support children through this period and what services can provide more advice and support”.

Sex education from various cultural perspectives was discussed along with strategies to alleviate risks of exposure to adult content on internet. 

Parents connected with Dream The Change, CIC also attended an informative Q&A session on puberty and neurodiversity at our June Parent Tea Session.

Sam Silver, the Founder, CEO and Director of Action-attainment answered parents questions about how they and their child's school can collaborate to deal with behaviour that their children had been encountering.

Dream The Change CIC is collecting books for our new group library.

Nicole Etienne, a Coach and Author, was a speaker at one of Parent Tea Sessions, who donated a few copies of her book, “Oliver’s Travels” to our group and parents donated the other books after they had finished reading them.

If anyone would like to borrow the books or would like to donate other books, please email: dreamthechangecic@protonmail.com

During Mental Health Awareness Week in May, it was great to see that Dream The Change, CIC got a mention on a page about groups that provide activities for those with SEND in Essex.

We also had chance to spread the word about Dream The Change, CIC at an event for parents of pupils at St John's Green Primary School.

A teacher, who invited us said:

"I have been reading your website and I am so inspired by what you are doing.”

We have had several volunteers over the last few months.

We are happy to offer voluntary work with Dream The Change.

If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer, contact us through our website.

Families connected with Dream The Change CIC were invited to join a small advisory group to help with some autism research on sensory masking by Katie Dugard, a second year Trainee Educational Psychologist, UCL.

She said, "Thank you SO much for sharing my poster on your Facebook page. 

"I have had absolute loads of interest and many heartwarming messages from people seeing it on the page, which is brilliant!!

Vasilis Strogilos, Associate Professor of Education of Southampton Education School of University of Southampton also collaborated with Dream The Change to get feedback from parents to help with research on improving SEND. 

He said, "Thank you again for supporting us to find parents to participate in our project. In total, we talked to 10 parents, many of them from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. 

“Their contribution was valuable and by sharing their experiences we managed to design a research project that we are planning to submit to the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC) for funding.”

Come along and join our online training, meetings and workshops, and bring your child along to activities and excursions. By joining with us, we can show a united body to influence changes for a better future for you, ourselves and our children. 

If you love being part of Dream The Change, CIC's activities, excursions, and support group, do let us know or write a review on our Facebook page: