OVERVIEW OF FEBRUARY INFORMATION EVENT
Where and When!
The event is being held on Wednesday 26th November 2025, at The Corn Exchange, Devizes from 10.00am - 2.00pm
Here is what you can look forward to on the day...
Information Stands from 37 different services!
We are expecting 37 services and providers to attend and promote information about the services and support they offer. This will be in our popular Market Place, where you will be able to walk amongst the information stands, talk to providers and find out more about what may be on offer to support your child or young person.
FREE Tea, Coffee & Lunch for attendees!
There will be a refreshment area open throughout the event, so that all attendees can take a rare opportunity to sit with a free cup of tea or coffee and cake while chatting with other parent carers, helping you to realise that you are not alone and enabling you to meet other people who understand what it is like to be a parent carer. A simple buffet sandwich lunch will also be provided FREE for attendees. Attendees are welcome to bring their own refreshments or lunch if they prefer
Service Update
There will be a brief ’hot off the press’/service update at 10am.
Information Workshop Session!
There will be an Information Workshop that will be repeated twice in the day. (Limited spaces available - first come first served)
EARLY YEARS AND PRIMARY
Event Agenda
Service Update 10am
As many of you will be aware, the Wiltshire Short Breaks Scheme is going to be changing in 2026. Following lots of engagement work across the county over the last 12 months, Wiltshire Council and stakeholders have been developing the new scheme ready for the Spring.
At this event, Kai Muxlow, (Head of Children’s Commissioning) will give a brief update on how the new Short Breaks Scheme is coming together in response to all the feedback received through engagement, and what exciting new developments are planned.
The Short Breaks team is committed to listening and responding to feedback. There will be opportunities at the event to share your thoughts on the scheme, as we aim to ensure that needs are met and continue to make positive improvements to the offer.
Information Workshop 10.45am and 12.30pm
There will be an Information Workshop that will be repeated twice in the day. This will be delivered by colleagues from Wiltshire Council who will talk about Right Support, Right Time
Teams within Wiltshire Council have been piloting an early support plan called One Plan with Early Years families over the past year; this has received some positive feedback from families and suggestions for further improvement.
This workshop will explain what has happened during the pilot, including sharing learning from feedback and information about what is going to happen next.
Each workshop session will last an hour and include time for questions and answers.
There are two pages at the back of this booklet which you can use if you would like to take notes at the workshop / throughout the day.
There are limited places available which will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.
INFORMATION STANDS
Organisation Information
Stepping
Stones District Specialist Centre
Wiltshire
Portage
Wiltshire Family Hubs
Wiltshire
Stepping Stones is an independent charity supporting children aged between birth and four who have special needs. They have a contract with Wiltshire Council to provide a District Specialist Centre service. They cover the West Wiltshire Area – Trowbridge, Melksham, Westbury, Warminster, Bradford on Avon and all the surrounding villages. Their focus is to help children who present with delayed development access timely therapy and support to make progress.
- 4 No
Wiltshire Portage is a home visiting educational service for children, and their families, who have difficulties and disabilities. They work with families and young children to provide unique learning opportunities through play. 0 - 4 No
Family Hubs provide support and advice all families across Wiltshire with children 0 - 19 or 25 with SEND. 0 - 25 No
Wildlife Trust They have two Care Farms and a large Education and Wellbeing team. They are approved providers of alternative provision for Wiltshire Council, working with all different ages of children. They deliver play-based forest school sessions in a variety of settings. 4 - 25 No
Wiltshire
Libraries
Wiltshire Council public libraries provide services for all ages, abilities and needs: access to books, eBooks, audiobooks, and digital resources, alongside free Wi-Fi and computer use. They support learning, wellbeing, and community connection through events and reading groups, plus they offer services for those with additional needs. All Ages No
INFORMATION STANDS
Organisation Information
Springboard Chippenham
Springboard Chippenham is a charity that provides support for pre-school children (aged 0-5) with special needs and their families. Their motto is ‘maximising ability, minimising disability’. They are based in the town of Chippenham in Wiltshire, but their catchment area covers the whole of North Wiltshire. They have been successfully helping children and their families since 1976 and they are the only specialist service of their kind in the north of the county. Younger children and their families attend their stay and play groups, whereas children aged 2 and above can access their specialist preschool. They also provide information, support and training to families and other members of the community that interact with the Springboard children e.g. other preschool settings, childminders & primary school teachers/TAs. In February 2022, Springboard was rated outstanding by Ofsted, this is their 4th outstanding Ofsted rating in row. What makes their Chippenham Centre unique and successful is their high staff to child ratios (1:1 or 1:2). In addition, their staff are trained to deal with the specific medical and learning needs the children might have. Mainstream preschool settings are generally not able to provide this level of extra specialist support that some children with additional needs require to make progress.
