Articles in Fair4All Education

Articles about our Fair4All Education project

Articles in SEND Transition Service

An autistic school child in uniform looks at their teacher

About The BuDS SEND Transitions Service

Ben Clark

The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education. It will do this by: 

  • Investigating and reporting on services supporting disabled children and young people.
  • Assessing to what extent the needs of disabled children and young people are met by existing services.  
  • Proposing new and improved services to eliminate gaps and address deficiencies, including new BuDS and Reach4Work services.

The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work.

To learn more about the Reach4Work workstream, which is looking at disabled young people’s transition from education to employment, click here.

Three people sitting at a long desk working on laptops and desktop computers. There are papers and glasses of water also on the table.

About Reach4Work

Ben Clark

Since 2010, BuDS has helped its volunteers towards work. Our Reach4Work project, created in 2018, codified and developed that help, creating a professional wrap-around service for our disabled volunteers who want to move into or closer to work.

BuDS is exceptionally successful at moving disabled jobseeker volunteers into or closer to work…

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A green background with white text of "Easy read" in the top left corner, and a white silhouette of a person reading on the right hand side. Copyright Devon Partnership NHS Trust

About EasyRead

Ben Clark

BuDS publishes some of our articles in EasyRead format. These articles are produced by our volunteers, and so our capacity is limited. Over time we will publish more EasyRead articles. Please be patient with us whilst we grow this project.

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A white woman wearing headphones with a microphone looking into the camera and speaking

About The Enquiries Project

Ben Clark

The BuDS Enquiries Team answers questions and queries from disabled people about a very wide range of issues. We try to fill the gaps left by other support services and helplines, so we often support disabled people with complex and difficult issues.

Getting Help From The Enquiries Project

Any disabled person in England can contact the Enquiries project for help. Parents, carers, and supporters can also contact us on behalf of a disabled person. We don’t have strict rules about who we can help: we will always do our best to support you and will let you know immediately if, for any reason, we can’t.

The Enquiries project is staffed entirely by volunteers, many of them disabled people themselves. We are often very busy and there may be a delay in getting back to you. We are sorry about this, but we can only do so much. The Enquiries project is not a crisis or emergency service.

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A learning disabled child smiling into the camera and holding up her hands, which are brightly painted with several colours

About Fair4All Education

Ben Clark

The Fair4All Education project tackles the most important educational issues facing disabled children and young people, and their parents/carers, in Bucks.

The core of the Fair4All Education project is a ‘working community’ of professionals, parents, carers and disabled young people who are passionate about making a real difference. Working under the BuDS umbrella, the Fair4All Education team works together to define an agenda for action and plan how change will be made to happen.

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About Fair4All Events

Ben Clark

Disabled people are often excluded from outdoor public events. This is not because they do not want to attend these events, but because the way the event is organized and staged creates barriers that make it difficult or impossible for them to attend. BuDS’ free-to-use Fair4All event project helps event organisers remove those barriers and attract more disabled people to their events, making them more successful. There are over 40,000 disabled people in Buckinghamshire and over 100,000 families with a disabled member, so being more accessible can significantly boost an event’s popularity and attendance.

Event organisers are often not aware that they are creating barriers which are reducing the appeal of their events. Event management training and qualifications do not usually cover disabled accessibility and inclusion. Disabled people are so used to events not being accessible that most do not even try to attend, which means event organisers do not see the difficulties that disabled people face.

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About IAG Covid-19

Ben Clark

The IAG team works tirelessly to produce easy to read, fact-checked and reliable articles about issues relevant to disabled people. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these have included weekly risk posts which break down the latest case, hospitalisation, death and vaccination statistics; analyses of Government policy, and scientific updates about the coronavirus. To read these posts, please see below or visit our Facebook page using the button below:

BuDS Facebook Page

If you would like to volunteer for the IAG team as a researcher or writer, please visit our volunteering page to find out more.

Volunteering

About The Fair4All Card

Ben Clark
What is the Fair4All card? 1. Helps disabled people prove what adjustments they are legally entitled to. 2. Secure photo card for disabled people. 3. Explains how other people can help. 4. Simple statements means it can be used anywhere. 5. Doesn't list any disabilities or conditions.

What is the Fair4All Card Scheme?

The Fair4All Card is a secure, evidence based card that can be used by any disabled person to communicate the reasonable adjustments they need.

