To set up a club at school for SEN children

[pinksparkleunicorns]

I am a teacher in a state secondary school. I would like to set up an extra-curricular club (either lunchtime or after school) which involves looking after a school pet (probably baby goats - we have approval to put some in the school paddock).

I want to run two clubs. One for any students but one which is only children with special needs.

AIBU to stipulate that one session is ONLY for SN children? It could be anything - from dyslexia to cerebral palsy and children from the deaf community.

I have a DC with special needs. My thoughts behind it are that it gives these children a chance to meet others with extra difficulties in life. To talk to them and share their stories. But I am worried that this could backfire? There will be the second session of the same club where anyone - SN or not can join.

Please can we avoid a thread where the well-being of the goats is discussed - we have a huge paddock and a local farmer who lives next door will oversee their upkeep so they will be very well looked after.

YANBU. Set different aims for each group so it’s clear the diffferent needs are being met in an appropriate way, maybe? Even if the things they will be doing are the same. It comes down to space for learning support/wheelchair access etc too.

And School Goats........awwwwwwww!

@Saucery I'm SO excited about the goats!! Thanks for your reply xx

Sounds great. My son has SN and no after school clubs will let him join. I would love for him to have the opportunity to join in with something.

My DS was at mainstream and has ASD. For the 1st couple of years he accessed a 'safe room' at breaks and lunchtime where the majority of children had SEN but I think children who just found being free range with 1300 children a little overwhelming could apply for a pass too. They had some old gaming equipment and every now and again the staff member who supervised would force them to interact and play board games. He found it useful at the start of his secondary school life but quickly realised that he was being singled out by other students as 'special' although that wasn't the word they used! He decided it was better to brave the big outside world of the playground rather than be pigeon holed in the SN world! I will add that his school was hot on dealing with bullying and bad behaviour but DS still felt segregated and different.

In answer to your question I think my DS would have preferred a mixed but small group of students but I guess other tween/ teenagers with specific needs might feel differently.

@Doveyouknow thank you. I am worried about pitching it 'for children with additional needs'. I am unsure how happy secondary school children would be identifying themselves openly at school as being a child with special needs?

It's a nice thought however I think you should promote inclusion, you are in a mainstream school. Other children have difficulties too.

Have a chat with your senco. You might have enough for one session for kids with ASD, and one with physical disabilities for example, and 2 general sessions (split by year group or by 'halves' of a year). She will help you identify children to invite!

Lovely idea btw, and great that our schools have such dedicated enthusiastic teachers!

I like the idea but I think in the terms of inclusion then a way should be found to make it open to all. Otherwise it risks inadvertently segregating pupils and will make it hard to access for those who are in denial about their needs.

Sometimes promoting inclusion includes targeted times and activities where individuals with additional needs can talk and be themselves for a while without having to swim in mainstream. It often increases resilience and self-confidence. DS was confident and happy to be open about his dx.

@Sirzy I could make it a club for all but where priority is given to SN children?

We have an LGBTQ club. Students have found this invaluable as a 'safe place' they can discuss issues relating to their LGBTQ status. I believe they would feel less able to do so if the club wasn't pitched so.

I would love it if for example dyslexic children could all meet to connect over their day to day problems. I worry this wouldn't really happen if I don't label the group for SN, but also worry as the inclusive nature of the group would be removed.

I think it’s a lovely idea.

I think you sound lovely. My two children have Sen and because of this they’re not welcome at after school clubs. They’d love something like what you’re suggesting.

Maybe you could do one open lunchtime club and one invite-only after school SEN club. Then the SEN kids aren't missing normal lunch time integration and will also be welcome at the lunchtime club where they hopefully get to be the goat experts due to their extra after school experience.

Could you keep the membership low (small groups of 10?) but give students with additional learning support needs an equal number of places as students without specific needs? This would give the students with needs a chance to feel it was a safe space but also support them making friendships across the cohort?

You don’t need to advertise it as ‘for children with special needs’. You can have a club where you invite specific children that are particularly likely to have benefit from participating. That’s what happens with academic booster group type activities, and I think this is just like a booster group targeting other areas.
I think it sounds a brilliant idea.

I think it's a great idea. I'm all for inclusion, but just sometimes it can be nice to have an activity that is pitched directly at them, where there will be no pressure to do anything but move at their own pace.

They have the whole rest of the school day to be around the other kids.

Although perhaps you could run the sessions but welcome SEN children to both, allowing them to make their own choice. If there's not much uptake of the SEN session you could just do mixed.

What about an invite only club. I have visited several schools that have at least one invite only club - from multi sports to sitting volleyball to board games.

This way even if a child hasn't got diagnosed SEN but is undergoing assessment and would benefit from the separate session they won't be excluded, neither would a child who may benefit from that session but has other reasons e.g. Divorcing parents/bereavement. Also, you can make sure pupils' needs don't clash.

@SunshineAngel you could run the sessions but welcome SEN children to both, allowing them to make their own choice. If there's not much uptake of the SEN session you could just do mixed.

Definitely was going to do this. So SEN can attend either openly as an SEN child who wants this emphasis on their attendance or they can attend as just another school student who likes goats.

I’d make it invite only minus the label...

Gorgeous idea but I don’t know how you’d execute it, quite honestly.

I think it's a brilliant idea - as a parent of a child with SEN there is not any school clubs, either lunchtime or after school, that he is able to access independently and this sounds fabulous. Agree the labelling/ inviting will need to be sensitive as you said, but best of luck with it!

DD's primary used to do similarly. They called it a "nurture club" and it was by invite only. SEN kids might not all identify with the label, and there might be others who aren't technically SEN but would really benefit from it. The nurture club didn't have anything as exciting as baby goats though - that could make it harder to say who can come if the session for everyone gets over subscribed

Thinking about it, schools offer invite-only activities all the time, we’re just conditioned to thinking it’s entirely normal for sport (especially inter-school sport), but that we must offer other activities to everyone or it wouldn’t be fair. Start with the children you think will get the most benefit and then see how it goes.

I have 2 children with SEN (one just going to secondary next year). This would be amazing for her and she would love it. She has ASD and masks and she would love being in a group where she could just be her quirky self and look after goats. However, she is a bit sensitive about being different so a invited nurture group would work better for her self esteem. You could then also invite the really shy children or those maybe going through a hard time due to other challenges that they were facing. Great idea!