Wiltshire CIL
Wiltshire
Council: Early Years
Their Vision - They believe in a world where disabled people can live freely, make their own decisions, and enjoy the same rights as everyone else. Their Mission - They’re here to provide the support and services needed to turn that vision into reality. Whether you live or work in Wiltshire, they’re here to help. They offer a wide range of services, advice, and training for individuals, professionals, and organisations interested in disability-related support. Their office is centrally located in Devizes with easy access for all, but they’re happy to meet you wherever you feel most comfortable, even in your own home.
To provide support to Early Years SENCOs in ensuring arrangements are in place to support children with SEND. This may include offering targeted advice and strategies, providing guidance over the completion of SEN documentation. Up-skill and empower Early Years SENCOs and Early Years Educators to support children with SEND. They provide advice, practical support and strategies to enable settings to adopt a graduated response to individual children’s needs. 0
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
Wiltshire Parent Carer Council
Wiltshire Parent
Signposting and support for parent carers of young people aged 0 - 25. 0 - 25 No
Carer Council - NDI Parents and carers can call the WPCC’s Neurodevelopmental Information (NDI) telephone advice line to discuss queries about autism and ADHD support, ND assessment and The Needs Led Approach.
Warm & Safe Wiltshire
Soundabout
Free energy advice service, offering support to families and individuals across Wiltshire to help with energy costs and everyday cost of living expenses
- 25 No
Ages No
Soundabout uses music, sound, and silence to create opportunities where Learning Disabled people with complex support needs thrive. All Ages No
Wiltshire Council: SEND Service 0-25 Statutory SEND.
Rainbow Trust Children's Charity provides emotional and practical support to families who have a child with life-threatening or terminal illness from 0-18 years
- 25 Yes
- 18 No
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
SAS Mentoring
The Bridge Alternative Provision
They provide a bespoke service built around the needs of each student. Whether this is to cater for their SEMH needs, help with their academic abilities or transitional support into full-time education and/or general engagement.
The Bridge is an alternative provision for learners who were unsuccessful in a generic classroom and need a therapeutic & holistic approach to their education. Supporting learners from age 5 to post16. Their provision is a transition rather than a destination setting; supporting a variety of learners, including those that need time out from their home, school, at risk of permenant exclusion, those awaiting a special school placement and young people from out of county. They work with learners with a variety of difficulties and conditions including autism, ADHD, SEMH, sensory issues, trauma, brain injuries and learning difficulties. A large focus of their work is helping young people who have behavioural concerns or mental health problems. They aim to restore young people’s self-confidence, self-esteem, self-control and self-motivation through a flexible, personalised, needs-led programme with unconditional care, nurture and support. Every day at The Bridge is a fresh start.
5 - 18 No
SSENS (Specialist SEN Service)
The Wiltshire Specialist SEN Service (SSENS) is a team of Advisory Teachers who are part of the Council’s 0-25 SEND Service, supporting children and young people in Wiltshire. They help educational settings and parents to understand and meet the needs for children and young people with identified or suspected SEN and/or disabilities. Their Advisory Teachers can offer expertise in Cognition and Learning (including dyslexia) and/or Communication and Interaction (including autism). They also support parents as part of their work and provide workshops and training across both areas.
5 - 18 No
2 - 25 No
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
Nova Sports
National Deaf Children's Society
MISA (Mainstream Inclusion School Advisors)
Integrated Front Door Wiltshire Council Young Carers Assessors
Nova Sports is a not-for-profit organisation who deliver high-quality, inclusive sport to people with disabilities in Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire and Somerset. They deliver in schools, set up community clubs and run holiday activities.