We created the scheme in August 2020 and have grown from offering around 12 reasonable adjustments to now offering over 40.

Find out more about the scheme below.

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A young black girl wearing bright pink trousers and headphones sits against a brick wall covering her face with her arms in a gesture of sadness or anxiety. Two other young students are seen walking by.

Online Launch Will Highlight ‘Devastating and Shocking’ Experiences of SEND Children and Young People in Bucks

Ben Clark

So that as many people as possible can attend, the launch has been postponed to Thursday 24 July at 2pm. All current attendees who’ve already registered will automatically get registered for the new event.

New research by local disability charity BuDS has highlighted the ‘devastating and shocking’ experience of SEND children and young people in Bucks within education. The results of the three-year research study will dismay parents and teachers, and add to the pressure on Buckinghamshire Council to improve SEND* education in Bucks.

BuDS will be revealing the outcome of their research at a live online launch event on Thursday 24 July 2025, and disabled/SEND young people, parents and carers, and all education professionals are invited to attend. Journalists and reporters are also welcome. The charity will also be announcing a major new initiative to improve SEND education in Bucks at the event.

Launch Details

  • 24 July 2025, 2-4 pm (access from 1:45 pm)
  • Fully remote via Teams webinar
  • Accessible for all disabled people
  • Opportunities for questions and reactions

Registration is essential.

Register for the event
Any questions?
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A learning disabled child smiling into the camera and holding up her hands, which are brightly painted with several colours

Moving Through Key Educational Transitions as a Disabled Young Person: The Education Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service

Ben Clark

The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education. 

The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work. This page explains the Education workstream, which is within the BuDS Fair4All Education project. 

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A young white man in a wheelchair looking at his mobile phone at a desk. Also visible is his laptop, papers, and a cup of coffee

Disabled Young People’s Transition From Education To Work: The Employment Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service

Ben Clark

The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education.

The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work. This page explains the Employment workstream, which is within the BuDS Reach4Work project.

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An autistic school child in uniform looks at their teacher

Fair4All Education – SEND Project Volunteer

Ben Clark
The blue and yellow BuDS SEND Transitions Service logo. The words "BuDS SEND Transitions Service" are written around the circular Fair4All Education project logo, which includes a stack of books with an apple on top of it

Would you like to help fix the issues with SEND Education in Bucks? We are looking for volunteers to join our SEND Education Transitions project. The project will be carrying out a headline SEND transitions service audit, identifying gaps and deficiencies in service, and then working with partners to develop new services, fixes, and solutions.

As a volunteer with the SEND Transition Service, you will have the opportunity to support its work in ways that match your experience, skills, and availability. Some of the specific opportunities are listed below. BuDS prides itself on finding a role for anyone – if you are interested in SEND education, there is bound to be something you can do to help.

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A teacher hands a parent or carer a piece of paper at a parents' evening

Is Your School on the Fair4All Education School Database?

Ben Clark

For schools, answering prospective parent requests for SEND-related information can be very time-consuming. Every SENDCO knows the flood of e-mails and phone calls which arrive seeking information and clarification, particularly around popular visiting times.

BuDS’s Fair4All Education project wants to save schools’ time and help them focus on their core work of education. So, we are compiling an online database of the most important information that parents and carers of SEND children need to know. Every school in Bucks will be e-mailed to ask them to provide essential information about their SEND provision for this database. Over time, we will build up a new comprehensive database for SEND parents and carers to use, updated every term.

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Child wheelchair user happily playing an outdoor xylophone

SEND: Choosing The Right School In Bucks

Ben Clark

Every parent or carer knows it’s critical to choose the right school for their SEND child. But finding the information you need can be difficult and time-consuming, as you often have to trawl through school websites, go on visits, and talk to other parents. Two initiatives from BuDS’ Fair4All Education project will make it easier for you to choose the right school.

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Parents or carers with child looking at a laptop in the home.

SEND School Database – Coming Soon!

Ben Clark

BuDS is currently contacting all the schools in Bucks to ask them to provide essential information about their SEND provision. Over time, we will build up a new comprehensive database for parents and carers to use, updated every term. The database will be available on this page soon.

This is a project run by volunteers and we can do more if we have more help. If you’d like to join the Fair4All Education team and help us support SEND parents and carers, please email volunteering@buds.org.uk or leave us a voicemail on 01495 211179. We welcome parents, carers, professionals and of course disabled young people (18+) themselves.