<p>Weston College recently took part in the 2023 Planet Earth Games, an <a href="https://www.aoc.co.uk/">Association of Colleges (AoC)</a> competition which uses games and challenges to engage colleges and students in climate action.</p><p>The AoC and Planet Earth Games <a href="https://planetearthgames.org/2023-college-event-launched/#:~:text=Promo… this as a “Global Movement”</a>, and have co-produced a project aimed at educating, promoting and advocating for colleges in climate action, and sustainable consumption this academic year.</p><p>The College had many activities taking place across the week, particularly in the <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/engin…; and <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/cours… Practice</a> departments.</p><p>The Faculty of Inclusive Practice (FIP) launched the ‘Wheels to Work’ campaign, where a number of staff cycled from Yatton and Clevedon through to Weston. Alongside this, free bike checks, services and cleans were offered to learners and staff.</p><p>Extension studies and Engineering also took part in a Beach Clean across Weston Seafront, to improve the beach experience for the community and help preserve the coastline.</p><p>Live salads and 100 tree saplings were planted at Butcombe farm by the learners, to assist with the environment and carbon emissions.</p><p>The engineering learners also collected reusable plastics, and moulded them into various items. The learners from FIP then sold them in their pop-up shop.</p><p>Jo Philpott, Vice Principal – Curriculum Delivery &amp; Technical Innovation, commented on the success: “We are incredibly proud of the dedication our learners had towards the Planet Earth Games initiative and the impact this has had since. We believe it is incredibly important to do our part when it comes to sustainability, and AoC’s Planet Earth Games is the ideal way to get learners engaged. I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone involved!”</p>

<p>Weston College hosted its first ever ‘Reverse Careers Fair’ at the beginning of this month, as part of My Future Month, for the learners with SEND within the Faculty of Inclusive Practice (FIP).</p><p>Each student created poster boards showcasing themselves, their accolades and their skills, for employers from across the South West to review and find potential new members of their workforce.</p><p>We caught up with Nina Sinclair, the Lead Employment Navigator for Autism, who co-ordinated the event. She told us about the success and process of the reverse careers fair:</p><p>“We knew this was an important event to arrange for the leaners within the faculty. In my experience of attending the ‘normal’ job fairs, it’s really apparent that it’s not accessible. Yes, it’s physically accessible to some degree, but when you take into account the sensory and social demands, the layout and navigating, and the confidence it takes to put yourself in front of an employer in that manner, you realise that someone who is neurodivergent could find that incredibly difficult, particularly when they are trying to put their best self forward. Because of the impact that this can have, it almost feels as though they are competing with people who don’t have those barriers, and it struck me as being extremely unfair.</p><p>We heard about reverse career fairs previously and had wanted to implement something similar for learners with SEND during My Future Month, to support their progression of careers and employability. The idea of creating the poster boards seemed ideal, as the learners are still able to showcase their talents to employers, without needing to talk directly to them, or even be in the room if it felt too demanding on the day.</p><p>Furthermore, we felt flipping around the ‘traditional’ layout of a careers event would allow the employers to feel more approachable and human to the learners, and encourage those meaningful conversations that can lead to brilliant outcomes.</p><p>We knew we had to take the leap and arrange this inspiring event to take place following the constant learner feedback that we receive, including struggling to access community and college wide events, as well as virtual ones.</p><p>As a college, we’ve been offering <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/neurodiversity-autism-training-employers">Incl… Employer workshops</a>, to educate and improve employer’s understanding of inclusivity towards becoming more neurodivergence within their business, and potential employees too. We took this chance to self-reflect and practice what we preach within the college, to improve upon what we deliver to learners with SEND.</p><p>When considering which employers to invite to this event, we wanted to ensure it was bespoken to the learners showcasing themselves. To achieve this, we found out from the learners which area and industry they would like to work in, and then asked the Business Growth Team to reach out to employers which fit the description and invite them along. We then knew which employer to direct to which learner or poster board, to encourage conversations with meaningful outcomes for both participants.</p><p>As well as the employers which attended, we also had some representatives from the college’s <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/apprenticeships?utm_source=ma… Team</a> to present to the learners that they also have that option, but also to present to the apprenticeship team that even though our learners may require extra support in some areas, they are strong candidates for apprenticeships.