Building SEND Castles Tuition

This week at Building SEND Castles, the children have been learning all about rainforests! 🌿🦜🐒

The children explored rainforest themed sensory tuff trays where they created their own mini jungles using green rice, leaves, vines, logs, and animal figures. Through play and exploration, the children focused on developing their rainforest and jungle vocabulary while using their imagination and creativity. 🌱

We also enjoyed reading the story "Handa’s Surprise", where the children were encouraged to identify and point out different fruits from the story board. This helped support communication, listening, attention, and vocabulary development in a fun and engaging way. 🍎🍌🍍

As part of our creative activities, the children crafted their own rainforest animals, including colourful parrots and sleepy sloths. 🦥🦜

This week, we also visited our very own little “rainforest”, our Forest School area! The children enjoyed a lovely walk through the sunshine to our green space, where we searched for insects, explored nature, and went pond dipping. The children loved observing what they could discover outdoors while enjoying fresh air and sensory exploration. 🐸☀️🌿

Another super exciting part of the week was spending time at our new outdoor space!!! Its just a stone’s throw from the main setting. The children were so excited to enjoy the large open area where they could run, cycle, play with outdoor toys, and relax in the sunshine. ☀️🚲

The new space is completely secluded, helping to provide a safe, calm, and nurturing environment where the children can regulate, explore, and burn off energy while continuing to build confidence and independence through outdoor play. We are absolutely thrilled to be able to give them this new space. They really deserve it!

It has been wonderful to see the children’s curiosity, engagement, creativity, and happiness shine throughout the week. We are incredibly proud of all the children and the progress they continue to make every day. 💙

If you are looking for a placement, or would like to refer a child, feel free to contact us here:🔅 https://www.buildingsendcastles.com/referrals

Come and join us for our SEN session tomorrow Sunday 24th May, from 9am-10am we can’t wait to welcome you! 💛

We’re proud to offer free SEND Sessions for children and young adults with additional needs. These sessions give the whole family a calmer, more relaxed space to play, explore, and enjoy themselves🎈🧩

Please tag your friends and family to spread the awareness of our sessions 💜

What a wonderful week at Building SEND Castles! 🚀🌿

This week, the children have been exploring all things space and rockets through a range of fun, hands on activities designed to encourage creativity, engagement, and fine motor development.

The children enjoyed:
✨ Space themed sensory tuff trays
✨ Playing with our toy rocket launcher, launching it as high as they could
✨ Exploring imaginative play and problem-solving
✨ Designing and creating their own rockets using scrap and recycled materials

The children showed fantastic engagement throughout the week, using their imagination while also developing important fine motor skill (loving doh disco), gross motor skills through designing their own obstacle course, communication, and confidence through play-based learning. 🚀⭐

We also enjoyed our Forest School sessions. The children loved spending time outdoors searching for insects, exploring nature, enjoying outdoor play, and carefully catching tadpoles to observe before safely returning them to the pond. 🐸🌱

It has been lovely to see the children’s curiosity, enthusiasm, and teamwork continue to grow through these meaningful learning experiences. We are incredibly proud of all the children and the progress they make each week. 💙

We look forward to seeing our children back with us on the 1st of June & ENJOY THE SUNSHINE ☀️

If you would like to refer a child to join us, please visit our website here: https://www.buildingsendcastles.com/ 💙

Another fantastic week at Building SEND Castles! 🚂🚜🌿

Each day, the children begin by checking in with their emotions using our Zones of Regulation board. The children independently place their picture to show whether they are feeling happy, sad, angry, or somewhere in between. These daily routines help encourage communication, emotional awareness, independence, and self-regulation in a safe and supportive environment. 💙

This week’s activities focused on trains and tractors, and the children have loved exploring different types of transport through creative and hands-on learning experiences.

The children enjoyed:
Train-themed sensory tuff trays, colouring activities, creating colourful sponge-paintings, building “moving trains” using chairs during role play to understand carriages and movement along side making lollipop stick trains and creating little tractors using playdough, blocks, and plastic shapes! This combines to improve coordination and fine motor skills.

As always on Monday we loved our Forest Schools session where the children enjoyed outdoor exercise, exploring the ponds, and observing the newly spawned tadpoles growing each week. The children were excited to carefully collect and look at them up close before safely returning them to their natural habitat. 🐸🌱

Throughout the week, the children have been developing their communication, listening, comparing, problem-solving, and imaginative play skills through adult-supported activities and exploration.

