Newyddion

Whizz Kidz Young People’s Services (Wales)

Free of charge to the families / schools

Our in-person clubs in Wales currently take place in Carmarthenshire/Swansea and Cardiff. Clubs are for wheelchair users aged 8-25 and give young people opportunities to make friends, try new things and have fun! These sessions run 8-10 times per year in each location.

We also run 2 Zoom club sessions each month. These are a great opportunity to meet our community of young wheelchair users virtually. These are open to young people across the UK and are also for 8-25 year olds.

Young people will need to be registered with us to attend our club sessions. Applications can be made HERE. If you have given us permission to contact you about our services you will receive email invites when clubs are coming up in your area.

Our Wheelchair Skills Training is a great opportunity to build confidence and develop your wheelchair skills. We work on things like safe pushing, steering, parking, travelling backwards, moving up and down slopes and through doors. This is available to all ages (up to 25) and to manual or powered wheelchair users.

Wheelchair Skills Training usually takes place in your school/college/nursery because this enables us to work with you in a familiar environment where we can troubleshoot real-life challenges you might find day-to-day. It also gives us an opportunity to work with adults who support you in these settings. If you are not currently in education, we can set up sessions in the community.

If you would like to arrange a 1:1 or small group WST session, please respond to this email letting me know:
– Whether you use a powered or manual wheelchair
– The name of your school
– The name or contact details of a member of school staff who would be able to organise the session with me (SENCO, head of department etc.) (with their consent to share).
– Alternatively, please feel free to share my email address (below) with school staff.

Schools wishing to arrange Wheelchair Skills Training for one or more students can contact their local Services Delivery Manager at [email protected].

Our in-school employability sessions cover basic employability skills with an emphasis on disability in the workplace. This includes topics such as reasonable adjustments, disability rights at work, skills for work and “your disability as your super-power”. These sessions can be run over half a day/ a full day dependent on the needs of the group. This can be discussed when booking. We have three differentiated sessions, including a more hands-on/sensory session for those with complex needs. This version uses the concepts of employability education and applies them to a more general transition/life beyond school theme. Our funding requires that at least one wheelchair user takes part in these sessions, but we welcome other students to take part too!

Schools wishing to arrange Employability in Schools sessions can contact their local Services Delivery Manager at [email protected].

We also offer support with work placements and Employability Skills Days where young people have the opportunity to enter a workplace for a day, meet staff there, learn a bit about an industry and develop their basic employability skills. We are in the process of expanding this offer to be available over a wider geographical area and a greater variety of different industries. We will soon be setting up a mailing list to keep in touch with those young people who would like to find out about our employability opportunities. Watch this space!