A group supporting the siblings of disabled children is set to have its first meeting in Harrogate this month.

The Sibling Group is an organisation offering a safe space for children with siblings who are disabled or have special needs. The first event in the area is set to take place January 20 from 10am-12pm at Christ Church.

The group for children aged six to 11 aims to “support their wellbeing and happiness”. The event will include activities and games to build positive relationships.

Grace Williams, founder of The Sibling Group created the organisation to support families who have children and siblings with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

She has a younger brother with special educational needs who is non-verbal, has a learning disability and autism. Grace has become devoted to supporting other families in a similar situation. She has a degree in special education, is pursuing a masters degree in autism and inclusion, and currently works as a specialist key worker for the NHS.

She said

“Growing up there was not much support available and there was a lot of stigma around this. It was very challenging for my family and I, as we had to take on a care giving role and adapt to my brother’s needs very quickly.”

Grace grew up in Harrogate and her brother attends Springwater School. She says that despite the large SEND community in the area she has always been “aware of the lack of support for families”, so when creating The Sibling Group, she “thought it would be a good area to work in.”

“Siblings are not thought about when services are created and offered to families, and I want to change this. Siblings experience extreme stress, isolation and miss out on things other children their age are doing.”

“The Sibling Group offers a safe space for children to come and meet other children with similar experiences. We offer fun activities such as arts and crafts, singing and dancing, sports and games.”

The meetings are free of charge and will be running during the school holidays and on Saturdays. To book a place at the event click here.

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Springwater School in Starbeck has been rated ‘good’ in a newly published report by Ofsted.

Government inspectors visited the school, which has 97 pupils aged two to 19, in June.

Their report rates the school as ‘outstanding’ in four of the five areas assessed but the overall assessment is ‘good’.

It says leaders at the school, which has pupils with severe or profound learning difficulties, “have very high expectations of how well staff look after the pupils in their care” and that “pupils are given highly personalised support by a team of very caring staff”.

Personal development was described as exceptionally strong and arrangements for safeguarding effective.

The report adds:

“Staff ensure that pupils are fully included in all aspects of school life.

“The learning atmosphere in school is positive. Pupils, and students in the sixth form, try hard when in class. They are keen to join in and eager to learn new things.

“Pupils demonstrate how much they appreciate learning by laughing and smiling.”

Inspectors say pupils receive ‘highly personalised support’.

Sixth form ‘excellent’

Sixth form provision is described as “excellent”. The inspectors said:

“The sixth form curriculum is very well planned. It prepares students for adulthood very effectively. The curriculum includes life skills such as shopping and cooking, as well as important knowledge about how society works. Students also take courses that lead to accreditation. Students in the sixth form are incredibly positive about their experiences of school.”

Staff and leaders’ “holistic approach to managing behaviour” is described as “extremely effective”.

Headteacher Sarah Edwards said:

“The governors and I are delighted with the outcome of the two-day inspection which was rigorous and professionally challenging, as I am sure you would expect.

“I am so pleased that they captured what we as a team already identified as the strengths of the school and its pupils.”

Ms Edwards said the school had worked hard on “developing and implementing a suitable curriculum designed to meet the very diverse needs of all of our learners” since its last inspection in 2019, which raised “some concerns that standards may be declining”.

Ms Edwards thanked staff and added:

“I remain extremely proud of what Springwater delivers. There are four out of five of the judgements at an outstanding level, and the inspection team identified that ‘the quality of education has improved’.

“I am confident that the report and inspection experience captured our strengths brilliantly.

“Springwater is a brilliant place where children thrive and in turn the dedicated staff team have an enormous satisfaction in seeing children and young people flourish regardless of the special educational needs.”

Ms Edwards added there was “an extremely high demand for pupil places at this popular and over subscribed special school”, adding:

“As a result, there continue to be vacancies in support roles and the school would love to hear from any member of the community who would be willing to volunteer, to support pupils to access learning activities and community visits.”

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