Articles in Blog Posts

An autistic school child in uniform looks at their teacher

About The BuDS SEND Transitions Service

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.

Quotes from Ann's Trustee Blog

My Journey As a BuDS Trustee

Written by Ann Hedges

Disclaimer: this is a personal blog by a BuDS member. The views expressed are personal and don’t necessarily represent those of BuDS or our Trustees.


“I have been a BuDS Trustee since 2018, and it is a role I have found very rewarding. Having left work, I found that I am able to continue using skills which I have acquired over many years in my work with BuDS. 

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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 4 November 2022

The Covid wave in Bucks has dropped slightly, but the risk of meeting an infected person when out and about remains EXTREMELY HIGH. As of 2 November, we estimate 1 in 34 people in the county were infected with Covid-19. In your average busy supermarket, there will now be nine people breathing out Covid for you to catch.

Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places (especially hospitals and GP surgeries), breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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A BuDS Access & Inclusion survey taking place at Chiltern Open Air Museum, Bucks. A group of disabled people are seen leaving the "Tin Church"

How Accessible and Inclusive is Chiltern Open Air Museum?

On Sunday 25 September, a BuDDy tour of 10 disabled people made an escorted visit to the Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) to assess its disabled accessibility1 and inclusion.2 They also looked at Covid safety, particularly for disabled, older and clinically-vulnerable (CV) people.

The BuDDy tour captured the experiences and views of a wide and mixed group of disabled and CV people on a typical tourist visit to the site, and flagged up areas for future action. Although the BuDDy tour was escorted by COAM staff, it was completely independent of the Museum.

The Tour followed a preliminary escorted reconnaissance visit on 15 September.

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BuDDy Tour of Chiltern Open Air Museum Assesses Disabled Accessibility

Ten disabled volunteers from disability charity Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) have spent a day at the Chiltern Open Air Museum near Chalfont St Giles, helping to improve accessibility for disabled people.

The trip, called a BuDDy Tour, is one of several taking place to Buckinghamshire tourist destinations and visitor attractions as part of the charity’s new Fair4All Visitor project. This project, backed by Buckinghamshire Business First and Visit Buckinghamshire, aims to help Buckinghamshire businesses become more successful by improving and publicising their disabled accessibility and inclusion. Learn more about the Tour here.

The BuDDy Tour is part of Visit Buckinghamshire: Boost programme of support being delivered in partnership by Visit Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Business First and Buckinghamshire Council, and funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

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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?

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

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!

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.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 21 October 2022

The Covid wave in Bucks has jumped to CRITICALLY HIGH levels. As of 19 October, we estimate 1 in 20 people in the county were infected with Covid-19. In your average busy supermarket, there will now be fifteen people breathing out Covid for you to catch. All busy public places will have virus in the air.

Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places (especially hospitals and GP surgeries), breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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Cost Of Living Winter Payment

The second cost of living payment from the DWP is due in November 2022. However, there has been a lot of speculation from the media and online about the exact dates, which has caused a lot of confusion for many disabled people. The BuDS Cost of Living project team have worked through the data to get a clear picture of what is happening. Read on for more.

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