Stepping Stones Play and Learn Group is a small charity based in Colchester, Essex in an area which is recognised as poor. Our main service is an integrated nursery for children with additional needs and mainstreamers aged 2 - 5 to play, learn and develop alongside each other. We also run a weekly Tots Group and sensory group for03-year-oldswith special needs, Holiday Clubs for school age children aged 5 -11 with complex needs and a monthly Family Stay & Play session. The Group therefore supports children/young people from 0 - 11. We are a registered charity and non-profit making.

The group formed in 1991 to give children with special needs the opportunity to play alongside their peers, and to give parents much needed respite care. Parents wanted a group where their child was not the only one with special needs, and where staff had knowledge, skills and experience that enabled them to meet the individual needs of the children. We are a parent-led group and as parents have identified their own needs the group has grown to meet them. Parents are on our committee, and we take our lead from them.

We are open five days a week and children attend full days depending on the childs individual needs and parental aims. We havea very highstaff ratio as our children with additional needs have aone-to-onekey worker which enables them to access the activities in the Groupand benefits the mainstream children. We work with outside agenciese.g.,physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists. We teach all our children Makaton signing and use visual communication tools. Our childrens needs range from children with Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Down Syndrome, various syndromes which result in developmental delay and limited lifespan, sensoryimpairments,and children with little or no language skills. We have children who are hydrocephalic or who are terminally ill and some who present challenging behaviours. Some children are tube fed; we administer drugs and can manage catheters &stomers. Just under half our nursery children have additional needs.

Mainstream preschool children also benefit hugely from our total communication environment with an emphasis on inclusion, sensory play, modelling,exploration,and engagement. Our mainstreamers also become role models, learn about the value of compassion and kindness for others. Our ethos is to create an environment enabling all children to enjoy developing to their full potential.Mainstream children learn to be non-judgemental and accepting of those with differences. Many of our mainstream children have support needs related to their social circumstances.

We also offer a monthly Stay & Play session on a Saturday where the whole family can attend,play,and relax in a safe environment free from judgement, mixing with other families who experience similar challenges.

We run holiday respite clubs for children who are 2-11 years old, we also offer one day a week for five weeks through the summer holidays for our nursery children. We open for 4 days of the week. Activities are provided within the setting with the possibility of some walks in the local community. This enables parents to give siblings time as we have learnt that often their lives have to fit round the needs of their brother or sister.

We provide advocacy to families, giving practical support,listening,and guiding them to the relevant outside agencies and provide opportunities to talk to each other. We provide an environment where outside agencies can meet, observe thechildren,and liaise with parents, whilst the child is being cared for by staff they know.

This causes less stress for parents whomustcontinually visit doctors, clinics etc. We work closely with the whole team around the child and family.We support parents to apply for funding for specialist equipment, grants, benefits etc. We support parents to obtain EHCPs for their children to ensure they move on to appropriate school provision. We also provide emotional support which we know is invaluable to our families with time to talk, signposting them to support groups & services and by providing a community to which they can belong.

We link parents together; there is much understanding to be gained from another parent who has experienced what you are feeling.Parents asked for the opportunity to meet otherparents when they are first given adiagnosis,so we created a Tots Group in our soft play and sensory room once or twice a week depending on numbers. Here parents of babies and toddlers with additional needs and disabilities can meet to gain support from each other and from nursery staff. This also enables them to build their confidence and trust that their childrens needs can be met in the nursery when they are ready.

We also campaign locally liaising with multiple statutory and voluntary agencies, networking to champion integration for those with additional needs in the wider community.

Every child has a key worker, children with additional needs also have a Key Buddy, to enable them to engage in activities with their peers. We require specialised equipment and facilities to help the children develop their learning and life skills. Our costs are thereforeveryhigh,and we are continually fundraising to meet these needs. We are very reliant on the generosity of people who raise money for us, without this support we could not provide the service our families need.

Our group has developed in a way that we could never have envisaged when we started our parents with mainstream children continually feed back to us that they feel their children have benefited greatly by playing with children with additional needs. When a parent has a child with specialneeds,they must learn very quickly how to tube feed, administer drugs, respond to challengingbehaviours and deliver all the care that their child needs. They have been our teachers and we are continually amazed at the courage our parents show.

Fundraising will always be high on the agenda and we welcome charities, community groups and business to support us to continue to provide our much-needed service. We receive some statutoryfunding,but this covers only half our costs so annually wehave tofundraise an additional £150k+ which gets more difficult each year. Please visit our website for more information www.steppingstonesplayandlearn.orgor call to arrange a visit and discuss how you might be able to support our charity.