Building Active Schools in Special Education- Community Engagement Projects

The Building Active Schools in Special Education (BASSE) programme aims to address a significant gap in promoting physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Special Education Needs (SEN) school settings. Over the last year a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach was used to co-develop a guidance document to support schools to implement a whole school approach to PA in SEN settings (BASSE Guidance Document) (Byrd, 2025). Teachers, school leadership, parents, the Education Authority NI and professionals from community sports clubs, and non-departmental governing bodies from across the Ulster region participated in a series of workshops to explore the approach in SEN settings. This work will aim to create a collaborate network, bringing together teachers and senior leadership teams from SEN settings across Ulster, along with families, healthcare professionals and PA practitioners, facilitating knowledge exchange and fostering the adoption of WSA to PA in schools across the region. Secondly, it will support the development of resources and training material to support schools to implement a WSA to PA in SEN settings.