On 27th May the Hop Skip and Jump Parents Group will be presenting a petition to the offices of the Hop Skip and Jump Foundation in Avening, Gloucestershire.

For those new to Hop Skip and Jump in Kingswood, Bristol, where special needs children and their families have played together for eight years, you will find the story of the recent changes outlined in our In the News page. It is these events and the disastrous decline in quality of service that are leading us to take this very public step.

As parents, here are some of the things that have disappointed us and led to a mounting sense of frustration and anger:

Physical changes to the centre that continue to make it progressively more unwelcoming to users. This started with a deep clean in October 2011 which by popular agreement "ripped the soul out of the place". Comfortable seating was removed and replaced by plastic chairs and bean bags. More recently, the kitchen which has always been open to parents, is being replaced with a hatch system where parents will have to pay for drinks which they have customarily donated.
Customer communication black hole. Contradictory answers coming from HSJ foundation staff and HSJ centre management. A recent example is the variety of conflicting reasons given for the closure of the centre to drop-in.
Persistent failure to answer simple questions. When answers are obtained they are patronising and insubstantial. Often there appears to be a clear intent to deceive.
Responses which are untruthful are given far too often. There is a long catalogue of such responses from the HSJ Foundation and centre management. A recent example is when the centre supervisor told parents that all parents using the centre would have to be CRB checked in conformity with Ofsted regulations. (CRB: criminal record checks.) Questioned simply with Ofsted, Ofsted said they would never advise an organisation that parents needed CRB checks to be on the premises. Another example is disappearing messages to parents on the Official HSJ SW page on Facebook. The most spectacular example on April 17 saw a string of spurious user testimonials put up by a HSJ manager retracted within minutes.
Preferential use of centre by individual families by private permission of centre supervisor. This is invidious and unfair.
Unacceptable treatment of staff. It is not legally permissible for us to be specific, but there is much internal evidence that some staff are being subjected to systematic pressure. This is shameful behaviour that disgraces the Hop Skip and Jump foundation, degrading the previously highest quality service offered by the staff of the Kingswood centre.
Unsatisfactory and dangerous practices in place; loss of trust in ability of management to successfully deliver the sort of services they have begun to offer; a constant flow of administrative errors, oversights and omissions. Recently there have been at least three complaints to Ofsted, two concerning reports of accidents and one concerning a persistent and abject failure to provide policy documentation.
A lack of trust that the centre is being responsibly managed financially. Reserves are falling, sponsors are known to be reconsidering their donations, there is a lack of transparency that is engendering a fear that the survival of the charity may be in danger. Since its opening in 2003 the Kingswood centre has always been financially solvent and stable.
Closure of the centre to the vast majority of users who form its community. Hundreds of local families with special needs children under current arrangements are now effectively excluded from the centre by continued revisions of the timetable. Sibling days were reduced in October 2011 by 30%, in March 2012 by 95%, and finally, 'until further notice', on arbitrary and still unclear grounds, by 100%. Many hundreds of users who depended on the centre are now formally excluded.
Persistent failure of the ruling body (the two trustees, Revd Celia Carter and Clarissa Mitchell) to liaise or consult with the parent body in any meaningful way. Failure to complete the consultations with the parent group they publically committed to. Refusal to consider, or even acknowledge the results of a comprehensive survey undertaken by parents to establish actual community needs.

THE AVENING PETITION

We, the parents, formerly of HS&J South West are marching in Avening on May 27 to present to the Head Office of the HSJ Foundation a symbolic petition.* Started on 3rd October 2011 the petition closed on 17th November 2011, collecting 1,814 signatures. It states:

We, the undersigned, request that the Hop Skip and Jump Foundation continue to provide provision for children of all ages with special needs to come together at the Grimsby Farm site in Bristol with their families in a safe environment to play together and learn from each other - as there is no other service like this in the South West.

We would like this provision to not exclude:

Children with complex needs

Children requiring specialist medical care

Children with physically disabled parents

Children who require full time 1-on-1 support

Siblings of children with additional needs

Children from low income families

Parents who wish to use the centre's facilities to play with their child

Any parent or child with an immediate need for support.

After six months The HSJ Foundation is still failing on all points marked in bold. Six long months have gone while chaos continues to follow planning that is inadequate and mean-spirited.

Our children deserve better.

* www.ipetitions.com/petition/letusplay/