Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers offers holiday activities and a Saturday Club for children aged 5 to 13, who have disabilities and special needs as well as providing valuable short-break respite to their parents and carers.

The children who join Grasshoppers have a wide variety of additional needs and parents whose children would benefit from the activities on offer should contact Katie Hallums, our Activities Manager for further information.

In August 2006, Ofsted made their last official inspection of the Grasshoppers setting, which was very successful with some very praiseworthy comments being made about the variety of activities and the quality of care provided by staff and volunteers.

We now have over 150 families registered at any one time, which means we are not able to offer as many days to each child as we would like to, but with some families still receiving no respite from other areas, even one day can make all the difference. Children receive one-to-one care from our young volunteers who are supervised by experienced staff members.

Our Holiday Activity Schemes are available during every school holiday and half term from 10am - 3.30pm offering a variety of activities and opportunities for these youngsters who suffer from a variety of conditions from severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy to a range of physical and sensory disabilities, including deaf and blind and some who are wheelchair users. The activities available to them include outings to places of interest, cinema, bowling, trampolining, swimming, arts & crafts, cookery, canoeing, ice-skating, pottery, dance, drama and outdoor sports.

A weekly "Saturday Club" is operated at Springboard House every Saturday morning during term time providing vital short break respite to parents. Children can enjoy all the facilities within the Centre and other activities are often available including cooking and arts & crafts.

Springboard represents the interests and needs of children and young people with disabilities or additional needs across a wide range of forums within West Sussex and provides guidance and advice to the youngsters, parents and carers as appropriate.

30% of our families travel in from Crawley, Mid-Sussex and the coastal area, as nothing exists for them in their own neighbourhood. The Project's future plans are looking towards ways of overcoming this level of demand by extending our facilities geographically.