Tamsin Ogilvie
Tamsin for Support SEND Kids
Fundraising for Support SEND Kids Limited
Story
This explains why I am involved with the Tri-team, the charity and the Hall School. I hope you will see the value in the work we do to help neurodiverse, SEN and Disabled children get the right education they need to thrive.... you all know I love doing the triathlon, so swimming in a muddy lake holds no terrors but I do fear for this generation of children with SEND struggling to engage with education.
I was a Hall parent and did my first Tri with the Hall team 9 years ago. This year their chosen charity is one I am personally involved with: Support SEND Kids.
Support SEND Kids believes every child has the right to be the best version of themselves. Yet without help, SEND children struggle in, or fall out of education. Please, don’t let SEND kids get left out.
Like all Hall parents, the charity believes passionately in the right of every child to get a good education. Yet, there are 1 million school age children with SEND, including a number at the Hall, who face desperate and often invisible struggles to access learning, navigate friendships, or just survive the school day. Support SEND Kids works hard so SEND children don’t get left behind, or left out of, education.
SEND defines a wide range of Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. These can be physical challenges but over 70% are ‘invisible’. This includes neurodiverse children, those with ADHD, Autism, dyslexia and other, often combined, learning difficulties.
Imagine if all children facing the race to literacy and numeracy, stand in a row at the start of a running track, those with SEND face a long line of invisible hurdles which they must jump before they reach the finish line. The hurdles leave them exhausted, often demoralised with so many more ahead, and worst of all, most people can’t see them and assume the child is lazy or naughty.
How heart-breaking if this is your child, imagine the stress and anxiety of not knowing where to turn and what to do. I have interviewed over 20 families whose children have SEND. Their stories were desperately moving, because, despite the laws that are in place to protect these most vulnerable children and protect their right to education, the system is hard to access, chaotic and unnecessarily adversarial. For many parents, the barriers can feel insurmountable: confidence in navigating the system, confusion about their rights, cost of advice. Without the right support children can struggle to survive in school. Little did I realise that within 18 months I’d be one of the SEND parents seeking extra educational help through an EHC plan. I was incredibly lucky to be part of the charity at the time, their support made an enormous difference to my journey through the legal process.
Every donation you make will have a big difference on helping SEND children reach the educational provision they need. We will post more on the amazing work of the charity in the coming weeks.
Thank you, so, so much for your help and encouragement with this vital charity.
Very best wishes,
Tamsin Ogilvie