Tanga Club is a charity based in Hexham, Northumberland, which has formed a network for families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Tanga Club provides social activities for children and young people alongside support for parents, carers and families. Any child can access Tanga's services and it aims to be fully inclusive. Tanga Club was formed after the organisation’s founder struggled to find youth provision where all of her children - both with and without disabilities - could thrive. Very quickly, Tanga Club had engaged 50 families who reported feeling the same. The network has now grown to be in excess of 360 members since it started in 2019.
Tanga Club’s offering includes youth clubs, parent/carer support groups, trips away, and equipment/toy hire. Activities are offered at a very low cost and trips are heavily subsidised to increase inclusivity. The organisation also seeks to provide holistic support to families and advocates for parents of children with disabilities through providing ongoing support with filling forms and benefits advice, signposting to other organisations, and helping families understand their rights.
The Foundation is supporting Tanga Club to run its Forest School, one of the organisation’s most popular activities. The Forest School provides a secluded space for young people to make friends, play, and connect to nature, as well as a chance for parents/carers to chat and enjoy the natural surroundings. Forest School is a different activity to anything else offered at Tanga Club, and the space is designed to offer something for everyone – arts and crafts activities, den building, free play as well as quiet and covered areas for those who need it. The area used by Tanga Club is nestled deep within the wood and is led by an experienced Forest School Leader. It is completely different to being in a park or an open outdoor space and gives young people a chance to fully immerse in nature.
Forest School offers an opportunity that unfortunately many children with disabilities miss out on, and families have struggled to find ones where their children thrive. Many natural spaces and woodlands do not cater for people with disabilities, lack adequate paths and facilities, or lack staff who are experienced in working with children with high needs. There is no expectation for participants to reach a milestone or complete certain tasks as part of Tanga’s Forest School. Self-guided and experiential learning is the main goal as exposure to the environment is the crucial first step for building nature stewardship.
Tanga Club staff were surprised to discover that many organisations and individuals were interested in how they run their Forest School and achieve a truly inclusive environment. Some families travel 2-3 hours to attend, demonstrating a broader need for this service. In the long-term, Tanga Club would like to support organisations with setting up their own Forest Schools to encourage more inclusivity in natural spaces. Not only would this include advice on how to set up a Forest School that is physically inclusive, but approaches to learning and support for parents/carers to make the space welcoming to all. With support from the Foundation, Tanga Club can put stronger monitoring and evaluation processes in place, as well as looking at how they can communicate their model to others.
