Tackling inequality for students with disabilities
Lessons for life
Shaftesbury is determined to change the shocking inequality that people with disabilities face in the job market. Shaftesbury Education tackles this issue through its school and colleges’ curriculum where students’ learning is tailored around their goals and capabilities for a flourishing life when adults. As a new academic year kicks off, we share a few snapshots of what’s happening this term.
Hands-on learning and skills development for independence
Students at Shaftesbury Millie College are up for an exciting term, choosing from a broad offer of work-related learning and personal development opportunities. A veg box scheme, on-site café and some spooky goings-on for Halloween night visitors are all designed for students to develop a wide range of skills useful in the marketplace and for building independence, confidence and preparation for adulthood.
Faith’s Kitchen café and shop teaches students, aged 16 to 25, about how a circular economy works, as they get hands-on with enterprise activities. ‘Students learn and understand the full process – from sowing a seed, planting it out and harvesting crops, feeding home-grown produce to our 50 chickens who then produce quality eggs for the students to collect, sell or use in catering,’ says Enterprise Manager Annabelle Pearsall. ‘We sell the eggs locally in two outlets. All animal, garden and café waste gets composted, introducing sustainable practices to students. Everything here is grown to organic principles and we are currently trialling a veg box scheme this autumn, from our newly created kitchen garden.’
‘In the café, we work with students to build confidence and skills, whether they’re ready to serve customers front of house or prefer back of house activities like food preparation and cleaning. Even if they don’t practise catering as part of their curriculum, students can enjoy the social aspect of the café, meeting their friends, building confidence in public spaces as well as making a purchase. We’ve also set up a tuck shop which runs for an hour every day where students carry out stock management, use the till, restock items for sale and prepare food for takeaway options.’
The café is gearing up for its annual Hallowe’en event, with around 100 ticketed guests expected. ‘We’ll be open between 1pm and 7pm and students will help with preparing for the event,’ explains Annabelle. ‘We’ll be creating winter warmers for our seasonal menu, like homemade soups and bread rolls, jacket potatoes and Hallowe’en-themed cakes.’
As Millie starts its third academic year, Annabelle is excited to look forward: ‘Seeing the students develop is what I’m most proud of. It’s their engagement and enthusiasm for enterprise activities which has meant we’ve been able to make so much progress with our enterprise and future pathway opportunities. And there’s plenty more to come!’
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*Quote from Scope.org.uk