Spring Holiday program
The Spring Holiday Program is a week-long event which gives children of all abilities the opportunity to come together, worship, and experience the Gospel with our mentors and leaders. All aspects of the program are designed to give children with disabilities an optimal experience. The daily schedule includes sensory friendly daily prayer services, modified learning of bible stories, crafts, singing, and dancing. We also invite external providers such as dance or drumming workshops, flower arranging, craft, and animal encounters.
Feedback from previous Spring Holiday Programs:
“I used to be very shy and I couldn’t make friends that easy, but I made lots of new friends on the Spring Holiday Program. It was fun – they liked me”.
- Participant
“The Spring Holiday Program gave my son the valuable opportunity to make friends with young people his own age, to have fun and try new skills, all with the support of a caring group of leaders. Opportunities such as this, where my son can spend time and form friendships with young people both with and without disabilities is unfortunately rare in our community. What made this even more special was the young mentors wanted to spend time with my son and others, freely giving of their time and committing to the training to give my son an experience that we, as his parents, cannot."
- Parent
“(My son) had a totally amazing week, the leaders were fabulous! So full of fun and leadership. The range of activities was brilliant. I was impressed with the faith element as I thought it would have been very holy, holy and religious! However, it wasn’t and has given my child a wonderful, positive and different outlook on faith in a way he can relate to and understand. I didn’t think this was possible. That’s an amazing outcome, my son is a more confident young man as a result of his experience. Unfortunately, he will be too old for the program next year but would love to see spring program continue its success next year. This is the most amazing project.”
- Parent
Little Treasures
Little Treasures is a three-day Christian Holiday Program for primary school children with special needs and their siblings. ‘Celebrating Easter’ is the program theme, with a different part of the Easter story told each day.
A typical day at Little Treasures includes group time with worship, prayer, games and story time as a large group. Participants then break into small groups tailored to their abilities. The program is adapted to each individual group level. Within the small groups there are opportunities for appropriate activities & recreational games. Each afternoon after lunch there is an activity sourced from outside the program (e.g. music, petting zoo, puppets). The day ends with group time, which includes worship, a retelling of the morning’s story in a fresh format, a farewell, and a blessing.
Little Treasures gives opportunities for children to express their faith and exercise their gifts whenever possible instead of just being passive receivers of teaching and preaching. As a result, they can build up and encourage others on the program – those with and without a disability.
Stay tuned for the latest information about our Holiday Programs on our Facebook page. If you would like your child to join, please contact us, and fill out and submit the registration form.
