Southbury Leisure Centre will have a free Open Day on Sunday 25th May, 9 am to 4 pm, featuring taster sessions for families and children aged 5 -18 years, who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (with their carers). 

See the flyer for more details. 

You can scan the QR code on the flyer to register for the session or use this link. 

The sessions are: 

9.15 -10 am and 10.15 - 11 am - Cricket/Multisports

12-1 pm                                   - Adult and Junior Gym

12 - 1 pm                                 - Soft play

3-4 pm                                      - Family Fun Swim

3-4 pm and 3.30 - 4 pm             - Foundation Swimming lessons                      

This drop-in coffee afternoon session will be from 12.30 - 2 pm on Monday 12th May

This is one of our regular drop in sessions which take place in the Clement Medford Room (1st Floor) at the Ponders End Youth and Family Hub, 129, South Street, Enfield, EN3 4PX.

We have external speakers for most of these events, providing an update on a topic of interest and answering your questions on that subject. 

On this Monday, 12th of May, we will be joined  by Inclusion Project, Enfield (The Inclusion Project - Neurodiverse, Learning Disabilities, Learning Difficulties), who will tell us about the support that they can offer for parent carers who have young people aged 18 +.

Members of the Our Voice team will be on hand every session to listen to your questions and issues and point you in the right direction to resolve the issues you are facing. Or you can just take the opportunity to offload a bit and have a chat with other parents who experience some of the same challenges as you, over a cup of tea or coffee.

Practical information:

The hub is located at 129, South Street, Enfield, EN3 4 PX.

Some people have reported problems with getting to the hub using SatNav. It is best to look out for the Oasis Academy School which is opposite the hub. You may find that once parked you are by the side entrance of the hub – you will probably need to go to the South Street entrance to get admittance to the building – please walk around the building until you get to the front.

These events are aimed at parents and carers rather than children. If you do need to bring children with you, please note that you will be responsible for supervising your children throughout the session – we do not provide childcare or activities for children during these sessions.

On Wednesday 30th April, from 9.30 - 11.30 am, Our Voice will be joining the Local Authority's 'New to SEN' event which will look at the different stages of SEN Support, the resources and services available to support, and how to access the Enfield Local Offer. 

This event is aimed at parents of children of Primary School age (especially reception) who are new to SEN. 

The event will take place at One Degree Academy at Chase Farm. Places are limited and must be pre-booked. 

Details and joining link are on the flyer. 

Our Voice ran a series of Positive Behaviour sessions between April 24 and April 25, as part of the Empowering Families and Networks in Enfield Project, delivered jointly with the Joint Service for Disabled Children (Cheviots team): 

• We have now completed all of our six Introduction to Positive Behaviour Support workshops but you can see the presentation from these sessions here. 
• You might also like to have a look at this video - on Supporting Children's Behaviour at Home. 
• Positive Behaviour support drop-in sessions where you can discuss individual questions relating to your child/young person's behaviour. All the joint sessions between Our Voice and the JSDC have now been completed. 
• Cheviots will be continuing the series of drop-in sessions on Fridays 2nd May, 6th June and 4th July.   See this flyer for more details of the May session, this flyer for details of the Makaton taster (which will form part of this session) and this flyer for details of the June and July sessions. 

Please note - it will normally be possible for Cheviots to provide creche facilities and/or a translator for any of these sessions. Please give as much notice as possible if you need either of these.  

We are a term time only organisation and so we will be taking a break over the school holidays from 4th April until 22nd April.

This means that our emails will only occasionally be checked during this period, so it may be some time before we are able to reply to you. We will catch up on any outstanding messages after 22nd April.

If your query is urgent, you can call us on 07515 66215 and leave a message, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Please note this may still take two or three days.

You can also try the following sources of support and information in the meantime:

• Enfield’s Local Offer gives information about all the local support and services available to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and their families: https://www.enfield.gov.uk/services/children-and-education/local-offer
• The SEND Information Advice Support Service (SENDIASS) offers one-to-one information, advice and support for parents and carers – see here for details and contact information or call them on 0749 4280063.
• You can book Contact’s Family Support ‘listening ear’ 1:1 telephone support service with a family support adviser for parent carers looking for a listening ear, reassurance and practical and emotional support. You can make an appointment here.
• Telephone the CONTACT free helpline on 0808 808 3555 · Enfield’s Psychology Service has a helpline for parents – information and booking link here.

Our Voice are currently in the process of applying to become a Registered Charity (Charitable Incorporated Organisation or CIO).

We are seeking our first three trustees ready for our registration, and to help us ensure the good governance of our organisation once the registration has been completed.

Are you a passionate advocate for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and their families?

Do you want to play a pivotal role in helping our organisation to move forward as we become a registered charity?

Then we’d love to hear from you!

Please read our attached documents:

• Trustee Information Pack 
• Trustee Role Description
• Our Voice constitution (draft version)
• Who are Our Voice and what do we do? 

If you would like to apply to become one of the first three Our Voice trustees, please complete the attached application form  including a personal statement setting out why you are interested in the role, what skills and experience you bring, and any other relevant information, and email it to us at info@ourvoiceenfield.org.uk 

Please also see the  recruitment timeline. The deadline for applications is Tuesday 22^nd April.

The Learning Disabilities: Challenges and Choices in Carer and Accommodation conference takes place on Thursday 3rd April from 10 am to 4.30 pm at teh Woburn House Conference Centre in WC1. 

The session will look at care and accommodation for adults with severe learning disabilities, in terms of the legal, regulatory and academic frameworks, the experience of families and the perspective of care providers. 

Tickets for parent carers and other family members are £39 each including a hot buffet lunch and other refreshments. 

Whilst this is more expensive than most of the events we tell you about, the event does include some exceptional speakers including Professor Luke Clements and other well known speakers in this field. 

For details see the flyer here. 

The Local Authority has just released its booklet for SEND and inclusive holiday playschemes for Easter 25. 

This will be added to Enfield's Local Offer for SEND shortly, but in the meantime, you can view it here. 

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES AND FOOD PROGRAMME (HAF) – EASTER 2025

The DfE funded HAF programme is running in Enfield between 7th – 17th April 2025

Children from reception to year 11, in receipt of benefits related free school meals can receive up to 4 days of FREE fun and food across Enfield. Each day will include a nutritious hot meal, snacks and a selection of activities ranging from basketball and dodgeball to first aid and cooking. The overall programme is not SEND -specific, but there is some SEND provision within it. 

You can see information about the programme in the poster and the brochure. 

The full programme is at https://traded.enfield.gov.uk/news/2025/mar/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-haf-enfield-easter-2025

For more information please email HAF@enfield.gov.uk

Our Neurodiversity Parent Information and Networking event took place on 5th March 2025. 

You can see all the presentations from the event here and the slides from the Neurodiversity Team Pathway here.

Additional information:  

• Information about Ordinarily Available Provision including a version of the information for parents and carers can be found here. 
• EASA website - https://www.enfieldasa.org.uk/
• ENAS website - http://www.enfieldnas.org.uk/
• Autism Central website - https://www.autismcentral.org.uk/hubs/london-delivered-contact-and-ambitious-about-autism

If you attended the event and would like to give your feedback, please complete the feedback survey here.

The 'worry form' for the Neurodiversity Team Pathway can be found here - you can use this to give your feedback on anything you think the team has missed. 

This event was run as part of the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) project but was open to all parent carers of neurodiverse children and young people (not just those in the participating schools). 

For more information about the PINS project see the newsletter here.