From 10 Children to 60: A growing school holiday lifeline for children with SEND

In 2022, while searching for support for her daughter with complex needs, Mariyam found herself facing a reality that many SEND parent carers know all too well, there simply wasn’t any suitable holiday provision available. Despite her background as a teacher with specialist SEND training, nothing fully prepared her for the challenges of navigating life as a SEND parent. And when she couldn’t find the help her family needed, she decided to build it herself.

“I couldn’t find anything for children with complex needs,” she recalls. “So, I knew something had to change.”

Determined to create a safe, supportive, and specialist environment, Mariyam reached out to the Head Teacher at her daughter’s school. She shared her vision: holiday clubs designed specifically for children with SEND, run from familiar school settings, staffed by trained professionals, and built to give both children and parent carers exactly what they need – somewhere safe, consistent, and reliable.

In December 2022, Our Special Angels opened its very first club. Ten children attended.

Fast-forward to December 2025, and 60 children joined their most recent school holiday sessions, a remarkable achievement and a testament to the impact of their work.

Today, they partner closely with six specialist schools, with a long-term goal of expanding to five schools every holiday, ensuring provision is close to home and built around children’s individual needs. Out of 27 specialist schools in the area, Mariyam aims to bring more on board each year.

These clubs run directly from school sites, which means children stay in familiar environments designed for their sensory, behavioural, and physical needs. Our Special Angels are fully Ofsted-registered, allowing parent carers to access eligible funding and ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding and care.

What makes Our Special Angels unique?

They hire teaching assistants and qualified teachers to work during the holidays, professionals who are already DBS-checked, experienced, and often already know the children they care for. With a 2:1 staff ratio, and some staff trained in feeding and complex care, parent carers can trust that their children are supported safely and compassionately.

The reality for many parent carers is that school holidays can be incredibly challenging, routines change, specialist support pauses, and for parent carers of children with

complex needs, accessible holiday clubs don’t exist. Our Special Angels want to change that.

The greatest reward is hearing from parents once they’ve registered:

Maryiam the Founder of Our Special Angels said: “Parents tell us such lovely things, knowing they feel supported is the most beautiful thing.”

There is a cost to attend, which is higher than many mainstream holiday clubs and dreams one day of having enough funding to offer places for free.

One parent summed up the impact perfectly: “They gave me respite through the holidays.”

For many parent carers, this support is life-changing. Not only does the service offer high-quality care for children with SEND, but it also provides parent carers with essential time to rest, work, or simply breathe.

Mariyam lives and breathes Our Special Angels. Her mission is clear: to transform school holiday support for children with SEND and the families who care for them.

She wants more parents to know that help exists and that they’re not alone. Awareness is a major challenge; as she says: “People don’t realise what it’s like to have no holiday support until they’re living it.”

Through leaflets in schools, school communications, social media, and hopefully to reach out into mainstream settings who have children and young people with SEND, Mariyam hopes to reach even more parent carers who may still be unaware that this service is available to them.

Looking ahead

As Our Special Angels continues to grow, Mariyam hopes to partner with even more specialist schools and make holiday clubs accessible to every SEND family who needs them. Her vision includes expanding provision to five school sites every holiday, increasing awareness across both specialist and mainstream schools, and, one day, securing enough funding to offer places at no cost to families.

Mariyam encourages parent carers to visit the ‘Our Special Angels’ website to find out more information and to register.

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