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Awareness events
Published
Gloucestershire’s SEND and Inclusion Local Area Partnership works in co-production with services and local partners from the SEND voluntary and community sector to bring information on awareness events around Gloucestershire. Here the team details information on Eating Disorders Awareness Week and the forthcoming, Rare Disease Day.
Awareness events are organised activities or campaigns designed to increase public understanding and knowledge about a specific issue, cause, or community. They aim to inform, educate, and hopefully inspire action or support. There is usually an intention to reduce stigma, empower and equip children, young people, families, schools, and communities by providing accessible resources and encouraging meaningful engagement on the subject of the event. Awareness events taking place during this month and early next include:
Mother Language Day
Saturday, 21 February 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Sunday, 24 February – Sunday, 1 March 2026
Eating Disorders Awareness Week aims to educate the public about eating disorders — such as anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder, and Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED) - highlighting their serious nature as mental health conditions, not mere lifestyle choices or phases. This year’s theme is ‘Community’.
For more information please visit the relevant information links and NHS Eating Disorders Gloucestershire and for National Centre for Eating Disorders detailed on Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND.
Rare Disease Day
Saturday, 28 February 2026
A disease is rare if it affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people.
Since its creation in 2008, Rare Disease Day has played a crucial role in building an international rare disease community — multi-disease, global, and diverse, yet united in purpose.
Rare Disease Day is observed every year on 28 February (or 29 February in leap years — the rarest day of the year). The day serves as a powerful focal point, driving advocacy efforts at international, national and local levels. There a number of charities with strong links to Gloucestershire, which support children and young people with rare diseases and their families.
For more information please visit the SWAN record on Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND.
Communication Week
Monday, 2 – Friday, 7 March 2026
This year Gloucestershire’s Educational Psychology Service (STEPS) is launching a Communication Week campaign, inspired by Buckinghamshire County Council.
STEPS has produced one resource promoting interactions and communication with young children, for each day of Communication Week. The aim is to focus upon the importance of speech, language and communication and its impact on the development of young children.
For more information, please visit the Educational Psychology Service on Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND.
To access the Communication Week resources, visit the Educational Psychology Service pages on Communication Week.
National Careers Week
Monday, 2 – Friday, 7 March 2026
National Careers Week (NCW) is a one-week celebration of careers guidance and free resources in education across the UK. The aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar to help support young people develop awareness and excitement about their future pathways.
Forwards Education in Gloucestershire supports young people on their post 16 journey into further education and employment and enables them to become active members of their community. The role of the Post-16 Pathway Adviser is to help raise the aspirations of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by developing pathways to appropriate post-16 provision which will support them to live fulfilling and independent lives. Forwards Education works with schools and other professionals to deliver guidance and advice to young people with SEND, including Supported Internships.
For more information on careers services for young people with SEND in Gloucestershire, please visit the Forwards Education pages on Gloucestershire’s Local Offer, Support for Families with SEND.