</p><p>Something we desperately wanted to avoid was the idea that this would be ‘segregating’ the learners with SEND from the other learners. In order to combat this, we purposely planned this event for a week after Careers Fest, a more ‘traditional’ careers fair held by the college. If the learners attended Careers Fest but felt overwhelmed, they knew they had the Reverse Careers Fair which would be better suited to their needs, but still allow the opportunity to talk to employers and put themselves out there.</p><p>The highlight of the event for us was before the event had even happened, walking through the classrooms of the different courses within the faculty, and seeing the learners working on their boards, seeing their excitement, and the conversations that were taking place about their employability opportunities. It was fantastic to see.</p><p>Since the event took place, we’ve had some great feedback from employers, the apprenticeship team, and learners.</p><p>One employer said: “I was able to talk to several students about career progression, job opportunities and also aspirations and all came across really positive and enthusiastic. Thank you for the invitation, and I hopefully look forward to working with your team and group in the future.”</p><p>Chloe from the Apprenticeships Team, said: “This was one of the best events we have attended to date; it gave us a chance to meet a variety of neurodiverse learners in a safe space and have meaningful conversations about how they can take their next steps to getting an apprenticeship!”</p><p>As well as this, we have employers coming back to run CV and money management workshops, and the apprenticeship team want to work closer with the faculty – we know we’re going to have strong outcomes for the learners.</p><p>We wanted to take the Weston College career strategy and adapt it to fit the needs of the learners with SEND and that’s exactly what we’ve achieved; we cannot wait for the next one! This model of best practice in SEND will be shared locally and nationally through our Centre for Excellence in SEND”</p><p>Click to find out more about the <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/cours… of Inclusive Practice</a>, or <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/employers?utm_source=main-menu&amp;utm_medium=… you and your business can get involved</a>.</p>

<p>The recently released Health and Disability White Paper outlines the governments vision to be able to move more neurodiverse individuals into paid employment to support them to ‘Start, stay and succeed in work’.</p><p>Currently, only 4.8% of individuals with a learning disability or autism that are known to local authorities are in full time paid employment. This figure has to change, and we must take action to change the narrative for young people within our community.</p><p>Here at Weston College, our empowerment-based specialist support model promotes a whole-organisational approach to inclusivity. We have developed our supported internship programmaes to provide a personalised innovative support network for learners with EHCPs who are looking to move into sustained employment. As a result of this 85% of our interns move into sustainable employment, bucking the national trend by over 80% and outlining our high aspirations and outstanding outcomes for the young people.</p><p><em>Why choose supported internships?</em></p><p>There is nothing better than working with young people to unlock their true potential. We know that around 20-40% of the UK population are neurodiverse and Internships are work based study programmes that allow these individuals to showcase their skills whilst supporting employers to access an untapped workforce. There are currently over 1 million unfulfilled vacancies within the UK costing employers hundreds of thousands of pounds in recruitment costs and we know that we have individuals that have a wide breath of talent and ambition to bridge this employment gap.</p><p>Our interns flourish in the world of work, reaching their aspirations and making a positive contribution to the workplace. This is reflected recent feedback from one of our job coaches <em>‘The interns I support are unique and individual, which is why Supported Internships are so great –they allow us the flexibility to design a personalised support programme that supports allows them to utilise their unique skills to benefit the employers that they are working with.’ Every day the difference that our internship programme makes to the lives of the young people we support. Interns describe internships in the following ways:</em></p><p><em>‘I am so excited about getting up everyday and going to work. My supported internship will support me to get a job working with children which is something I have always wanted to do.’</em></p><p><em>‘I worked with my job coach to identify where I wanted to work. I was able to get a supported internship opportunity where I trained for 5 months and got a paid job. A year later I still work here and I love coming to work everyday to see the customers and colleagues’</em></p><p><em>‘My internship allowed me to use the skills I have to get a job but more importantly has shaped by personal and social life for the better forever. I have recently just got a promotion in my job, something I never thought I would be able to achieve.’</em></p><p>Our commitment to inclusion permeates beyond the college walls. This year we have trained over 50 employers in neurodiversity awareness to support them to become inclusivity champions. By working together to create supportive opportunities the narrative will begin to change. Hosting a Supported Internship and becoming a more inclusive employer, isn’t just a great thing to do –it makes complete business sense!</p><p>For more information on Supported Internships, email employers@weston.ac.uk.</p>