SEND - Synergy Dance Outreach

There is a lot of debate around sport and Special Educational Needs children in addition to children with Visual Impairments, and oftentimes they can feel excluded, which can lead to a new range of issues such as poor mental health and even obesity.

Here at Synergy Dance Outreach, we believe that #TogetherWeCan and we run several inclusive courses in Dance and Yoga for students with Special Educational Needs and Visual Impairments. Our courses are held in and around the South East and usually take place in schools and leisure centres – our online classes have National reach and global interest.

If your child hasn’t been to a dance class before, there is no need to worry because our classes are suitable for complete beginners in addition to those who already have dance knowledge. You can also rest assured that they will be in good hands with our amazing and fully qualified dance teachers.

Dance whilst a great, fun activity also has many benefits such as:

• Physical Fitness – individuals can get to and maintain a healthy body weight
• Dance can improve flexibility, strength and motor skills
• An increase in confidence and self-esteem
• Having an outlet for creativity and imagination
• It’s a great stress relief and can help diminish depression

Dance can also become a lifelong passion for your child into adulthood and beyond giving them a focus outside of their additional needs.

If you’d like to book onto one of our courses you can do so below –

Woking Leisure Centre – VI & SEN Teen Dance Class 11+ years

Woking Leisure Centre – VI & SEN Dance and Movement 5+ years

Additional courses will be available in due course at Guildford Spectrum, to be placed on a waiting list please contact kathryn@synergydance.co.uk

Alternatively, we also have some online classes if you and your child would like to try those first.

Junior & Teen Dance at Home for SEND Students

Audio Dance with Ren and Jennifer for Visually Impaired and Blind Students

Thank you for stopping by, we hope to see you at one of our classes soon!

Thank you for stopping by, we hope to see you at one of our classes soon!

Our latest timetable can be seen here.

Synergy Dance Outreach is an inclusive dance, yoga and fitness charity in the UK.

Our mission is to improve physical and mental health and wellbeing for people experiencing disadvantage, marginalisation and isolation, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and other disadvantaged children, young people, adults and seniors through accessible and innovative dance, fitness, yoga and singing related activities.

We believe that #TogetherWeCan and we provide activities to keep everyone moving.

Since COVID 19 we have adapted our style of delivery to target those groups who need it most, including the Special Needs and Disability Community, and those with Long Term Health Conditions. Our goal is to create an inclusive platform so that everyone can learn new skills, stay active and improve their overall physical and mental wellbeing.

We’ve been working hard to expand our online platform of classes for all and we are very excited to announce that we have been extremely fortunate to receive National Lottery funding from Sport England to take our platform National, in partnership with EMD UK.  This funding is from the Tackling Inequalities Fund which exists to help reduce the negative impact of the coronavirus and the widening of the inequalities in sport and physical activity. The fund aims to target under-represented groups, with its main focus being on:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities
• Disabled people
• People with long-term health conditions

As a result of this funding and support, Synergy Dance® is now able to expand our online delivery to create a new National platform, providing online access to dance and yoga activities so that we can reach everyone who will benefit from keeping fit and active.

#DanceAtHome and #YogaAtHome can support all families who want to keep fit -improving well-being and fitness!

We will be reaching autistic children who are struggling with isolation; people with a physical disability; the blind and visually impaired community who might be living alone, the elderly community and those with long term illness – who can enjoy our audio and seated delivery.

These classes can take place at home, in outreach centres, residential settings, care homes or virtual community cafes – whatever works for you.

Our new platform will be home to over 170 easily accessible courses that will focus on the following areas:

• Seated Yoga for Children, Teens, Adults and Seniors
• Seated Dance for Children, Teens, Adults and Seniors
• Yoga for Children and Teens with Autism and Cerebral Palsy
• Yoga and Dance for Adults with Learning Difficulties
• Audio Dance for the Visually Impaired and Blind Community with Classes for Children, Teens and Adults
• Audio Yoga for the Visually Impaired and Blind Community with Classes for Children, Teens, Adults and Seniors.
• Audio Meditation for Visually Impaired and Blind Children, Teens, Adults and Seniors
• Dance and Yoga for Mainstream Children and Adults

In the light of COVID-19 and the major decline in available resources, in addition to less access to socioeconomic resources and supportive networks – obesity, isolation and poor mental health are on the rise.

