Thumbs Up Club has now been in operation since 2002.

The charity was formed in 2005 and developed from the Addington Holiday Club which was formed in 2002. The Addington Holiday Club has been renamed Thumbs Up Club and is being run by the charity. We provide a Full Day holiday club for children with special needs. The club relies entirely upon voluntary donations, grants and parent subscriptions to provide this type of facility for children with special needs in the Wokingham, Reading, Bracknell, Windsor and Ascot areas.

• A caring, happy and friendly environment for the child to enjoy who would not have access to any mainstream holiday club.
• Respite for parents who may need to continue working during the school holidays.
• Respite for parents to allow them to spend time with their other children doing activities they would not otherwise be able to do.

Who We Are

Thumbs Up Club is a registered charity. The charity name is Activity Club for Children with Special Needs (Berkshire) and Thumbs Up Club is the working name. The operating committee is made up of a small number of people, all of whom have full time jobs and all of whom also have children with special needs.  We all provide our time on a voluntary basis. The onsite manager of the club has responsibility for the club itself whilst it is in operation.

Thumbs Up Club does not have any formal links or associations with Wokingham Borough Council or any other local council. We, of course, come into regular contact with them by nature of the service we provide but they have no involvement in the finances or operation of the club. Thumbs Up Club is registered with Ofsted.  The Disabled Children’s Team in Wokingham or Learning Difficulties and Disability team in Reading or your local council equivalent may be able to assist with funding for children whose parents would otherwise be unable to afford to pay the daily fee.

What We Do

We provide a Holiday Club during Easter and Summer Holidays. We also provide an After School Club during Term Times at Addington School.

Easter & Summer Club

We provide a play club environment for 6-8 days at Easter and 20 days in the summer holidays for  children between the ages of 3-19 who are unable to access mainstream settings.  We provide places on a daily basis from 9.30am – 4pm. We provide a very high level of staffing with a ratio of 1 staff per 2 children.  All our staff are paid as we have found this promotes quality, dependability and maintains ratios. On occasion we accept additional volunteers for work. We aim to provide an inclusive service that meets the needs of all eligible children, no matter what their level of need. Please ensure that you complete the registration forms fully, so that we can assess the level of support that your child will need. If we are unable to provide the level of support needed, we will advise you to contact the Disabled Children’s Team in Wokingham or Learning Difficulties and Disability team in Reading or your local council equivalent who may be able to consider funding for extra support.

The club has a very good reputation for the high quality of stimulating, varied and engaging activities provided together with a high regard and level of awareness for the safety and dignity of these children.