Twitter
Facebook
InstagramSkills for Ever
Life at UET
Skills for Ever (YP&A - Young People and Adults)
Skills for Ever is delivered through three distinct cohorts of provision; Skills for Life, Skills for Work and Bespoke. Each programme has a specialist offer that is tailored to meet the needs of their cohort through experienced and trained staff. We have recently also opened up a Skills Centre to allow all of our cohorts to learn together.
Skills for Life offers structured sessions that are innovative, creative, and adapted to meet the needs of our cohort. Skills for Life support YP&A with complex health needs and provides physical health support.
Skills for Life will:
- Enabling communication. We recognise that communication is imperative for our YP&A, and that there is more to communication than just verbal language. We encourage the use of communication aids that are provided within Skills for Life.
- Promoting choice. Our trained staff use technology as an aid to enable our YP&A to independently make decisions. Choice is encouraged in every possible instance at Skills for Life.
- Supporting health and wellbeing. We offer a variety of sessions that create new experiences for our YP&A such as cycling, swimming and trampolining. Our trained staff provide personal care and physical health support, ensuring care provided is dignified and safe.
- Creating a sense of belonging. Our structured sessions enable our YP&A to participate within group sessions, creating a sense of community. We encourage interaction between our YP&A, building upon their social interaction and relationships.
Skills for Work offers:
a work-focused package, to provide work experience opportunities to enable people to step into volunteering, self-employed or employed work with or without support. We aim to build the confidence and knowledge of our YP&A whilst also instilling professional values.
Skills for Work provide work experience in:
- Hospitality. We have a café. Skills for Work access the café and learn vital skills such as customer service, food hygiene and infection control.
- Farm. South Leigh offers the YP&A the chance to engage and interact with livestock and learn life skills in health and safety, environmental care, life processes and horticulture. Being fully inclusive, the farm enables all our YP&A to interact with peers and staff while taking part in practical, hands on experience regardless of their ability.
- Health & Wellbeing. We offer various activities and opportunities to access the local community doing sports or even just visiting the park. We regularly go cycling, trampolining and swimming.
- Enterprise. UET Enterprise provide a t-shirt and mug printing service. The YP&A have access to and operate the machinery used. We also pickle eggs and onions to sell.
- Admin. Skills for Work have an office environment where our YP&A complete admin tasks.
- Care Work. All at Skills for Work have the opportunity to complete care work within UET.
Bespoke
Bespoke launched in summer 2019 to deliver tailored made packages, supporting YP&A with higher support requirements and initially started with 3 YP&A, which very quickly became five. Due to the nature of the YP&A we supported we were mainly based off site, initially supporting the charity shops with our logistic team.
Bespoke then moved into the CEC building in September 2020 which enabled further development of the well-being offer that is required in COVID. This includes the development of well-being sessions, addressing things like anxiety and low mood through Yoga sessions specifically capturing our YP&A with ASD. We also support our YP&A to access Lift counselling services to address mental health issues.
All YP&A are supported at a 1:1 or above ratio. Packages to include hands on learning, to produce enterprise, embedding functional skills, whilst gaining essential employability skills.
Our offer includes:
- Hospitality. Essential living skills, with activities, like shopping, cooking and cleaning. We also have a café and kitchen where we can gain life skills.
- Social and community skills. We access various café’s pubs and restaurants. We also support our local community with regular litter picking sessions.
- Health & Wellbeing. We have a lot of Community links, such as Oak and Furrows, and The Big Yellow Bus project. We also access lots of our local amenities such as cycling, trampolining and swimming.
- Enterprise. We undertake various activities with our YP&A such as; woodwork, textiles, catering, horticulture, business studies within an enterprise, logistics, Health & Safety awareness, recycling and current world trends.