Young people help shape special needs services at pioneering new Woburn Safari Park classroom
A new classroom for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), at Woburn Safari Park has welcomed a group as part of a council Youth Voice event.
SENse the Safari, a space designed to give children with SEND the opportunity to experience a wildlife environment, was built this year at a cost of £1.4 million.
The newly built facility acted as the location for Central Bedfordshire Council’s Youth Voice event, which brought together pupils from Parkfields School in Dunstable, members of Biggleswade SEND Youth Club and youth support professionals from The Children’s Society to shared lived experience, ideas and insight.
The workshop focused on how Central Bedfordshire Council’s services could better meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, as well as how Central Bedfordshire’s local SEND offer could be improved, while participants also had a chance to walk around the safari park and see some of the animals.
Participants shared details about the information that matters most of them, as well as how they want it presented and what would make services easier to navigate.
The SENse the Safari facility, which is described as ‘a bold reimagining of what accessible learning can look like within a wildlife environment’, includes a specialist sensory room and decompression zone, adaptable workspaces with rising benches and lowered sinks, and outdoor play and picnic areas which overlook the foot safari.
Sensory resources for the facility were contributed by Central Bedfordshire Council, whose Early Years SEND team also provided input during the development of the facility.
The authority’s executive member for children and families Cllr Gareth Mackey, said: “Listening to children and young people with SEND and acting on what they tell us is essential if we are to deliver services that genuinely work for families.
“This doesn’t stop at statutory services - it’s about influencing the places and experiences families access every day.
“This event showed exactly how powerful youth voice can be, especially when it’s done in the right environment, and Woburn Safari Park’s ‘SENse the Safari’ facility is a wonderful new addition to the local area.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the young people who shared their views so honestly and to the colleagues and partners who made the day such a success.”