They’re the National Deaf Children’s Society, the charity for deaf children with any level of hearing loss. They’re here for deaf children and everyone who cares about them. Whatever the question or challenge, they help find a way through. They empower families to connect and drive change in their communities, and they campaign to make sure deaf children get the support they need. They lead the way, sharing insight and knowledge in the UK and internationally. They believe nothing should hold deaf children back.
4+ No
Ordinarily available Provision for All Learners (OPAL). Ordinarily Available Provision is the support that should be expected ordinarily by all children and young people in educational settings (early years, schools and colleges).
0 - 25 No
No
As a service, they look at referrals that come in from both families directly and professionals for children between the ages of 5 and 18 looking to be registered as young carers. They assess and visit with the young person to hear their voice as well as gather information from the parents as to the level of care given and support needed, to offer the right support for the child.
5 - 18 No
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
Launch2Learning
The first place to look for support and services for additional needs 0 to 25 in Wiltshire
- 25 No
Launch2Learning is an Academic focussed Alternative Provision. They help students re-engage with education in a calm, 1:2:1, face to face environment. They've supported over 500 students across the South West and this year delivered over 26,000 hours of teaching. 5 - 18 No
Lakeside & The Willows Care Farms (Wiltshire Wildlife Trust) The Care farms are an alternative provision providing nature-based therapeutic activities for children and young people with complex needs.
Independent Living Centre
Wiltshire Council Sport & Physical Activity Team
They offer free and impartial Occupational Therapy appointments and advice in their large assessment centre in Semington, near Trowbridge.
- 19 No
They provide, develop, support and deliver a variety of inclusive activities for children, young people and adults throughout the county. Working with a range of partners, activities include sport specific sessions in football, cricket and boccia, as well as multi-sport activities, dance and links with equine activities.
Small charity run by volunteers who provide information for anyone requiring details about dyslexia. They offer support to dyslexics, their families, teachers, and other professionals. We aim to improve understanding and provision for people with dyslexia throughout Wiltshire, campaigning for a dyslexia-friendly society.
All Ages No
- 25 No
All Ages No
Wiltshire Dyslexia Association (WDA)
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
Home Start North Wiltshire
HCRG Care Group
Growbaby - West Wilts
Forward Carers
Family and
Community Learning
Their mission is to empower parents to give their children the best start in life. Their compassionate, non-judgemental services are delivered through weekly volunteer home visiting, and parent and child groups. All of their support is free, confidential, and open to families with at least one child under five years old.
Representatives from HCRG Care Group will be available to answer any questions you may have regarding Wiltshire Community Children’s Services
Growbaby is part of WaterWays Vineyard Church that provides free baby and toddler clothing, equipment, and toiletries to families in the local area. They offer a welcoming, safe space where parents and carers can come to play, connect with others, and enjoy a tea or coffee. You’ll also have the opportunity to browse Their free Growbaby shop and choose the items your child needs. They’re open Thursdays during term time, from 10am to 12pm at Emmanuel’s Yard, Trowbridge.
Carer Friendly Wiltshire. Forward Carers is delighted to bring together a range of online resources to assist you in your caring role. If you’re caring for someone in Wiltshire, you can access their Benefits Calculator to see what you may be entitled to, register for a Carers ID Card, access online support groups and self-refer for help from local services. This is for all Carers, including Young Carers aged 10 and above.
No
Family and Community Learning (FaCL) offers a broad range of online and face to face learning opportunities intended to encourage adults to * Return to learning * Further develop skills and qualifications * Enhance their lives and to make the most of opportunities. 19+ No
MARKET PLACE STANDS
Organisation Information
Carers Together
Wiltshire
Citizens Advice
Wiltshire
Community Dental Service
(Great Western Hospital)
Wiltshire Fostering
(Wiltshire Council)
They support all unpaid carers, including parent carers and parents caring for their adult child. They run monthly support groups, including a virtual group in the evening for working parents, and they publish a monthly parent carer update. This includes information about their groups and other events and topics that may be of interest to parent carers.
If you are a carer in Wiltshire and need information or advice about debt, benefits or money management issues, they can help you.
Community dental and oral health advice
No
Choosing to foster with them means joining a supportive, professional, and dedicated community focused on making a real difference in the lives of children in care. You will be joining a fostering service that has been awarded 'Outstanding' by Ofsted in their 2023 inspection.
