Springboard's History

Springboard was started in 1986 by a small group of Mums who all
had children with special needs and lived in the Woodspring part of Avon, and the rest they say is history! Please see our NEWS page for more recent updates, but here are a few highlights from all our yesterdays:

• Autumn 1986 - formed a management committee and opened for one session per week
• September 1988 - became a registered charity
• 1988 to 1991 - increased our sessions from three per week to five per week
• 1991to 1993 - planned and raised £248,000 for our own centre in Clevedon
• May 1993 - moved into our own purpose-built centre in Clevedon, opened for nine sessions per week, and became a company limited by guarantee
• September 1995 - started our Weston Project for two sessions per week
• September 1996 - increased our Weston Project to four sessions per week
• September 1997 - started our Inclusion Project
• 1998 - consolidated the Inclusion Project
• 1999 - put forward plans for a new purpose-built centre for Weston project
• 2000 - celebrated the Millennium with a Funday Reunion for all our children and their families
• 2000 - successfully negotiated a three year commissioning agreement for all our services with North Somerset Council and Avon Health Authority
• 2001 - continued with our plans for a centre in Weston
• 2002 - appointed three specialist curriculum co-ordinators for ICT, music and sensory work
• 2003 - became part of the Area SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) Service
• 2003 - started running 2 sessions per week in the Weston Sure Start Local Programme area
• 2004 - included in plans for a new Children's Centre at Ashcombe (Weston) to provide services for families in Weston and surrounding areas
• 2004 - began pilot link with "Supportive Parents" and established an ICT facility for parents at Clevedon
• 2005 - our Weston Building Project took a huge leap forward as Springboard is invited to become part of the newly planned Ashcombe Children's Centre in Weston super Mare. To raise the monies needed we launched a fundraising drive for £250,000.
• 2006 - was an incredibly busy year, with the consolidation of our working practices with the children and families, placing more emphaisis than ever on inclusion and partnership working. Fundraising and building planning meetings for the Ashcombe project, culminating in the completion of the project and Springboard taking up residence from September 2006. Ofsted swiftly followed us there in November 2006 with an inspection in our new premises and found that most areas were good with some outstanding areas.
• 2006 - also saw us busy planning for our Clevedon Centre extension and this has also taken up a great deal of energy this year. All of this has been happening alongside our day to day operation of running sessions and working with up to 80 children and their families per week. At the end of 2006 we began our 20th year, a time to reflect on our achivements, to think about all the children and families we have supported across North Somerset and to consider our future plan.
• 2007 - so far has been a time for settling down and consolidation of all our services after the major changes of last year. Building work started in October at our Clevedon Centre and we are still busy raising funds to complete the work by March 08.
• 2007- also saw HRH Queen paid an official visit to Weston super Mare and came to Ashcombe Children's Centre and met Springboard children and families, staff, volunteers and trustees whilst visiting the Springboard facilities.
• 2008 - has seen the completion of the extension to our Clevedon Centre. We now have a more accessible entrance, a meeting/reources room, an accessible toilet, more office space and an indoor and outdoor storage for toys and equipment. We also had two smaller toilets added where we had previously just had the one! We also enhanced and improved our outdoor play areas and gardens with more plants and a revamped sensory garden at Clevedon. This year, we also increased our family support service with a magnificent grant from the Big Lottery Fund.
• 2009- Springboard Supported Employment Pilot Project was launched. We are employing, supporting and training a young person who has learning disabilities in childcare and employing a support worker/personal mentor as well. This project is funded by Futurebuilders England.
• 2009 - Ofsted inspected Clevedon and the result was OUTSTANDING! This was a great achievement for all of the Clevedon team of dedicated staff and volunteers.