Short breaks for disabled children

After school clubs

• Branch Out from The Gallery Trust provides after-school activity clubs, three days a week for disabled children and young people (5-18) from Branch-Out - Bardwell, Bicester and at Branch-Out - Springfield School, Witney. There is also an afterschool club at Mabel Prichard for pupils attending the school - Branch-Out - Mabel Prichard.
• Energise from Endorphins run an after-school club one day a week at Kingfisher Special School, Abingdon.
• The Let’s Play Project provides after-school activities for children and young people with additional needs in the Banbury area, aged 5-18 years.

Saturdays

• Energise from Endorphins are planning to run a few Saturday activities in the coming months.

Holiday playschemes

• Autism Family Support Oxfordshire (AFSO) provides holiday activities for autistic children and young people (8–17 years) without a learning disability. These activities are available across the county during Easter and summer holidays.
• Branch Out from the Gallery Trust provides holiday activities for disabled children and young people (5-18) in the Bicester and Kidlington area - Branch-Out - Bardwell, Bicester and in the Witney area at Branch-Out - Springfield School.  Branch-Out - Iffley Academy in Oxford runs holiday activities for 12-18-year-olds.
• Fun & Friendship from SportWorks is a holiday play scheme for children and young people with autism or a mild learning disability (5-18 years).  It runs during the school holidays in Bicester SportWorks Fun & Friendship—Bicester
• The Let’s Play Project provides a variety of holiday activities for children and young people with additional needs in the Banbury area, aged 5-18.
• The Parasol Project provides an inclusive holiday playscheme for children aged five to 12. The playscheme runs four days a week during the school holidays at Tower Playscheme on the Northway estate in Oxford.

Teenage holiday activities

• The Parasol Project runs age-appropriate teenage activities in all school holidays and during term time for young people aged 12 to 18. All activities are for disabled and non-disabled young people to take part in together. Our teenage users select activities, ranging from creative ‘in days’ to adventurous canoeing days and everything in between.
• Yellow Submarine runs activities in the Witney and Abingdon areas. These are for young people aged 11-18 with mild to moderate learning disabilities and/or autism. Regrettably, they cannot support those with PMLD, complex needs, or physical disabilities. There are exciting activity days during the school holidays, including explore days, multi-sports days, and forest days.

Inclusion Support Scheme (Short Breaks) and Short Breaks Transport Scheme

If you need help paying for transport, fees or extra support to access activities, funding is available through the Inclusion Support Scheme (Short Breaks) and the Short Breaks Transport Scheme.

• Criteria for the Inclusion Support Scheme (Short Breaks) (pdf format, 133Kb)
• Criteria for the Short Breaks transport scheme (pdf format, 137Kb)

Who can apply

Funding can only be accessed by families on low income/benefits with disabled children aged 5-17 years. The priority for this scheme is to support access to out-of-school activities and/or holiday activities.

How to apply

Applications for this funding can only be made by Out of School Liaison Officers (OSLOs), Children's Disability Social Workers or the Disability Information Officer based at the Oxfordshire Family Information Service.

Early Years Inclusion Support Scheme

The Early Years Inclusion Support Scheme aims to promote inclusion and remove the barriers to play, childcare and leisure for disabled children and young people with funding to help with the costs of childcare for disabled children and young people. It is available for children and young people under five years of age with impairments or emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties who would otherwise be prevented from taking part.

Applications must support children aged under five years with the highest need from families on a low income.

For children aged under five years, a maximum of £250 can be paid in any one year. However, there is no entitlement to this maximum amount. 

The funding is for short-term support, e.g. for a term, or during a holiday playscheme

• Criteria for the Early Years Inclusion Support Scheme (pdf format, 101Kb)

Enabler Support Scheme

The Enabler Support Scheme is to promote inclusion and remove the barriers to play, childcare and leisure for disabled children and young people.

• Criteria for the Enabler Support Scheme (pdf format, 104Kb)

Funding can pay for:

• additional staff/enabler hours
• support from specialist organisations to enable children to access a setting by training existing staff to gain skills/ knowledge and child-specific training necessary to meet individual needs.
• training
• equipment; if there are no other funding mechanisms to do this and this will enable a child or young person to attend an inclusive setting.

Funding will be prioritised for:

• support for children and young people to attend more local mainstream settings
• support teenagers in preparing to move into adulthood
• support for Early Years children
• support for working families to access childcare for children and young people
• any other enabler situation that meets the criteria

How to apply

Applications for this funding can be made by

• Out of School Liaison Officers (OSLOs)
• Children's Disability Social Workers
• Disability Information Officer (Oxon FIS)
• Individual groups as agreed by Angela Tait

More information is available by contacting the Short Breaks team.

The Max Card - discount scheme

The Max Card is a discount card for families of disabled children and children with additional needs.

Families show their Max Card, upon entry to a venue, to obtain free or discounted admission. It is designed to help families save money on great days out at castles, zoos, bowling alleys and lots more.

The card is free to families in Oxfordshire. It has been funded by Oxfordshire County Council working in partnership with Action for Carers (Oxfordshire).

Please visit www.mymaxcard.co.uk, where you can see a full breakdown of available attractions in Oxfordshire and across the country. Download a registration form (pdf format, 253Kb)

More information is available by contacting the Short Breaks team.