More than 70 activities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, their families and local communities are planned across Bradford District during the October half-term.
SENDiVERSE Festival will return from Monday, 26 October, to Friday, 30 October, with sessions ranging from scuba diving and snorkelling to woodland adventures, LEGO building, graffiti art, poetry, drumming, sensory play and accessible music-making.
Organisers at The Leap Bradford CIC say most activities will be free and will take place in community venues across the district. Families will book or make enquiries directly with the organisation hosting each event.
Activities designed with SEND families in mind
The programme includes a family forest-school experience at Blackhills Scout Camp, where Get Out More will offer woodland play, rope swings, hammocks and nature-based art.
Sound Space will run one-to-one accessible music sessions using technology and equipment adapted around each young person. Younger children will also be able to take part in a Halloween-inspired Hocus Pocus Potion Lab featuring bubble painting, textures, imaginative play and sensory activities.
Other sessions will include arts and crafts, pumpkin trails, museum activities and storytelling. Older teenagers and young adults will be able to find out about opportunities with local volunteering services.
The festival is also launching Made of Me, an art competition for children and young adults with SEND aged from four to 25 in Bradford and Keighley. Entrants are being invited to create bold, colourful work celebrating what makes them unique. A £50 voucher will be awarded to the winner and four runners-up will each receive £25 vouchers.
Festival builds on 2025 turnout
The Leap said more than 3,000 people took part in SENDiVERSE in 2025, when more than 65 inclusive activities were held across the district. Organisers reported that 61% of participants said they had a form of disability.
Ibrar Ali, community development manager at The Leap, said the festival was intended to create opportunities designed with SEND children and young people in mind from the outset.
We want children, young people and families to feel welcome in spaces across Bradford, to make connections and to have the freedom to discover something they enjoy.
He added that the programme aimed to show what could happen when inclusion formed part of the planning from the beginning.
How to see the full programme
The full list of events, venues and booking details is available on the SENDiVERSE 2026 programme page. Enquiries and bookings are made directly with each host organisation.
This report is based on information and photographs supplied by The Leap Bradford CIC.