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| Home | About the Centre | Children's Services | Adult Project | Site Map | Contact | |
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| Home | About the Centre | Children's Services | Adult Project | Site Map | Contact | |
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Toy Library The Toy Library is the heart of the Hamlet Centre Children's Service. Many people first come to borrow a toy and then move on to other services. The Library is available for all children up to the age of five. There is no age limit for children with special needs. We have hundreds of toys, games, puzzles, musical instruments, books, toys with lights, toys with noise, toys that educate, all cleaned and maintained by us. The Toy Library Coordinator can offer advice about the suitability of toys to particular needs and is constantly on the lookout for new ideas. Toy stocks are divided into these groups:
The Toy Library opening times are: Monday to Friday 9.00am - 4.00pm. We are thrilled that support from Sure Start and Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership means that we can offer a Mobile Library service thus reaching more children and families. We now have an On-line Toy Catalogue and Request Facility for schools and groups using the Mobile Library service. To view the catalogue click on the icon
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| Special Needs Under 5's Group The first service to develop from the Toy Library was a playgroup for children with disabilities. This was the forerunner of today's under 5's groups, with their parallel parent's groups, which offer fun and education to pre-school children with special needs and support and information to their families. These groups can be particularly useful around the time of diagnosis and during the period when families are deciding between mainstream and special education |
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| Services to Local Families The Hamlet Centre works closely with other statutory and voluntary bodies, to provide services to young families in the local area. Our centre provides a bright, well-equipped venue for young families. A meeting place with good quality toys and equipment and supportive staff is a great asset to parents and children alike. Many families are also Toy Library members and take toys home. |
Sensory Room This facility is enjoyed by many children with special needs and their families. The room may be booked for individual play sessions and is also used by groups of children and students. It is especially popular with children with sensory or complex medical needs. All our groups have access to lots of fun and a wide variety of sensory experiences here - light, sound, aroma and many different textures mean that no two play sessions are ever the same! |
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Holiday Playschemes The Hamlet Centre is well known in Norwich for its high quality summer playschemes for children with special needs aged between 3 and 18. Thanks to a generous contribution from the Carers Grant and the provision of nursing care by the Health Authority, we now offer playschemes for those children who are least able to access mainstream schemes in all school holidays. The response has been tremendous. This service has a profound effect on the lives of families of children with complex medical needs. For the Children's Service team, playschemes are the highlight of the year! There are many rewards to be had from the children's pleasure in their holiday activities. The team enjoy rising to the challenge of enabling all the children to take part in all the activities available if that is their choice, whatever their abilities or needs.
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Youth Clubs We run two youth clubs for for children with special needs, aged 8-13 and 13-18. The programmes are planned by the members themselves. In-house facilities include table-tennis, snooker, computer games, art and crafts, sensory room, table-top games and sports equipment. The young people like to go out and particularly in the summer plan a number of trips. Youth clubs operate for children aged 8-13 on Fridays and 13-18 on Wednesdays. Both clubs operate in school term time only from 6pm to 8pm. |
Home | About the Centre | Children's Services | Adult Project | Site Map | Contact  |
