Writing West Midlands
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Offer for young people aged 7 – 17
Background
Writing West Midlands runs 16 Spark Young Writers Groups for young people across the West Midlands. Writing West Midlands employs 16 professional writers to lead these groups, with more than 16 volunteers with an interest in creative writing to assist. Writing West Midlands handles all the correspondence, booking and safeguarding needs of these groups.
Each group meets 10 times a year for 2 hours a month. The groups have a maximum of 18 participants per group.
Training
Writing West Midlands provides general training in running creative writing groups for its lead and assistant writers. We also provide a small amount of training to equip our lead and assistant writers to support young people with SEND. This is designed to give our writer confidence in dealing with SEND issues during the sessions but does not make them experts.
Writing West Midlands aims to support our lead and assistant writers in their work with the young people who would like to join one of our groups.
Our aim
Writing West Midlands is committed to working with as many young people with an interest in creative writing in its groups as possible, within the limits of the capacity of the groups. We welcome young people with all abilities, including but not exclusively those with SEND.
In the past we have had good success at working with young people with SEND and integrating them into their group. Our primary interest is with their love of creative writing and stories and not any disability they may have.
What we need from parents
On joining, we ask parents to tell us about any additional needs their child may have. We find it easier to plan and support young people if we are aware of their needs from the beginning. If our writers have any questions about how best they can support a young person, they will either ask us to ask the parents or they will ask the parents direct. If we are unable to support a young person with the existing skills or personnel, we will seek advice on what additional skills or personnel are needed to provide that support. Occasionally, we might ask parents to support their child, or by remaining close by during the session.
We must always balance the needs of the whole group and will carefully monitor the group to ensure the needs of all participants are met as far as possible.
Point of contact for SEND queries
Please contact Emma Boniwell at Writing West Midlands (emma@writingwestmidlands.org or 0121 246 2770 opt 4) with any queries or suggestions.
Date created: 27 November 2018
Next update due: August 2023