The Children's World Charity (Registered Charity 282743) was founded in 1981 to provide educational, creative and social benefits for children of all ages, with particular reference to children who have special needs.

Children's World has had a MOST Satisfactory Year.

Thanks to a 3-year grant from the Lankelly Foundation, to cover the wages of Paddy Hill, our Chief Playleader, we have felt financially safe enough to undertake far more work than in recent years, and have actually achieved the astonishing figure of 8,000 x 90-minute child-sessions in schools and special schools throughout Somerset and (what was) Avon in the 1998/1999 academic year.

We have also undertaken far more out-of-school work than in previous years and the 18th Glastonbury Children’s Festival was most successful, with more than 5,000 attending over the 3 days.

It has been a satisfactory year for fundraising. We have set up a trading company "Children’s World Enterprises Ltd." and a new sister organisation "Children’s World International". We are the proud possessors of a new "Sensory Dome". Morale is high. It has been a truly excellent year, and we have very exciting plans for the year 2000.

Since 1981 Children's World has run drama, puppetry, music, movement and creative play tours both for children with severe learning difficulties and for children with moderate learning difficulties throughout Somerset and the former County of Avon on a regular basis.

In addition to our regular special school tours, since 1984 occasionally, and since 1995 intensively, we have run Mixed Ability Drama Days and Integration Workshop Weeks, working with special schools and their neighbouring mainstream schools. More than 14,000 child-days of integration work have taken place during this period.

Current Aims and Objectives

To provide educational, social and emotional benefits to all children, especially those most in need
To enrich the lives of children, particularly those who have special needs, or are socially disadvantaged
To run special workshop sessions, both in and out of school, for children with special needs, that will increase confidence and raise self-esteem
Through our integration work, to provide children with "special needs" with unique opportunities to work and play as peers with "able" mainstream children; to create on-going links and working relationships between special schools and neighbouring mainstream schools that will benefit all the children involved, and facilitate the "inclusion" process
By our integration and inclusion work, to enable mainstream children to participate fully and happily with children who have special needs, and have tremendous fun while doing so — so that they grow up with less fear and prejudice and with a far more positive attitude to "disability"
By our playdays and children’s festivals to provide high-quality, low-cost events with a large variety of performances, workshops and activities at an all-inclusive price so that even the poorest families can participate and where children of all abilities from all walks of life can enjoy themselves fully
To work at winning over the hearts and minds of those involved to a commitment to the full participation of those with a disability into society
To constantly experiment with different formats, themes and ways of working to achieve these aims; to constantly invite feedback from schools and social and education services and other voluntary agencies, and to constantly try to improve our work so that we can offer the most benefit to all the children we work with, particularly those with special needs.

Although Children’s World is a serious charity with serious aims, the keyword to all our work is FUN — We believe strongly that when children are having fun and enjoying themselves, they are far more open to eduational learning, creativity and the better aspects of their nature which we wish to cherish and nurture.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ON 1998/1999

It has been a splendid year for Children’s World. Approximately 8,000 x 90-minute child-sessions have taken place in Somerset and (what was) Avon schools and special schools - more than ever before. Teachers are delighted with the quality of the work that has been undertaken — please note the many quotes from schools’ staff scattered through this Report.

Strong links have been forged with Social Services and voluntary bodies (including SCOPE and Somerset Impact) who realise the excellence of our work and who are providing bookings for much out-of-school work with children who have special needs.

We have received more statutory funding than ever before and it appears that the "powers that be" are becoming more aware of Children’s World and the excellent work that the Charity undertakes. We look forward to developing these relatinships.

Receiving 3-year funding for the Chief Playleader from the Lankelly Foundation has made the organisation far stronger, as has the taking-on of the No. 2 Playleader and the Administration Assistant on permanent if part-time contracts.

We have received a £20,000 Festival Award from the Millennium Commission which will part fund next summer’s Schools Festival Tour and the setting up of the Millennium Bristol Children’s Festival in addition to our 19-year old Glastonbury Children’s Festival.

The setting-up of Children’s World International and Children’s World Enterprises Ltd. have both been very positive moves.

Much work has been done on strengthening the Charity, setting up new Health and Safety strategies, and compiling better reports. A 3-year Business Plan is currently being prepared.

We are delighted by the creation of the Sensory Dome which will enable us to work much more intensively both in school and out-of-school with children who have profound and multiple learning difficulties, and we are very excited by our new plans for a Children’s World Garden which will be designed and created in conjunction with Avalon Special School and which will be open for visits from other special schools and local mainstream schools as well as out-of-school groups.

Morale is high, Children’s World feels more "solid" than ever before and we look forward to continuing to produce effective, innovative work far into the New Millennium.

WWW. Childrensworld.demon.co.uk

One exciting new innovation this year has been the setting up a Children’s World Web Page, as remarked on in the letter from Pauline Try of Lime Grove Special School in Bath,which can be found here at www.childrensworld.demon.co.uk [Note: This address is not longer active.]

This has been set up by the Director’s husband, Haggis McLeod, to whom we are most grateful. It is in its early stages, and will continue to develop over the coming months.

We decided that we would like to use the Web Page as an additional educational source for the schools participating in the Schools’ Festival Tour. Sadly only our 3 Bath schools were already on the Internet (though we hope that all the participating schools will be by summer 2000), but we thought we would try to set up a section that the children could log into, to get recaps on the Tour and see photographs of the Silly Billies, themselves and the work they had undertaken.

We also set up hotmail accounts for the 3 schools so that they could contact us and the other schools they were working with extremely easily. This worked pretty well, and we expect it to be extremely successful for the Aspirations Tour in Summer 2000 when we have updated it, included Teachers’ Notes, Pointers for Research, Competition and Exhibition Board etc.