It is proven that daily exercise and the calming effects of yoga can help reduce the effects of poor mental health, stress and anxiety. Our fully inclusive and cutting-edge provision of dance and yoga will contribute to improving both physical and mental well-being.

We believe that with the introduction of our National platform, we can help improve fitness, reduce obesity, decrease isolation and increase well-being and activity levels.

Because together we can achieve anything.

To be the first to hear about our launch sign up here. Or for additional information about the project please contact admin@synergydance.co.uk

#TogetherWeCan.

Additional Information and Resources:

• The Tackling Inequalities Fund
• The National Lottery
• Sport England
• EMD UK

We’re so excited here at Synergy Dance® to announce that we are taking part in this year’s Group Exercise Festival with EMD UK and classfinder. 

There are so many fantastic classes available, for all ages and abilities and we’re inviting YOU, your friends and your family members to take part and help us make this the biggest and best virtual fitness festival of 2020!

The EX Festival kicks off at 6:15 pm on Friday 25th of September with viBeatz Teens and runs throughout the weekend until finishing with HulaFit at 6:15 pm on Sunday the 27th of September.

Synergy Dance® will be holding two 45 minute classes for the classfinder Group Ex Festival which includes Synergy Dance® Kids™ with Jessie at 11.00 am on Saturday 26th of September and Synergy Family Yoga™ with Jessie at 2.30 pm on Sunday 27th of September.

The tickets are priced at £5 per class, or £15.00 for a weekend ticket, giving unlimited class access. Tickets can be purchased from Bookwhen here: https://bookwhen.com/classfinderfestival

This event is an important one for everyone involved and has been created to raise funds for the Get Yer Kit On project. Get Yer Kit On, powered by The Community Fitness Network, works to support young women around the UK to access physical activity. The initiative provides group exercise opportunities and sports clothes, as well as accessible training to increase employability and promote positive mental health and we are delighted to be taking part.

Please note, that each ticket sold will be entered into a raffle to win a £2,000 Virgin Holidays voucher, courtesy of Raffolux. With a two-year timeframe in which to use the voucher in the UK or abroad, you can rest assured your future plans are safe. Terms and conditions apply. See Raffolus website here: https://raffolux.com/tcs/

Obesity is a rising concern throughout the UK, and with the country having been in lockdown for several months as a result of the pandemic health professionals believe this will contribute to the ever-growing issue.

A publication issued by the NHS released the following statistics: 

• 11, 117 hospital admissions directly attributable to obesity which is an increase of 4% on 2017/18 where there were 10,660 admissions
• 876 thousand hospital admissions were obesity was a factor again, an increase of 23% on 2017/18, where there were 711 thousand admissions
• The majority of adults were overweight or obese; 67% of men and 60% of women this included 26% of men and 29% of women who were obese
• 20% of year 6 children were classified as obese – prevalence was over twice as high in the most deprived areas than the least deprived areas

Research and multiple studies have revealed that 26% of children of obese mothers were also obese. Compared with 16% of children whose mothers were overweight but not obese. And 7% of children whose mothers were neither overweight nor obese.

In the light of the above findings, we’re joining the fight against obesity. And are creating an affordable dance, yoga, and meditation platform. Where you and the entire family can get active, stay fit, healthy and improve your wellbeing both physically and mentally. 

Our platform is completely inclusive, meaning there are no excuses!

We will have mainstream courses for juniors and teens. SEN courses for juniors and teens. Audio courses for the blind and visually impaired, and even seated yoga and dance for adults, teens, juniors, and seniors.

So what are you waiting for? Remember exercise isn’t just about losing weight and staying fit it’s also about having fun, feeling connected and learning something new. It can greatly improve your overall mental wellbeing too.

We look forward to seeing you on the other side…

Sign up to our newsletter here to be the first to receive a notification of when our platform goes live in October!