Fit Together

Thanks to All who helped develop CQ’s bid to the West Midlands Commonwealth Inclusive Communities Fund in 2023. We submitted the bid early this new year.  Please help us spread the word and press the case for funding SEND kids in the West Midlands.  If successful, our bid will fund Fit Together – a project sitting…Read moreRead more

Children’s Quarter AGM 2023 Notice

Friday 7 July 2023 9.15am-lunchtime at All Saints Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7RA CQ is a co-operative: it depends on members’ involvement and holds Members’ Meetings throughout the year.  The Annual Meeting gives member groups the chance to: hold the elected Board to account and to vote in Directors to represent them for the…Read moreRead more

Children’s Quarter AGM – 19 May 11am

Welcome to our AGM!  Children’s Quarter is a cooperative with: Members that are groups or organisations – they get a vote in decisions Individual supporters – they don’t get a vote but can join in everything else we do a set of Rules – which describe our organisation as a non-profit company based on cooperative…Read moreRead more

Fit for All Update and Benefits & Food Advice

CQ Members and groups delivering Bring it on Brum sessions for children during the Easter holidays in Birmingham are welcome to join us for the weekly Zoom update on preparations for delivery.  As well as a catch-up, we’ll be looking at signposting families to benefits advice and sharing tips for including nutrition messages in sessions…Read moreRead more

We Need to Know How Many Unlawful Exclusions There Are…

J  told us about her struggle to get to her son educated in a mainstream school.  She made it clear she believes the school acted without regard to the law; and saw inclusion as an add-on it couldn’t afford.  J, however, stuck to her demands and, eventually, it has been the school that has changed. …Read moreRead more

The Shame of Seeing Money Wasted

G has two children with additional needs.  Her daughter is 21 and has global development delay.   She is still battling to get her the support she needs.  G’s non-verbal autistic son does get extra support – Birmingham City Council pays for him to go to a private school outside the city .  But G feels…Read moreRead more

‘I Couldn’t Believe There Were No Resources…’

  C’s child has autism.  He is now 13 and at a special school in Birmingham, but the move to special school took more than a year.  During the time he was in mainstream school and whilst the family waited for the assessments and reports to be done to get him a place at special…Read moreRead more

A Hellish Journey…

  K told us about a 4 -5 year journey during which her daughter Q had little, or no, access to school.  Laura commented: ‘I have rarely seen such inappropriate assessment and responses to a very bright, capable young girl who just needs a customised approach’. K’s daughter Q is now at a special school…Read moreRead more

School-Community Partnerships Could Coproduce Better Outcomes for SEND Children

Children’s Quarter is promoting the case for formalising and supporting the school-community partnerships that some of our members – both schools and community groups – have been coproducing for years.  What we mean by a school-community partnership is an arrangement between one or more schools and one or more community groups to collaborate to support…Read moreRead more

Bridge to Better Local Offer

CQ Members and Supporters follow up on their Campaign for a Better Local Offer on December 3 with representatives of local councils and John Coughlan, the newly appointed Government Commissioner for SEND Services in Birmingham invited. Ofsted’s SEND Local Area Inspection Reports found: in Birmingham, that the City Council was: still without a strategy; still not…Read moreRead more