We provide breaks for children with disabilities and their carers. These breaks can be for a few hours, half day, full day or overnight. Our aim is:
- for the child to have fun
- enjoy educational activities as well as leisure or therapeutic activities.
- to let carers take a break from their responsibilities.
We aim to improve the quality of life for families particularly if they feel they are in crisis or experiencing difficulties.
Take our survey
If you already use short breaks, please fill in our survey. This will help us to improve the service that we offer to you.
A short break is an enjoyable and fun activity for your child to do after school
Or on the weekends or during the school holidays. Children take part in either one to one or group activities, giving the carer a break to carry out other activities.
The short breaks on offer provide a mix of different activities for children and young people up to the age of 18. Siblings are welcome to join in.
We provide a timetable of activities for each school holiday so that parent carers can plan activities for their children.
Accessibility
All children and young people with a disability can access a short break. This includes those with:
- a physical disability
- a learning disability
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- or those with challenging behaviour
We cater for all levels of disability from those with mild learning or physical disability to those with more complex or challenging disability. Your child does not need to have a statement to access our service.
Eligibility
The short breaks are designed depending on your child's level of need. To find out whether your child is eligible, download the eligibility criteria from this page.
To book onto a short break please call 020 8583 3636 or email shortbreaks@hounslow.gov.uk
The staff
The staff who work with the children are trained to work with disabled children. They receive regular training through the council's workforce development programme. This is a programme of free training which is available for parents to attend as well. Our courses will give you a range of skills:
- from an introduction to disabilities
- first aid training
- managing challenging behaviour
- communicating with children
Please see the latest newsletter for full details.
The Redlees centre in Isleworth was re-developed to cater for an adventure playground. The playground currently hosts an outdoor play area with swings, a trampoline, as well as a sensory garden.
There are also drop-in sessions, youth clubs, specialist activities and family fun days. A current timetable of events can be found in the latest newsletter.
The short breaks passport
The short breaks passport is a care plan for your child. It is an optional document in the form of a passport which holds key information about your child and their disability.
When you drop your child off on a short break hand in the passport to the provider who will then take a copy of it and use it to discuss the needs of your child.
A copy of the passport and guidelines on how to use it can be downloaded from this page.
Short break duty
The council has a duty to provide short breaks for children and young people with a disability.
We consulted with families and received a lot of valuable feedback which helped shape what we are providing now. We have written a short breaks duty statement which details what the short break provision is in Hounslow and what we are looking to introduce.
