Community trust
More than 60 SEND pupils within ACE’s trusted local reach.
This was not cold recruitment. The relationship already existed through school, family and neighbourhood activity.
Talk to ACE Evidence case study
ACE
Inclusive.
A parent-led SEND test-and-learn that grew from one community into ACE’s formal place in Stockport’s Sport England-funded Local Pilot.
Historic formal roleOfficial SLA partner · 2023 to 2025
Make the environment fit the child.The starting point
Listen to families. Test in the real world.
ACE already had community trust. Families showed us where mainstream activity was still failing children with SEND.
Working with Bridgehall Primary families and specialist insight from Seashell, ACE shaped a safe, low-demand Saturday offer. Its public record describes trusted access to more than 60 SEND pupils and an initial group of 15 children.
Saturday test
15 children in an initial pilot shaped by parents.
The team watched what helped children enter, stay, communicate and take part. It then adapted the environment.
System recognition
Invited into the Stockport Local Pilot in December 2022.
The Local Pilot was funded by Sport England and led through GM Moving/GreaterSport in Stockport.
Formal partnership
Official SLA partner from 2023 to 2025.
ACE brought community SEND learning into wider provider and board level conversations alongside Stockport organisations.
Organisations named in the historic ACE Inclusive journey
These organisations appear in ACE’s historic delivery and system record. Roles relate to the periods described and do not imply a current endorsement.
The four-part method
Learning designed to travel.
Test & learn
Observe real participation, remove barriers and keep adapting.
Inclusion & equality
Treat belonging and ordinary community life as outcomes in their own right.
Train, equip & support
Help other settings improve their confidence, environment and practice.
Evidence
Combine family experience, participation, cost and delivery learning.
The chance to socialise in a safe, low-demand environment gave one family two to three hours of rare respite.
Anonymised parent evidence · paraphrased
What families described
- Greater willingness to attend
- More confidence and relationships
- Wider participation beyond the session
- Relief from being welcomed without judgement
Historic specialist view
“A.C.E. are leading the way in creating and developing this style of provision.”
Stephen Pearson · senior Seashell specialist at the time of the published statement
View original sourceWhat followed
From test-and-learn to a fuller pathway.
The formal Local Pilot role described here relates to 2023 to 2025. Historic partner references do not imply a current appointment or endorsement. ACE is preserving the learning while current relationships and future delivery routes are confirmed.
Work with ACE
Help turn the learning into the next route.
ACE wants to work with families, schools, specialist providers, commissioners and funders on an inclusive pathway that reaches children before needs harden into exclusion.
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