SELFA Annual Report 2025: Empowering more than 700 children and young people

Posted: 13th October 2025

We are fast approaching the end of another busy year at SELFA – and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved, and grateful to all those who have helped us along the way.

In 2024/25, we supported more than 700 children, young people and parents, marking an increase of 15% from the previous year! Over 180 people accessed our services every single week.

Crucially, our work has had a profoundly positive impact on the wellbeing of children and young people.

⭐ 95% developed positive relationships and a sense of belonging

⭐ 86% saw an improvement in resilience

⭐ 99% became more independent

⭐ 100% showed an improvement in wellbeing

MORE SEND PROVISION

We’ve launched several exciting initiatives, all designed to help children and young people thrive in these challenging times. We’ve expanded our provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities at weekends, which has allowed us to offer more tailored support for children, young people, their parents and carers too.

PROMOTING YOUNG VOICES

And, we’ve also amplified the voices of young people to ensure we’re delivering what they need most. By expanding our Youth Board, SELFA youth now have greater opportunities to shape the services we offer and play an active role in driving change on the issues that matter most to them and their communities.

EXPANDED MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

Through our ongoing work with the Safe Spaces partnership and the Youth in Mind collaborative, we’ve strengthened our ability to deliver vital mental health and wellbeing support across the district.

We are proud to be a part of Bradford District and Craven Mind’s Youth in Mind programme, which provides early intervention mental health support in schools, hospitals and community settings. SELFA’s service is called Mighty Minds, via which we offer one-to-one mentoring and a small-group wellbeing programme.

This year, we have increased our target from supporting 100 children and young people via Mighty Minds to 244!

Last year, we visited over 18 different schools to deliver mentoring support. In total, SELFA supported 51 children and young people last year through one-to-one mentoring.

Our small-group wellbeing programme, Wellbeing Warriors, is a 10-week programme delivered in primary schools to help children identify emotions, manage worry and engage in self-care.

Last year, we delivered 12 Wellbeing Warrior programmes across 7 different primary schools. More than 80 children were supported by the Wellbeing Warriors programme.

“The Mighty Minds project gives our vulnerable students someone to talk to outside school staff. One young man has even built new friendships and is now having a much better experience of school.”

Ermysted’s School SENCO

TARGETED HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

Holidays can be a tricky time for vulnerable children and young people – which is where we step in. This year, we provided 128 holiday activity sessions and 9 residential breaks. Overall, we delivered 1087 hours of engaging and fun sessions.

We can’t wait to see what next year brings! You can read the full report here: https://www.selfa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Annual-Report-2024-25.pdf