- 18 No
WHY DON’T YOU HOLD THIS EVENT IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF WILTSHIRE?
We are sometimes asked by parent carers why we hold our big information events in just one location. In the past, this has typically been Devizes or Trowbridge.
We recognise that holding our large information events in one location may mean some parent carers having to travel to attend and we apologise for any inconvenience. We take the decision to hold large information events in one location, as centrally located in Wiltshire as possible, for a number of reasons:-
• it costs on average at least £2,500 to host one of these events and we simply don't have the financial resources to repeat these events across the county; even events on a smaller scale, as the cost would not be sufficiently less.
• these events require the commitment from a large number of professionals and we would be unable to secure their time for several events.
• we sometimes have to pay for external keynote speakers and facilitators who typically charge in the region of £350 to £450 per day; repeating these events would significantly increase these costs.
Devizes is centrally located in Wiltshire, and we have had positive feedback from people who have attended previous WPCC events at The Corn Exchange.
We thank you for your understanding, and as always, we will pay parent carers' travel, car parking and childcare expenses.
WHY IS THE EVENT NOT IN THE EVENING OR AT THE WEEKEND?
One or two parent carers have asked why WPCC information events take place during the day and do not take place or are repeated in the evening or at the weekend; the WPCC Steering Group has considered and discussed this, and it has also been discussed with WPCC staff.
The WPCC Steering Group has made the decision not to hold or repeat its information events in the evening or at weekends. This is to respect the demands on WPCC staff and volunteers, most of whom are parent carers and would not be able to commit additional time due to their caring responsibilities. Additionally, it is unlikely that many professional colleagues would be able to commit additional time on top of their normal working day, and many are also carers. Venues often cost more in the evening and at weekends and this would have a significant impact on what the WPCC could offer. Repeating events of this scale would not be financially feasible for the WPCC.
We are sorry if this is inconvenient to some parent carers. We would encourage parent carers who wish to attend our information events to speak to their employer as many are open to considering the needs of carers. Carers’ UK explains on its website that people have the right to request flexible working if you are an employee with 26 weeks (six months) continuous employment at the time you make an application.
Your employer might also be agreeable to you attending one of the WPCC information events for just an hour.
Some parent carers attend our events in a professional capacity in representation of their work place. This creates an opportunity of benefiting the place where the parent carer works as they not only represent their place of work by attending and networking with others, but also take information back to their work place to share with colleagues.
IF YOUR PLANS OR AVAILABILITY CHANGE
We often have a number of people book to attend our events who don’t attend on the day. Some attendees kindly let us know if they are going to be unable to make it; we are very grateful to them and we appreciate the unexpected can happen.
Catering for large numbers of people who don’t make it on the day and don’t let us know they are unable to attend, is both wasteful and expensive and we want to do all we can to avoid this.
We appreciate that sometimes things happen that make it impossible to let us know, but we politely ask that if you have booked and you know you are not going to be able to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can amend our catering numbers.
Thank you
WHAT DID PEOPLE SAY ABOUT OUR LAST EVENT?
“Got to meet a host of key services and found out information that I didn't already know”
“So much information. Everyone was really friendly and engaging”
“Everybody was very welcoming and gave me lots information”
“Lots of info in one place. Everybody chatty, helpful and approachable.
Enough information but not overwhelming”
“Just a big thank you for arranging such an informative event. It was really good to talk face to face with providers and experts!”
“Another absolutely awesome event. Thank you. So great to be able to find out about so many options and services in one place”
“Really useful and a welcoming, friendly environment fostered by the workshop lead encouraged participation - great session, thank you”
“Great layout, lots of relevant stalls, great to meet providers and ask lots of questions rather than just scroll through a website”
Don’t forget to book your place by going to: www.surveymonkey.com/r/infoeventey25
Or by scanning the QR code below:
Booking closes at 5pm on Sunday 23rd November 2025
We very much look forward to you joining us on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at The Corn Exchange in Devizes.
If you find nearer the time that you are unable to attend, please let us know so that your place can be offered to someone else.
This also helps us not to over-cater and thereby not waste food or spend more of our funding on this event than necessary.