Giving young people with special educational needs more independence

Did you know that for the past year Norfolk County Council has been working in partnership with HCT to deliver an Independent Travel Training Programme? It provides young people with Special Educational Needs the skills and confidence to make the home-to-school journey on public transport.

In its first year the partnership has helped 45 young people in Norfolk gain more independence and be confident enough to start getting themselves to school each day.

Ashley from King's Lynn was one of those young people helped - he was the 100th person to be trained by HCT (across all UK projects).

When Ashley first found out about Travel Training, he was very nervous about meeting his Travel Trainer for the first time and travelling on the buses. Ashley's parents were also nervous about the training - whilst they were supportive of the idea, it's always a big change to allow your child to start travelling independently.
Once training had started, Ashley soon started to grow in confidence, opening up and exploring his anxieties about travel - which can help build towards the ability to travel independently long term.

Visit the Independent Travel Training website to read Ashley's full success story.

The independent travel training programme is available to all schools in Norfolk. If you have a pupil who could benefit from this service, then please contact Karl Chapman on - karlchapman@hctgroup.org or call 07422 965187 / 01603 222707.