“We are extremely grateful to John Lyon’s Charity for their generous and committed support of projects which reach out to SEND schools. We hear from the participating schools about the impact these projects have on pupils. Finding additional funding partners which are not John Lyon’s Charity may be a challenge for future projects, should the focus of interest from the charity shift to other causes. The work of these projects is extremely important in not only providing opportunities for the young people participating but also provides talking points, information and a growth in impetus for more projects in the future. It is a challenge to allocate staff to projects where their participation is not of regular, whole term duration because our staff are timetabled for whole terms/whole academic year. We also have to pay staff wages where their participation is over and above their regular contracted teaching time and these are costs which are not taken into account.”
Harrow Music Service

“Currently, all our SEND delivery is funded internally through our Engagement programme budget. A lot of SEND focussed work involves a very high level of staff resource, project/production resources and facilitation fees. For some, when viewed through a lens of cost per head, the level of resource and money may equate to some sort of extravagance or a feeling that the plans ‘go over the top’. As the staff members in charge of designing and delivering this work, this is very much not our starting point and all the elements we utilise are purposeful and necessary – we very much celebrate the pillar of accept the cost”
Royal Albert Hall

“Just that it’s really rewarding and we’re looking forward to diversifying our staff with more SEND recruits.”
The Arts Depot Trust Ltd

“Successful SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) delivery requires a dedicated investment of time, effort, and resources to ensure that all individual needs are met. It is crucial to recognize that providing inclusive support goes beyond initial implementation. Proper evaluation is a critical aspect that is often overlooked. Without inclusive evaluation techniques, not all voices and perspectives will be effectively captured, potentially leaving some individuals unheard (particularly those with communication challenges). Moreover, if evaluation is not accurate and comprehensive, the project as a whole cannot properly evolve and adapt to meet the changing needs of those it serves. Therefore, it is imperative to allocate sufficient resources and attention to both the delivery and evaluation phases, ensuring that all individuals with SEND receive the necessary support and that their experiences contribute to ongoing improvement and inclusivity.”
Flamingo Chicks

“Evaluation is particularly difficult in this sector. John Lyons is an exceptional funder in their recognition of both the cost and challenge. Their commitment and trust is HUGELY appreciated.”
Open City

“We would be keen for a more cohesive conversation around teacher capacity in SEND settings to enable fairer engagement across all SEND settings in London.” A New Direction

“We would be very pleased to embed long term partnerships and have fully trained staff but resources are not currently available.”
Eastside Educational Trust

“We are challenged by the short funding windows.”

Arts Organisation

“Funding is essential for this work in very small organisations as core costs can only be offset by charging, and charged-for creative programmes block access and/or recruitment to them in our experience.”
The Cartoon Museum

“Although many funders are starting to recognise the importance of SEND projects it is still challenging to secure these grants.”
Arts Organisation

“Given the diversity of needs, it is imperative to make data-informed decisions with the audience. It would be good for funders to recognise the importance of this practice-based research to lay the groundwork on which programming can be built on.”
Arts Organisation

“Sponsors often like high numbers and an SEN class is often a third the size of a mainstream class.”
Arts Organisation

“Constricted school budgets limit what arts / enrichment activities we can offer.”
School

“Money is tighter than ever, the likely impact will result in less money being allocated to Arts unless it can come externally.”
School

“We don’t have any “real” funding in our school. We try to make use of the free activity/workshop that are available to us to help or we help parents/carers to pay for projects/trips.”
Cambridge School

“Currently we can only commit to our staff through our Creative Arts team who delivers in house sessions and facilitate partnerships with external partners. We are not in a position (we used to be a few years ago) to fund external organisations ourselves.”
Queensmill

“Our school tries our best to support organisations that are working well within the school. We will try our best to give our students all the opportunities we can but funding in schools continues to be a significant challenge and so organisations such as john lyons make all the difference to us accessing unique sessions within the arts for our students. They also keep staff members at the outside organisations in employment rather than us losing these fantastic individuals to alternative careers.”
School

“Cost of resources skyrocketing.”
Springhallow

“Longer term grants (up to five years) would give organisations a longer term security and horizon to consider system change and not just project delivery.”
Resources for Autism

“We have found many funders do end up funding us multi-year, but want an application/decision each year. This isn’t a huge problem, but is perhaps less efficient for all involved. I’m not sure if this is because they want to be seen to be open to new applications each year or what the reason is, but it does limit long-term planning to an extent.”
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

“All our schools commit curriculum time, staff time and transport costs to our programs so they are all brought in to the investment it takes to make this all happen for their students. So we know that schools can do it. The main focus is therefore on long term commitments on programs (based on quality annual reports) so that planning can be committed 3 to 5 years in advance, and the generation of funding so we can benefit as many students in the schools as possible.”
Snowbility and The Snow Sports Foundation

“One of the toughest challenges in securing funding (other than John Lyon’s Charity) is that many funders only want to fund completely NEW projects (for example Youth Music). This makes it impossible to apply to them when we want to organically grow and develop our existing work and therefore limits the pool of funding bodies we can apply to.”
English Folk Dance and Song Society

“Long term investment is key in order to be able to develop, support, train and increase a workforce of arts practitioners with relevant and confident skills that can be used well in SEND settings …we need safe hands delivering projects so investment in our workforce alongside investment in longer term programmes would be key.“
Arts Organisation

“More difficult to get match funding from SEND schools compared to pre covid.”
Live Music Now

“Limited by staff for extra training and support.”
London Chamber Orchestra

“We have already looked at funding the costs of additional training for specific needs by bringing in experts in these areas (such as Kelly Hunter’s work on autism) , but we couldn’t meet these. To do this effectively would incur considerable extra cost – but would be well worth it!”
Primary Shakespeare Company

“We are trying to embed some long-term partnerships and hadn’t got as far as what additional funding might be needed in respect of hiring changing/toilet areas with hoists etc.”
Westminster Abbey

“Would welcome invitation to network (Westminster/West London).”
Paddington Arts

“If an organisation is looking to secure funding to work in partnership with a SEND organisation, an emphasis needs to be on what they hope to achieve and what will they practically do to ensure there is commitment to achieving impact or outcomes as equals…”
Action on Disability

“Arts are an important part of our curriculum.”
College Park School

“Funding arts programmes for chronically ill children in hospital is absolutely vital to ensure we can continue to provide an enriched and stimulating programme of broad based arts to children in hospital.”
School

“It’s vital to keep funding SEND projects as these projects are life-changing to participants and boost their confidence.”
Turtle Key Arts

“Community Focus coauthored a fantastic book involving multiple SEN students last year which was exhibited at a talk at UCL where students with autism spoke in front of an audience of 50+ people. Providing important opportunities for young people to learn and grow through engagement such as this is vital.”
Community Focus Inclusive Arts

“It can take longer, just as we need more funding to deliver SEND work, we need more time to develop, deliver and digest.”
Face Front Inclusive Theatre

“The partnership for the West London Arts festival has allowed for more arts based education to take place across the year groups.”
Springhallow School

“Schools are massively underfunded and unfortunately it is often the arts/enrichment that loses out in preference for curriculum activities”
School