
Grimsby pupils design new special needs hub at Healing Academy
Children have helped to design a new specialist learning facility for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Two music rooms at Healing Academy, in Grimsby, are being transformed into classrooms, breakout spaces and a sensory room for pupils with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The new facility, called the Hive@Healing, will offer support for children who may have difficulty learning in a mainstream school without specialist help.It is part of a wider programme to develop school places for children with EHCPs in North East Lincolnshire.
Healing Academy educates more than 800 children aged between 11 and 16 and is run by Harbour Learning Trust. The trust said it had consulted children on the design, testing materials and the logo for the new centre.Children from Healing Academy and Cambridge Park Academy, a special school, formed working parties to develop the concept. Stephen Logan, the principal at Healing Academy, described it as an "exciting step". "This is not just a new provision, it's a gateway to brighter futures, and we can't wait to see the incredible opportunities it will bring," he said.Councillor Margaret Cracknell, the portfolio holder for children and education at North East Lincolnshire Council said it was "wonderful" to see children taking part in the project and praised the school for doing "a tremendous job".Hive@Healing is due to open in September. Details of the admission criteria for SEND pupils can be found on the school's website.Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Council grants for Worcestershire schools and community groups
A county council is encouraging groups to apply for funds after a grant helped build sandpits and a sensory room at a school. Worcestershire County Council's public health programme offers funding of up to £3,000 to voluntary groups, community organisations and community interest Academy Warndon is among the schools to have taken advantage of the scheme, turning planters into sandpits and building the new room to help children with their Wichmann Lima, operations manager at the school, said it had a declining number of pupils, which had led to increased financial pressures on the school's budget. She said 50 children at the school have education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and 40 percent are on the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) register."Since Covid, we've really noticed an increase in the social, emotional and mental health needs of children – and the grants we've applied for have really helped with those."She told a health and wellbeing board meeting on Tuesday the grants allowed the school to turn six planters into sandpits for the children."I went out there today and on a summer's day like this, it's like they're at the beach," said Mrs Wichmann Lima."They've all got their socks and shoes off, they're in the sand, they're burying teachers – the sensory element is amazing for them."The school has also been able to build a sensory room, which has helped children to regulate their emotions."We've bought things like sensory tiles so they can go for a sensory walk and calm themselves so they can go back to the classroom and access that education," said Mrs Wichmann Lima."These are things we wouldn't have been able to do, or do as well, without this funding."School budgets are tight so this has enabled us to do something extra," she McNally, director of public health for Worcestershire, said the grant scheme is about "making residents' ideas a reality" and urged groups to get in touch."If you have an idea, if you know a group that you think could use a public health grant, try us – I bet we say yes." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.


BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
'Frustration' as city is slowest in England for SEND assessments
A city council has been criticised for being the slowest in England to assess children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).In February, just 1% of assessments for Education, Health and Care Plans in Bristol were carried out within the official 20-week Bristol mum, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I don't think they realise the impact it has on families. There are children who are regressing. There are children who, because they wait so long, end up on medication."Bristol City Council said it is struggling to deal with an increase in demand and was hiring more specialist staff to deal with the backlog. The Bristol mum said she feels "frustrated" with the council as she continues to try and secure help for her son."It's just dysfunctional. There's a lack of communication," she for Education, Care and Health Plans should be carried out within 20 weeks but, nationally, councils only manage that in 50% of Bristol, the figure dropped to 1% in February and it is now edged up to 3%. Christine Townsend, the council's executive member for education, accepted that the city has performed poorly."It's absolutely not good enough," she said. Ms Townsend added that assessment requests have increased by 32%, compared with a national rise of 11%."That puts a huge number of people on our front door asking for an assessment," she challenge is a shortage of education psychologists, and the council is proactively recruiting specialist staff, she said. Nationally, the demand for Send children has more than doubled in a a result, the amount councils need to spend on it has grown faster than the funding they receive from have been allowed to overspend on special needs, but they have been warned that as things stand they could go minister Stephen Morgan is responsible for Send provision and acknowledged that change is needed."We announced more money for Send in the Budget last year, we're rolling out a plan around special needs provision across schools, and we'll be announcing more in due course," he said.


The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
Waska: the cost of spiritual healing in the Amazon
The plant medicine hayakwaska (ayahuasca), marketed as a mystical shortcut to healing and enlightenment, is an example of what the Indigenous storyteller Nina Gualinga, sees as commodification and extractivism in the Amazon. Nina is from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, Ecuador, and she speaks with the memory of her shaman grandfather about the ongoing cultural appropriation, environmental destruction and marginalisation of her people, questioning our very relationship to the Earth and the quest for healing