It has been wonderful to see their creativity, teamwork, confidence, and enthusiasm shine during each activity. We are incredibly proud of all the children and the progress they continue to make every day, you may even be able to spot a few certificates handed out to some of our little stars. ✨

Would you like to refer a child who needs a placement? Find Us Here: https://www.buildingsendcastles.com/referrals

Stratford court, Ipswich

Refusal to assess

If you have requested an EHC needs assessment for your child and the local authority has refused, our information may help you understand your options –

Refusal to do an EHC needs assessment – short video
https://suffolksendiass.co.uk/uploads/2019-03-15_26474_Refusal_to_Assess_V7_LR__(005).pdf - SENDIASS leaflet
Preparing for a mediation meeting regarding a LA refusal to do an EHC needs assessment – video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SjuaCT55PU&t=5s
Deciding whether to proceed with assessment – Suffolk SENDIASS – web information.
https://suffolksendiass.co.uk/education-health-care-needs-assessments-and-plans/deciding-whether-to-proceed-with-assessment/

Mental Health Awareness week

Join the Mental Health Foundation in taking action to support good mental health. Even small actions can help us feel hopeful and less powerless. Find out more here:

Mental Health Awareness Week | Mental Health Foundation
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week

If your child or young person is struggling with their mental health, you may find the information, support and resources offered by these organisations helpful:

• Inspire https://inspirecharityuk.org/ includes activities for 11–18 year olds, and covers Ipswich and Lowestoft areas. They offer a wellbeing service https://inspirecharityuk.org/courses/wellbeing-service-inspire/ with virtual and face-to-face support and counselling to young people, aged 10-25.
• The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/ – youth charity based in Stowmarket. Their offer includes life skills & personal development programme and detached youth work. Also specific help with wellbeing, including:
support groups for 13 – 25 year olds: Support groups | The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support/support-groups/
counselling for 13 – 25 year olds around their mental health: Counselling | The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/counselling/
o life skills about managing wellbeing and emotions: Life skills | The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/self-paced-learning/
• Parent workshops | Norfolk and Suffolk NHS https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/parent-workshops – wide range of live and recorded sessions for parents and carers including around mental health and neurodivergence.
• Films for Parents / Carers | Nip in the Bud (resources around wellbeing, mental health and neurodiverse conditions.)
https://nipinthebud.org/films-for-parents-carers/
• PACT is a local organisation aiming to help and empower parents and carers to support the wellbeing of their children and young people, and their own wellbeing. www.parentsandcarerstogether.co.uk
• Resources for parents | Shout 85258 (giveusashout.org) – Young Minds support for parents of young people struggling with their mental health.
https://giveusashout.org/get-help/resources/resources-for-parents/
• Parents' Toolkit - BBC Bitesize – variety of sections, including around wellbeing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/parents
• FYI Norfolk (YP webpages) Emotional & Mental Health – has a lot of resources, videos and info for young people.
https://www.fyinorfolk.nhs.uk/emotional-mental-health/

Well, a few days ago, I mentioned something exciting was coming to Building SEND Castles.
It’s not ready yet but here is a clue or two, **not actual pictures ( PS we are not moving 🤣)

** Please share **

Is your child still without a school place for September 2026?
Building SEND Castles Alternative Provision supports children and young people with SEND who may be struggling in mainstream education, ESBA, awaiting specialist placement, or currently out of education. A nurturing, child-centred provision with small-group support, including sensory spaces, movement and learning rooms, forest school sessions, and therapeutic nurture-based approaches tailored to each child’s needs.

Building SEND Castles Alternative Provision
Find out more or follow our page: https://www.facebook.com/share/17c5ZjSS5P/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Building SEND Castles Tuition I’m Kim,
This is our page for Building SEND Castles Alternative provision - A new centre on Dales Road Ipswich. For children in mainstream that need specialist support or those awaiting specialist placement & are not in education.

The children have been working incredibly hard on their reading this term, and we are so proud of their efforts. Some of the children have received certificates to celebrate their determination and extra hard work, a wonderful achievement for them all.
As part of our learning, we have been exploring emergency vehicles and the important role they play in helping our community.
The children have enjoyed a range of creative and hands on activities linked to this topic.
They had the opportunity to participate in fingerprint stamping and comparing each others just like the police, making fire engines using their handprints, and design their police cars and ambulances.
To extend their learning further, the children explored sensory tuff trays themed around emergency services, helping them make links through play and discovery. They have also shown great enthusiasm in their role-play activities, pretending to be brave firefighters ready to tackle fires.
The children enjoyed crawling through tunnels as though moving under rescue equipment and climbing ladders as part of their firefighter training.
It has been fantastic to see their imagination, teamwork, and enthusiasm shine through during these activities. 🚒 🚑 👮