About PACE ~ and the parent behind it

Hi, I’m Ruth

I’m a SEND parent in Cornwall and the person behind PACE Project UK.

PACE has grown out of my own experience of trying to navigate the SEND system with my son, particularly through secondary school.

Like many parents, I’ve found myself thinking:

Why didn’t I know this earlier?

There are things I would have questioned sooner, things I would have put in writing, rights I wish I’d understood better and information I simply didn’t know I needed until I needed it.

I’ve also discovered some brilliant provision and opportunities almost by accident, often through another parent, a recommendation or hours of searching.

It made me wonder how much useful knowledge is sitting between SEND parents, and how many valuable opportunities exist locally that families simply don’t know about.

That’s where PACE started.

What I’m building

PACE is currently focused on helping SEND families find useful provision and opportunities, understand their options and learn from the experiences of other parents.

Learning from SEND parents

Our first parent research project asks what families wish they had known earlier about secondary school and SEND.

I’m gathering those experiences to identify emerging themes and turn what parents have learned into practical, accessible information and resources for the families coming behind us.

Finding SEND opportunities

I’m building the Cornwall SEND Opportunity Finder, bringing together alternative provision, specialist support, outdoor and animal-based learning, activities, therapeutic provision and other opportunities SEND families may find useful.

Making Post-16 SEND options easier to find

PACE is also mapping Post-16 SEND provision and opportunities across Cornwall, including education, training, vocational opportunities, supported employment and other pathways for young people preparing for adulthood.

One of the things I’m particularly interested in is making the practical information easier to understand — who provision is for, how families access it, who to contact and what questions to ask.

PACE is starting in Cornwall, while the parent research and resources have the potential to help families much further afield.

A little about my background

Although my reason for starting PACE is very personal, I’m also bringing skills from my work, education and training into the project.

I have a First Class BSc (Hons) in Media Production, with experience in websites, digital systems and online communication, as well as training in marketing through Cambridge Marketing College and experience in web design and developing online projects.

I’ve worked in the wellbeing field as a complementary therapist, including in Reflexology and Reiki. I’ve also trained in mindfulness with Breathworks and continue to study related areas.

Those different strands might seem unrelated, but they’re actually very relevant to how I want to build PACE: researching and organising information, communicating complicated subjects clearly, creating accessible online resources, listening carefully to people’s experiences and understanding that families are people, not just cases or statistics.

What I’m not

I’m not a SEND lawyer, educational psychologist or SEND professional, and PACE isn’t intended to replace professional or legal advice.

I’m a parent who has had to learn an enormous amount by navigating the system, researching, asking questions and finding things out, sometimes much later than I wish I had.

I don’t believe one parent’s experience can tell other families what they should do.

But hundreds of parents’ experiences can potentially tell us a great deal about what families wish they’d known sooner.

That’s why I don’t want the PACE parent guides to simply be based on my experience. My experience may have started the idea, but the resources need to be shaped by many different parents, including those whose experiences have been very different from mine.

Building PACE openly

PACE is still new and I’m building it gradually, while learning from the families and providers who use it.

The Cornwall SEND Opportunity Finder and Post-16 Finder are growing, and our first parent research project is already beginning to identify themes around what SEND parents wish they’d known earlier about secondary school.

I don’t want to pretend PACE is a large established organisation. It isn’t.

What I do want is to build something useful, credible and genuinely shaped by the questions, experiences and information SEND families need.

If something you’ve learned could make another parent’s journey a little easier, I’d love PACE to become a way of passing that knowledge on.

Ruth
Founder, PACE Project UK