A new SEND hub has launched in Hull, providing expanded SEND services in one place.
Works to Lil Bilocca House in the city centre have been completed, establishing a new Integrated Hub of Hull City Council’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services.
Building work began on the ground floor in January this year and was completed in March.
The council’s Children with Disabilities team and Occupational Therapists moved into the first floor of Lil Bilocca House last year.
Now, the council’s Leisure and Family Support Service (LAFSS) has also joined them.
The move will allow the service to extend its capacity and improve facilities for the leisure activities offered to children and young people with SEND.
The project has been made possible thanks to partnership working and community involvement.
This includes donations from the Hull charity Life For A Kid Foundation, which provided sensory equipment, games consoles and other equipment.
Father Phil, the Vicar of Sculcoates, St Mary’s and St Paul’s churches in Hull, managed to raise £10,000 for the hub.
The LAFSS community also raised funds through a Christmas community event hosted at the Eastmount Community Hub, which generously lent them the venue for free.
Parents and carers were consulted alongside professionals about what they wanted to see at the hub, and this coproduction continued as the SEND Integrated Hub began to take shape.
Children and young people have also decorated the reception area and theming rooms with a sea theme, with support from specialist sensory environment advice from health colleagues and the council’s occupational therapists.
Development of the SEND Integrated Hub will continue even further, with plans to integrate health and SEND services, meaning families can access several support services under one roof.
Further plans to develop the building in the next phase of works include an indoor sensory garden and an active space.
Councillor Linda Tock, the portfolio holder for Children’s Services at Hull City Council, said: “The development of the new SEND Integrated Hub has been a result of the hard work and collaboration of our staff, partners, schools, local businesses and our wonderful community of parents, carers and more.
“This hub provides a great base for our SEND services, better meeting the needs of our teams and the children they support.
“It has enabled them to expand their current offer to families and also gives us the opportunity to bring our partners in to provide even more SEND services under the same roof.
“This builds on the council’s commitment to providing children in Hull access to services that provide them a good education and care, in spaces that are safe and equipped to meet their needs.”
